The Book Bound Society review – Queer There and Everywhere, by Sarah Prager

What is remarkable, and at once unsurprising, is that all twenty-three of these queer people lived with such vivd, incandescent variety. Diversity is one of the only constants that queerness has always had, and our unique individuals are connected precisely because they diverged from what society expected.

I had such a great time reading this book!

At first I was a bit worried that this book would end up being boring, but not at all! I’ve read this book so quickly and learned so much.
I liked the way it was written because I didn’t feel like someone was patronizing me, or just giving a Historical course, no, I felt like someone was telling me all these things, that we had a conversation.

I have to be honest, I didn’t know most of these people, like I only knew Jeanne D’Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Lili Elbe, Frida Kahlo, Eleanor Roosevelt, Alan Turing, Harvey Milk and George Takei . . . and I didn’t even know most of them were queer in some way.

So knowing about all these queer people who shaped our world and our community, was just amazing. It’s true that you never think if a Historical figure was or wasn’t straight, most of the time, you just assume, and you assume wrong.

I loved reading about each of them, their life, what they accomplished, what happened to them, what they did for the community and how brave they all were in their own way.

It’s definitely a book I would recommend to everybody, you don’t have to be ‘queer’ to enjoy this book, you being straight doesn’t mean you won’t learn something interesting. This book is for everybody who wants to learn. Learn about the truth.

Ultimately, the lesson from our twenty-three incredible individuals is that there is no wrong way to be queer. You can be low-key; you can be fabulous; you can exclusively wear shirts with unnecessarily convoluted Judith Butler quotes in very small fonts. You can crusade publicly for equality or pursue your passions while keeping your business your own. All these stories are about people who brought originality, courage, and love to their work – whatever that work was, whatever way they set themselves to it. And as we see in all these transformative lives, and from the effect reading about them has on us today, however you want to live is valid and important – because the mere fact of you, living, makes the world more radiant.
Live bravely.

3.5 / 5

P.S. I’m changing my rating from 4.75 to 3.5 because in her definition of LGBTQIA+ the author said A stood for Ally and NO. BY DOING THIS YOU’RE ERASING EVERY SEXUALITY BEGINNING WITH A. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? The A never stood for Ally and it’s not going to happen any time soon. If you call yourself an ally and seriously think the A stands for you, then you’re not an ally.

That’s it for today, I’ll see you soon, have a nice day guys 🌻