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Join the Sheboygan County LGBTQ Alliance for a book discussion series brought to you in partnership with Mead Library, meant to highlight the diversity of our community. Each month a different book covering a unique perspective on the queer experience will prompt deep, thought-provoking, and inspiring conversations for people who identify as LGBTQIA+ and straight allies alike. And if you don't know how you identify, but have a good faith desire to learn with curiosity and humility- we welcome you too. Join us for this facilitated book club that celebrates and explores queer life, love, and liberation. Books and discussions in this club may contain mature themes and language. Reserve copies of each month's selection are available at the first floor desk of Mead Public Library.
Here is the winter lineup:
Dec. 7: Season of Love (2022) by Helena Greer
Buzzfeed’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Romances of 2022
Miriam Blum has no choice but to face the past she thought she’d left behind when she inherits her great-aunt’s Christmas tree farm in this witty, glittering, heart-filled romcom.
Thanks to her thriving art career, Miriam Blum finally has her decoupaged glitter ducks in a row—until devastating news forces her to a very unwanted family reunion. Her beloved great-aunt Cass has passed and left Miriam part-owner of Carrigan’s, her (ironically) Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.
But Miriam’s plans to sit shiva, avoid her parents, then put Carrigan’s in her rearview mirror are spoiled when she learns the business is at risk of going under. To have any chance at turning things around, she’ll need to work with the farm’s grumpy manager—as long as the attraction sparking between them doesn’t set all their trees on fire first.
Noelle Northwood wants Miriam Blum gone—even if her ingenious ideas and sensitive soul keep showing Noelle there’s more to Cass’s niece than meets the eye. But saving Carrigan’s requires trust, love, and risking it all—for the chance to make their wildest dreams come true.
Jan. 4: Just Ash (2021) by Sol Santana
There are few authors who have been allowed the opportunity to give readers a real glimpse into the life of an intersex teen, which is just one reason Santana’s debut is so unique. For Ashley—“Ash ”—having congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) with both male and female genitalia never seemed to matter. Then he gets his period on the soccer field in front of all his teammates, and the body he felt secure in becomes one everyone suddenly has an opinion about. He’s kicked off the team and bullied by students as well as his own father until he’s transferred to a private school, where he’s forced by his mother to “try being a girl,” even though he knows he’s male. Persecuted like those executed for witchcraft in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, Ash knows he must replace his silence with agency. Santana—who is intersex herself—has written a smart and deeply introspective main character with whom readers will easily sympathize. Analogizing Ash ’s mistreatment to the fear and ignorance of the Salem witch trials has a way of anthropomorphizing the city and its dark past, adding even more intrigue. The informative narrative is enriched by a brief author’s note about the broad spectrum of genital and chromosomal conditions that will further educate readers. -- Mahjabeen Syed (Reviewed 10/15/2021) (Booklist, vol 118, number 4, p51)
Feb. 1: I’ll Give You the Sun (2014) by Jandy Nelson
Twins Noah and Jude are inseparable until misunderstandings, jealousies, and a major loss rip them apart. Both are talented artists, and creating art plays a major role in their narratives. Both also struggle with their sexuality—Noah is gay, which both thrills and terrifies him, while Jude is recovering from a terrible first sexual experience at age 14, one of two important reasons she has sworn off dating. Nelson (The Sky Is Everywhere) unravels the twins’ stories in long chapters that alternate between their perspectives. Noah’s sections are set when the twins are 13, Jude’s at age 16, giving readers slanted insights into how their relationship deteriorated and how it begins to mend. The twins’ artistic passions and viewpoints suffuse their distinctive voices; Noah tends toward wild, dramatic overstatements, and Jude’s world is wrapped up in her late grandmother’s quirky superstitions and truisms. Readers are meant to feel big things, and they will—Nelson’s novel brims with emotion (grief, longing, and love in particular) as Noah, Jude, and the broken individuals in their lives find ways to heal. Ages 14–up. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Sept.) --Staff (Reviewed June 23, 2014) (Publishers Weekly, vol 261, issue 25, p)
