Pride Among the Pines Book Club
Queer Lit Discussion Group
Meets Online
Second Friday of Every Month
7:30 pm
Meets Online
Second Friday of Every Month
7:30 pm
The book we are reading for January is the result of a project started to understand the role of sexual attraction in Western culture when the author was working as a science reporter at The Verge. It has been named one of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR, Electric Literature, and Them.
So, what's the book about?
This powerful nonfiction book is an engaging exploration of what it means to be asexual in a world that's obsessed with sexual attraction, and what the ace perspective can teach all of us about desire and identity.
What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through life not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, about romance and consent, and the pressures of society? This accessible examination of asexuality shows that the issues that aces face--confusion around sexual activity, the intersection of sexuality and identity, navigating different needs in relationships--are the same conflicts that nearly all of us will experience. Through a blend of reporting, cultural criticism, and memoir, Ace addresses the misconceptions around the "A" of LGBTQIA and invites everyone to rethink pleasure and intimacy. Journalist Angela Chen creates her path to understanding her own asexuality with the perspectives of a diverse group of asexual people. Vulnerable and honest, these stories include a woman who had blood tests done because she was convinced that "not wanting sex" was a sign of serious illness, and a man who grew up in a religious household and did everything "right," only to realize after marriage that his experience of sexuality had never been the same as that of others. Disabled aces, aces of color, gender-nonconforming aces, and aces who both do and don't want romantic relationships all share their experiences navigating a society in which a lack of sexual attraction is considered abnormal. Chen's careful cultural analysis explores how societal norms limit understanding of sex and relationships and celebrates the breadth of sexuality and queerness.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in-store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online!
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting! Reviews & Interviews
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
-- Library Journal Read Me: Angela Chen’s Ace Challenges Us All to Reframe How We Talk About Sex -- Them 'Ace' is the first book of its kind. Here’s why anyone, asexual or not, should read it. -- Mashable A Conversation with Journalist Angela Chen -- Stonewall National Museum & Archives
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So, what's the book about?
Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted, balancing acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.
A high school badminton coach and failing grocery store owner tries to relive his glory days by beating a rising star teenage player. Two drunken brothers attend a wedding afterparty and hatch a plan to expose their shady uncle's snubbing of the bride and groom. A queer love affair sparks between an older tech entrepreneur trying to launch a "safe space" app and a disillusioned young teacher obsessed with Moby-Dick. And in the sweeping final story, a nine-year-old child learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter. This vibrant story collection about Cambodian-American life--immersive and comic, yet unsparing--offers profound insight into the intimacy of queer & immigrant communities.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in-store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online!
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting! Reviews & Interviews
Much of her writing pertains to the unique experience of growing up as a member of a tight-knit Indian community in a state where they comprised less than half a percentage point of the overall population. She also writes opinion pieces and commentary regarding her experiences as a Civics teacher in the Boston Public Schools for the last 16 years.
So, what's the book about?
When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.
Another Appalachia examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, Another Appalachia mixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in-store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online!
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting! Reviews & Interviews
‘Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place’
-- The Daily Yonder Divisions and Distances in “Another Appalachia” -- Southern Review of Books Author Neema Avashia on identity, relationships, and coming up queer and Indian in Appalachia -- Rural Assembly Neema Avashia describes 'Another Appalachia' -- The Reckon Interview Growing up in "Another Appalachia" is more relatable than you think: "I keep finding myself here" -- Salon
So, what's the book about?
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.
But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit. Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from ND Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel has been hailed by critics and fans alike as the arrival of a "superstar" talent (NPR.org). Buy Online!
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting! Reviews & Interviews
ND Stevenson Interviewed by Tim Manley -- National Book Foundation
Nimona -- Kirkus ‘Nimona,’ by ND Stevenson -- The New York Times
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This month's book club pick is Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes by Travis Baldree. We will be meeting on August 12th at 7:30 pm in an online video chat. You can find the link in the sidebar to the right!
Travis Baldree is a full-time audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to hundreds of stories. Before that, he spent decades designing and building video games like Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy, and Fate. Apparently, he now also writes books. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his very patient family and their small, nervous dog. You can find more info about him on his website. |
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So, what's the book about?
Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening!
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online:
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Reviews & Interviews
Legends & Lattes – Cozy Fantasy At Its Finest - The Quill to Live
REVIEW: Legends and Lattes - Ink and Plasma
Interview With Travis Baldree, Author of Legends & Lattes - Word Wilderness
Interview With Author Travis Baldree - Before We Go
REVIEW: Legends and Lattes - Ink and Plasma
Interview With Travis Baldree, Author of Legends & Lattes - Word Wilderness
Interview With Author Travis Baldree - Before We Go
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This month's book club selection is Fun Home by Alison Bechdel! We will be meeting on Friday, July 8th at 7:30 pm in an online video chat. You can find the link in the sidebar of this blog (look to the right)!
Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home. Fun Home has also been adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical. Bechdel has been named a MacArthur Fellow and Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont, among many other honors. |
So, what's the book about?
In this graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father.
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online:
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Reviews & Interviews
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - NYT
Mars Reviews Fun Home - The Lesbrary
The Alison Bechdel Interview - The Comics Journal
Mars Reviews Fun Home - The Lesbrary
The Alison Bechdel Interview - The Comics Journal
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This month's book club pick is Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong! We will be meeting in an online video chat on Friday, June 10th at 7:30 pm. You can find the meeting link in the sidebar of the blog (look to the right)!
Ocean Vuong is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds and the New York Times bestselling novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. A recipient of the 2019 MacArthur Genius Grant, he is also the winner of the Whiting Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he currently lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. You can find him on his website. |
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So, what's the book about?
Ocean Vuong's first full-length collection aims straight for the perennial "big"—and very human—subjects of romance, family, memory, grief, war, and melancholia. None of these he allows to overwhelm his spirit or his poems, which demonstrate, through breath and cadence and unrepentant enthrallment, that a gentle palm on a chest can calm the fiercest hungers.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Reviews & Interviews
Review: 'Night Sky with Exit Wounds,' Verses from Ocean Vuong - NYT
“Only to Feel This Fully”: Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong - Kenyon Review
Ocean Vuong: Interviewed by Kaveh Akbar - DIVEDAPPER
Ocean Vuong: Poetry, Bodies, and Stillness - The Marginalia Review
“Only to Feel This Fully”: Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong - Kenyon Review
Ocean Vuong: Interviewed by Kaveh Akbar - DIVEDAPPER
Ocean Vuong: Poetry, Bodies, and Stillness - The Marginalia Review
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The book club pick for May is
Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur! We will be meeting on May 13th at 7:30pm EST in an online video chat. You can RSVP & add the event to your calendar here. The meeting link is also in the sidebar of this blog (look to the right)! Alexandria Bellefleur is a bestselling and award-winning author of swoony contemporary romance often featuring loveable grumps and the sunshine characters who bring them to their knees. A Pacific Northwesterner at heart, Alexandria has a weakness for good coffee, Pike IPA, and Voodoo Doughnuts. Her debut novel, Written in the Stars, was a 2021 Lambda Literary Award winner and a 2020 winner of The Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. |
So, what's the book about?
Margot Cooper doesn't do relationships. She tried and it blew up in her face, so she'll stick with casual hookups, thank you very much. But now her entire crew has found the one and she's beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. And then fate (the heartless bitch) intervenes. While touring a wedding venue with her engaged friends, Margot comes face-to-face with Olivia Grant--her childhood friend, her first love, her first... well, everything. It's been ten years, but the moment they lock eyes, Margot's cold, dead heart thumps in her chest.
Olivia must be hallucinating. In the decade since she last saw Margot, her life hasn't gone exactly as planned. At almost thirty, she's been married... and divorced. However, a wedding planner job in Seattle means a fresh start and a chance to follow her dreams. Never in a million years did she expect her important new client's Best Woman would be the one that got away.
When a series of unfortunate events leaves Olivia without a place to stay, Margot offers up her spare room because she's a Very Good Person. Obviously. It has nothing to do with the fact that Olivia is as beautiful as ever and the sparks between them still make Margot tingle. As they spend time in close quarters, Margot starts to question her no-strings stance. Olivia is everything she's ever wanted, but Margot let her in once and it ended in disaster. Will history repeat itself or should she count her lucky stars that she gets a second chance with her first love?
Count Your Lucky Stars is the third installment of the Written in the Stars series, though it can be read as a standalone. For more backstory on the secondary characters in Count Your Lucky Stars, check out Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon!
Olivia must be hallucinating. In the decade since she last saw Margot, her life hasn't gone exactly as planned. At almost thirty, she's been married... and divorced. However, a wedding planner job in Seattle means a fresh start and a chance to follow her dreams. Never in a million years did she expect her important new client's Best Woman would be the one that got away.
When a series of unfortunate events leaves Olivia without a place to stay, Margot offers up her spare room because she's a Very Good Person. Obviously. It has nothing to do with the fact that Olivia is as beautiful as ever and the sparks between them still make Margot tingle. As they spend time in close quarters, Margot starts to question her no-strings stance. Olivia is everything she's ever wanted, but Margot let her in once and it ended in disaster. Will history repeat itself or should she count her lucky stars that she gets a second chance with her first love?
Count Your Lucky Stars is the third installment of the Written in the Stars series, though it can be read as a standalone. For more backstory on the secondary characters in Count Your Lucky Stars, check out Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon!
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online:
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Reviews & Interviews
Review: Count Your Lucky Stars - The Alliterates
Count Your Lucky Stars - BookReporter
the time it was about count your lucky stars - eleven thirteen pm
Exclusive Interview: Count Your Lucky Stars - Fresh Fiction
Count Your Lucky Stars - BookReporter
the time it was about count your lucky stars - eleven thirteen pm
Exclusive Interview: Count Your Lucky Stars - Fresh Fiction
| This month's book club pick is Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde! We will be meeting on Friday, April 8th at 7:30 pm in an online video chat. You can RSVP & add the event to your calendar here. The meeting link is also in the sidebar of this blog (look to your right)! A writer, activist, and mother of two, Audre Lorde grew up in 1930s Harlem. She earned a master's degree in library science from Columbia University, received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for poetry, and was New York State's Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1993. She is the author of twelve books, including Zami and The Black Unicorn. Lorde died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in 1992. You can learn more about her here and here. |  |
So, what's the book about?
In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde's philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online:
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-6pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting
We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-6pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting
Reviews & Interviews
Authors
Max Ruthless (they/them) -- Store Owner
Event Link
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