Skip to main content

Queer Books!

We love to read! As a bookseller, Ilse tries to have a broad insight and reads almost everything: crime thrillers, science fiction, romance, children's books, cookbooks, travel literature, social criticism—you name it. Both of us particularly enjoy social criticism books, stories about everyday life, books about queer experiences of life, intense stories, and travel literature. Else also reads fantasy novels and Stephen King since her childhood/youth and a diverse range of literature with her book club in Cologne. In addition, we recently joined a feminist book club online.

Yet, we often struggle to find good queer books, so here are a few of our favorite ones:

One of our favorite books is Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Less was published in 2017 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2018. At the center of the story is Arthur Less, a gay writer, who travels the world to evade his former lover's wedding. The beautifully written story is charming, thoughtful, and funny and takes us to many amazing places. We couldn't stop reading once we started and it is the book Else always recommends.

Disobedience (2006) by Naomi Alderman follows the life of  Ronit, a successful business woman who lives in New York and is forced to come back to where she came from: Hendon, London. The reason for her inevitable confrontation with her own past is the death of her father, a successful rabbi in an Orthodox Jewish community. Of course, the independent woman is a thorn in the flesh of the strict religious community. Ronit meets her family and people from her past, among them Esti, her former childhood friend—or maybe a little bit more than that. Esti is now married to Dovid, but the feeling that both women had when they were teenagers seems to still be there. A sad and at the same time funny story about faith, love, and sacrifices. Ilse just couldn't take this book out of her hands.

Last, we would like to recommend A Little Life (2015) by Hanya Yanagihara. We were a bit hesitant to mention this book at all. Else read it with her book club and many didn't finish it—Else didn't sleep very well while reading it. The story is set in New York City and mainly focuses on Jude and his three friends, from their time in college to adulthood. It's a wonderful story about friendship and love, but also about (childhood) trauma, (child) abuse, rape, disability, self-harm, and co-dependency. And although we believe that it is important to raise these issues, some descriptions are way too graphic. Nevertheless, this book is a fantastic read if you can deal with graphic violence.

 We have just started Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985), a semi-autobiographical story and the author's first novel. We'll let you know what we think!
Labels:
Location: Cologne, Germany

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our New Passion for Outdoor Activities

We love traveling, we love exploring, we love outdoor activities. But we barely have (or: had) the time for them! So, here's an upside to the COVID-19 restrictions of not seeing anyone, of not going to bars, restaurants, and clubs, of not traveling: we have more time for each other and more time for outdoor activities! (We  do not  want to downplay the pain, loss, and death this pandemic is causing — we just got lucky enough to enjoy some extra time.) These last few weeks, we have been hiking and exploring the nearby woods. It's incredible how beautiful they are in spring! Lush, green, the sun shining through the green treetops, rustling from last fall's brown leaves with every step. And most of the time, the woods are surprisingly quiet, with only a few people taking walks or hiking. The only thing missing these days, particularly for Ilse: ending the trip with a cool beer (or two) and maybe a snack at a beer garden. She wants her reward! Also, after years without ev...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy Pride Month?

We were and are so excited for Pride Month! Although most Pride festivities are canceled this year (Cologne Pride is, for now, postponed, so we still have some hope ...), we couldn't wait for this month of visibility, of pride (not just Pride), of rainbow flags, of support, of loving each other. Then, George Floyd was brutally killed. And although we cannot imagine how it must feel to be Black or a person of color, we can't stand this injustice. We will do everything we can to stand with you. To fight with you. Pride started as a riot. And although we do not support violence, it doesn't seem likely that this injustice will end without another riot. We stand with you. We won't have queer equality if we don't have racial equality. Black lives matter. The lives of people of color matter. Remember those who died from police violence. Say their names and never forget.
Post a Comment
Read more

Traveling in Times of COVID-19

We are addicted to traveling. So when COVID-19 put so many travel restrictions on us, we certainly agreed with the measures, but we also knew that we would miss traveling a lot.  When the numbers of new infections started to drop and travel restrictions were slackened, we carefully went on a three-day hike not too far from Cologne . A month later, we joined Else’s family on a family vacation in central Germany . And when Ilse’s birthday approached and travel in Europe seemed okayish again, Else planned a birthday present that would bring us to Paris. Yet, during summer time when everyone goes on vacations (and apparently many don’t care to wear their face masks), infections were bound to rise again.  Not surprisingly, a couple of days before our journey to Paris, Else had to reveal the destination of our surprise vacation so that we could discuss together whether we should go or stay at home: infections in France, particularly in Paris, reached critical numbers. We finally dec...
Post a Comment
Read more