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The Library Is Open

A blog about books and writing, through rainbow-tinted glasses. Every book gets a gay rating.

  • About
  • Reviews
    • Fiction
      • Contemporary
      • Classics
    • Nonfiction
      • Essays
    • Poetry
  • Certified gay
  • Gay stuff

Author: James Whitmore

I am a writer based in Melbourne. I’m interested in nature and the environment, and queer books.

Review: An Exciting And Vivid Inner Life by Paul Dalla Rossa

Stories that illuminate the condition of the modern world.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, gay, LGBTIQ, queer, Short stories

Review: Stone Fruit by Lee Lai

A sympathetic and warts-and-all depiction of love, loss and family.

Canada, Fiction, Graphic novel, LGBTIQ, Transgender

Review: The Dawn Of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

A big history of people that demolishes the myth of progress.

Anthropology, Archaeology, History, Nonfiction, Politics

Review: The Story Of A New Name by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

This second instalment of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet deepens and complicates the themes of the first.

Classics, Fiction, Italy, Novel

Review: Companion Piece by Ali Smith

A fittingly grim and anxious search for meaning in our anxious and grim times.

Ali Smith, Contemporary, COVID-19, Fiction, Novel, UK

Review: Take Care by Eunice Andrada

Poetry that investigates ‘taking’ in all its forms.

Colonialism, Environment, Patriarchy, Philippines, Poetry, Sexual assault

Review: A History Of Dreams by Jane Rawson

A witty and delightful novel about fighting evil.

Australian, Contemporary, Fascism, Female writers, Feminism, Fiction, Historical, Novel, Spec-fic, Witches

Review: Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam

A gleefully silly horror-comedy of the end of the world.

Apocalypse, Contemporary, Fiction, New York, US

Review: Bodies Of Light by Jennifer Down

A novel of surviving extraordinary trials.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, Melbourne, Novel, Stella Prize

Review: Tilt by Kate Lilley

Poems that are all about the hidden things.

Australian, lesbian, LGBTIQ, Poetry, queer, Sydney

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