Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

Finally the end of June is coming. That means it is time to disclose on some of the things I have been diving into. I thought I had posted this on Friday but it obviously did not post so have it now! I will post again later for the first post of June. 1: My French... The continual French learning never ever ever stops! Reading, typing, listening and speaking tasks all help to improve my understanding of the language. I do not even spend a lot of time doing it; five or ten minutes per day is what I like to accomplish. 2: The Adoption Papers  (1991) by Jackie Kay. As Jackie Kay was author of the month for May, I read her poetry collection The Adoption Papers  (1991). You can check out my review on the blog post to see what my thoughts were on the collection. Searching for tags such as 'BIPOC' or '1990s' can help you find the post easier. 3: Bus websites and timetables. There are some bus routes which I use (when I need to) that have been given updated timetables, with som...

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting on Monday but I was not feeling great. I think it is this heat here in the U.K; the weather has been rather hot lately. (I am never fan of the weather being extremely hot!) Todays post is the final review of the month that I had planned and therefore the post I had planned for Monday will be moved to June as the theme of the month will continue of course for a second month. Speaking of review, I am looking at Jackie Kay's episode for the BBC programme In My Own Words . This episode is a heartwarming and deeply personal examination of Jackie Kay's life with Kay herself narrating it and featuring in the programme. She discusses how things were as she grew up, what she had to face and where her passion for writing began. For me, it allowed me to understand her writing better as I got to consider what made her write and where some of her inspirations came from. I was able to get a closer at her childhood and where her passion for writing began. As...

Today I am reviewing Jackie Kay's short story collection Reality, Reality . I absolutely loved reading this collection! It was funny, heartwarming, sad and at times confusing with the stories all offering something different. I read the first story 'Reality, Reality' and immediately I was confused. The writing was not bad but I found the character had an odd personality. I was a little unsure what was going on. However, most of the stories did not confuse me. I did get a little confused over what happened in 'The White Cot'. For me, I was reminded of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper' (1892). I found that Sam and Dionne's relationship was a little worrisome to me. I liked them together but I worried how it would end. I am glad that Jackie Kay took on a story in which I was unsure what to expect next. This short story though had something in common in several of the stories. I found with a lot of the stories there were couples who were often...

Recently I saw something about the pink triangle which I am here to explain, if you do not know what it means. For the LGBTQIA+ community it is a part of our history and even in recent times it was shared by the current president of the United States of America, Donald Trump. The pink triangle has its roots in history as being used by the Nazis to mark those in concentration camps as gay. It was seen as a negative thing which even in years to come, gay men still had their suffering. Since then, the pink triangle has been reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ as a symbol of resistance and freedom, similarly how the word 'queer' was reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ community. One example I remember is watching RuPaul's Drag race UK series 4 and a certain Cheddar Gorgeous came out in one outfit baring resemblence to the pink triangle with a pink triangle over her mouth too. ¹ However Trump shared  an article with a red no entry sign over the pink triangle. I remember seeing this but it seems Tru...

For today's post I am reviewing  Bi  by Julia Shaw. This was actually an amazing book to read. It explores everything about bisexuality. What I loved especially was how she started with the origins of bisexuality and who created different ideas which have shaped how bisexuality exists within our current, modern-day society. The other thing I loved was how Julia Shaw emphasised the fact that people in the bi community have faced prejudices. We have faced prejudices from those who are heterosexual AKA straight and gay or lesbian people. It is good that she highlights this. Just because bi+ people are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, it does not mean we are fully accepted by everyone. The reason I refer to the community as 'bi+' is to include a multitude of plurisexuals and pluriromantics. These include those who identify as bi, omni, pan or poly for example. Here in the book Shaw mentions other types of plurisexuals. Plurisexuals are just people who have sexual attraction to...

It is that time of the month where I have another bookshop that I have visited. For this month, I took a trip to the National Trust place Sheffield Park and Garden in East Sussex. There they have a second hand bookshop situated within the coach house café. One thing particularly like is how you can grab a book, a hot drink, maybe even a bite to eat and sit down on a sofa or at a table and chairs. You immerse yourself deep in a good book right where the books are and I love it!  When I was there I found myself sipping a hot chocolate as I browsed an Italian cooking book. I decided not to have the book because I have quite a few cook book anyway. When you actually want to buy a book you have to either put money in the donation pot or head to the reception desk to complete your purchase. The staff there in the Coach House café, at the reception desk and across the whole National Trust site are extremely friendly. It is good when you go somewhere and the staff are kind because they the...

For today's blog post, I am returning to a loved novel of mine... This is Jackie Kay's only novel Trumpet  (1998). I recently got to thinking about the novel and how relevant it is to today. I also was reminded of how important things and more importantly people are. Taking the novel as an example, look at the lengths that people will go to for love. This love made a couple, fractured relationships with others and shattered what everyone thought they knew. There is one moment which stands out for me: it is when Joss and Millie, his wife both find their clothes swapped. It resents with me to this day because clothing is something with a rigidity in gender. Society has labelled a lot of clothes for either men or women. Look at shops; they have a 'men's section', a 'women's section' and a 'children's section'. But this does not mean that people have to stick in the section for them of course. Also, note how nothing has adapted for non-binary peo...

As someone who is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I wanted to share a poem I once wrote about my two favourite colours. It is a part of me and who I am. This is my poem... Favouritism: My two favourite colours are lilac and dark blue. Don't ask why my favourite two each of those hues. I don't know myself how I came to choose a mysterious shade and a calming one too. To be honest, I haven't really a clue, though I guess there was a sudden love that grew and grew. But please don't think this is something new. My love for lilac's been here some few years now, only a few. While I have had a lot longer passion for the shade of dark blue. I have tops, jackets, shackets and even shoes in my two favourite colours that I find so 'ooh'! That is my poem on my two favourite colours! Something different for you all today... Until next time, Thomas (they/them).

Hello everyone. Today I am reviewing  The Adoption Papers  (1991) by Jackie Kay. This book is in two parts: the extended poem 'The Adoption Papers' and  the collection 'Severe Gale 8'.  When I started reading this I was glad that all three people involved in the first part - the daughter, the birth mother and the adoptive mother were distinguishable with their clear distinctions made typographically. The use of three different fonts throughout the whole thing to identify the three different voices was a excellent idea. Without this the sequence would have been confusing when reading it. Speaking of these three voices, they each had their own tone. The daughter seems to be rebellious and tough, not letting racism put her down. Being with white guardians is not a problem for her as she accepts it. Other people though seem to find this an issue obviously. What I love with Jackie Kay is how she throws a spotlight on important issues such as racism. As an author of colour...

Hello everyone! Tomorrow is Thursday the 7th of May and voting day here in the UK. But you might be thinking 'who do I vote?' You might even be thinking 'why should I vote?' Maybe you do not think any political party will do what you and they only care about themselves. The thing that different political parties believe in different things and some of these things might be things you do not want As someone who is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I would never align myself with a political party who wants to remove the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community or discriminate against them. The same applies to coming for women's rights as I am proud feminist too. Again, I would not want a party with power if they were racist or xenophobic. That being said, if I want people like that to not get into power then one of my best chances to avoid that is vote against that and choose the political parties that will support and believe in the things that I support and believe...

Hello all. Here I am on this wonderful bank holiday Monday in May. Now I am going to be celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community all month long. But you might be asking yourself what LGBTQIA+ actually stands for? Or maybe you are unfamiliar with some parts of the acronym? It is a good job that I am here! This is what each part of the acronym means... L: The 'L' refers to Lesbian. This is often someone identifying a woman who has attraction to other women, namely only women. However, some non-binary may choose to identify with this label and that is valid. For some non-binary people they might feel more feminine in their own gender identity. They may also consider their relationship as lesbian. It is not up to anyone to judge them on how they choose to label themselves. The reason the 'L' comes first in the acronym is because during the AIDs pandemic of the 1980s, it was lesbian women caring for gay men who were going through an extremely tough time. G: The 'G' as I br...

Welcome to May everyone. As a new month arrives, I have a new author of the month. I also have a new theme of the month. Now next month is Pride month where the LGBTQIA+ community come together more than ever. I do believe pride and solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ is something for all year round. Anyway, because of this the theme of the month for May and June is LGBTQIA+. With that as the theme, I decided to pick an author who is openly a lesbian and wrote a novel about a trans character. That author is Jackie Kay and the novel is her only novel, Trumpet  (1988). I am looking forwards to reading more Jackie Kay this month and highlighting the significance in inclusivity and why the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be thought of all year round, not just in June. Further to this, I going to end my blog posts with my pronouns as well because I do it for emails the same as others. I just thought it made sense. It never hurt anyone... Here is to May everyone! Until next time, Thomas (They/th...