Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
I had put off reading Saeed Jones' "How We Fight For Our Lives" for years, expecting a depressing, harrowing manifesto about the multitude of ways America fails Black men. Let this be a lesson in not judging a book by its cover, because Jones instead offers readers a sometimes funny and relatable exploration of growing up gay.
A choppy narrative and sparse illustrations made it difficult to truly connect with the emotional turmoil Crewes walks the reader through. Initially intended as a 10-page micro-comic, it certainly appears that was the right length for a story that felt incredibly thin.
Between the bloat, uneven pacing and self-absorption you’ll quickly find yourself tired of the lecture and wondering how a book that started promisingly can derail so quickly.
Hutchinson’s conversational writing style allows readers to connect with his experiences and fill in the blanks with their own. It's a reminder that sometimes you’re simply hiding scabs, but you’re never too old to heal the wound. While not necessarily targeted to young adults, the author – a prolific writer in that genre – uses short, fast-paced chapters that mirror the chaos of his internal life.
Expectation: A dark and twisted gay “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Reality: Despite its intriguing premise and well-written characters, "These Violent Delights" is a super slow-burning thriller with too many unresolved plot points that left me wanting more.
Complicated and challenging, Walt Odets' "Out of the Shadows" is not a comfortable read. Part psychology text and part memoir manifesto, it is aimed at helping cis-gendered gay men live authentic and complete lives: emotionally, physically and sexually.
While Eliot Schrefer had admirable intent in addressing long held and incorrect theories about how we perceive sexual behavior in the natural world, the execution was a hodgepodge of personal anecdotes and pontifications that showed the author’s biases – even though he frequently maligned scientific bias.
Expectation: A nuanced and authentic portrayal of the early AIDS epidemic in small town America.
Reality: A well-meaning but melodramatic story that felt a bit like young adult fiction.
Celebrate Pride Month by diving into these (mostly) nonfiction queer-focused novels by queer-creators.
Expectation: A sprawling saga about one of India’s crime families.
Reality: Less literary than anticipated, I was mostly entertained while also being annoyed by the repetitive action and predictable tropes.
Expectation: A straight-forward espionage thriller about a man inheriting his uncle’s dirty deeds.
Reality: An outlandish, action-packed sci-fi comedy that won me over with talking animals and some solid social commentary.
Expectation: A true continuation of the first novel, picking up where things left off for the Anishinaabe as they enter the next phase of survival in the Canadian north.
Reality: Less intimate and more standard dystopian tale, the slow pacing and underdeveloped characters may deter some readers, but the emotional ending provides a satisfying conclusion to the story.
Expectation: A straight-forward re-imagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
Reality: A dark, engaging story that builds on the source material and delivers a highly entertaining read more attune to our modern sensibilities.
Expectation: To be wowed by this stalwart of American literature.
Reality: A bit let down, and not just because of the terrible racism. Essentially this is a story of vignettes with a very loose plot.
Derf Backderf's "Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio" takes readers beyond the iconic photograph, offering a meticulously researched and haunting graphic novel about the events that occurred on May 4, 1970, between students at Kent State University and the Ohio National Guard.
Expectation: A “city as the sole connection” collection that reads more like a wannabe novel.
Reality: A sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreak collection about the new American experience that succeeds thanks to its subtlety. There are no bad apples in the bunch.
While marketed as middle grade, this memoir transcends the young adult genre with its matter-of-fact honesty and subtle lessons about tolerance, faith and perseverance. Just like Scheherazade, Nayeri uses storytelling for survival.
Expectation: A powerful story about the human/nature connection and how an ever-accelerating eco-calamity will destroy us all.
Reality: Bloated and boring, there was far too much happening and very little of it was interesting. I’m struggling to see how this won the Pulitzer Prize.
Expectation: Another twisty supernatural thriller from a rather reliable author.
Reality: St. James delivered a lazy, convoluted plot that asked more from the reader than should’ve been allowed.
