Coming Out Stories

The 2014 Seattle Pride Parade and Festival kicks off this weekend, celebrating it's 40th year. According to the Seattle Pride website, "2014 Pride aims to celebrate the history of the Northwest's LGBTQ rights movement and advance the ongoing progress the LGBTQ community has made since first
coming out in 1974, the year of the inaugural Seattle Pride festivities."

Throughout the years I've read a number of compelling memoirs and stories about the LGBTQ experience including Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain and Jennifer Finney Boylan's She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. In the spirit of the 2014 Seattle Pride weekend June 27th- June 29th, we've created a LGBTQ Stories booklist on the website. There are also a couple of great lists for teens as well!

Do you have a favorite LGBTQ memoir or story?

Question of the Week: What is your favorite memoir?

I read a lot of memoirs. In fact, four of the last ten books I read were memoirs. Most recently I devoured Delancy: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg, Grace After Midnightt by Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, and Sous Chef by Michael Gibney, three very different books. I enjoy getting lost in other people's stories and more often than not find true life even more fascinating than fiction.

What memoir or biography have you read recently that you enjoyed?

The Flavors of Home

There is nothing like your mother’s cooking to transport you back to your childhood – wherever and whenever that may have been.  I was fortunate enough to have been raised in two countries with two very different families, spending my early years equally connected to the cultures of the United States and México.  As a result, my repertoire of “home-style” recipes is rather eclectic.  That being said, every once in a while, I come across a cookbook that contains recipes that draw me back to the flavors of my childhood.  Here are a few cookbooks that taste like my childhood:

Which cookbooks take you back home?

Question of the Week: What is your favorite trilogy?

I read a lot of trilogies, and I often find that I love the first book in the trilogy, am slightly disappointed in the second, and really like the third one. Here are some trilogies that I enjoyed:

1.Smitten  2.Secretly Smitten  3.Smitten Book Club

1.Proof  2.Poison  3.Peril

1.Hostage in Havana  2.Murder in Miami  3.Payback in Panama

                       1.Lightkeeper's Daughter  2.Lightkeeper's Bride  3.Lightkeeper's Ball

                   1.When the Smoke Clears  2.When a Heart Stops  3.When a Secret Kills

What are your favorite trilogies?

My kind of cat (and dog) detectives

Everywhere you look mystery covers now days you see a cat or a dog.  Some are just to make the cover look pretty.  Publishers hope the sweet pet will make us pick out their book.  Some however are pet detectives ready to solve the crime. 

My favorite pet detectives are from Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series.
Mrs. Murphy, a very smart tabby cat, joins Tucker, the outgoing corgi, and Pewter, the pudgy gray cat, in solving the mystery.  They help their owner, Harry, postmistress of a small town in Virginia.  If only humans had a proper sense of smell and the instincts of a predator, they could solve the crime as quickly as this pet trio.

Another long term pet detective is Midnight Louie in the series by Carole Nelson Douglas.  Midnight Louie is a traditional hardcore private investigator. He helps Temple, who does public relations, solve the crime.  Midnight Louis also works with Temple human friends.








Other pet detectives are Chet from the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn and Pepe, the talking Chihuahua from the Barking detective mysteries by Waverly Curtis.  And who can forget the Siamese duo Koko and Yum Yum from the dearly missed Cat who series by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Do you have a favorite pet detective?

Posted by Becky

Not Your Ordinary Kind of Cat...

I don't like living with cats. But I do enjoy stories about them. I particularly enjoy reading stories about humans who are also cats, in other words, shapeshifters. (Haven't you ever wondered what it'd be like to shapeshift into an animal?) Here are a few of my favorite stories featuring shapeshifting cats....

Branded by Fire - Nalini Singh
When a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped, DarkRiver sentinel Mercy, a cat, and SnowDancer lieutenant Riley, a wolf, must work together to track the young man-before his shadowy captors decide he's no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it'll leave them both branded by fire.

Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
Magic rises and magic falls. In this future Atlanta, humanity pushed technology too far and now waves of magic wash over the land. In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer - a course of action that will put her directly in the path of Curran, the Beast Lord.

Dark Side of the Moon - Sherrilyn Kenyon
Susan Michaels trusted the wrong person and ruined her journalism career. Now she's writing stories about alien babies and Elvis sightings. But when Susan gets a lead on a story that could salvage her extinct career, she heads to the local animal shelter, expecting a hot news tip, which she gets in the form of a major police cover-up . . . for a ring of soul-sucking vampires out to take over Seattle. So much for saving her credibility. And if that isn't bad enough, she gets talked into adopting a cat and finds she's allergic to it. A cat that turns out to be a shapeshifter who claims to be an immortal vampire slayer on the prowl for the same corrupt cops. Her first thought: seek professional help. But as Susan's drawn into Ravyn's dark and dangerous world, she comes to realize that there's a lot more at stake than just her defunct career. Now it's no longer a question of bringing the truth to her readers; it's a matter of saving their very lives and souls.

Books for MOM

From time to time, Mom asks me for book recommendations. Mom’s rules for novels: no swearing, sex, or violence, and not too dark & depressing. Mom likes a gentle, cozy read. Mom really liked Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer, so I was glad to hear about The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin, which has been compared to both of those books.

Summary:

A.J. Fikry, the irascible owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession--a rare edition of Poe poems--has been stolen. Over time, he has given up on people, and even the books in his store, instead of offering solace, are yet another reminder of a world that is changing too rapidly. Until a most unexpected occurrence gives him the chance to make his life over and see things anew. Gabrielle Zevin's enchanting novel is a love letter to the world of books--an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

I also found out Mom hadn’t read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, so she added that one to her list too.

I almost didn't recommend Elizabeth is Missing, by Emma Healey, because it's a little darker than her ideal pick, but I think she's going to love the post WW2 setting and the compassionate way that the author treats her characters. (And I personally LOVED it! Maybe you will too.)

Summary:

Maud's memory is going quickly. She doesn't always know who her daughter is and ends up buying cans of peaches at the store every time she shops because she can't figure out how to find the items on her list. One thing Maud is sure of though, her friend Elizabeth is missing. But she can't convince anyone else. So Maud leaves herself notes and attempts to visit Elizabeth, only to be turned away by her angry son, Peter. Maud's investigative attempts also awaken memories of an earlier disappearance, that of her sister Sukey many years ago. Where Maud has difficulty keeping track of her current life from moment to moment, the past becomes clearer and forms a disturbing picture—one that may connect to the missing Elizabeth.

Do you have more recommendations for Mom? What books do you recommend books to your mom? Happy Mother’s Day!