Libby's Bookshelf

  THE GRAVITY OF US by PHIL STAMPER Pretty much all I need to hear to know that I’m going to love a book are the words: queer love story. I do wish I’d listened a bit harder because this one is also about space travel - not the most interesting topic in the world (or out of it) for me. Regardless of that, I did enjoy this book. It’s lighthearted and young but it still managed to cover some serious issues including mental health. I appreciated the honesty of the characters and the cute love story and this is definitely a book I would be happy to recommend to any of my teenage students, but for me it was a little too spacey and a little too young. It’s not this wonderful book’s fault; I’m just not the target audience! I still love Leon, though ❤️

  LIKE A LOVE STORY by ABDI NAZEMIAN This novel follows the points of view of three teenagers in the late 1980s in New York during the AIDS crisis. One is openly gay, the other is also gay and is from Iran and is struggling with his sexuality and the other is a young and beautiful girl with a gay uncle who has AIDS. The story is centred around activism and protests and fighting against the homophobic system and disgusting pharmaceutical companies that sell medicines for people with AIDS at impossible prices. The president, Reagan, didn’t even speak the word AIDS out loud even though it was killing one person every twelve seconds. Throughout this heartbreaking story, I could feel the author’s hope. There were strong themes of love and friendship that stitched my broken heart together again. There is still a lot to be done and the final chapter and the author’s note at the end prove that we must continue to educate ourselves and continue to fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Be m...

  PATSY by NICOLE DENNIS-BENN In Jamaica, Patsy dreams of more. She lives with her God-worshipping mother and her five year old daughter. Her best friend - maybe even girlfriend - left for America a few years ago and all Patsy dreams of is being with her there. That is how this beautifully devastating novel opens. There are many themes explored in this book including mother and daughter relationships, immigration, poverty, the American dream, gender and sexual identity and more I’ve probably missed, but what stood out to me was the repetition of past mistakes. It’s like the writer was saying if we ignore our feelings or smother them with some obsession then they won’t go away or be forgotten, they’ll be passed down from one generation to the next. From mother to daughter to daughter to daughter to daughter... So it has to stop somewhere. Someone has to acknowledge these mistakes or feelings and talk about it; get it out in the open. I think it’s quite a subtle thing and something t...

  CAMP by L. C. ROSEN What a perfect way to end Pride Month! This book was pure delight and a joy; a gorgeous camp love story (and that means camp in both senses of the word). I’ve seen a lot of these summer camps in American movies and I’ve always thought that it looked like great fun and a great setting for a book, especially if there are some hot people around. And who doesn’t love the idea of a summer romance? Well this book takes summer camp and makes it camp! It’s summer camp for LGBTQ+ teenagers and it’s saucy! I love how the writer made us feel like we’d known these characters forever. I love how invested I became in their stories. At times I thought the sex scenes were quite graphic for a YA book but then I realised how great it was that Rosen was teaching young, gay people about sex - something that isn’t taught properly in schools to LGBTQ+ children. And something that we don’t see often enough in mainstream media. Well I think it’s hot and I want more of it. Reading LGB...

  ANOTHER BROOKLYN by JACQUELINE WOODSON I read this book in the space of a few hours and as soon as I finished I turned back to the first page again. I didn’t read it all again - just that first page and it worked. It’s a cyclical book. It doesn’t need to be read in any particular order. Memories manifest in any way they want to. This book is a series of memories told from the point of view of August; a teenager growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s. She states early on in the book that life would have been different if she’d known about jazz, but all she knew of was the top 40 (white artists mostly). And “it never quite figured us out.” I found that one statement to be huge! It’s a 170 page novel, but that statement to me felt bigger than the messages I’ve taken from 1000 page novels. If we can’t see ourselves represented, how can we see ourselves at all? My own white privilege means that this is something I rarely have to think about, but this book helped me to understand how that...

  THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK by CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE A book of short stories, predominantly about Nigeria, written by the queen herself Ms Adichie. Have I mentioned that I love her and everything she does?! These stories are effortless. They are poignant and compelling but never rushed or superfluous. Every word and every point she makes is clear and relevant. Ghosts, Jumping Monkey Hill and The American Embassy are my favourites but they’re all fantastic actually. Issues on race and long lasting effects of colonisation and sexism and war are particularly prevalent in this collection of stories. But what I love most about Nigerian Literature and Adichie novels, is that I always walk away with a taste of peppery stew on my tongue and the feeling of the hot sun on my face and a pounding anger at the patriarchy and those bastard colonisers.