READING LIST

Wow. So this right here is my favourite BL of all time.

In all seriousness though, I'll update this eventually once I finally process this beast. All I have to say at the moment is that the translation is solid, accessible, and fun. I think Emily Wilson did a fantastic job of staying somewhat faithful to the source material while giving the text a fresh and modern take for younger audiences. I do wish it retained more of Homer's poetic qualities though. Some parts felt a bit too simplified, if you will. I would still highly, highly recommend this to anyone interested in picking up Homer's work for the first time.

This is no easy book, but it is very much worth the read. Warsan Shire is a brilliant, powerful writer who wields a pen like a knife. I felt like Warsan Shire herself took me by the hand and brought me back to her childhood home and personally showed me every wound it left on her. Her writing, which captures her experiences of Black immigrant girlhood and womanhood are just gutting. And although hurt drips from every line, there is an undeniable tenderness to many of her poems that allows us to hope for her and the women in her life.

I think more than ever, as immigrants and refugees continue to be demonized, brutalized, and scapegoated, Shire's poems are a necessary read. As she says herself:

"At each and every checkpoint the refugee is asked are you human? The refugee is sure it's still human but worries that overnight, while it slept, there may have been a change in classification." -- Warsan Shire, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems

This book permanently changed my brain chemistry. It's like sex, if sex were actually good.

Higginbotham's narrative historical novel fell into my hands at the peak of my Chernobyl and nuclear engineering special interest, and I could not put it down once I started reading. I've reread it at least four or so times now.

Midnight in Chernobyl covers everything from the early days of the powerplant's construction to the very second reactor no. 4 blew up on April 26, 1986. Adam took over a decade gathering information from eyewitnesses and Soviet archives, and this thorough research is evident in that it almost feels like I lived through it myself. Of course, there are still some negligible errors (e.g. the fuel channel caps "jumping"). Midnight in Chernobyl paints a harrowing and hopeful portrait of human resilience, ingenuity, and nature--and serves as an important warning to anyone about the consequences of technology slipping off its leash.

Please read it.

"...a society where the cult of science had supplanted religion, the nuclear chiefs were among its most sanctified icons—pillars of the Soviet state. To permit them to be pulled down would undermine the integrity of the entire system on which the USSR was built. They could not be found guilty." -- Adam Higginbotham, Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

This book is very dear to me. Lamya's writing is terrific, smart, and vivid, which really did feel like they were pulling me into their world. Though I grew up a queer person in the West, with a Baptist Christian upbringing, I had no trouble resonating deeply with Lamya's experiences: the constant battles of religion vs. queerness, family vs. individual identity, East vs. West, bigotry in the LGBTQ community vs. bigotry in our cultural/ethnic communities. I really enjoyed the parts where she drew parallels between stories from the Quran to her own life. This book is unforgettable. Please read it.

"...even after all of this, my saying the truth out loud is not enough to prove who I am to a world that doesn't believe me." -- Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Anti-Indigenous racism, child abuse

Unfortunately, Richard Wagamese is no longer with us, but I like to believe that he continues to live on in his stories, and in the people they've touched.

I've had the incredible honor of being touched by said work. I read this book in grade 9 as a required First Nations reading in English class, and to this day it still haunts me. Indian Horse captures the very real and crushing realities that Indigenous children in Canada lived through in residential schools. It is by all means a difficult read, as it details the sexual, physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse that these literal children had to go through. Although it is carefully balanced by the triumph and joy of reading about Saul find comfort and achievement in hockey.

Wagamese' writing is legendary and comes to life off the page. I found myself quickly attached to Saul. He felt very real to me, and reading the book was almost like watching my best friend grow up. Being a victim of child sexual abuse in the Church myself, Saul really did speak to me. He made me feel less alone, and gave me the perseverence to keep going, to be where I am today. Thank you, Saul. I am so grateful to have known you.

"They scooped out our insides, Saul. We are not responsible for that. We are not responsible for what happened to us. None of us are," Fred said. "But our healing--that's up to us." -- Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse

I love abusive lesbian cannibals.

This novella was a hell of a ride. It's an easy, digestable horror that starts off tame, and does require some patience for the darker stuff to arrive, but had my eyes glued to the page the entire time. The writing left me with this indescribable feeling of dread and suspense that made me feel almost claustrophobic (in a good way).

My only gripes are that the beginning of the story dragged on more than I thought was necessary, and the plot is a bit predictable. I also wish more chapters were spent on the visceral horror elements.