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Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities Book Review

Rebecca Solnit
An essential read for millennial activists. Learning about the previous generation's victories and tactics shows that we can achieve good things, contrary to the overarching story of defeat that the left tends to tell about itself. I struggle with so much focus on process rather than outcomes, but sitting with that discomfort is a path to growth, I guess.

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Immoral, Indecent and Scurrilous: The Making of an Unrepentant Sex Radical Book Review

Gerald Hannon
Gerald has never been one to tone down his opinion for the sake of making others feel comfortable. He's the life of the party, a master storyteller, and this memoir proves it. This is not an exhaustive account of the early Gay Liberation movement in Toronto, but rather a personal reflection of a life lived to the full. Sexually, politically, intellectually, artistically... he occupied these spaces with naive confidence, and if anyone else had a problem with it, well, that was their problem.

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The Paris Review Interviews: Vol I Book Review

Pearls of wisdom are peppered throughout this collection of interviews with some of the 20th century’s greatest writers. But too often, they focus less on the craft of writing and too much on the who’s who of socialite literary circles, dropping names which have little meaning to me. It was fascinating to read about, for example, Jorge Luis Borges’ approach to storytelling. In Ernest Hemingway’s interview, on the other hand, he just came off as an insincere diva unwilling to pass on knowledge to the next generation.

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Lilith's Brood Book Review

Octavia E. Butler
This three-part series manages to bring the reader intimately close to the main characters' desires and fears without rendering a judgment on whether they're good or bad. I found myself constantly re-assessing until the last page. An alien species saves humanity from nuclear fallout, but they are captors as much as saviours. The aliens' expansive family structures and gender identities challenge human ways of being, and position them to bring about an enlightened future that can overcome the tendency for human self-destruction. But are the humans willing participants in this leap of faith, or was their free will extinguished on first contact? Apart from the second half of the second book, which became repetitive and tedious, this story is challenging, uncomfortable, seductive and imaginative.

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