June Review
Celebrating Pride month with the best reading, watching & listening
“You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.” Mary Oliver, The Wild Geese
This month has seen Pride celebrated in the UK, although many events also take place throughout July and August.
I’ve been getting more educated around issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community over the past 12 months and have some great recommendations for you, if you haven’t already discovered them yourself!
One of my all-time favourites for pure escapism and loveable characters has to be the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. I discovered the first book of the same name in an antiquated book fair back in the mid-90s, and fell in love with the quirky characters, who include Mrs Madrigal, the trans landlady, fun-loving Michael (Mouse) Tolliver, and the uptight new arrival from Cleveland, Mary-Anne Singleton.
The books, which began as a newspaper series in San Francisco in the 1970s, went on until 2014, when the ninth book was published. The series has spurned several TV mini-series in the 1990s, (with the brilliant Laura Linney as Mary-Anne and Olympia Dukakis as the wonderful landlady, Mrs Madrigal), a Netflix re-boot in 2019 (though this was scripted by Michael Cunningham of The Hours and was based on the characters rather than specific books), and even a stage musical. A wonderful documentary was also made of Maupin and his life, which is well worth a watch.
I collected all nine books in the series, complete with original vibrant covers in many cases, and read at least a couple of them once or twice a year. One always accompanies me on trips to the beach!
Podcast recommendations: I’ve recently discovered ‘Are you a boy or a girl?’ on BBC Sounds, hosted by gender fluid comedian Sarah Keyworth, where she explores the times in her life she has been asked this question, and the distinctions of gender. I also love ‘Over the Rainbow’ an LGBTQ+ podcast that aims to educate and inform around all areas affecting the community.
Some good articles I’ve enjoyed reading this month included this one celebrating the winners of the Jhalak prizes for writers of colour. None of the Above a memoir exploring genderqueer identities won the 2023 Jhalak prize, whilst Danielle Jawando’s coming-of-age novel When Our World’s Collided took the Jhalak children’s and young adult award.
I also liked this take by author Lily Landon in the Guardian on some celebratory, Sapphic love stories and lesbian romcoms to get stuck into this summer!
My book reading this month: Love After Love by Alex Hurston tells the story of a married woman’s love affair and the consequences of this for both herself and her family. Whilst I liked Hurston’s writing style and the story held my interest, I found the narrator difficult to connect with.
A book I absolutely devoured this month (no pun intended) was Fierce Appetites by Elizabeth Boyle; a fascinating study of medieval literature through the lens of the author and academic’s life during the turbulent year of 2020. Whilst medieval lit is not really my specialist area, Boyle’s honesty and refreshing take on the way her research relates to our own realities today really sparked my imagination!
Recommended listening this month: The artist known in various guises but principally to many as Prince would have turned 65 on 7th June. Sadly, he died in 2016, leaving behind so many iconic songs, but I thought this one fitted this newsletter the best: ‘The Ballad of Dorothy Parker’ by Prince
And finally, before I overload your reading lists too much…two pieces that really made me smile:
For anyone who ever forgets to return a library book on time, this piece reports on the latest known return of a library book (try a century…) and lastly, this looks at a new report showing that books offer the best form of escapism for many - the most joyful fact that we probably already knew!
I’d love to know your thoughts on any of my favourites for June, as well as anything you’ve been enjoying this month. Please leave your suggestions and thoughts in the comments.
Back on Sunday with another literary discussion!
I love to see posts like this, both from LGBTQ individuals and het/cis advocates. I belong to the latter group, and my advocate effort is to write novels and stories about LBGTQ people whose destinies are not solely dictated by their orientations or gender identities. There's a bit of controversy about whether women should be writing stories about gay men, partly b/c too many of these stories feature men who are essentially women with different plumbing. My boys, my men, are male all the way. Thanks for this post!
Addendum: I have subscribed to and recommended you. I hope you'll check out my account, "And Now, This," and consider recommending and/or subscribing. Thanks, either way, for your great work.
Great review of all things June. I too like The Tales of The City shows in TV.