deepbutdazzlingdarkness's reviews
350 reviews

Country Queers: 11,000 Miles of Back Roads on a Quest for Our Stories by Rae Garringer

emotional hopeful informative reflective

5.0

!!!!!!!!! This was fantastic. I loved all the photos and stories/interviews from people all over the country and from all walks of life talking about their experiences being queer. And I really liked seeing the way this project evolved over the ~10 years since Garringer started working on it. The way they learned more about how to conduct interviews, what to talk about, how they specifically made a point to reach out to a more diverse pool of people after the initial road trip in 2013, etc. 

Not to drag a similar book I read last month, but this is EXACTLY what I wanted Real Queer America to be, and now I want to drop my rating of that one even lower lol. They have similar premises, but I like that despite the fact that I also learned a decent amount about the author in this, they put the focus on the people they were interviewing, and didn’t do a bunch of navelgazing about why cities suck and why all queer people who live in cities are miserable. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Haymarket Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unlike the other reviews, I didn’t have any issues with my NetGalley file, so don’t be discouraged from reading it for that reason, they seem to have worked out the issues.

The Group Trip by Audrey Ingram

4.5

I really enjoyed this. I feel like I can’t rate it 5 stars because I doubt it’s going to be a book I think about a lot going forward, but it was just a super solid summer read. I loved the different timelines, getting flashbacks to when Chloe was in college and how the friend group developed and evolved over the years. Despite the short length (only 230 pages!) the friendships felt so lived in and I totally bought them as found family. I liked the slow reveal about Luke cheating and why they broke up and how Chloe had been trying to make herself fit into his world. 

The tension between Wyatt and Chloe was great and them bonding over both being the poor(er) members of their friend group was nice. I liked that Chloe and Wyatt live in DC like I do now because I got such a kick out of the local aspects of it that I recognize. And I haven’t read Happy Place yet, but I really like that this one doesn’t end up with Chloe and Luke getting back together and it has them moving on separately, but getting to a place where their friend group can remain intact.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Pageboy by Elliot Page

4.0

Christopher and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

Got 20 minutes in and I’m just bored.

How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France

4.0

The DC Book of Pride: A Celebration of DC's LGBTQIA+ Characters by D.K. Publishing

fast-paced

5.0

Gorgeous art and I love gay people!!! This doesn’t really have a story, but I liked learning about lots of queer DC characters I didn’t know about. One of them is apparently even in a canonical (? I assume given that it’s in the book lol) throuple!! Good for her. Also the art of Clark and Lois at a pride parade with a rainbow Superman flag makes me want to cry!!!! I love them so much 🥹

D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.

I might finish this eventually but it’s due at the library tomorrow and I’m not gonna be able to push through tonight and tbh I don’t really want to. Similar to a book I read earlier this year called An Epic Construct, it feels overly explain-y and I’m just not really vibing with it. I do have the author’s other book out from the library rn as well, and I’m hoping that one will work for me better!

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

4.0

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

4.5

Probably 4.5 stars. This took me SO long to read - possibly the longest I’ve ever taken to read a book that wasn’t an audiobook, and it was hard to get into at first so I was just reading little bits here and there, but I finally finished it in 2 big chunks, and I ended up really enjoying it. The setting was so immersive and I liked all the different POVs. There were a lot of moving parts that were hard to keep track of (I’m never good at paying attention to timestamps, and I really had to make myself do that when reading), but it came together really well. The reveal about Delphine had me literally SO outraged and then when we finally found out what happened to Bear…god, so heartbreaking. And the ending was very satisfying! 

Bingo Love Volume 1: Jackpot Edition by Gail Simone, Tee Franklin, Marguerite Bennett

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The story itself was pretty simplistic, but it still had me like 🥹 and the art is absolutely STUNNING