As per usual, I started Friday Fives back when I started up the blog again and wanted to make sure I kept at least one regular post a week. This was, of course, before I knew there were others out there. But I decided to keep it, especially since I have the whole year planned out. In December, I decided to change it to Friday Fives instead to have more room for topics. If anyone wants to join me, the list for future topics can be found here.
Let’s be honest, I should not be released into a bookstore without supervision! As an adult, I can no longer spend my money on only books, sadly. Anyways, in an imaginary world, here are the books I’d grab first if I did have the option to have a free for me bookstore trip.
I’m really interested in early queer culture, since so many people like to think that LGBTQ+ people are a modern invention. Linkinen investigates the state of same-sex relations in later medieval England, drawing on a remarkably rich array of primary sources from the period that include legal documents, artworks, theological treatises, and poetry. Plus, this is the most expensive book on my TBR.
This seems like a fascinating study of the issues surrounding gender and sexuality during this fraught time period.
I’m not only interested in queer studies but also in Indigenous and Black studies and how all of these different identities overlap. Here Rifkin offers a cultural and literary history of the ways Indigenous peoples have been inserted into Euroamerican discourses of sexuality and how Indigenous intellectuals have sought to reaffirm their peoples’ sovereignty and self-determination.
Feminism is not feminism unless it includes Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color. This one I’m particularly interested in as the source material is all from Black, queer, southern, women (not to repeat the title). There are 70 Black women interviewed for this book, and they draw on their rich life experiences to explore the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
While this is a look into how Canada treats First Nations peoples, I still think it would be helpful and informative to read as an American. Razack argues that, amidst systematic state violence against Indigenous people, inquiries and inquests serve to obscure the violence of ongoing settler colonialism under the guise of benevolent concern.
Do these sound interesting to you? What are some books you’d buy immediately?
Happy Reading Darlings!
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