Mark Schiffer

Wild, nasty bit of creature horror. Apparently this is marketed as middle grade? I would have adored this in middle school, and it was a skin-crawling blast to read as an adult.

Pitch perfect blending of the personal and cultural. These essays feel comprehensive in their treatment of the subject matter, without ever being dry. I read it an essay at a time and came away satisfied from every one. I can easily imagine dipping back into this one.

I remember reading Fun Home and the diaries of Ariel Schrag as a baby gay and feeling seen, probably for the first time.

Reading Nagata Kabi's works feels the same way. We need graphic, well told stories of the queer experience out there. The fact that these diaries also are so much about the feelings of isolation so prevalent to the human experience make them practically essential texts.

I don't know, I just feel like she's a major talent and it makes me feel so good when I'm at my lowest points not to feel alone. Her work definitely makes me want to create, and that's no small thing for someone who hates so much of what he does as much as I do.

Anxiety about family, friends, work, sex, and overall enjoyment of life explored in painstaking detail, with humor and humanity. I'm obsessed.

Queer coming of age graphic novels centered around mental illness are my bread and butter. This is one of the best I've read and I'm looking forward to reading the next one!

Super cute, likeable/grounded characters, can't wait for the next one!

Phenomenal setting, great characters, high camp.

Solid, unnerving possession horror

Not every aspect of this worked for me. The blog entries and the reality show frameworks felt kind of unnecessary.

But the parts that worked. Woo-boy. I'm going to be thinking about this one for awhile.

Good horror is good horror. That's all I want these days and this delivered that and than some. The last third took me to a place I truly didn't expect. I've now read all of Tremblay's novels and inevitably I'll be following his work for years to come.

Re-read: So, so good. Leans into the ambiguity and references to make the scary bits (and, as for me, there are scary bits in this book) all the more effective.

Blazingly fast, bloody as hell. Loved it.

This one was perfection. What starts as an eroto-vampiric road novel becomes an unputdownable murder mystery about dueling clans, tainting of bloodlines, and magnificently developed mythology. All phenomenally written and impossible to put down.

Deeply emotional and warm coming of age 80s period piece. Bits of Boys' Life and Hearts in Atlantis (King is namechecked in the acknowledgements).
Hit my feelings the right way. Perfect summer read.

Gentle, lightly philosophical novella dealing with inter-generational friendships and the treatment of marginalized peoples. Perfect weekend read.

Haunting as hell New Weird America.

Evil kid horror with specifics that make it stomach churning and impossible to put down.

A Polish golem in Brooklyn!
Deeply caring, blazingly fast read. It moved me.

Quasi-potboiler where the real villain is toxic masculinity. Like watching someone fall down a flight of stairs in slow motion, only to land on his feet. Unputdownable.

Inspiring stories, well told.

Fun 1970s rock soap opera framed as an oral history. Solid, ripping summer read which sells its emotions well.

Reading this in too close proximity to The Drowning Girl by the same author may have been a mistake, but that's fine. Its crypticness is the point, and makes it transcendent.

I frequently find myself compelled by trauma/troubled childhood memoirs. This one revealed itself as something far different in its final third, which made it more of a mysterious, gorgeous piece than I initially perceived it as.

Queer, cryptic, brilliant.

This is a bit tricky for me to objectively review, because it without question falls directly into one of my favorite genres: the bildungsroman. Novels focused on the intellectual, physical, and emotional development of everyday people.

Having said that, this is one did what I'm always hoping my books will do. It took me out of myself, and left me thinking about its world while living my life.

So its not perfect. Some stretches kind of drag, and some of the characters pop a bit more than others. None of that matters in the end, when the world of feminists, professors, and mentors seen in The Female Persuasion is as vital as it is.

Very fun! Humorous personal essays are almost always a good time for me. Irby's very human perspective makes for an engaging read.

High-low melodrama,
Sustained sublime passages,
Peak Bildungsroman.
Oprah was right.

I love My Favorite Murder, and this gave more of their wonderful voices. Not a true crime book, but that's fine.

I'm a sucker for a 20th century American period piece. Romantic, tragic, riveting.