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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: Throat by Ellen van Neerven

Ellen van Neerven conjures magic from trauma in this fluid collection full of warmth and light.

Australian, Indigenous writers, Poetry

Review: Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (translated by Sophie Hughes)

A brutal tale of murder, sex and witchcraft set in the steamy coastal plains of Mexico.

Contemporary, Fiction, Man Booker International, Mexico, Novel, Translation

Review: The Tradition by Jericho Brown

The tradition is violation: of the land, of women, and especially black men’s bodies.

Contemporary, Poetry, Pulitzer, queer, US

Review: The Adversary by Ronnie Scott

A story of gay frenemy-ship set in share-house inner Melbourne, uncovering uncomfortable truths about queer life and love.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, gay, Melbourne, Novel, queer

Review: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)

While the story of The Odyssey is familiar, its narrative still feels more inventive than most contemporary novels.

Classics, Homer, The Odyssey, Translation

Review: Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs

Fathoms is a book of philosophy and science that might shock us out of our lethargy towards nature.

Environment, Nonfiction

Review: Bruny by Heather Rose

A fast-paced political thriller that hits perhaps little too close to home, and not necessarily for the right reasons.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, Novel

Review: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Grapes Of Wrath remains a bracingly strange novel about ecological crisis eight decades after it was published.

Classics, Fiction, Nobel Laureate, Novel

Review: Shirl by Wayne Marshall

A whimsical, absurd and transgressive collection of stories about Australian masculinity.

Australian, Fiction, Short stories

Review: The Plague by Albert Camus

The Plague is understandably back on best-seller lists: the parallels with our current situation are striking.

Classics, COVID-19, Nobel Laureate

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