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Friday Reads Nov 10: GG awards; PW Best of 2023; recent Canadian fiction; comics memoirs etc
https://youtu.be/H2oJJhcu4ho

This book is fantastic. The author is so brave to tell this story. Would I have bought this book if it wasn't so controversial? Likely not. Do I understand why people are all fired up about this? Maybe? Do I get why people are calling it porn? Definitely not. As a popular meme pointed out, if books turn you into things, where are all the wizards and vampires?

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I posted about banned books week in our bookclub's Facebook feed, recommending Gender Queer, and of course someone posted a page out of context to support restriction of the book. People these days...

How timely for my library hold to finally come during #bannedbookweek

Kicking off October's Wicked Words with the bonus Banned Book prompt (and for bonus-bonus points, I borrowed it from a US library): Gender Queer is an excellent, accessible, frank graphic memoir of what it was like for Maia Kobabe to grow up gender queer (nonbinary and ace)

#wickedwords @AsYouWish #bannedbooks

This Graphic Novel is so intense, that I had to pause every now and then while reading it. So many things were familiar to me, and still it helped me seeing things differently. This book might help many people finding their true self. There's no shame in being who you are. It's just a shame that people actually remove this title from libraries...

Banned Books Week is next week! 🎉 It's a celebration of the freedom to read! It's more important than ever to fight for this particular freedom because the number of book challenges/bans across the country has drastically spiked in the last couple of years! 😩 The book pictures hanging up are the top 13 books that have been challenged/banned to most in 2022! It's a scary time to be a librarian/teacher. ❤️

#bannedbooksweek #bannedbooks

I borrowed this book from my library (at least I can in my state!) to see what the fuss is about this book and to learn why it is often known for being “the most #banned book”. I can see how individual parents or teachers would be uncomfortable about some of its contents. However the essential “baring the soul” of the author was necessary to connect with people who have these same questions in order to reach out to them and those who love them.

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/q-FfLvOOylM

Enjoy!

What a beautiful memoir written by Maia Kobabe. Maia writes about eir experience growing up and defining eir's sexuality. There are a number of experiences e writes about as well as what e feels as an adult.

#ReadBannedBooks

30 book recommendations in 30 days...

Day 20: I anticipated a good read with this one, but had no concept of how much I would learn. Some wonderful perspective provided to help people understand Maia Kobabe's experiences and feelings. #30recsin30days

Happy International Non-Binary People‘s Day!
Great read! You‘ll learn a lot. I certainly did!

Forgot to review this last week! ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The reason I can't quite give this 4 stars is because I often felt like I had missed a page, so I'd flip back and forth looking for it. However, it turns out that I never missed a page; rather, the story had jumped to a different time/memory with no segue.

Otherwise, I thought Gender Queer was a compelling and moving memoir. Maia shares the highs and lows of eir journey. The graphics were excellent.

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 I‘ve only recently learned about my own identity as queer/bi & acespec, so it was very meaningful to read about someone else‘s journey and challenges. I could connect with Maia‘s experience being asexual, and it was powerful to see how em came to terms with eir gender identity. My reading has been super slow, but I‘m hoping to read more queer books and learn more about other LGBTQIA+ experiences and my own 💗

This is an adult, and mild raw, questioning book: who you are and how you identify. This memoir is very well written and the images clearly define the feeling eir is trying to portray. In this case, non-binary/asexual. While sex is difficult to read (traditional raising) the essence of of the book was still well stated. The finding of the new terms to go with how eir was feeling inside was beautiful. I felt that in my soul. #lgbtq

Same!! This book is giving me the most feels because I feel seen. I never understood the hype and desire for relationships that weren‘t for friends. This books is amazing in its openness.

4.75/5 ⭐️ Beautiful graphic novel memoir I read for the #transrightsreadathon 🏳️‍⚧️

👀

★★★★☆

#fREADom #UniteAgaintBookBans

Fantastic!

Lol, I love this book so much. Every queer person has these moments when we‘re younger where something happens and a bell rings that nobody but you can hear telling you that something is different for you than how other people perceive and experience something. In Maia‘s case, it was eir gender. This was deeply personal, has these jarring moments of gender dysphoria, but then has these really cute moments of humor. This book is an important pick!

#transrights

#transrights

Insane to me that this is the most banned book in the United States.
It is so good. An exploration of body and attraction, and growing up not feeling you fit in your body. It is beautifully told , the artwork is great, and the story is so useful to so many.

Highly recommend.

#TransRightsReadathon

"So Lady Gaga was right - I was born this way."

A reread for #TransRightsReadathon. There are a lot of really important moments depicted in here, which are all so relevant to what kids can go through as they become acquainted with their own sexuality and gender. I was struck by the importance books held in the author‘s journey of self-discovery. It shows the importance of teaching sex/gender topics in school and how everyone can benefit from that. Such an important book!
#asexual #nonbinary

I‘m not a GN fan, so I wouldn‘t have read this, but I wanted to see why it‘s so often challenged. I am bewildered and disheartened that anyone would want to challenge this beautiful, gentle book. Who among us hasn‘t struggled with who we are or how we fit in the world? This is so relatable and shows the complexity of not fitting a binary in a world that very strongly seems to want to be binary. I hope every questioning kid can read this.

I reread this important work while killing time as my dogs were being groomed.

One of the many relatable quotes I found while reading, Gender Queer. 💜💚

Hi, I'm Becca. I'm new here. Hoping to find rad folks to chat books with. 👋🏽

#12booksof2022 August pick.I love this graphic novel, I think many could learn from it .It filled me with compassion for Maia , and more understanding of how complicated our relationship even to ourselves can be.I‘m a bit saddened it‘s often mired in controversy.

Maia's graphic memoir is so touching! And I learned about a new set of pronouns (E, Em, & Eir).

I was thrilled to discover this is a graphic novel. I chose this book for a reading challenge because of how it‘s been heavily targeted by book bans (and idiots).

I was also pleased to see my nails matched the cover. Milo, my orange tabby who is standing over the book, also matches! 😹

#LGBTQ+ #LGBTQ #LGBTQReads #graphicnovel #graphicnovels

#12Booksof2022

I‘ve already fallen behind.

I highly recommend this one. Read it because it‘s great. Read it to learn. Read it because it‘s challenged all over the place. Read it for all the reasons.

Honorary mention to Bridge to Terabithia for devastating me all over again. My husband found me sobbing and asked me if someone had died.

Saw this at the bookstore and had to snap a pic! This graphic memoir is SO excellent -- raw and real. I picked it up after I found out Maia Kobabe is also a long-time lover of Witch Please -- my fav podcast -- and I'm so glad I did!!

@Addison_Reads, just sae that you recommended this one today too! Great minds!!

#adventrecommends

#adventrecommends @emilyrose_x

This graphic memoir is amazing! It's such an honest look into the author's life with great explanations and insights. The artwork is beautiful as well.

A must read for many people. A real experience on our journey of finding out who we really are. 💜

Taking the author's love of Bowie out of the equation, this still ranks a 5⭐ read. Phew! It's an honest and frank memoir about sexual and gender self-discovery, which is also sweet and endearing.
The photo has nothing to do with the book, which isn't to hand as I post. We went into Manchester to celebrate our son's birthday, and these Hallowe'en decorations looked rather magnificent against an apocalyptic twilight cloudscape

- Do we have any David Bowie music?
- Yeah, downstairs.
- Here's what we were looking for. [Cassette of "Changes"]
- ?Holy shit! This is AMAZING! ✨
- It was the first time I could ever remember hearing queer references in song lyrics.
- Bowie's music was the first that felt like MINE! My love of Bowie has long outlasted the crush that started it.
----
I'm only 25% through, but this book just earned its 5 stars! ???‍?
#BooksAndBowie

I've had this on reservation with the library for aaaages, and it finally came in today. I've not minded the wait at all, as it means lots of other people are reading it, too 🏳️‍🌈 😊
I think this will be the final entry in my unplanned Graphic Novel Weekend 😁

This was very enlightening. I read it in one sitting though, so I feel like I might need to reread it to get everything out of it 😊

My husband surprised me with this delux edition of Gender Queer because he's super sweet! I already have the paperback, so I wasn't letting myself get it. I'm pretty excited. Not only is this a wonderful book, but it's also been fighting against a lot of bans this year, even one ban that attempted to ban the sale of the book! #LGBTQ #Censorship #BannedBooks

If you like reading books with LGBTQ+ rep, there are still a few spaces open in Group L of the Litsy Markup Postal Book Club. It‘s my first book group on here, and I‘ve already picked out some exciting titles to read and send along to the group. Sign up at this link: https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/5080444aead2ca0ff2-l...

This graphic memoir is phenomenal. I truly believe that no one owes anyone an explanation of their life or choices especially surrounding sex and gender. That being said, I think it‘s difficult to understand how someone could not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth if you do. If you don‘t understand, this will give you one person‘s journey and thought process and I‘m so grateful the author told us this story.

I meant to read this during #bannedbooksweek but totally dropped the ball. 🤦🏻‍♀️
After seeing all the buzz (both good and bad) surrounding this book, I picked up a copy at my local indie bookstore. I found this to be an informative and educational account of the author‘s journey-a wonderful GN memoir about gender identity. I learned some new things and think it‘s a must read for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies.

#bookspinbingo - free space

Petty? Maybe? In late spring, a town commissioner spouted some very homophobic comments from the dais. This person was someone my teen respected and had numerous interactions with in the past. After no response to our emails, we agreed to a news interview.

In August, she just bought the tagged book, & I did not have time to drop her at home before my board mtg. Guess who was there? Guess who sat down & read ⬆️ book right in front of him? ⬇️

Banned Books Week! And my selection was the top challenged book of 2021 🤬. Including a whole diatribe and campaign against this book by my state‘s LT Gov (who sits on NC‘s State Board of Education)

I am grateful to Maia‘s courage to publish this memoir, and I have seen first hand it‘s impact on non-binary genderqueer and exploring teens in my kid‘s friend group. This is MJ‘s favorite book of the year, and I can see why. It also provides ⬇️⬇️

🍄 New username alert! 🍄

I‘ve changed my username on Litsy from 4thhouseontheleft.

I‘ve been meaning to do this for a while, as I am also removing my last name from social media accounts and decided to streamline and make everything the same.

Above is some of my weekend reading plans (Pumpkinheads is a reread).😊 Reading is high on the agenda!

#booked2022

In addition to being the start of spooky season, September is also important because Banned Books Week takes place this month! ❤️📚 I set up the display today, featuring the top ten most banned/challenged books of 2021. Book banning has been particularly bad this past year, so it's very important to stay aware of what's going on and to make sure people have the freedom to read what they want! #bannedbooks #bannedbooksweek

#bannedbook what a beautiful memoir ! A journey of self discovery for Kobabe who is trying to figure out where e/em/eir fits in a world that seems to want to define you.Look , a parent can control what their child reads but this book belongs in a PUBLIC library where all people should be represented.In my life I struggled with feelings & emotions that were not necessarily obvious or talked about in my family. Reading helped me realize I was ok.