Review: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan

Publisher: Penguin
Published: March 17, 2015
Pages: 208
Source: Gifted from Penguin Canada
Rating: 3.5 Stars

It’s Tiny Cooper’s turn in the spotlight in this companion novel to New York Times bestseller Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Jazz hands at the ready! Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) stole readers’ hearts when he was introduced to the world in the New York Times bestselling book Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-authored by John Green and David Levithan. Now Tiny finally gets to tell his story—from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends—the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

In short: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan is a brilliant musical script that would be highly entertaining as a musical theatre performance.

If you've read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan then odds are, you fell in love with Tiny Cooper. The not-so-tiny Tiny Cooper is the link between the two Will Graysons of the novel and acts as a bit of a life coach for the two Wills as they struggle to find their truths and gain the confidence in their selves that Tiny already has in leaps and bounds. Unlike most LGBT teen characters, Tiny already knows who he is and is happy and proud to be big and gay. Hold Me Closer is Tiny's life story in musical form.

I'm kind of in awe that the musical that we only saw glimpses of in Will Grayson, Will Grayson has been completely fleshed out here in Hold Me Closer in multiple acts and scenes, and full musical numbers and soliloquies by David Levithan. I mean, of course I knew he was a very talented and prolific novelist who writes great characters and very quotable prose, but who knew that he had the ability to write a consummate musical production, complete with music index and stage directions in his wheelhouse? I should have known better because David Levithan has yet to disappoint me.

Impressive as this complete musical theatre script is, musicals are meant to be seen as a performance, not read without any melody. Perhaps someone with more musical talent than I could fill in the gaps and add tunes to the lyrics of the songs, but I was left simply to read it. I have no doubt however, that Hold Me Closer would make for a brilliant audiobook or a highly entertaining musical theatre performance! Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story is not only amusing, but I think also very inspiring. I recommend it, but I also highly recommend reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson first!

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52 Book Minimum
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Where the writer comes to write

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Review: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Published: February 7, 2012
Pages: 470
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 4 Stars

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship — one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to ‘fix’ her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self — even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

In short: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth wasn't an easy read, but it was a worthwhile one and I feel enriched for having read it.

I will admit that the proportion of books I read that have LGBT protagonists is not super high. Not equivalent to the proportion of LGBT people in the population anyway. But it occurred to me as I was looking through the LGBT books I had read that the vast majority of them were G with the occasional B thrown in; none of them were L or T. Not exactly representative. (This is actually a pattern I've noticed among the book blogging community at large, not just myself. Why this is the case is perhaps a topic for another time though). Anyways, this is an easy fix.

Enter The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Set in the early 90's in Montana, it's not exactly the most open-minded time and place in which to be a young girl questioning her sexuality. To be a fly on the wall in Cameron's life from age 12 to 17 while she deals with discrimination from those around her and self-hatred from herself is not an easy thing to experience, but it is worthwhile. I like that Emily M. Danforth refrains from getting preachy in her novel. The focus is on Cameron and her personal growth, not on pushing a particular agenda.

The strength of The Miseducation of Cameron Post lies in the nuanced characterization. There's a lot to show in a book detailing a character's life from 12 to 17 years of age and I was pleasantly surprised with how Emily M. Danforth handled it as it would have been easy to gloss over character-building scenes. People who prefer plot-driven novels may find certain scenes pointless, but to me every scene truly felt like it was contributing to the character development. These characters were probably the most authentic of any LGBT-oriented novel I've read.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a truly realistic portrayal of growing up gay in the early 90's that I would recommend to upper-YA age readers, especially those who enjoy character-driven novels. Cam's story isn't an easy one to process, but it is an important one and I feel enriched for having read it. If anyone has any recommendations for other great L- or T-specific books (or any other letter in the sex or gender spectrum), then I'd love to hear them! (No hate is meant towards all the great gay male fiction out there! I would just like to diversify my reading a bit more).

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My Life in June: World Pride, Toronto Zoo, and The Night Before Our Stars

I absolutely CANNOT believe 2014 is already half over!! Where has the time gone?? I would like some of it back now, please. I feel like I've been busy, busy, busy, and yet haven't accomplished very much so far this year thesis-wise. Entertainment-wise, however, I'm doing fine - check out my June:


Just this past weekend, I was able to attend my first ever Toronto Pride Parade:

This year is an extra special one for Toronto Pride because Toronto played host to World Pride this year, which meant an entire week of festivities. I was only able to make it out to the parade, but I'm happy I even managed that considering how intensely hot it is outside and how crazy the crowds were. As always, LGBT Pride parades never fail to make me smile and appreciate just how many people out there are good-hearted, open-minded folk who embrace and support those who are of a different sexual orientation from their own. It made for a great day!


Earlier this month, I was FINALLY able to make time to visit the world-renown Toronto Zoo:

I spent an entire day there and STILL only saw about half of the entire zoo! Another visit to see the rest of the park is already in the works because I seriously LOVED every minute of it. How cool would it be to be a zookeeper there??

My favourite animals were the apes - the gorillas and the orangutan I saw. I don't know how anyone can meet our closest living relatives, the Great Apes, and NOT feel an instant connection to them.

They're also very intelligent animals. Check out the video I took of this clever orangutan washing the glass of her enclosure with her left hand and squeegee-ing it with her right hand:


And finally, this month I was also lucky enough to be able to attend the advanced screening event of The Fault In Our Stars movie, entitled The Night Before Our Stars:

And so I saw The Fault In Our Stars in a theatre full of squealing teenage girls. In retrospect, this was not such a great idea. Of course it was SO great to see such enthusiasm for a great book by such young people, but for me, it kind of took away from the viewing experience. The girls all squealed and cheered every single time that Augustus Waters appeared on screen so that I could not hear his dialogue and they all bawled LOUDLY at the end of the movie in a fashion that I found quite distracting. So what did I think of the movie? Well, I really don't know. I really feel like I need a second viewing of the movie all on my own so that I can FEEL my own feelings and not get distracted by raucous squeals and loud honks. I have the general impression that I liked it and thought it was well acted, but that's it. I will rent it on DVD and make up my mind about what I think of it then!

Blog Posts in June:

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2014
Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR (Help Me Prioritize!) - As always, you guys DELIVERED when I asked for help on which books to prioritize for my summer reading and I can't thank you enough! Funnily enough, the results were fairly even across the board, which makes me excited because I KNOW I have some good reading ahead of me! If you're curious, Crown of Midnight and Eleanor & Park tied for first place with 39% of the vote, Graceling came in second with 36%, and The Raven Boys and The Giver tied for third with 32% of the vote. No worries though, I do absolutely plan on reading all ten of the books on the list, I just wanted to know which ones should be made a priority for right now!
Top Ten Unique and Beautiful Uses of Typography
Review: Raging Star (Dust Lands #3) by Moira Young - 4 Stars
Review: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne - 3 Stars
Series Review: Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - 4 Stars
The Great John Green Read of 2014
My Life in May: Moira Young, Period Dramas, and the Great John Green Read of 2014

Best Book Read in June:

The audiobook of Anne of Green Gables was offered up for free last week on SYNC Audiobooks and I didn't think much of it as I downloaded it to my phone to listen to as I get ready in the mornings. But then. OHMIGAWD IT WAS INSTA-LOVE (yes, it DOES exist in some instances!)!! Okay, first of all it must be said that I feel a bit ashamed at the fact that I, as a Canadian, had never read this classic Canadian novel. I have no excuses. And second, I want ever so much to be bosom friends with Anne Shirley!! Words cannot express how much I love that girl and her imagination and her earnestness. I can only hope that she would think me a kindred spirit in turn. This audiobook, as narrated by Colleen Winton, just filled me with so much JOY (and in the end... heartbreak) that it instantly became an all-time favourite of mine. I do wish Anne of Green Gables had been introduced to me in my childhood, but I am happy to have it in my life as an adult at any rate. Also: it has convinced me that I absolutely MUST see Prince Edward Island in my lifetime!!

Review: Pantomime by Laura Lam

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Published: February 5, 2013
Pages: 392
Source: For Review from Strange Chemistry
Rating: 4 Stars

R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass—remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone—are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.
Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star.
But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

In short: Pantomime by Laura Lam is a highly original and profound read with a shocking twist.

What a bizarre and yet completely fascinating and original read Pantomime was. One with an utterly shocking twist that is sure to leave you reeling. And unfortunately, it's that twist that is going to make Pantomime so hard to review because I don't want to ruin the surprise. So let's keep it simple and vague: Iphigenia, or Gene as she likes to be called, is a tomboy who wants no part leading the life of a lady, but is being heavily pressured by her marriage-obsessed mother. Micah is a vagrant of noble upbringing who runs away and finds a new home in the circus. Gene and Micah have a secret - a MAJOR one. Chapters alternate between Gene and Micah, but again, I can't say how the two are connected.

Pantomime is a fantasy though it's a very subtle one - the story reads like a Victorian Era novel with some added magical realism and a hint of fantastical mythology and history. I liked that a lot. It grounded the story and allowed the reader to focus more on the issues Gene and Micah have to deal with while maintaining a certain level of intrigue and fascination with the world. The circus atmosphere was great; debut author Laura Lam describes with perfect clarity an old-fashioned circus complete with clowns and acrobats and freaks.

I felt a heart-wrenching sympathy for Gene and Micah as they deal with the pressure to be normal and fit in, but also pride for their nerve and courage to not give in to that pressure and not want to change who they were born to be. Both Gene and Micah reach some pretty low points in Pantomime and my heart broke for them, but both demonstrate some serious chutzpah when dealing with their situations. There is some romance in Pantomime and it's of the LGBT variety. It was exciting to me, having LGBT issues brought up in a fantasy book, because it's usually contemporary reads or nothing and I applaud Laura Lam for bringing the topic to the forefront in Pantomime.

The pacing in Pantomime is a little slow and there's not much in the way of action - with the exception of the ending - but I found I didn't mind too much because I was so involved in the story and characters. I would have liked a bit more development in the mythology and history of the world as I was left with quite a few questions in the end. Overall though, I appreciated Pantomime for its originality and Laura Lam for choosing to write a book that deals with complicated and sensitive issues regarding gender identity.

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My Precious
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Wishful Thinking

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