Hello and happy last day of this garbage fire of a year.
I’ve spent much of the day attempting to wrap my crumbling brain around the fact that this time last year I was in Portugal, putting on my Fleabag jumpsuit and preparing for a night out with my girlfriend.
Remember what it felt like to be blissfully optimistic? I vaguely do.
Anyway, this newsletter and the people who’ve read it and subscribed to it and supported it in any way have been steady bright spots in these past few months.
Writing every week(ish) has pushed me to spend more time reading—an activity that consistently brings me joy, yet I regularly neglect while stressed. It’s also allowed me to connect with lots of people who love to read queer stuff, which I hope to do more of in 2021.
So in that vein, what was the best book you read this year (queer or otherwise)? What’s on your list? Have you even been able to focus on reading in the midst of a global pandemic? Let me know in the comments!
To kick things off, I’ve put together a list of my top five, with titles linked to my full reviews.
They’re listed in the order in which I reviewed them for this newsletter, because when I tried to rank them according to how much I enjoyed them it was simply impossible. I loved them all.
— Becca
1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Fiction, May 2019
The book that inspired this newsletter! It’s so good that after I finished it, I wanted to recommend it to everyone I knew. When I ran out of people I knew, I wrote about it on the internet.
Queer points:
+6 for The Last Amazon of Dahomey, a play about lesbian warriors
+7 for a radical feminist lesbian commune
+11 for a very sweet, very queer couple in Hebden Bridge that met in a trans chat room
Buy it from The Lit. Bar
2. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Nonfiction, November 2019
I almost didn’t include this book here because I technically read it in 2019, but changed my mind because it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Truly, it’s so good that I did not (and do not) even feel qualified to write a review that does it justice.
Queer points:
+2 for introducing me to Sapphic Slashers
+8 for deep dives on queer villainy, domestic abuse in queer relationships, and the ways in which queer abusers and abused women are treated differently from their heterosexual counterparts in court
+12 for Plot Twist, which both surprised me and made me feel incredibly warm and happy
Buy it from Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books
3. A World Between by Emily Hashimoto
Fiction, September 2020
The book managed to bring me joy during election week. Also, the author has described it as a “lesbian When Harry Met Sally.” If those two facts do not make you want to read it, we are very different people.
As an added bonus, I got to interview the author, Emily Hashimoto, on what makes a feminist love story (among other things)—which you can read here.
Queer points:
+3 for literary references to Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and bell hooks
+5 for the fact that Eleanor and Leena make out while watching The L Word on their second date
+11 for multiple realistic sex scenes, which are somehow still a rarity in books about queer women
Buy it from Cafe con Libros
4. Plain Bad Heroines by emily m. danforth
Fiction, October 2020
Victorian sapphic romance! Hollywood intrigue! Metafictional horror! This book is roughly 600 pages and I was still sad when it ended.
Queer points:
+3 for ample usage of the word “celesbian”
+8 for multiple lesbian poltergiest jokes
+14 for the fact that all of the main characters and most of the side characters are queer. And there are many! It is tough for me to recall a single straight, male character, and personally, I think that’s beautiful.
Buy it from Bank Square Books
5. Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis
Fiction, September 2019
I don’t know about you, but I got a lot of use out of my local library this year. This was one of the many things I checked out in an effort to curb my book spending, but I loved it so much that I will likely buy a copy anyway just to have it.
Queer points:
+6 for a hot lesbian butcher
+9 for five queer women embarking on a home renovation project
+16 for a character who smuggles what is possibly the first dildo in Uruguay across an international border
Buy it from Booksmith
Thanks again for reading, and again—I want to hear from you! Tell me your favorite book from this year (or any year). Especially if it’s one I haven’t reviewed yet.
Girl, Woman, Other was my favorite this year too! 🙌