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We've Always Been Queer

The podcast is Books That Burn because the original idea was "books that burn you", discussing fictional depictions of trauma. It's also an intentional reminder of the pile of burning books, you know the photo I mean, the one from WWII. It's a pile of books about queerness, gender, and sexuality. Just in case you don't know, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Science) was headed by Magnus Hirschfeld.  It was a resource for gay, intersex, and transgender people, both of knowledge and medical help. It also helped the community with addiction treatment and contraception. It wasn't perfect and some of the ideas they had seem out of date now, the ones we know about anyway. But they were trying to make queer people's lives better, and they were a community resource at a time when people really needed it. Which is all the time, we always need these accesses. And the Nazis burned the whole library. It took days, they had to drag the books ou
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Strangers in Court by Seanan McGuire (October Daye, #13.5)

Strangers in Court is a novella set before the events of Rosemary and Rue, providing some welcome backstory and a chance to see some of the characters mentioned there while they're still around. 

This story was placed at the end of the first book in the series, Rosemary and Rue, and that’s definitely the right placement. It provides just enough context to make sense even if read separately, but the importance of many of the secondary details lies in how they inform the reader’s understanding of the first book. It fills in some interesting backstory which was hinted at in the main book, as well as providing some more history for the character relationships therein. It is complete enough to stand on its own, artfully balancing the need to focus on its own story while also informing the larger narrative. It was nice to meet this younger version of the MC and I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s reading the main series.

CW for pregnancy, gaslighting.

Clear Your Shit Readathon 2020 prompt: Shortest Book

Bookshop Affiliate Buy Link (Rosemary and Rue)

A woman in a leather jacket stands in front of a blood-spattered iron gate.


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