book recommendations no°1
hello friends!
so here it is; the first piece in our collection on ‘isolation & jetzt?’,
to help you get through the weird times where COVID-19 is stealing our (physical) (social) life,
but offers us something that is not even that unpleasant in return: a lot of time.
a lot of time to read, for example. and if you have no idea on what to delve into yet,
then here are some recommendations by a kindergarten friend of mine,
who i admire not only for her outspokenness about various important (and mostly) feminist topics,
but also for her profound knowledge and splendid taste in literature!
so here it comes, kids! i hope you find something you like, (i bet you do!)
katharina is definitely someone to trust in this one :-)
so, let’s be honest everyone, when was the last time you ACTUALLY started and finished a book, from beginning to end?
even for me as a former literature student (German and English lit, so I had to read A LOT), I skipped most of the obligatory reading,
only skimming through it or even not bothering at all but just focussing on the Wikipedia summary, which I could „read“ while doing something else.
GUILTY as charged! once I graduated last year, I was free of the burden of having to read and the pleasure that is reading for fun,
for yourself and something you are actually interested in and do not HAVE to read (looking at you, Eneas, Tristan, Nibelungenlied and the sorts), came back.
it started with seeing what other people enjoyed to read and with wanting to know what the hype was all about -
giving in to the hype is good y’all, I can only recommend bookstagram for that.
so without further ado, here are my current recommendations:
guilt-free (I strongly disbelieve in something like guilty pleasures - if it brings you pleasure, there’s no need for guilt),
shame-free (we be reading for fun here, maybe to learn something on the go, but mainly to be entertained), and especially diverse and colorful and exciting!
this rainbow stack is one a diverse young/new adult stack I created for pride month.
I’m very much into YA, so I’ll read a lot of that and I find it brings me a lot of joy and a light heart on top.
I’ll start with the three at the bottom, which are the three not so light-hearted after all:
Autoboyography is a lot more intense than I expected, but captivating.
They Both Die At The End is exactly what it says, and gay.
We Are Okay is kind of depressing but also very real.
Moving on to the others:
The Gentlemen’s Guide To Vice and Virtue is probably the most random in this particular stack, because it’s gay and historic. I love it.
There’s a sequel featuring the sister which is amazing, but the first one is just FANTASTIC.
Leah on the Off Beat is the sequel to Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (top of the stack), and while the movie was good, it did not show everything the book did.
You will fall in love with Leah if you read Simon and you’ll be glad the sequel exists.
Carry On is kind of a prequel to Fangirl, which would have looked amazing in this stack, is an excellent book, but sadly not queer.
I swear, everything gets better once it’s queer.
Did I mention that LGBTQIAP+ is so important and needs more representation? There you go.
Carry On gives you the amazing Darry-inspired-Fanfic that was teasered in Fangirl.
There’s even a sequel to Carry On now, Wayward Son, which is on my to be read-list for this isolation and quarantine.
What If Its Us combines two of the major writes in queer YA lit right now: Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.
They did a wonderful job and this is truly heartwarming, without much of heartbreak.
Everything Leads To You is more heartbreaking I think, but lesbian! Finally so FEMALE love story and representation here.
And last, but most definitely my favorite in this list, which is ironic because it’s not Young, but New Adult, so a bit more mature: Red, White and Royal Blue.
If there is one book I’d recommend for you to get you back into reading, which has the most amazing tone,
the PERFECT protagonists and love story and is just altogether the world I want to live in - it’s this.
Go and buy it. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in 2019 and I want to lose my memory so bad so I can experience the joy this book is all a new.
We really need some joy in our lives right now. This book will bring you some!
As always, to find communities has never been easier in times of the internet. There is loads. The YA readers are everywhere.
Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, you name it. My favorite, and most important for authors as well, is Goodreads.
You read and write reviews, you can discover new reads, you see what friends or friends to be read. The same is true for Instagram - but of course, that’s… also tempting.
They say never judge a book on its cover, and on the ‘gram, you definitely do. But that also got me hooked on Autoboyography, and that was a lot more than just a pretty cover.
You can find me there and on Goodreads @/kattha - and get some more (queer, YA) recommendations.
I do read other things too, I promise, but that genre is my favorite. I just can’t help it. It’s good for the soul and the heart and that can never be bad, right?
