Celebrate Pride Month by diving into these (mostly) nonfiction queer-focused novels by queer-creators.
All in Non-Review
2023: My Year In Reading
Revisit my year in reading.
2023: The Best and Worst Books I Read
I had no trouble narrowing down my “best” list this year, but “worst” was another story. Truthfully, I read a lot of mediocre books – many I should’ve given up on – which means this was a year dominated by quantity and not quality.
2023: The Best and Worst Audiobook Narrations I Heard
In a year where 67 percent of my reading was listening, I experienced the good, the bad and the downright ugly of audiobook performances and production. With that said, here are the 10 best and 12 worst audiobook narrations I heard in 2023.
Read With Pride: My 2023 Pride Month Reading List
Not every act of defiance requires a protest. In fact, one of the most radical things you can do to support and honor the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month is to read.
A Conversation About “Spare” by Prince Harry
By now the scandalous details and big reveals of Price Harry’s memoir have been well-publicized. Instead of rehashing elements that a quick Google search can provide to you, I invited my friend Heather - my go to source for info on the royals - to discuss the good, the bad and the interesting revealed in “Spare.” The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
2022: My Year In Reading - The Stats
My 2022 reading goal was to have 45 percent of books read be written by authors not like me, defined by being a white, cis-gendered male who identifies as gay. Factoring in all diversity markers (and multiple books by the same authors), 53% of books read qualified under the “not like me” umbrella.
2022: The Worst Books I Read
Ultimately, for the amount of books I read in 2022, there were only a few that I actively disliked. While there were many that felt incredibly average, I was able to find redeeming qualities in most reads - even the 22 titles reflected here that account for the lower 20 percent of my total reading.
2022: The Best Books I Read
I read a lot of great books this year, so I forced myself to narrow down the list to 10 favorites and 10 honorable mentions. These two lists comprise less than 20 percent of my overall reads, so they really were the cream of the crop.
2022: The Best and Worst Audiobook Narrations I Heard
After listening to more than 70 audiobooks in 2022, I can definitively state these are the 10 best and seven worst audiobook narrations I heard.
2022: My Year In Books
This year, I attempted more than 100 books - 102 to be exact - and only abandoned one read (although I should’ve given up on several others). Explore all the books I read in 2022.
“The Glass Menagerie” and the Other Classics I Read This Year
My scope of what is deemed a “classic” has shifted over the years, and it has made diving into the back catalog of literature a lot more fun. Today, I view a classic as any novel published three decades ago that has developed a legacy. The classics I read this year - about 10 percent of my total reading - spanned the genres of science fiction, young adult and literary fiction by some authors well-known and lesser so.
12 Books I’ll Attempt to Read for Pride Month
While I won’t get to every book on this list in June, I will read them at some point this year, because each represents a facet of queer life – humor, resiliency and love – that continues to propel us forward.
2021: The Best Books I Read
This year I did something I haven’t done before. In re-assessing my book ratings, I made some adjustments. Like many others, for me 2021 was a roller coaster. So, it was only fair that I gave all my reads a second look before looking in the best of list.
2021: The Worst Books I Read
Not all the books are terrible per se. Each had a few redeemable qualities that made them entertaining and informative, but they lacked the brilliance that immerses you in a story and doesn’t let go.
2021: The Best and Worst Audiobook Narrations I Heard
As you’ve guessed by the title of this website, audiobooks are my go-to format for reading. In 2021, 77 percent of my 82 books attempted were audiobooks, so I experienced the good, the bad and the mediocre of audiobook narration and production.
2021: My Year In Reading – The Stats
Last year, I made the goal to increase my female-identifying and Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) author reading by 10 percent – two demographics that together made up roughly 26 percent of my reading last year. So, how’d I do?
2021: My Year In Books
After reading and listening to more books in a single year than I used to finish in a decade, I can say, wholeheartedly, that 2021 was the year of nonfiction.
“Little Women” and the Other Classics I Read This Year
While I read fewer classics than usual, there was only one that fell flat — a truly remarkable achievement in my eyes!
Can You Still Handle Pandemic-Focused Novels?
From the Bible to “World War Z,” humanity has turned to art and literature to help understand pandemics, which, in reality, are a not infrequent occurrences when you look at world history. And part of that healing and processing comes from being entertained.