Welcome to Litsy!

While I appreciated the authors honest look at being a non-binary, Muslim immigrant, I didn‘t love this book. The timeline jumps around quite a bit, and I lost the trajectory of her growth and her understanding of who she is. I read this now because it came in at the library, but really looking forward to discussion with #campLitsy23

I took a graduate course on the Qur'an several years ago and have been intrigued ever since, so although I have a complicated relationship with memoir as a genre, I enjoyed Lamya H's reflection on the lives of the prophets as they relate to and inform her own life experience. I feel like this is as much a story of maturing into one's 30s as it is a story about coming out and religion, and a few juvenile elements make sense to me through this lens.

Captivating and expansive to my worldview, I can‘t stop reading this. I‘m about 3/4 in and am humbly learning a lot. I admire so much of the author‘s sharing, dedication to faith, spin on old stories, and being vulnerable and brave. Great memoir. So glad #camplitsy23 put it on my reading list.

Pic of lupine flower in my garden. 🌺

Thank you to @JenReadsAlot for finding this US kindle deal on our July #CampLitsy23 pick! I hope this helps if your library doesn‘t have a copy.

Kindle deal!! #camplitsy23 @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @Megabooks

Today‘s book mail. Hijab is of course for #camplitsy23 - I just need to be patient and not read it until Meg tells me to!

A Trip to the Beach is a pre-loved copy for #titlesandtunes #islandvibes and also #readingtheamericas23 #anguilla.

repost for @Megabooks:

Hello campers! I‘m your main discussion leader for July. We‘ll start the month with the overall top vote-getter, Yellowface, and finish it with our first nonfiction title, the memoir Hijab Butch Blues. Very excited! 😁🏕️ #CampLitsy23

Important housekeeping note‼️‼️ We will be taking the first weekend off (July 1-2). July has 5 weekends, and many Americans travel then for the national holiday later that week.

I loved this insightful audiobook. Lamya H writes about gender, sexuality, racism, religion, and just navigating life. I really appreciated her comparisons of events in her life and the lasting impression they have had on her thoughts and actions to the Quran.

I think her Quran stories were my favorite part. I loved the way she brought each character to life and tried to really dig into their experiences and emotions.

So good. 5🤩

This is an excellent and interesting memoir by a gay, devout Muslim woman. I do find it to be a little over the top that she compares her struggles to those of Islamic religious figures and prophets. At one point, she refers to coming out as a process of inviting people in instead. I loved that. I highly recommend this book. After reading some of the anger directed toward Lamya H, I completely understand why she uses a pseudonym.

Wow wow wow what a great book. I was swept up in Lamya's story and their smart compassionate writing. Although this is a memoir, it's structured thematically by Isamic prophets not linearly. Lamya intertwines personal history with her interpretations of the Koran. Every chapter surprised and moved me by the unexpected ways in which the Koranic story was connected to the author's. A new classic of queer lit, just like its allusive title implies.

I was going to continue with The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but I noticed this book on my nightstand. Since it was loaned to me by a friend, I figure I should read it for awhile instead.

Beautiful memoir. Highly recommend the audio.

This is a stunning memoir by a queer South Asian woman who is also a devout Muslim. I listened to the audiobook read by Ashraf Shirazi.

I‘ve learned to reframe telling people as “inviting in” instead of “coming out.” 🏳️‍🌈

God is neither man nor woman, nor masculine nor feminine. This god who teaches us that we can be both & neither & all & beyond & capable of multiplicities & expansiveness. Nonbinary. Genderqueer. They. This god that is THE god. My god. My Allah, who created the world & created language & created the first person, Adam. This first person who was man & woman & neither & both & not a mistake. Never a mistake. Like me.

Another episode where I talk about what I‘ve been reading this past week:
Friday Reads March 10: the Centre for Literatures in Canada; nonfiction; queer muslim memoir; last slave ship; natural dyes
https://youtu.be/8CeyDSZD6Hg

Finished on today‘s Volksmarch. This is a private-like memoir by Lamya who identifies as gay and Muslim as well as a foreigner from several countries. She‘s a feminist and activist and ties stories of the Quran into her own life and experiences as she learns to accept herself.
#ReadHarder23 ~nonfiction @ intersectual feminism #booked2023 ~new in 2023 @alisiakae @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage #pop23 ~book w/ a queer lead

Oh this was just spectacular! Lamya is a queer Muslim woman, who is very much grounded in her faith. In this memoir, she takes people from stories in the Quran (Maryam, Asia, Yusuf, etc.) and relates them to aspects of her journey. Her feminist interpretations of these stories were thought-provoking and her personal story of growing up as an immigrant in a gulf country and then studying and working in the US was equally fascinating. 5⭐️