I know, I know, it‘s incredibly overdue, but trust me, you want to savor every single word of this book. Literally the best kick off for 2019.

All parts beauty and a work on identity. Much like Alexander Chee, ON EARTH WE‘RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS portrays incredible amounts of terrible, haunting images and paints them with beauty, love, and sexuality. It‘s art at its finest, and writing like none other.

As I can taste the sweet bliss of freedom from this semester, I‘m feeling all of the Christmas vibes. Will I get a chance to read these? Unclear. But I‘m going to look at them and admire them anyway.

VENGEFUL is everything you would want in a sequel. What‘s even better is that, much like VICIOUS, it‘s definitely ~a little open ended and there is an opening for more, but all the while having quite the satisfying ending too!

I am completely stunned and breathless after reading this book. The way in which Léon is able to craft the past into this novel is probably the most stunning storytelling I‘ve come across. Uncover the dark past that Hermin and Lenny shared together before Lenny, now a famous pianist, leaves Hermin, his tutor and leaves, with essentially no notice, but reappears in Hermin‘s isolated cabin deep in the blustery mountains.

Best #galleybrag of 2018, srry

Louis returns to his dreary home in France to visit his dying father, who is barely fifty, and it's truly haunting. A highly critical essay and a poignant interweaving of a heartbreaking story of father and son, sociology, and intense political criticism. It goes far in such a short essay, managing to tackle class wars, homophobia, and more. Heartbreaking and extremely touching at the same time, Louis has hit a new high with this.

For the lovers of Call Me By Your Name, this book is an equally intense look into a single character‘s psyche and portrayal of the mind games we play with the ones we love.

Literally the BEST YA release of 2018. Hands down.

Okay but wasn‘t this book robbed from the NBA? I think so. Dogs ruin everything 🙄

Help me recover from how much I hated this book.

Is this the best Austen novel? Probably. Maybe second to Emma. Stay tuned.

Definitely different than what I was expecting going in, but still well worth the read. I love nothing more than long beautiful sentences (I should also mention that this book is pretty... hot).
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Intensely lyrical, raw and downright erotic, the novel almost seems like a poem itself as it follows the young poet C.P. Cavafy before his notoriety.

Just, like, why wouldn‘t you want to read Marlon Brando telling Truman Capote about his loneliness, fame, rewards, and love of food?
THE DUKE IN HIS DOMAIN by Truman Capote
⭐️: 5/5

The most interesting part of reading this memoir of a brutal rape is the way that the book reaches into your understanding. We don‘t just follow the rapist and the victim, we shine light on the rapist‘s family, Louis‘s childhood neighbors, and his family. Under that light is the stories of violence that they have all suffered through.
A magnificent autofiction essay on, well, you guessed it: [A] HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

What a gem. I know we‘ve all seen bountiful reviews of this book since it won the Pulitzer so I‘ll keep it brief.
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This book was honestly so clever and so, so funny. I don‘t know. I just want to make sure everyone else who hasn‘t read this book really needs to.

A truly stunning novel and I don‘t know how I haven‘t seen this circling around my little piece of the bookish world— I hope this post changes that.
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Can you imagine a fictionalized version of the Nazi take over of Paris with a spy, a drag queen and drug smuggler, and a really badass runner? Maybe. But why bother?! It‘s right here and damn is it good. Like, go-out-and-buy-this-book-and-read-it good.

A devastatingly beautiful read. Most of this novel is so surreal it feels like a dream within a dream. Simply put, I love deep, dark, queer novels and this is EXACTLY that.
While the ending left me a little empty at first, I quickly realized that Nathan spoke about playing with a David Lynch inspired world full of insane clichés but with a crazy twist, and that‘s exactly what he did. I‘m fact, it felt incredibly like watching Mulholland Drive.

A bday audiobook

Do you ever just fall irrationally in love with certain characters? I do. Plus, it‘s often not even the right character I should be in love with (what can I say? I always love the villain).

The best collection of short stories of 2018! If you‘re like me and love it when short stories are linked together, are very queer, and if you love all things southern gothic, then find this book and read it immediately.

Book no. 2 in my #summerofclassics complete!
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I truly wish I had actually read this book in high school, because dang.

A marriage of convenience with a lesbian woman and her gay best friend in a religious Sri Lankan family begins to unravel as Lucky returns home to help take care of her grandmother where her ex lives, and her mother tries to control Lucky‘s life. The tension in this novel between Lucky, her family, her husband, and Nisha is something queer people are too familiar with, but the added racial tension will have you holding your breath.

This past June, I went to BEA and BookCon and got some crazy, crazy loot

This historical fiction reimagining notorious 18th century thief Jack Sheppard as a trans man will keep you hooked, but the abundant use of eighteenth-century vocabulary and writing style will keep your speed in check— and you don‘t want to finish this book too fast. Did I mention that the novel itself is an unpublished manuscript while our transcriber, Dr. Voth, tries to prove the legitimacy of story inside? I promise, you want to read this book!

I took a glance at my TBR shelf and got incredibly stressed. Why? Because this pile of books all appeared in one single month (21!). How many books did I read this month? One.... one single book.
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Side note is that my wallet is very thankful that most of these were free.

Is this.... a post.... over a year later???? I think it is! Hello Litsy friends! I hope to stick around this time ♥️

Happy 20th birthday to the novel that began it all, to the most successful series ever printed, to the book nearly every child will forever hold dear to their hearts forever. #harrypotter20

Happy damn Pride y'all.

Much like our idea of Jamaica, this cover and title is just a front. The dialog is written in thick Jamaican dialect but captures the troubles that lie beyond the resort walls in Montego Bay-- the extreme poverty and religious intolerance that runs throughout. A heavy family drama that is full of twists and turns that make Here Comes the Sun read a lot like a play.

It's been a while but it's because I'm still reading the same two books! Too much going on 😭

A quick but absolutely beautiful read!
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The wring style really reminded of me Donna Tartt especially when describing the bitter north eastern cold and winter storms.
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A really lovely story of love lost, love gained, betrayal, and family. The tense relationship between Marin and Mabel made me want to die and maybe a little part of me did.
⭐️: 4/5

A book shining the light on extreme poverty, violence, and self acceptance, The End of Eddy (En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule) is a small but heavy read that is so important to current times. It's poetic, unique, and devastating but you will always be rooting for Édouard in this autobiographical novel.

Summer TBR has officially started!

I can see how some people are swooning for this boy and boy fight for girl but actually boy and boy fall in love with each other but it just wasn't for me

Every time I had to put this book down I just wanted to scream (in fact, I've chosen to finish this book today rather than deal with the mountain of homework and worry about finals in a week). There is so much action and beautiful characterization that I found it hard to ever stop reading and deal with the real world. I wish the last chapter of this book was the first chapter of the second book but otherwise, what a damn cliffhanger.

I am so glad that I had this book forced upon me for my young readers publishing class. What an incredible story (loosely based on The Jungle Book) of belonging, coming of age, and journeying on ones own.
It's just such a great middle-grade-but-bordering-on-YA book that should be spread widely!

A story that makes you think about every single decision you made or will make and how important it is to chose them carefully. An inspiring and powerful romance with an over the top finish. ⭐️: 4/5

This is the perfect novel for anyone, not just LGBT people, but for anyone on a journey to find happiness. A reminder to everyone how important our memories are and how the past shapes our present and future.

This series was a lot of fun. The Andrew/ Neil storyline, although took WAY too long, is exactly what I needed. The series is completely absurd but it got me addicted and somehow interested in sports???? (Even though said sport is made up).
⭐️: 4/5

Okay so like... I only started this series for the gay stuff... WHERE IS THE GAY STUFF? It's not great, but it is an easy addicting read (which is exactly what I need as I am currently in a 5 day sick bed).
⭐️:3/5

Oh I just loved having these characters back! I've always thought about Openly Straight as I wasn't fully onboard with the whole idea. I liked it a lot and I think this weird idea was done tastefully. Having a sequel in Ben's perspective seemed worrisome to me at first but it really did come through. I feel like some things felt really rushed with Rafe-- although the pacing of the father/ son chapter is was spot on. ⭐️: 3/5

AKA the part where it's really hard to not sob.

This plot was mostly completely absurd and unrealistic while remaining in a realistic world (not my favorite) and sort of feels like a weird ripped off version of The Secret History. AND YET I am beyond easy to please. It's not great, but I'm addicted to this odd short series. ⭐️: 3/5

So excited to be reading this perfect novel again for my young readers publishing class. Ari & Dante are probably my favorite characters to ever exist and their story is easily my favorite YA telling. I've consistently annoyed every coworker of mine about it and I hand-sell it as often as I can! A beautiful coming of age and personal acceptance m/m love story that you will NEVER forget.

What does it feel like to break up with the person you love the most because you love them? What happens when they fall in love with someone else while they love you? What happens when they die in a freak accident? And now the new boyfriend is the only one that understands what you‘re going through. I was left UGLY crying in one chapter and laughing out loud in the next in it‘s incredible and touching story every single person can find heart in.

Frandz

Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation~ 🍋 #iwd #iwd2017 #ladiesofliterature #womenauthors

I went into this book with the promise that it would blow me away. For the first half, I was disappointed because it was not living up to these expectations. But then shit went downnnnnn. A book of great plot twists and an amazingly original idea!

This series is something that you've never read before and probably something you'll never read again. You won't forget it, you won't regret it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll slam the cover closed and storm away from it, and then you'll finally finish it and hug each book so close your chest it might as well fall inside. ~Anoshe~

All three are finally together.