arlingtonchamberofgay's reviews
124 reviews

Bodymap by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

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challenging hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

Amanda Leduc has made me ask myself: what do I want disabled stories to look like? Because it certainly isn’t the fairytales that she explores, the ones that make us deformed villains, pitiful side characters, or ‘fixable’ protagonists. 

I want to exist in a world that embraces disabled folks for our differences and allows us to move freely without outward hindrances. I want disabled protagonists who take rest days, who have aid malfunctions, who are messy and weird and joyous. 
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We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets

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dark sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

In Yes, Daddy, Jonah dances the line between rags and riches, climbing the ladder of wealth the only way that many of us working class queers can: through our bodies. Parks-Ramage does a brilliant job conveying just how quickly survivors start reasoning away the abuse in an effort to stay sane and hold on to their life. The constant internal dialogue of “i’m doing this to survive” and “this isn’t fucking normal”, back and forth, over and over again, that damaging spiral of mental turmoil that just chips away at your mental health. He also explores the way that evangelical christianity is woven into our culture and often follows us long after we’ve left, even sometimes calling us back before falling out again. 
As a trans, queer, sexual assault survivor with religious trauma and a plethora of daddy issues, this book got to me in a way I wasn’t fully expecting. But it brought words to the things that I’ve only ever kept to myself or told few friends. So thank you. Here’s to my fellow survivors. Let’s knock ‘em dead.
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A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rafael nicolás does a beautiful job of painting Heaven as a utopian paradise alongside the perils of asking too many questions, being too different. His writing is wonderfully elegant and walks you through the creation of the angel of beauty and his long life all the way to his fall. Lucifer’s expulsion from Heaven was always going to happen, but you can’t help but pray that it doesn’t, for the angel to succeed in his fight against god and his throne.

This book is for the outcasts, the broken, the abominations. It’s for those of us who have been deemed undesirable in the eyes of god, his church and worshippers. May we create and mold new worlds out of our pains and pleasures.
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The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

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emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Leah has a way of making me feel seen, in all of my AuDHD, queer, enby, disabled splendor. On the days when the everyday ableism and fear of the MIC neglecting me to the point of death, I come back to their and DJ’s words. And I remember I’m not alone, I can not only imagine a disabled future, but help to make it a reality. There will always be work to do, but we can at least live a life worth while at the same time.
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Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror by Lor Gislason

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Each story is delightfully fucked up, exploring the horrors of having a body in a variety of different ways. To have the trans experience written in so many different ways through horror is amazing. 

My favorite was “Looking for the Big Death” by Taliesin Neith, as it explored the fascination of dying and the intimacy of killing someone.
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Ace Voices: What it Means to Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace by Eris Young

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
ran out of steam, will revisit at some point 
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
just ran out of steam, will revisit at some point