10 (more) LGBT+ Book Recommendations in One Sentence | Part 2

Since you all seemed to enjoyed my last post in which I recommended 10 LGBT+ books in one sentence, I wanted to do another post! I would do a third one, but I don’t think I have read enough LGBT+ that were so good I need to recommend them! All of the below-mentioned books were 4 or 5 star reads, and you probably know quite a few of them because I talk about them a lot (or at least, that’s what it feels like). I have listed the representation as best as I could but for a lot of these it has been a while since I have read them and I might have forgotten about some things, so feel free to send me additions if neccessary.

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10 LGBT+ Book Recommendations in One Sentence | Part 1

Since it’s (still) pride, I wanted to give you a lot of book recommendations, and since I have A LOT of book recommendations, I thought it might be smart to challenge myself and do this super quick. All of the below-mentioned books were 4 or 5 star reads, and you probably know quite a few of them because I talk about them a lot (or at least, that’s what it feels like). I have listed the representation as best as I could but for a lot of these it has been a while since I have read them and I might have forgotten about some things, so feel free to send me additions if neccessary.

If you like this, then read this | Collab with Ruby from Ruby Rae Reads

Today, I have collaborated with the lovely Ruby from Ruby Rae Reads (check out her blog *hint hint*) for a recommendation post! We both have picked some books, movies and tv series we love and the other will be recommending what books to read based on those! So in the post below, on the left you can see Ruby’s pick and on the left, my recommendations! We have both done this so you can go see her post in which she recommends books for me here!

IndieAthon | Indie and Self-Published Book Recommendations

I promised you a recommendation post for IndieAthon so here I am. I’ve asked some of my blogger friends for their favourites and their recommendations so a big thank you to everyone who has send me their recommendations! Without any further ado, let’s start the recommendations!

8 Things that Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book Immediately + Recommendations

I am back from my week-long hiatus, in which I went to Berlin, fell in love with the city and then sadly had to return to my home where it’s very boring and I have to go to school and let me just cry a little. I was so busy sightseeing that I didn’t even have the time to miss blogging! I’m very glad to be back at blogging though! It was strangely hard to come up with a topic to talk about today but I found something.

Today I wanted to talk about what makes me want to read a book. And I will not go into covers and titles, even though those play a very important role. Each topic will include examples of books I read and loved and books I want to read! So basically, this is a recommendation/tbr post 😛

#1 Dark fantasy

I totally blame V.E. Schwab for this because her books are so wonderfully dark, it makes every other book feel light! It’s kind of weird, but I love it when books have a lot of dark themes, such as death, destruction, murder, assassins. Anything that’s inherently bad, I love it.

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To read

#2 Con-artists & illusionists

I love it when characters are not who everyone thinks they are, when they have to fake to be someone else or something else. Illusions and cons are so much fun! There’s the complexity of coming across as genuine while there is the constant tension of not being caught.

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To read

 

#3 Complex characters

Any character that’s morally grey, has many flaws and is not the hero by design will catch my attention. I love it when characters are flawed and not really the nicest people. Characters like Kaz from Six of Crows with skewed morals are the best kind of characters to read about.

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To read

 

#4 Feminism

Give me all the female strong characters that fight for feminism (or male characters? But those are rarer)! If a story is about feminism or has feminist aspects to it, I am immediately drawn to it!

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To read

#5 LGBT+ rep

For obvious reasons, I’m not a huge fan of romance, but when the romance is between LGBT+ characters or when the characters are just on the LGBT+ spectrum, I will immediately like it 147% more (I made that number up don’t worry).

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To read

#6 A diverse group of teens

LGBT+ aside, I love it when there’s a group of teens that are of different cultures, backgrounds, etc. I always like it when a book changes POVs, it always gives an extra dimension to the story because you get to see things in different perspectives!

To read

#7 Coming-of-age

If it’s a story about growing up, gaining confidence and about that phase in life where you have to start making the big decisions, I will want to read it. I love stories in which the characters have to grow out of their small comfort zone and go out in the world, discover themselves. For this reason, I love it when books are set in the last year of high school.

Read

To read

I can’t think of any at this moment!

#8 When it’s written by one of my favourite authors

This is a very obvious one, but there are some authors that have become instant favourites, and I will read whatever they come up with. EVERYTHING. Especially when it comes to V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Laini Taylor, Holly Bourne, Maggie Stiefvater and Marissa Meyer.

To read

What makes you want to pick up a book? Are any of our interests the same? You got any recommendations for me perhaps?

Discussion: The importance of bully-representation, 13 Reasons Why, & recommendations

Trigger warning: suicide, bullying.

5 minutes ago I finished watching the final episode of Thirteen Reasons Why, the new Netflix series. And if you haven’t yet, I will recommend you to watch it. Not because it is such an amazing series, or that the actors are great, or that the storyline is so intriguing. No. Because, it is one of the most important things I’ve seen all year. As someone who had to deal with bullying myself, seeing this series get so much attention… I can’t even describe how it makes me feel.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, Thirteen Reasons Why is based on the book by Jay Asher (which I’ve read at least twice), and is about Hannah Baker. Hannah Baker made 13 tapes on which she explains why she decided to end her own life. It is about the aftermath of the horrible events that lead her to make this decision.

A couple of years ago I heard about this girl who made a video saying she was going to kill herself, the video went viral and the girl was found dead. I found myself crying at night, simply for the fact that that girl found life so horrible that the prospect of dying was better than to survive another day.

It hurts me so much, that still in those 10 years since Thirteen Reasons Why came out, this is so powerful and especially necessary. That still people don’t see how or why their words and actions affect other people. The weak, who are hunted like they’re not worth any good words. The strong who use their words to put themselves above others.

This issue, the bullying is not solvable just by making the victims stand up for themselves. As a victim myself, I know how it feels like you have nowhere to go, no safe space, no-one to turn to. Even if there are people around you that are willing to talk, going to them is such a huge step. Therefore the only solution is to make the people around them aware, aware of the consequences, aware of the pain. This isn’t an issue that is easily solvable but it must come from us, from all of us.

This series is a step in the right direction. It shows how poisonous it can be, how easy it is to do the wrong thing when you want to do the right thing, how a word, an action can hurt. We need to talk, and make this issue approachable, make ourselves approachable. If you are dealing with this, talk, to me or to someone that you care about. Find help, find a shoulder to cry on, I know it’s hard, but if we don’t change society and it’s ways, this is possibly the only way.

Recommendations

If you want to read more about this topic I will highly recommend reading the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Wonder by R.J.Palacio. If you want to watch something, I will definitely recommend the Netflix adaptation of Thirteen Reasons Why (2017) and the movie A Girl Like Her (2015). I will trigger warn you, Thirteen Reasons Why contains not only bullying and suicide but also sexual assault and rape.

This series is real and it hurts, but it’s important.

What is your opinion on this topic? How do you think we can solve this issue? Is representation in movies and books the way to go? Do you have any recommendations?

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This is the first post in hopefully a long series of discussions about books, blogging, real-life issues and representation.