Really charming picture book illuminating the life of activist Clive Jensen and his plan for what would become the NAMES project and the AIDS Quilt. 5🌟(Also, he‘s still alive, living in San Francisco, and he contributed to this story!)
pickVerghese wrote two of my favorite works of fiction so I had to read his memoir about his time as an infectious disease specialist in Johnson City, TN during the early days of the AIDS crisis. His perspective as an immigrant was really unique I thought and the stories of his patients were very touching. This was another Verghese five star read for me.
Just realized the $3 copy of this paperback I got from Thrift Books is signed!
pickThis was another well done children's book about LGBTQ+ history. It details the life and activism of Cleve Jones, who worked with Harvey Milk and came up with the concept of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. There is a really moving poem comparing stitching a quilt to building a community and a movement, which was threaded throughout the book nicely
#LGBTQ2024 @Kenyazero
pickI really liked this one. I thought it was a really fun time. It's just super chatoic the whole time. I liked the game ascpet and the action just kept coming. This isn't like a hard-hitting crazy thriller. It's just a fun time. 4/5
Thank you @dabbe for the #TLT tag! 🤗
Hard to narrow it to three, but…
1️⃣ The tagged book-love & grief in the life of a teenage girl in 1987. If you haven‘t read it, you must. 💙
2️⃣ Little Women -it‘s a classic & my first bildungsroman love. 💚
3️⃣ Never Let Me Go-I find people either love or really dislike this one, but it‘s love for me. Bleak, dystopian coming of age.🩶
Who else wants to share their three? Consider yourself tagged! 🤗
pickThis was at time difficult but very powerful story of a teenage girl coming to grips with the loss of her favourite uncle to AIDS and her general feelings of loneliness and lack of connection from her family. There‘s too much in here for the length of the novel - a storyline with her sister that is rushingly resolved, a parental backstory or two and the main storyline where she befriends her uncles boyfriend but for all that a good read
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A horrifying telling of the how gay men and others with HIV/Aids were treated throughout the 80s and 90s. There is controversy around the exageration of how many men Coker supported and buried but even if she reached half the men she says she did, that is a feat that not many people can say they did. In her writing, I was fanscinated by the theme of power and contacts and how often these cropped up when trying to support dying people.
pickA behemoth of fine journalistic writing. Shilts was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle when AIDS first began to ravage the city. The disease soon shone a spotlight on the stunning health disparities in the US as the federal government, scientific and public health institutions as well as blood banks refused to initially take seriously what they condescended as “the gay virus.” Shilts later succumbed to AIDS, seven years after publishing.
pickBeautiful, sad coming of age story set in late 1980s NYC. It explores different kinds of love and how emotions and experiences are magnified and distorted through the childhood lens, yet continue to influence our decisions and behavior as adults without our even consciously realizing it. This was tough to read at times, because the characters were often so frustrating, but overall well written, painfully honest, and full of heart.
