This week we look at books read and reviewed, discover some of the best writing about literature on the blogosphere and highlight fascinating features from across the Internet.
LGBTQ Fiction
BOOK REVIEW: Starling Days
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s novel is a grim story of loneliness, isolation and unhappiness, played out between London and New York.
BOOK REVIEW: Crimson
Crimson is a tale of love, lust, despondency and queer life in modern Greenland.
BOOK REVIEW: The Great Believers
A powerful novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris.
BOOK REVIEW: Ghost Wall
Young Silvie, along with her mother and abusive father, are in a remote Northumberland camp as an exercise in experiential archaeology. Sarah Moss’s forthcoming novel has much to say about female affinity and friendship.
BOOK REVIEW: Orchid & the Wasp
A dark but highly amusing coming-of-age story, which encompasses sexuality, mental health, class, religion and contemporary politics. Caoilinn Hughes has written a stunningly ambitious debut novel.
BOOK REVIEW: Swan Song
A deft, dazzling, diligently researched debut about a literary icon and his beautiful, wealthy, spoiled Swans.
BOOK REVIEW: White Houses
The story of an unexpected and forbidden love affair that developed between America’s First Lady and a well-known female journalist.
BOOK REVIEW: Ayiti
This debut collection from Roxane Gay is a unique blend of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, all interwoven to represent the Haitian diaspora experience.
BOOK REVIEW: The House of Impossible Beauties
Cassara’s novel follows the often complicated lives of several homogeneous characters from House of Xtravaganza, one of the most famous and enduring ‘drag houses’ of New York.
BOOK REVIEW: Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection has marked her out as an effervescent talent in fermentation.
SHORT FICTION REVIEW: The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere
A heart-warming and original short story.