Monday, February 28, 2022

Legendary Children - Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez

Something you might not know about me is that I am a HUGE fan of the art of drag. I don't know when it started*, but obviously I was over the moon when RuPaul's Drag Race premiered way back in 2009, and I have watched every episode of the U.S. version since**. My favorite thing to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon is rewatch the latest episode and I sometimes even get a little emotional during the lip syncs, because watching amazingly talented, creative, and artistic individuals do what they do best is incredibly moving to me. 

Quick side note - The Boulet Brothers' Dragula is another cool drag competition that has moved to yet another paid streaming service, although it tilts a bit more toward the "filth" and "horror" elements, in case that's not your bag. 

At this point you might be wondering - is there a point to this post? Yaaaas queen, there is - I finally got around to reading this awesome book. The subtitle is: "The First Decade of RuPaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life" and the book is just that - a history of queer culture as seen through Drag Race, which incorporates it at every turn. Now that I have read this book through once, I intend to read it again much more slowly, so I can pause and do research on some of the drag pioneers I wasn't already aware of. Total must-read for fans of drag and highly recommended. 


*Fun fact - I was blessed by a drag queen at age 21, which was a loooooooong time ago in a galaxy semi-far away

**As the overseas versions are on Paramount + and I refuse to pay for yet another streaming service I sadly won't be watching them soon, but I obviously hope to someday

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Creatures - Crissy van Meter

So this book has left me feeling divided. Part of me felt like this was a somewhat pretentious grad-school/MFA exercise, and part of me can't stop thinking about what I think it all meant. All of the characters are difficult to like, in my opinion, but at the same time the author manages to make the reader care about what happens to - well, some of them. I feel like there was symbolism that I am going to be thinking about and unpacking on this one for a while.