Hi, I'm Willow, and welcome to Willow Talks Books!
Originally a spin-off from my website, Books and Bao, this channel is now its own thing.
My channel is dedicated to discussing, reviewing, and promoting diverse and intersectional literature. The channel's main focuses are translated fiction, feminist fiction, and queer fiction.
Had to come and make a comment 🤣I finished this book and HAD to see what other people were saying about it because I had the best time with this very very very stupid book (also glad I read this book since it's how I found your channel). Its so derivative, and I was able to suspend my disbelief and write a lot of it off until it devolved in the the plot of THE DIVINCI CODE??!
One that drove me nuts and it may be particular to Sarah J Maas and the Throne of Glass series of which I read a few books (unfortunately) was "she sighed out of her nose" lol
Hahahaha anyone who calls something “woke nonsense” is a whiny little cowards who’s too afraid to own up to their own racism. Be a real man, Bike Profile Pic!
Holding the Voyager mug at just the right angle for your tea to fill in the rest of Robert Picardo’s head. Subscribing for that alone & ordering Outrageous asap. 🖖🏳️⚧️
I read the LGBTQ+ History book and was impressed by its scope. Someone elsewhere asked for non-fiction Pride recommendations, and this is what I offered (minus books you've talked about here). They're a mix of theory/essays and memoirs/biographies. Some are recent, some several decades old. 10 Bridges I've Burnt, Brontez Purnell The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton The T in LGBT, Jamie Raines The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir by Staceyann Chin It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror Sister Outsider OR Zami, Audre Lorde Who's Afraid of Gender, Judith Butler Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza, by Gloria Anzaldúa This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib Red Azalea by Anchee Min Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, Curtis Chin Also, nonfiction graphic novels Washington's Gay General I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together
I'm convinced history is full of bad lesbians but the men never wrote about them so we'll never know all the exploits they got up to. It's a shame. Outrageous sounds really interesting so I'll have to see if I can track down a copy
As always, great video! I've been meaning to read Bad Gays for a while now. A title that I would add to the list is Branded by the Pink Triangle by Ken Setterington.
My biggest frustration is that you prefer dark horror…you do such great reviews! But I don’t care for dark horror, or really much horror at all. *sigh* My life is sad 😜
I'll definitely be checking these out. Especially Bad Gays because everyone loves a good villain. I'd also recommend It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful by Jack Lowery. It's about how AIDS activists used art to fight the AIDS crisis. It acknowledges the centering of white privileged men in the historical narrative of this particular issue and makes a significant effort to include those not normally included. It's a fascinating book that I've been finding very accessible and engaging.
First of all, for those who don't know, there's a free online borrowing library for queer books you can use with Libby. The Queer Liberation Library! My current non-fiction read is Outlaw Marriages, by Rodger Streitmatter, and it's about historical figures and their relationships/marriages and how their unions inspired them to greatness. I've read a lot more fiction this year, though, and I'm happy to mention what I've read in 2024. The Fireborne Blade, Charlotte Bond. Novella. Fantasy, there are dragons. Sapphic, but slow burn so I think the next book in the series will explore it more. Your Driver Is Waiting, Priya Guns. Literally fiction about a Tamil woman and her relationship with a privileged white woman. Explores performative allyship, among other topics. An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson. Retelling of Carmilla, a classic lesbian vampire novel, but I feel like this one is news to no one. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily Austin. Really darkly funny novel about a atheist lesbian hyperfixated on death who accidentally gets a job at a Catholic church. I really related to the humor and the dark thoughts. Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake. #2 in the Bright Falls series. Sapphic romance, but my favorite book by this author is actually YA. Also sapphic, but the main plot is the FMC's twin brother is accused of rape, and she has to reconcile her believing women with her love for her brother. She also has to confront abuse in her own past. (it's called A Girl Made of Stars.) But if you want to keep it light, her adult romances are it. Night's Edge, Liz Kerin. Sapphic main character, mother is a vampire. Uncomfortable at times exploration of an abusive and codependent relationship with a parent. I mean, uncomfortable for me -- I hear other people have healthy relationships with parents. She Drives Me Crazy, Kelly Quindlen. YA sapphic romance. Just light and fun. The head cheerleader and a girl on the basketball team fall in love. Enemies to lovers. It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, Joe Vallese. Oh, look non-fiction. This was underwhelming for me, but I love the concept. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White. I kinda think this one need no introduction. Trans and sapphic rep. I just want to read books like this forever. The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin. Non-fiction. Essays. James Baldwin was a gay Black man. I listened to it on audiobook, and I need a print copy to annotate into oblivion. A Botanical Daughter, Noah Medlock. Horror, sapphic and gay rep. Kinda think this one needs no introduction. The ending was weak, but overall I enjoyed! The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela. Literary fiction. A married gay man returns to his suburban community to care for an ailing parent and reconnects with high school friends and his first love. Also sapphic rep, as well as mental health rep. An exploration of how suburbs fail to foster community and ask people to surrender their culture. No Strings Attached, Harper Bliss. Sapphic. I want to smother the main character with a pillow, but others might enjoy it. A woman gets divorced from her husband and gets an opportunity to explore her identity. Lots of sex, so there's that? Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen. Not sure this needs an introduction here. LOL. A satire of reality shows mashed with horror. Sapphic. The Prettiest Star, Carter Sickels. A gay man in the 80s returns home to die of AIDS. This made me ugly cry. How I wanted the people around him to be better than they were, to realize time was short.. One of the most impactful books for me this year, though. I'm GenX, so the main character could be my older brother. Paradise Rot, Jenny Hval. Sapphic. Translated from Norwegian. Horror elements. Extremely surreal. If surreal isn't your thing, this isn't your book. Life as a Unicorn: A Journey from Shame to Pride and Everything in Between, Amrou Al-Kadhi. Non-fiction. British-Iraqi NB author learning to reconcile their culture, religion, and identity. Sing Anyway, Moonlighters #1, Anita Kelly, NB main character. Romance. The series is set at a queer-friendly karaoke bar. Also plus-size rep. Ha, if anyone cares, I have to do a part 2.
Outrageous is brilliant, especially in a time of censorship of marginalised groups! another coffeetable book i can recommend is We Are Everywhere - it details the history of Stonewall (+ gorgeous photography)
I don't know if you have read Fabulosa! also by Paul Baker but it's a really interesting book that really does explore all the bits and pieces of the slang of Polari itself, its roots in other types of slang, the social circumstances and treatment of queer people and others that made such a slang necessary and viable, its drop in usage etc. It's well presented and structured and it got me interested in slang across Britain specifically. I think its educational value is pretty good even if one is well-versed in British queer history and you get to learn some Polari as well as learn some less known queer history throughout the centuries
Highly recommend The Men with the Pink Triangle, about gay men targets during the Holocaust. Not an easy read but it's important to remember all the victims which did include the LGBTQ+ community.
Thank you! I'll definitely check out Outrageous. One of my favourite queer non-fiction books is Derek Jarman's "At Your Own Risk". It's a glorious polemic, celebrating his fury at the world of heteronormativity and his very personal experience of the 1980s HIV crisis. Another recent favourite is Jeremy Atherton Lin's "Gay Bar: Why We Went Out" which looks at the culture of (specifically male) gay bars in Britain and America. Partly autobiographical, it also acknowledges a culture that appears to be uncertain of its own future. The only thing wrong with Lin's book is that I keep lending copies to friends and not getting them back!
Definiyely gonna check out the graphic novel. Most of the queer books I've read this month are horror fiction, but I read and loved Kai Cheng Thom's poetry collection A Place Called No Homeland. =)
of course I'll love to listen to an audiobook narrated by you and maybe I'll even find a representation for myself (my son is sure I'm a demisexual, he's probably right. young people usually are, aren't they?) anyway, I love your atitude towards acceptance and the brave way you fight for respect: happy pride! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
I actually found Roger Ackroyd really really boring. That was one of my least favorites that I read from her. Granted, I knew the ending going into it, but I think even if I hadn't I still would've been extremely bored.
