You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

March
This year's Mardi Gras theme is ECSTATICA! (which I will admit is a little confusing). But to unpack that a bit more, it is being defined as "a rallying call to gather, connect, and transform individual joy into a powerful collective movement." Another comment from the CEO was it is "what happens when you find your people, community and family". So let's embrace the theme of ECSTATICA! for our March reading.

Read a book that meets one of the following criteria:

• Has an LGBTIQA+ main character
• The main character has a 'found' or 'chosen' family - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chosen_...
• The cover of the book looks like it's heading to Mardi Gras. I mean we want glitter, sparkles, bling, feathers, rainbows, rhinestones, giant wigs, leather, metal studs, ridiculous makeup, etc. I will leave this to you, but I want the covers to be OTT! (over the top). If you are not sure if it fits, it doesn't and you need to go BIGGER!
• The book is a feel good, happy, joyful book. Explain.
• There is a massive party, gathering, wedding, event, etc in the book. Not a dinner party of 20 in your home's dining room, I want a big party.
• The book has a tie to a collective movement or protest. The main character may be working for a NGO organising a collective movement, there may be a protest as a large part of the story, you could read a non-fiction book about a collective movement or protest.

In the interest of celebration and inclusivity, there are no points this month. Just read!

General Rules:

1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be combined with the Year Long Challenge and the Group Themed Read.
3. The book must be read between March 1 - March 31, 2026 (based on your local time zone).
4. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose but you may only report one.
5. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read.

Reporting:

- WOF name
- What you chose to read
- Which criteria/task did you choose?
- How does your book meet your chosen criteria/task?

WOF Jayme

I read Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. This books fits in the LGBTIQA+ main character criteria and also found family criteria.

The main character is Viv a mercenary Orc who is wounded and has to recover in a sleepy seaside town and is befriended by a quirky cast of towns people who form a found family. Viv has feelings for the dwarf baker. Will she stay or will she go?

WoFSharonBiskit

I read Big Lake Celebration, Nick Russell.

The plot fits the criteria of big celebration as the town is in the middle of a huge Pioneer Days Celebration.

Tourists flock to the town for this yearly event as do the town’s residents. The death of the representative of Bureau of Indian Affairs during the town’s fireworks show is the beginning of all kinds of things that occur while the town is celebrating. It is a big deal.

WoF Katrisa
I read a book about the queen of pop!
I chose "• There is a massive party, gathering, wedding, event, etc in the book."
In this book the author talks about Swift concerts which are MASSIVE gatherings! Also glitz and glam are also swifty :)

I read Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music

WoF Marnie

I read The Wedding People for a big party. It was a week of pre wedding parties at a high end hotel in Rhode Island, USA.

Wof AnnaM

I read The Love Peddlers. This book meets 2 criteria: its protagonist is a gay man, and his uncle chose his lover over his family and the entire community.

WoF: Kristie

I read Leonard and Hungry Paul.

Criteria: There is a massive party, gathering, wedding, event, etc in the book.

How it fits: Hungry Paul's sister gets married and the wedding is included in the story.

WOF: Karin

I read Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood

Criteria: The book has a tie to a collective movement or protest. The main character may be working for a NGO organising a collective movement, there may be a protest as a large part of the story, you could read a non-fiction book about a collective movement or protest.

How it fits: This is a nonfiction social justice memoir by a Latino author who is has been part of more than NGO starting as a teen (at least one he founded.) More than one of these (one which ended and the members moved out to help in their community) is mentioned in the book. His first objective was to help people in his community in Salinas, but he has another as well.

WoF Nix

I read The Lamb by Lucy Rose

The MC and her mother both belong to LGBTQ community

The book also meets the crtieria of found / chosen family - the MC and her mother finds Eden another woman who joins them for the love of cannibalism

WOF name - Janice

I almost forgot to report. Oops. I read Bullets and Beads.


It kind of fits a couple prompts because it's set at Mardis Gras in New Orleans, parade and all. The cover has a whack of Mardis Gras beads and also has the trademark colours of green & purple.
It was a fun read full of mischief and mayhem.

WoF Laura apenandzen

Task: The book is a feel-good, happy, joyful book.

I read The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well which is how the Danes cultivate happiness. It boils down to having well-ordered priorities where family, coziness, time spent together and satisfaction, e.g. happiness in life is prioritized and all members of society are cared for and no one goes hungry etc.

Money, greed, competition and wanting always the biggest and best of everything ranks low in their priority list. Denmark is almost always ranked in the top one or two in the world in happiness, even tho taxes are high there. This seems to show that money can’t and doesn’t buy happiness.

I do want to read more about their society than this book was really intended to do. This was basically a little taster introduction to their concepts. I really enjoyed it.

WoF Alexandra

I’ve read Heated Rivalry. The book has an LGBTIQA+ main character.

The book is so hyped over here that I was curious and got a copy. I don’t think it lives up to the hype. The story was predictable but easy and fast to read.

WoF Almeta

Read a book that • Has an LGBTIQA+ main character
I read Boom Town on 24 Mar
LGBTQ is tagged on MPG, female characters Micah “Lyriq” Johanssen and Felice “Lucky” Carothers, are lovers