More Top Picks Post Concussion Vision Problems Explained
player ready...Read the rainbow this month with Naperville Public Library’s Amazing Book Challenge. Whether you’re picking up the memoir of a celebrity you love or the debut novel of an author you’ve never heard of, we invite you to join us in celebrating the unique perspectives of LGBTQ authors.
The Amazing Book Challenge encourages adult and teen readers to broaden their horizons by discovering new subjects, series or authors. Readers are encouraged to choose 12 books throughout the year from 12 different categories. This month we’re highlighting books by LGBTQ authors in conjunction with Pride Month.
For the full list of Amazing Book Challenge categories, go to www.naperville-lib.org/ABC
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born in Vietnam and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds and asks how we heal one another without forsaking who we are.
“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston
For cynical August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist and the only smart way to go through life is alone. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her.
“Bestiary” by K-Ming Chang
One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. Soon afterwards, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the back yard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly; a brother tests the possibility of flight. All the while, Daughter is falling for Ben, a neighborhood girl with strange powers of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother’s letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies a myth — and that she will have to bring her family’s secrets to light in order to change their destiny.
“Boy Erased” by Garrard Conley
When Garrard was a 19-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents and forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality or risk losing family, friends and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Though the Twelve-Step Program was supposed to cure him of his homosexuality, Garrard instead found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.
“The Henna Wars” by Adiba Jaigirdar
When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants — as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. But when a childhood friend walks back into her life, Nishat falls hard. And when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both the charismatic Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled — but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.
“Our Wives Under the Sea” by Julia Armfield
Miri thinks she has her wife back when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home. Moving through something that only resembles normal life, Miri comes to realize the life they had before might be gone. Though Leah is still there, Miri can feel the woman she loves slipping from her grasp.
Ashlee Conour is the marketing specialist at Naperville Public Library.