Skip to content

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: Fire Country by Victor Steffensen

Victor Steffensen offers a language to articulate here we want to go and how to get there.

Australian, Climate change, Environment, Indigenous writers

Review: Poly by Paul Dalgarno

Poly is a riot of a novel, an all out brawl.

Australian, Fiction, Melbourne, Novel, polyamory

Review: Rainforest by Eileen Chong

These are austere, still poems about the things embodied in words.

Australian, China, Poetry, Singapore

Review: Cherry Beach by Laura McPhee-Browne

Cherry Beach is a painful portrait of millennial queer life, and agonising desire.

Canada, Contemporary, Fiction, lesbian, Melbourne, Millennial, queer

Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

There are a lot of feelings in Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale of science run amuck, but her depiction of nature in all its untrammelled grandeur is still something to behold.

Classics, Climate change, Frankenstein, Novel, science, science fiction, speculative fiction, Switzerland

Review: Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

Cleanness is a book of lofty ideas, grounded in the flesh.

Bulgaria, Contemporary, Fiction, LGBTIQ, Novel, queer

Review: Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

What would happen if a married woman behaved like a man? Fleishman Is In Trouble provides the answer.

Fiction, Marriage, New York, Novel, US

Review: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Entangled Life is a mind-expanding trip into the world of fungi, and a model for nature and science writing.

biology, ecology, Environment, Fungi, Mushrooms, mycology, nature, Nonfiction, science

Review: The Lost Arabs by Omar Sakr

The Lost Arabs is a collection of cosmological, mystical poetry, a search for belonging and god in hell on earth.

Arabic writing, Australian, Colonialism, Middle East, Poetry

Review: Summer by Ali Smith

Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet is over. What a journey, and what a time for it to end.

Ali Smith, Brexit, British, Climate change, Contemporary, Donald Trump, Fiction, Novel, UK

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts
Blog at WordPress.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • The Library Is Open
    • Join 111 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Library Is Open
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...