'Boy Queen'; a review and exclusive author content!
6 August 2020 • bookish, drag, RuPaul's Drag Race
Hey girl, hey. This is not just your average Almost Amazing book review, oh no… this one is special. Because you see, my queens, this book 'Boy Queen' is not just an utterly fierce treat that slays in the exciting world of drag lit as well as UKYA - it was also written by one of my favourite humans in the book world, THE George Lester. AKA That Gurrrl, the Drag Queen.
Oh, and this review of mine is merely the warm up for the big show – the lovely George has written about his favourite works of LGBTQ+ fiction, and you can read that excellent piece below.
George did a bit of a Taylor (see: folklore), and Ru-vealed this divine debut quite late in its publishing journey, considering how long it takes to get from writing to pitching to selling. What a cheeky move. And while I was surprised by the news, I wasn’t surprised at ALL by the subject matter of his first novel. Because George is, honestly, the #1 drag stan. He was the one who got me into Drag Race, some years ago, and I owe him several bevs for that.
Anyway, here’s the tea: Robin Cooper’s life is falling apart. His friends and peers are moving on to university, and he’s been rejected from every drama school he’s applied to. Suddenly, everything is ending and he’s being left behind. He’s just starting to doubt his potential, and is even considering giving up on his dreams, when he and his friends end up going to a local drag show, and suddenly it dawns on him that his future may not be what he’d originally planned… in fact, it’s considerably more sparkly.
… A less rambly synopsis and some readers’ reviews are on Goodreads, FYI.
The library is open, and you best believe I am doing some serious reading… but no shade. ‘Boy Queen’ is a truly brilliant tale of a young man finding himself in the most unexpected way, with some wonderful supporting characters, some good old juicy teen romance and bravery in the face of adversity. I mean, George himself has described ‘Boy Queen’ as ‘Dumplin’ meets RuPaul’s Drag Race by way of Gilmore Girls’, and this is perhaps the perfect summary of the story. You’ve got the downtrodden, inexperienced but determined main character who shines when they’re given the right opportunity, the supportive drag community - with some shade thrown in for good measure - the adorable first love with classic teen complications, friendships that could withstand any storm, and a bloody good mother-son relationship that makes your heart swell. I flew threw this proof in the early stages of lockdown, and it was just what I needed to lift my spirits and give me hope. Thank you for this, my darling. It’s golden.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. Time for some excellent guest content from the glamazon author! Read on, queens.
GEORGE LESTER’S FAVOURITE 5 LGBTQ+ BOOKS…
This is such a hard blog post to write. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big reader of queer books, so I have a pretty big collection on my shelf. Whenever anyone asks me what my favourite is, the answer changes almost as quickly as I have given it. HOWEVER, dear reader, I will do my utmost to keep this list to just five of my favourite queer titles. These are just the first five that popped into my head.
HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME | Adam Silvera
*makes strange groaning noise because MY FEELINGS*
I will never forget the reading experience that I had with this book. There is something about the way that Adam writes (and this is true of They Both Die At The End, More Happy Than Not and even his fab new Urban Fantasy book Infinity Son) that really grabs hold of your feelings and SQUEEZES THEM!
History Is All You Left Me is the story of Griffin whose ex-boyfriend Theo has died in a drowning accident. Even though the two of them had broken up, Griffin is absolutely destroyed by this news and the only person who understands how he feels is Theo's new boyfriend Jackson. The entire book is told in chapters from the past (History) and the present (Today) and I spent every damn page of the book aching. It's absolutely one of the best queer books I have ever read and I will never forget being stood on a crowded train during my commute in absolute pieces while reading it.
HOLDING THE MAN | Timothy Conigrave
I pretty much talk about this book on my YouTube channel at any available opportunity (and talking about it now has me wanting to relisten to the audiobook!) This is a memoir that I stumbled upon a few years ago and fell head over heels in love with. To my knowledge, it is still out of print in the UK, but you can find editions of it on the internet. Anything is possible with the power of Google. But I don't understand why no one has picked it up. It's stunning.
It is the story of Tim's 15-year love affair with John Caleo, the captain of his school's rugby team when he was at school. It tracks his life growing up gay in a very conservative society in Australia around the height of the AIDS crisis. Conigrave finished the book shortly before dying of an AIDS-related illness, which is actually a fact I didn't know when I was reading the book. Because I'd made it all the way to the end and Tim was still alive, I assumed that he still was. Unfortunately he passed away, but this story still lives on and I urge people to read it. It really spoke to my soul. It's fantastic.
(This is an adult memoir, so there are adult themes in the book!)
PROUD | edited by Juno Dawson
Short story collections are usually hit and miss for me. I find it is a very rare thing to find a short story collection where every story in the book is an absolute belter and you love each one as fiercely as the last. Proud is just such a collection. From start to finish it is a glorious rainbow of queerness that made my heart sing! From the adorable to the achingly beautiful, the funny to the fabulous, what we have in Proud is a collection of stories that speaks to so many different experiences. Not only is it written by a fabulous collection of queer authors it is also illustrated, making it doubly wonderful and gorgeous and sparkly and QUEER QUEER QUEER! I live!
THE BLACK FLAMINGO | Dean Atta
This is quite a recent love for me but it is a fierce and burning love that I can't see going away any time soon. If you've read it, you'll understand, but The Black Flamingo is a novel written in verse that tracks the life of Michael, who is half Jamaican and half Greek-Cypriot, from when he is a baby all the way to when he is at University and discovers the sheer magic of drag. It is a journey of self-discovery and identity, a celebration of queerness and finding power within yourself. It is honestly one of the best books I have ever read in my life and if you've not got it on your TBR already, you're doing life wrong. Why are you still here reading this post? Go and get it!
WE ARE OKAY | Nina LaCour
My first experience of reading Nina was in her collaboration with David Levithan, You Know Me Well, which also happens to be a fantastic book btw. I didn’t really know what to expect going in but what I got was an achingly beautiful story of a girl being forced to confront all the things she has run away from when her best friend visits her at college over Christmas break. I finished it quite recently (it's been one of my many lockdown reads) and I am still thinking about and making that little groaning noise when something punches you right in the feelings. No, it really is that good!!
Please know that this is just a selection of queer books that I super love! There are so many more, just go to my Instagram and you'll see! Every other week I find another queer book that makes me scream and cry because I love it so much!
*
Thanks so much for this, darling George. This brilliant fella’s new book Boy Queen is out from 6th August 2020, and is available from all good bookshops (it’s on offer from my fave small family-run shop A Great Read, FYI).
You can find him as a boy on Instagram @TheGeorgeLester or in drag @ThatGurrrlQueen.
More lockdown reads.
11 July 2020 • bookish, recent reads
Remember when I wrote some quick fire reviews of books I read during my shielding days? Well, here are some I read after I was told by my GP that I could ‘be normal’ (ha, as if)…
The Black Flamingo, by Dean Atta.
I read this before the end of May, so when the BLM movement was dominating social media* and folks were asking for recommendations of books by Black authors, I was delighted to see this one was being shouted about. It’s a beautiful story written in verse, about a boy coming to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen, and then getting into drag at university.
Thank you to the friend who sent me this via my Amazon wishlist!
*BLM is still very much on my social media radar, because I follow people who rightfully won’t let it be buried again until the next unjust killing goes viral. Read my Black Lives Matter blog post here.
Oh No, Bobo! By Donna David.
This picture book was sent to me by the very kind author. That doesn’t affect my opinion that it was a lovely story, and while I wasn’t 100% on the wording of it at times, I appreciated that it was a cleverly told tale about the importance of asking permission.
The Strangeworlds Travel Agency, by L.D. Lapinski.
A truly brilliant fantastical story about a young girl who finds escape and friendship in a bizarre little shop full of suitcases through which you can jump in and out of other worlds! L.D is a wonderful writer, and I can’t wait for the next installment in this series.
*This novel may be meant for younger readers, but I found it such a joy to read and have recommended it to folks of all ages.
The Flatshare, by Beth O’Leary.
Believe the hype. I could just leave it at that to be honest, but let me get a little deeper – this is a pretty high concept contemporary about a man and a woman who share a flat and a bed, due to their respective money issues, and while they don’t meet in person, they develop a relationship through sticky notes left on cupboards and pillows. I was also pleasantly surprised by the other story lines, including a manipulative ex-boyfriend, career wobbles and another (very old) love story.
Thank you to Quercus Books for sending me this hardback many moons ago, and apologies it took me so long to read it.
Under a Dancing Star, by Laura Wood.
Yep, I read her YA novel ‘A Sky Painted Gold’ at the beginning of lockdown, and after so many people telling me to read this one too – and a very kind soul sending it to me via my Amazon wishlist! – I finally did. So, Bea and Ben meet in Italy, where Bea has been sent by her parents to stay with her uncle in the hopes that she’ll learn something and mature somewhat, and conduct an experiment – a summer romance. It’s essentially a prequel to Much Ado About Nothing, aka my favourite Shakespeare play. How could I NOT love it?
Laura’s next book, ‘A Snowfall of Silver’ comes out this October, and I will obviously be front of the queue to grab a copy.
The Princess Saves Herself in This One, by Amanda Lovelace.
So this is actually a reread; I do love a good literary tradition, and obviously when silly Timehop reminded me that late June is when, for the past two years, I have read this book and marked the poems that resonate with me the most, obviously I had to do it again. What did I find out about myself, this time round? Well, this year I seem to be a little less bitter.
There we have it. That was alright, wasn’t it? I like doing short reviews. I worry way too much when I’m writing longer ones that I haven’t got every little bit in, or done the book justice – but this way, I’m keeping it light and hopefully piquing your interest.
Please consider shopping at indie bookshops in this difficult time; the bigger book boys don’t need your money as much, trust me. My friend Leena recently highlighted a whole bunch of indies on her Instagram, Books Are My Bag are always shouting out smaller shops, and as always I want to recommend The Big Green Bookshop and A Great Read UK, both of whom are online and don’t just have the best offers, but also the friendliest service. And my local pals (Hastings area), check out Rother Books in Battle, and Hare & Hawthorn in Hastings old town. Have I missed any? Comment below, or tweet me!
Recent Reads; isolation edition.
12 May 2020 • bookish, grace's isolation, isolation
Recent Reads; ashes, mountains, fandom, femininity and the evils of social media.
5 November 2019 • a girl's guide to personal hygiene, bookish, Cat Clarke, Heartstream, recent reads, Tallulah Pomeroy, UKYA, YA
Dyslexia Awareness Week, 2019.
8 October 2019 • Barrington Stoke, bookish, dyslexia, Dyslexia Awareness Week
Grace's Guide to Personal Hygiene (a book review + stories)
9 September 2019 • a girl's guide to personal hygiene, bookish, taboo, Tallulah Pomeroy
'Women aren't as ladylike as people would like to imagine. Using secrets collected from hundreds of them, this exquisitely disgusting illustrated book rewrites our definition of femininity.
A quick Where and How? with Cat Clarke, author of 'Letting Go'!
6 August 2019 • Barrington Stoke, bookish, Cat Clarke, how what where when
How, What, Where and When? with Lex Croucher, on 'You're Crushing It!'
13 June 2019 • author interview, bookish, how what where when, Lex Croucher, lexcanroar
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Lex Croucher ✨ (@lexcanroar) on
Social Icons