The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

a sad fact of the book world is that queer literature is regularly relegated to small publishing houses (for the lucky writers) or self-publication (the unlucky ones). small publishing houses have fewer resources in terms of editing etc so queer literature is not rarely marred by silly mistakes that could be easily fixed by smart editors.

i would like to celebrate the smashing success of Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater, which does queerness (trans*) and "mental illness" (she would jump down your throat if you told her she has a mental illness) in a totally groundbreaking way.

thank you trevor for allowing me to set up this thread!

Thank you for starting it! I’m excited to learn what’s out there!

Isabel Waidner's Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature is a good collection to read. It does highlight the issue jo raises - literature of this kind is often relegated to small presses - but it also shows the type of writing coming out of several different communities.

Neil wrote: "Isabel Waidner's Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature is a good collection to read."

thanks! it looks like a great collection!

And several of the authors - including Isabel herself - have their own full-length works, some with the publisher of the anthology Doestevsky Wannabe (see the separate publisher thread https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...).

Another publisher worth watching out for is AndOtherStories - UK publisher of both Whiting award winner and RoC longlisted Patty Yumi Cottrell and also of Michelle Tea's Black Wave.

Jo wrote: “a sad fact of the book world is that queer literature is regularly relegated to small publishing houses”

I’ve been surprised that Olumide Popoola’s When We Speak of Nothing, published by Cassava Republic in 2017, has received so little critical or reader attention. Dealing with the intersection of gender identity, race, class, and nationality, its portrayal of the friendship between two teen boys is touching and memorable. The only reviews that I’ve seen are by the Lonesome Reader and by Diana Evans in the August 18th, 2017 Financial Times. As Evans points out, ”It’s not often we hear in such exacting articulation the voices of the young from behind the cranes and forklifts of London’s eternal regeneration crusade, from the wastelands of financial and political corruption, from the rubble that looks like the future.”*
*I've been unable to link successfully to the Evans review due to the FT paywall. But you can easily access it directly via Google, as I did.

I was expecting that to be submitted for the RoC actually, as Cassava Republic had a longlisted book last year, but it didn't find its way to the judges.

Have you read it Dan - and if so does it live up to those two reviews?

Paul wrote: "Have you read it Dan - and if so does it live up to those two reviews?"

Yes, I read When We Speak of Nothing and yes, it lives up to those two reviews. The story and the characters have remained with me. Well worth reading, and perhaps especially so for those with teens in their lives, including soon-to-be-teens and recently-were-teens.

I was initially disappointed that it wasn't on the RoC longlist, but then I decided that it perhaps didn't fit especially well within the RoC rubric.

In any case, When We Speak of Nothing definitely deserves wider readership.

There is an exciting new book out in German (sorry, but maybe a few on here read German?) called Fleisch mit weißer Soße I'm looking forward to read about trans* experience in Berlin. Doesn't appear to be out in translation any time soon, though.

Apart from that, although not new releases, I'm looking forward to reading Rolling the R's, Rose of No Man's Land, Chelsea Girls, and Tiny Pieces of Skull. And of course the classic Stone Butch Blues.

Glad to see someone liked Freshwater besides me. I'm hoping it will find a path to a literary prize.

Sam wrote: "Glad to see someone liked Freshwater besides me. I'm hoping it will find a path to a literary prize."

it seems hard to imagine it won't!

I've been hearing amazing things about How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee. Usually essay collections get overlooked because, in terms of genre, they are kind of neither here nor there.

Now that I think about it, it would be interesting to read it alongside Michelle Tea's Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions + criticism which is coming out this year.

thanks for these, sara. gotta get myself into a non-novel-reading mode. not difficult, but sometimes i'm lazy.

Same! Especially with essays. I read so many essays just by virtue of being on the Internet all day, so it's not what I generally go for in my leisure reading.

LET'S DO IT!!!!!

I have ordered Freshwater + Fleisch mit weißer Soße (I can't read German but it is for my son). In the process of sourcing them, I discovered that Blackwells stocks some US hardbacks so I ordered Kudos by Rachel Cusk as well.

I quite liked Kirsty Logan;s The Gloaming

i would consider Patty Yumi Cottrell's Sorry to Disrupt the Peace a queer book bc the protagonist is decidedly and vociferously asexual. also, fantastic book.

jo wrote: "i would consider Patty Yumi Cottrell's Sorry to Disrupt the Peace a queer book bc the protagonist is decidedly and vociferously asexual. also, fantastic book."

That's my fave book of the last six months EXCELLENT

Robert wrote: "jo wrote: "i would consider Patty Yumi Cottrell's Sorry to Disrupt the Peace a queer book bc the protagonist is decidedly and vociferously asexual. also, fantastic ..."

Agreed. Amazing.

An excellent review of Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg in the Boston Globe today. Comparisons to Sarah Waters' Fingersmith have me intrigued. The reviewer calls it: "that rare find, a challenging philosophical work that's also great fun." Appears it is Booker eligible too. The first transgender author longlisted? But I'm only going on this one review - it could be terrible.

Will wrote: "An excellent review of Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg in the Boston Globe today. Comparisons to Sarah Waters' Fingersmith have me intrigued. The reviewer calls it: that rare find, a chal..."

I have an ARC of it and am rapidly moving it up in the TBR pile ... it does sound intriguing!

Doug wrote: "Will wrote: "An excellent review of Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg in the Boston Globe today. Comparisons to Sarah Waters' Fingersmith have me intrigued. The reviewer calls it: that rare..."

I am looking forward to this - for once I am near the top of the library hold list. I'm not used to urban living, where the competition for library books is so stiff!

I finally got How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee and after the intellectual and ethical dumpster fire that was today, I need it.

Sara wrote: "I finally got How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee and after the intellectual and ethical dumpster fire that was today, I need it."

I hear you. We are all hanging in page by fucking page.

jo wrote: "I hear you. We are all .hanging in page by fucking page.."

EXACTLY!

Early this year I read The House of Impossible Beauties, and I think it is an amazing debut. I didn't know much about that time and scene and people, and the novel was for me insightful and exciting.

Oh, and I also like Freshwater a lot, and hope it wins some deserved prizes.