Reading Books from the Texas Book Investigation List

Day 4 of #100DaysToOffload

Back in  October of 2021, there was a list of around 850 books that were to be "investigated" in order to make sure students did not feel discomfort. Book Riot did a great article on it, analyzing what kind of books were on this list. Spoiler alert, most of them were LGBTQ+ related books. As someone who identifies as bisexual, I  found this to be the most egregious thing. I even saw one of my favourite LGBTQ+ authors I read as a teen, Julie Anne Peters, on the list. Other than LGBTQ+ books, books about racial justice and sex education also made the list.

The next best choice of action, of course, is to read the books on this list. I won't be reading all 850 books, just the ones that interest me.

Some Books I've Already Read on the List

Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) by Takako Shimura

I can't recall how exactly I stumbled upon this series. I am sure that I watched the anime first before reading the manga. I think I was going through LGBTQ+ related anime, having just watched Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana), an anime about two lesbian girls (which was an adaptation of another manga of Shimura's). I find Wandering Son to be an incredibly heartfelt and beautiful anime. It's simple but it's such a charming tale. During the pandemic (just last year, 2021, I think), I had already re-read and re-watched the series so I won't be re-reading this again.

Pretty much any Julie Anne Peters on the list

I went through a huuuge Julie Anne Peters phase in high school (for context, I was in high school in the early 2010s). I first picked up Luna, a novel about a trans teen girl coming out, by chance at the public library and henceforth began to eat up all the available Peters books I could find. It's been a while since I've read Peters's books so I added these to my list.

Angel's Choice by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

I barely remember reading this book but according to Goodreads, I have indeed read it before. I think this was another public library book. If I recall correctly, I think this book was about abortion.

Dancing Naked by Shelley Hrdlistchka

I have absolutely no recollection of reading this book whatsoever. I think I might have mixed this book up with Angel's Choice, actually. They might both be about abortion.

Alison, Who Went Away by Vivian Vande Velde

Another book I don't remember reading. I think I read this book because Velde had another book that was a sci-fi fantasy that I really loved.

Books I Have Added to my To-Read List

There are a lot here. I don't imagine I will get to all of them. I have already gone to the library and taken a handful of these books out. Right now I'm reading Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez. It seems to be about a Mexican girl and her two half-siblings being taken under the wing of her step-father in 1950's Texas.

• Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
• Ciel by Sophie Labelle
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
• Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro
• Flamer by Mike Curato
• Reverie by Ryan La Sala
• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
• The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith
• The Fire Never Goes Out by Noelle Stevenson
• The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
• The Magic Fish by Trung Le Ngyuen
• The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown
• This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges
• V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
• When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
• Who I Was with Her by Nita Tyndall
• Spin with Me by Ami Polonsky
• If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
• Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" by Miles Hyman
• We March by Shane W. Evans
• Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
• Two Boys Kissing by  David Levithan
• Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters
• On the Come Up by Hannah Weyer
• Far from the Tree by  Andrew Solomon
• She Loves You, She Loves You  Not by Julie Anne Peters
• Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
• Grl2grl 2 by  Julie Anne Peters
• Angel's Choice by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
• Between Mom and Jo by Julie Anne Peters
• The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
• The Cider House Rules by John Irving
• Alison, Who  Went Away by Vivian  Vande Velde
• Political Resistance in the Current Age by Duchess Harris
• We Are Lost and Found by Helen Dunbar
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
• Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
• Orpheus Girl by  Drynne Rebele-Henry
• Moonstruck by Grace Ellis
• Laura Dean Keep Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
• Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley

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