Let’s celebrate another month of reading with some of the best books that we read this month! You can find all of these books on our Bookshop store.
Young Adult Fiction
I Kissed Shara Wheel by Casey McQuiston
Helen: I’ve been a fan of Casey for a while now and I won’t lie that One Last Stop just didn’t impress me like their other work. When I picked this one up, I was nervous if I would like it, but I was very happily surprised by how hilarious, wonderful and poignant this book was. Not only is this book a breezy YA read, it has a mystery that is fun to solve along with the characters. The last 100 pages were a serious look into the trauma that young queer people go through in religious academic institutions. It was an aspect that I wasn’t expecting but was excited to see.
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Adult Fiction
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Helen: I’m a huge fan of Ocean Vuong. It would be an understatement to say that I was excited for his newest release of poetry. I have really enjoyed Vuong’s poetry in the past but reading it wasn’t enough for me. If you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing Vuong speak professionally or at a poetry reading, I cannot recommend it enough. His intonation adds so much to his deep, subversive work. It probably speaks to where my mental health was when I listened to his recording of “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong” for The Last Magazine multiple times in one day during the pandemic lockdown. His newest poetry collection does not disappoint and I, of course, recommend the audiobook on this one.
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Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
Helen: This amazing multigenerational story of a Black family that shows the effects of violence throughout each generation. My only complaint was that this book was too short! I could have read this family’s story for much longer.
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Adult Nonfiction
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery
Helen: I am always trying to learn more about history that I sadly do not learn about in school. I have found that audiobooks are a great method for continued learning as an adult. The audiobook for this book made me pause as I was completing tasks and listening. It was truly a hard listen to hear these inspirational stories of people who suffered through the beginning of the AIDS crisis. To support continued learning, I watched the documentary How to Survive a Plague on Kanopy, a free library movie streaming platform. In addition, the New York Public Library has a digital archive of much of the artwork and activism posters created by Act Up that can be viewed for free.
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Manga and Graphic Novels
Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade by Ryan North, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and Art by Albert Monteys
Helen: I have this weird habit of not reading the Classics in their original form but reading the graphic novel version of it and really liking it. (I would highly recommend the Fahrenheit 451 graphic novel!) This was my first time reading anything by Kurt Vonnegut actually! But I digress, I actually thought that the wacky time traveling timeline lended itself quite well to the graphic novel medium and I would recommend it to anyone who has been interested in the book but wants to only put their toes into the Classics water.
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Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso
Helen: Just a note, I would like to thank Netgalley and Viz for giving me a chance to read an Advanced Reader copy of this manga! I read the first two volumes of this series this month and I was totally blown away by how much I loved it. You may be familiar with the series from Netflix who released a live action adaptation about a year ago. I heard good things about it and decided to try the manga (I just am not much of a media watcher tbh!). I’m not a big fan of isekai manga and I usually avoid it completely so I was suspicious but was captivated by the mysterious life and death game that our characters were thrown into. I immediately got the second volume and some really big plot reveals made me have to take a walk after reading them. I’m already looking forward to the next installment from Viz!
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Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame
Helen: Tagame’s works have been a favorite of many for a while now. If you haven’t had a chance to read My Brother’s Husband, you should! I was stoked when I found this one on Netgalley and it did not disappoint. Navigate Sora, a young man, coming out to his close friend, Nao and Mr. Amamiya, an older cafe owner who told Sora he loved him. This really reminded me of Our Dreams at Dusk in beauty and content.
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What’s the best book you read this month? Let us know!
