Image ‘assorted book lot’ by Jessica Ruscello via Unsplash, free to use under the Unsplash licence.
Calling all students and staff! With the term break looming and a full two weeks to relax and rejuvenate, it’s the perfect time to pick up some of the fresh titles we’ve added to the library collection! Here is your ultimate term break reading list:
The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.
A touching tale of forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, The Prophets combines historical fiction with the new-age queer literary fiction genre to comment upon humane refuge and betrayal. Jones’ prose is lyrical, illustrating concrete images through real-time language and captures infatuation through powerful moments of dialogue. Tackling the hurdles of love and danger, and the suffering of inheritance, The Prophets is available for loan at both the City and East campus libraries.
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss
Boasting the 2022 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award Indigenous Writer’s Prize, the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Highly Commended title, and having been shortlisted and longlisted for a number of other prizes, Anita Heiss’ historical fiction novel Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray is an incredible First Nation’s novel grappling ecocriticism, journey, and hope versus heartbreak. Translating to ‘River of Dreams’, readers follow the journey of Wagadhaany surviving the surging destruction of the Murrumbidgee River and her travels back to Gundagai, discovering the story of her lost ancestors and country. A story of hope and heartache, Heiss has perfectly illustrated what it means to have a deep love for country. Available from the City campus library.
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Transgender, cisgender, pregnancy, motherhood, and sex all collide in Peters’ 2021 provocative work of queer fiction. Following the story of Reese – a transgender woman thriving beyond the quotidian in New York City – readers are given the opportunity to visualise what are the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood. By forgetting taboo culture and in illustrating realistic moments of characterisation, we see moving moments of queer conversations with an abundance of heart having been poured into the prose. Available from both the City and East campus libraries.
Growing Up Queer in Australia by Benjamin Law (ed.)
A collection of moving, personal essays and a part of the ‘Growing Up … in Australia’ collection, Benjamin Law illustrates the intersectional identities he has grappled, accompanied by a series of life writing experiences in order to illustrate the spectrum of LGBTQIA+ identities within Australia. From individual’s discovering sexuality, to exploring how to define “desire”, Law has arranged an incredibly emotional, personal anthology where authors explore themes of identity and belonging, queer culture, self-acceptance, gender stereotypes, and society and culture. Available from both the City and East campus libraries.
Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan
A stunning bildungsroman of intersectionality, a provocative tale of knowledge, and a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, Talusan tell her inspirational story of her immigrant childhood, her gender transition, and discusses the illusion of race, disability, and gender. With an academic scholarship to Harvard in the United States, Talusan tells readers of her navigation of the culture she moved in to, and provokes readers to shift their own perception of love, identity, gender, and the fairness of life. The prose is exceptionally vulnerable and reflective. Available from the City campus library.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for allowing individuals to improve on their everyday habits. By providing readers with the background formation of habits, to revealing practical strategies to break the old and endorse the new, Clear draws on psychology and neuroscience to create this best-selling self-help guide. This text offers readers fresh strategies to understand their goals, and gives genuine, helpful options to realise them. Available from the City and East campus library.
The Equal Classroom: Life-Changing Thinking About Gender by Lucy Rycroft-Smith & Graham Andre (eds.)
For current and soon-to-be educators, this text reveals the new-age, necessary thinking that educators should engage with before entering the classroom. Rethinking the key contemporary discussions of gender and sexuality in the classroom, this book helps every teacher reflect on issues around gender roles and expectations in their class. Research, humour, and anecdotes are thoughtfully intertwined with insights into the cultural and societal norms of educational settings, and assists educators to ensure they are creative safe, inclusive classroom spaces. Available from the City campus library.
Words by Ashlee Simpson, Digital & Library Engagement Officer.
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