Hi bookish friends!
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to blog because of the chaos of returning to work in a secondary school on September 1st. Four weeks in and I’m just about getting the hang of it! How are you all?
Since my last blog post I’ve received the first two All Out boxes from Queer Book Box, and they’re amazing! I’ve been looking forward to showing you all what was inside. I’m also going to take the opportunity to share the books I’ve gotten from all of my previous boxes so you can get an idea about the types of books QBB selects.
In case you haven’t heard of Queer Book Box, here’s some basic information:
QBB hand-pick books written by queer authors which also have queer main characters and themes, and send a different one out to their subscribers every month.
All of the books are sourced from the UK’s oldest LGBT independent bookshop – Gay’s the Word.
They currently have 3 subscription levels:
Basic Box (just the book)
Original Box (book + themed bookmark + an explanation of why they chose the book + cool content like author interviews and “if you liked this” style recommendations)
and their new All Out Box (everything that’s in the Original Box plus 5+ other themed items and access to a members only forum)
They now ship worldwide!
I genuinely love them so much
You can get £5 off your first box here if you want to. I want to send out a huge thank you to everyone who’s signed up using this link so far – you helped to make this post possible! I hope you love your boxes as much as I love mine ❤
Quick heads up – this post isn’t sponsored, but it does contain affiliate links. I like to buy my books from Hive.co.uk because they support independent bookstores across the UK, and if you purchase any books through my Hive links I will get a small percentage of the book cost (which I will spend on books from indie bookstores!)
And now, all of the amazing things I’ve received from QBB since I first subscribed in June 2019!
Original & Basic Boxes
I’ve organised these books alphabetically by title, since I couldn’t remember the exact order that some of them arrived in. All of the bookmarks in these photos came with the books they are pictured with.
If you’re anything like me, this blurb will grab your attention and make you wonder why you haven’t heard about this book sooner.
‘Effortlessly cool, funny yet sad, breezy but thoughtful – this is an edgy and unputdownable work of modern literature’ Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti ‘Crimson is written with immense courage – there’s no faking the feeling of honesty on each page. It is a brave novel reminiscent of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting’ Laline Paull, author of The Bees The island has run out of oxygen. The island is swollen. The island is rotten. The island has taken my beloved from me. The island is a Greenlander. It’s the fault of the Greenlander. In Nuuk, Greenland . . . Fia breaks up with her long-term boyfriend and falls for Sara. Sara is in love with Ivik who holds a deep secret and is about to break promises. Ivik struggles with gender dysphoria as their friends become addicted to social media, listen to American pop music and get blind drunk in downtown bars and uptown house parties. Then there is Inuk, who also has something to hide – it will take him beyond his limits to madness, and question what it means to be a Greenlander, while Arnaq, the party queen, pulls the strings of manipulation, bringing a web of relationships to a shocking crescendo. Crimson weaves through restlessness, depression, love and queer experiences to tell the story of Greenlanders through a unique and challenging form. The original text was written and published in the Greenlandic language. – blurb copied from Hive
This was February’s book, especially chosen for Valentine’s Day. I’m reading it right now, and love the author’s writing style!
Lucy Fry’s story opens with the heady and impassioned affair she embarked on during her wife’s pregnancy. It is a relationship that appears to be unstoppable, perhaps even addictive, despite guilt and self-questioning. With intense and unflinching honesty, she takes her readers on a compelling journey from childhood trauma to addiction then sobriety, infidelity to polyamory and, perhaps most intensely of all, from her fear around being a parent to her exquisite joy at having a son. L and B’s love for their new baby, `The Boy’, changes the dynamic once again. They fumble through early parenthood, in a way that many will recognise, while at the same time trying to fathom and fashion a unique journey of their own. – blurb copied from Hive
As a fun little sidenote – a lot of subscribers technically received two books in February (myself included) because the suppliers & distributors accidentally also packed up Common Sense for the 21st Century by Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam.
How many sapphic books can you think of which include a bit of taxidermy on the side? Here’s the only one I know of!
English Animals is a subversive, wry debut that fans of Marina Lewycka’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian will love. When Mirka gets a job in a country house in rural England, she has no idea of the struggle she faces to make sense of a very English couple, and a way of life that is entirely alien to her. Richard and Sophie are chaotic, drunken, frequently outrageous but also warm, generous and kind to Mirka, despite their argumentative and turbulent marriage. Mirka is swiftly commandeered by Richard for his latest money-making enterprise, taxidermy, and soon surpasses him in skill. After a traumatic break two years ago with her family in Slovakia, Mirka finds to her surprise that she is happy at Fairmont Hall. But when she tells Sophie that she is gay, everything she values is put in danger and she must learn the hard way what she really believes in. – blurb copied from Hive
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi – (paperback = £6.95)
This is honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read. I dropped pretty much everything to start reading it as soon as I read the blurb, and I’m so glad I did. If (like me) you have loved ones with Dissociative Identity Disorder, some parts of this blurb might stand out to you!
Ada has always been unusual. Her parents prayed her into existence, but something must have gone awry. Their troubled child begins to develop separate selves and is prone to fits of anger and grief. When Ada grows up and heads to college in America, a traumatic event crystallises the selves into something more powerful. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind, these ‘alters’ – now protective, now hedonistic – take control, shifting her life in a dangerous direction. – blurb copied from Hive
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith (paperback = £7.95)
This was my first book from QBB! I had come across Ali Smith before (a friend of mine bought me There But For The for my 17th birthday back in 2011) but don’t remember seeing Girl Meets Boy on bookstore shelves, or overlooked it if I did.
Girl meets boy. It’s a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances? Ali Smith’s remix of Ovid’s most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can’t be bottled and sold. It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations. Funny and fresh, poetic and political, here is a tale of change for the modern world. – blurb copied from Hive
Large Animals by Jess Arndt (paperback = £7.95)
This was the July 2020 book, and it was extra special because it was sent out to QBB subscribers before it was published. I accidentally ended up with two copies, so keep an eye out on my Twitter/Instagram for a giveaway!
Daring, witty, and strange, the twelve stories in Large Animals confront what it means to have a body. Jess Arndt’s often-unnamed narrators battle with inhabiting a form that makes them feel both deeply uncomfortable and detached, constantly challenging the limits of gender and reality as they try to connect with other people and with themselves. These are stories that rebel against accepted ideas of human identity and present a new normal that is as ambiguous as it is messy. In ‘Moon Colonies’ the narrator’s disconnect with their body leads them on a masochistic gambling spree. In ‘Jeff’, Lily Tomlin mistakes Jess for Jeff, triggering a hilarious and unhinged identity crisis. And in ‘Contrails’, a character calls each of their ex lovers the night before surgery, confronting a gut-twisting fear of becoming non-existent. Soupy, visceral, and often disconcerting, Large Animals sets a new standard for language, challenging our concepts of gender and body in a way that feels radical, insightful, and incredibly relevant. – blurb copied from Hive
Want to read more queer British memoirs? You’re in luck!
It’s 12 October 1984. An IRA bomb blows apart the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Miraculously, Margaret Thatcher survives. In small-town Scotland, eight-year-old Damian Barr watches in horror as his mum rips her wedding ring off and packs their bags. He knows he, too, must survive. Damian, his sister and his Catholic mum move in with her sinister new boyfriend while his Protestant dad shacks up with the glamorous Mary the Canary. Divided by sectarian suspicion, the community is held together by the sprawling Ravenscraig Steelworks. But darkness threatens as Maggie takes hold: she snatches school milk, smashes the unions and makes greed good. Following Maggie’s advice, Damian works hard and plans his escape. He discovers that stories can save your life and – in spite of violence, strikes, AIDS and Clause 28 – manages to fall in love dancing to Madonna in Glasgow’s only gay club. Maggie & Me is a touching and darkly witty memoir about surviving Thatcher’s Britain; a story of growing up gay in a straight world and coming out the other side in spite of, and maybe because of, the iron lady. Damian Barr’s critically acclaimed debut novel, YOU WILL BE SAFE HERE, also available now. – blurb copied from Hive
I wasn’t sure what to think of this one from the blurb, but trusted in QBB and read it anyway. Joss Moody was inspired by real-life jazz musician Billy Tipton, who (like Joss) was outed after his death.
When the love of your life dies, the problem is not that some part of you dies too, which it does, but that some part of you is still alive. The death of legendary jazz trumpeter Joss Moody exposes an extraordinary secret. Unbeknown to all but his wife Millie, Joss was a woman living as a man. The discovery is most devastating for their adopted son, Colman, whose bewildered fury brings the press to the doorstep and sends his grieving mother to the sanctuary of a remote Scottish village. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize, Trumpet by Jackie Kay is a starkly beautiful modern classic about the lengths to which people will go for love. It is a moving story of a shared life founded on an intricate lie, of loving deception and lasting devotion, and of the intimate workings of the human heart. – blurb copied from Hive
This is an amazing memoir, and well worth reading! I talked about it in one of my previous blog posts.
Triumphant and uplifting – a queer Muslim memoir about forgiveness and freedom. ‘Revolutionary’ Mona Eltahawy ‘Exquisite, powerful and urgent’ Stacey May Fowles ‘I fell in love with this book’ Shani Mootoo A memoir of hope, faith and love, Samra Habib’s story starts with growing up as part of a threatened minority sect in Pakistan, and follows her arrival in Canada as a refugee, before escaping an arranged marriage at sixteen. When she realized she was queer, it was yet another way she felt like an outsider. So begins a journey that takes her to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within her all along. It shows how Muslims can embrace queer sexuality, and families can embrace change. A triumphant story of forgiveness and freedom, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt alone and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self. – blurb copied from Hive
All Out Boxes
August 2020 – the first ever All Out box!
The concept of the All Out Box was so exciting when it was first announced that I couldn’t resist treating myself to one.
The books sent out by QBB are normally the same for all subscribers, but this month All Out members got a different one – other subscribers got The Bi-ble: New Testimonials (edited by Lauren Nickodemus & Ellen Desmond), but we got…
If you aren’t too distracted by the book or my kitten, you might notice that the face mask in the middle photo is upside down. Oops!
Nine months. Two weeks. Six days. That’s how long recovering addict Sophie’s been drug-free. Four months ago her best friend Mina died in what everyone believes was a drug deal gone wrong – a deal they think Sophie set up. Only Sophie knows the truth. She and Mina shared a secret, but there was no drug deal. Mina was deliberately murdered. Forced into rehab for a drug addiction she’d already beaten, Sophie’s finally out and on the trail of the killer. But can she track them down before they come for her? – blurb copied from Hive
Zine: Femme Filth #4: The Healing Issue by Karina Killjoy (physical edition = £8.19, digital edition = £2.95)
Queer Book Box chose this zine to accompany Far From You because it shares the themes “queer, disabled survivorship, trauma vulnerability, and mental health”.
femme filth #4: the healing issue is a 20-page, full-color, print zine about radical vulnerability, femme magic, healing, mental health, and survivor solidarity from the perspective of a perspective of a sick & disabled, queer femme, survivor. this zine covers the politics of survivorship; thoughts on healing & vulnerability; guides on creating affirmation lists; helpful apps for survivors; things that have helped me heal; tips on supporting survivors in tangible & concrete ways; rants, musings, & scraps from my diary; & so much more! written in aries season of spring 2018. – description copied from Karina Killjoy’s Etsy listing
Everything else:
A beautiful, high-quality reusable bookish face mask. It’s the best mask I own in terms of quality and fit!
Postcard: Angry Bisexual People by Guilherme Nunes (this postcard is £1.31 on RedBubble – the design is available on other products too! )
Stickers! Five gorgeous queer faces and the QBB logo, designed specifically for this box.
Pin badge – they sent out a mix of bi-pride, queer love, QBB and Gay’s the Word pins!
Themed bookmarks – one for the book and one for the zine, with some information about each choice on the reverse.
A message from the author and recommendations for other books
Access to the QBB online book club
September 2020
This box arriving was the perfect pick-me-up to mark two weeks of me being back at work!
The theme for the September box was “exploring yourself and healing – through glamour!”, as well as lots of nonbinary goodness.
If you like what you see here, a limited number of September boxes are available to buy from the QBB website for a reduced price of £40! They will come with everything below, you just wouldn’t get access to the All Out online book club or sneak peaks of what’s coming up in next month’s box.
Book: Life as a Unicorn by Amrou Al-Kadhi, a.k.a. Glamrou (paperback = £8.95, eBook = £5.99, audiobook = £6.99)
A heart-breaking and hilarious memoir about the author’s fight to be true to themself WINNER OF A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2020 Amrou knew they were gay when, aged ten, they first laid eyes on Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. It was love at first sight. Amrou’s parents weren’t so happy… From that moment on, Amrou began searching in all the wrong places for ways to make their divided self whole again. Life as a Unicorn is a hilarious yet devastating story of a search for belonging, following the painful and surprising process of transforming from a god-fearing Muslim boy to a queer drag queen, strutting the stage in seven-inch heels and saying the things nobody else dares to …. – blurb copied from Hive
Zine: #EnbyLife (physical copies = £3.48, digital copies = pay what you want)
#EnbyLife is a 28-page zine of collected stories, poetry, comics and art by non-binary people. Non-binary (enby) people are those of us who don’t fit within Western society’s gender binary (male/female). Our stories are often erased (if even heard at all!). The amazing artists and creatives in this zine include: Sally King, Wolfram-J VK of QueerContent, Madi, Keira Huolohan, Luca, Nicki Warren, AlexB, Nikki Nicnevin, Doc, Izzie Austin, and Rae White. – description copied from Etsy listing
Everything else:
Charity donation to The Queer Relief Fund, a grassroots LGBT+ relief fund created by Sandra Melhem and run by a group of activists in the Lebanese queer community. They aim to provide relief for the marginalised victims of the Beirut explosion. Follow The Queer Relief Fund on Instagram for more information.
Postcard: this gorgeous artwork is by @artqueerhabibi. The sale of these postcards contributed to the the artist’s fundraising for queer aid in Beirut – they were able to raise thousands of dollars this August!
Exclusive art print based on the original cover for Life as a Unicorn
Pocket mirror based on Life as a Unicorn (designed exclusively for QBB)
Beyond binary tote bag (designed exclusively for QBB)
Beyond binary pin badge (designed exclusively for QBB)
Sticker: they/them in Arabic calligraphy. This was designed by Yalla! Party (Instagram), who support creating safe spaces for queer, trans, and nonbinary Middle Eastern and North African people in NYC. They have a range of designs, including this one, available on their Redbubble store.
A themed bookmark for Life as a Unicorn
A booklet with more information about all of these things, plus bonus content like recommendations for other books and media!
Access to the QBB online book club
October 2020
You have 3 days left to sign up if you’d like to get a Halloween-themed box of queer bookish goodness! I won’t share the hints I’ve seen on the All Out online book club, but I will share this tweet…
Ghosts and ghouls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange? Then you need this month's book. It's TERRIFYING. All Out boxes come with 9 Halloween themed extras and vegan friendly (trick or) treats! https://t.co/psIc65ljOe pic.twitter.com/5VIqJTcKkX — Queer Book Box (@queerbookbox) September 27, 2020
QBB have also announced that for every October All Out box they sell, they’ll be making a donation to Mermaids!
We’ve decided that for every subscription to the super awesome Halloween All Out box we’re going to donate to @Mermaids_Gender #queerwitchesandwizardssupporttransrights pic.twitter.com/i8MGhKhZHK — Queer Book Box (@queerbookbox) September 29, 2020
Of course, if you can’t afford the All Out box, you’ll still get the amazing book with an Original or Basic box! To save you scrolling back up to the top of this post, you can click here to get a £5 discount on a Queer Book Box of your choice. Using my referral link gives me £5 off my next box, too – so treating yourself to great queer content is like a little gift to me, too!
If you’re a QBB subscriber, do you have a favourite book from the ones you’ve received? If you’re not a subscriber, which of the books above do you like the look of the most?
I can’t wait to see what’s in my October box!
Happy reading,
Maisie Rose x
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