#Hijab Butch Blues

[mysweetsinfulobsessions]

HIJAB BUTCH BLUES by LAMYA H.

Alright, changing it up a bit with my book stuff but this one hit home with me. The author draws very interesting parallels between stories in the Quran and her experiences as a gay muslim woman that are very interesting. And if you think you can’t be muslim and gay, or wear a hijab and be gay, or even tackle muslim culture and queerness in one, then you’re bound to be pleasantly proved wrong with this one.

#and you know what? the way the author handles the concept of coming out and anonymity is so fucking relatable #the author remains anonymous per her own choice and thats fucking something #lgbtq books #lgbt books #book recommendations #lgbt book recs #queer book recommendations #queer books #gay muslim #lesbian muslim #queer muslim #muslim representation #muslim books #lgbt muslim #lgbtq muslim #lgbt+ books #hijab butch blues #lamya h #hijab butch blues lamya

[read-alert]

This does come with the caveat that I can't quite remember if the characters in How to Find a Princess, Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, and Chain-Gang All-Stars identity specifically as lesbians or not, but they are all sapphic. Full titles under the cut!

EDIT: Apparently Alice Walker is a big proponent of a famous antisemitic conspiracy theorist, David Icke, so be aware of that when considering The Color Purple

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! 📚📖🏳️‍🌈

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

#lesbian #lesbian reads #lesbian books #lesbian lit #queer books #queer reads #queer lit #lesbian visibility week #bookblr #hijab butch blues #in the dream house #how to find a princess #cantoras #the color purple #stone butch blues #funeral songs for dying girls #chain gang all stars

[queerliblib]

Queer reads for Ramadan? We’ve got you covered!

#queer liberation library #qll #queer books #ramadan #hijab butch blues #guapa #radiant fugitives #hani and ishu's guide to fake dating #blood orange #life as a unicorn #god in pink #love is an ex-country #you exist too much #only this beautiful moment #if they come for us #Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.

goodreads

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher--her female teacher--she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can't yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don't matter, and it's easier to hide in plain sight. To disappear. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: when Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. Could Maryam, uninterested in men, be . . . like Lamya?

From that moment on, Lamya makes sense of her struggles and triumphs by comparing her experiences with some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing on the faith and hope Nuh needed to construct his ark, begins to build a life of her own--ultimately finding that the answer to her lifelong quest for community and belonging lies in owning her identity as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant.

This searingly intimate memoir in essays, spanning Lamya's childhood to her arrival in the United States for college through early-adult life in New York City, tells a universal story of courage, trust, and love, celebrating what it means to be a seeker and an architect of one's own life.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this memoir yet, but I love the title!

#hijab butch blues #lamya h. #polls #trans lit #trans literature #trans books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #memoirs #nonfiction #nonbinary #own voices #to read

[tigger8900]

Hijab Butch Blues, by Lamya H

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Lamya(she/they) is a queer, non-binary, South Asian Muslim, an immigrant first to the Arab world and then again to New York City. If all that sounds like a lot, that's because it is. But she manages to deftly explore these identities, telling the story of her life by relating her experiences back to stories from the Quran and her Islamic upbringing. Whether it's exploring racism through Jinn stories, lesbianism through the character of Maryam, or relating despair over her constant attraction to straight girls to the story of Nuh and his ark, she paints a vivid, authentic picture of her life so far.

I was a little bit nervous going into this because, while I know a little about Islam, I was concerned this book might get too in-depth for me. But I shouldn't have worried at all, because this was written to be very accessible to anyone who's been exposed to the Abrahamic canon. While I often couldn't place a character immediately, as Lamya began to describe their stories I realized that I already knew most of them in broad strokes, even if the details were different. I will say that I'm sure these stories are more a personal interpretation than a scholarly overview. For example, I very much doubt that it's generally accepted among scholars of Islam that Maryam, mother of Isa(Jesus, in Christianity), was a lesbian, or that Allah is explicitly a non-binary being. But it's Lamya's right to seek her own truth in tradition, and I appreciate her sharing that interpretation.

This memoir is, in the grand queer tradition, organized by topic rather than being presented in linear order. She skips forward and backward through the chapters of her life as needed, from her teenage years to college, back to her childhood then ahead to her late 20s, back to college, and so on. I found the ordering to be easy to read, but it's something to be prepared for going in if you're not familiar with this style of memoir.

#books #book review #hijab butch blues #lamya h #memoir #lgbtq #queer muslim

[flanarchy]

"Around 1am that night, he texts me. I think you'd make a beautiful trans man. Have you ever thought about transitioning? I start laughing when I get his text. It's late and I've been procrastinating sleeping, so I'm a little loopy, and once I start laughing, I can't stop. The question feels so patronizing: as if I've never thought about gender and how I choose to present myself, how I dress, how I stand, how I crop my hair short, and what this means. As if I've never thought about what it would be like to live as a man instead, the relief that would come from passing, with not having to face the everyday violence and humiliations of living in my body. As if I've never thought about how I don't want that, how every cell in my body recoils at that thought of being a man, and yet how harrowing it is that the only way I can get out of my bed and make it through the day is by wearing masculinity on my body. As if I've never held dear my feminist rage, never thought about how I feel so politically aligned with womanhood and yet hate inhabiting it, hate it when my body is read as such. As if the only way to be trans is to transition to a binary gender, as if I can't exist as I have been, in some space in between or beyond, using she or they pronouns and seething when people call me a woman and laughing when people tell me I should transition."

–Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

#bold is mine #this is the most similar thing ive read to how i feel #not exactly it--i don't seethe at being called a woman and dont hate inhabiting it #but god. #the political alignment with being a woman and loving being a woman and yet. needing the masculinity on my body #hijab butch blues #lamya h

[droids-in-disguise]

Favorite Books I've Read in 2023 (so far)

So fun fact I read a lot, here are my top 10 books that I’ve read so far this year, in the order I read them. Never really posted this sort of thing on tumblr before but I thought I’d give it a try.

Book details and some of my thoughts under the cut.

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee (2022)

YA Fantasy

A Thousand Steps Into Night is a book I 100% picked up because of the cover and because it was super cheap. I hadn’t ever heard anything about the book or author. The best way I can describe this novel is that reading it conjured up the same feelings that I get from watching a Ghibli film. Our protagonist Miuko is an ordinary girl from a small village until one day she is cursed and slowly begins transforming into a demon. Hoping to find a way to break the curse, she begins to travel the land meeting lots of colorful characters, gods, and mythic figures along the way. It’s a very atmospheric and wonderfully written book that pulls a lot of inspiration from Japanese mythology and folklore

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (2022)

Romance/Fantasy

This is the second book in the Last Binding trilogy. I feel like you could probably get away with skipping the first book if you wanted to since both books are somewhat self-contained, but why would you? The first book (A Marvellous Light) is awesome. Our story takes place in an alternate-Edwardian England where magic is real and certain people can practice it, unbeknownst to the rest of the non-magical population. Maud Blyth, a non-magical person who has the privilege of knowing about magic, is working with members of the magical community as well as her brother (the protagonist from the first book) to prevent a dangerous magical contract form falling into the wrong hands. She is travelling on an ocean liner when the old woman in her care ends up dead. Cue the murder mystery shenanigans and sapphic romance!

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun (2022)

Romance

I actually read this book twice this year, once by myself and once for my book club. It has what is quite possibly one of the most bonkers rom-com plots I’ve ever seen and I love how ridiculous it is. Basically, our main character Ellie meets a women in Powell’s books and they have a magical, Christmas one-night-stand. Fast forward almost one year later, Ellie is having a difficult time out here in good-old Portland, OR after getting fired from her dream job and having to instead rough it as a barista. In a last-ditch effort to not lose her apartment, she agrees to marry her job’s landlord so he can get his inheritance and Ellie gets a percentage in exchange. However, it turns out that her one-night-stand from last year is her new fake-fiancé’s sister. GASP! The only place this book loses points for me is that there’s too many goddamn Taylor Swift references.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (2021)

YA Sci-Fi

If I had to pick a favorite out of all these books it would be this one. Reading this book felt like getting hit by a bus. Our POV character is Ambrose Cusk, an astronaut aboard the Coordinated Endeavor who has been sent on a mission into deep space to rescue his sister. His only companion is another boy named Kodiak who comes from a rival nation (think Cold War-ear space race). As they slowly start to interact with one another it becomes clear that for some reason neither one of them have any memory of the ship’s launch. The only knowledge they have of what’s going on comes from the ship’s internal computer and infrequent communications from Earth. As they begin to investigate, they discover a lot more than they bargained for. The first half of this book is like your typical gay space adventures and then at like the 50% mark onwards the rug gets pulled out from under you and you just have to go WHAT THE FUCK and then when you finish the book you just have to pretend like you’re fine and can move on with your life (you can’t). My only complaint is that this book should not have been YA, like there’s absolutely 0 reason for it to be.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (2021)

YA Thriller

This book was unexpected for me. I have a habit of just reading books I know absolutely nothing about because someone, somewhere said it was good and because I think the cover is pretty. For some reason I assumed this would be a fantasy book but it’s actually a thriller/mystery novel, which is not at all a genre I typically go for. Our main character, Daunis Fontaine, is a biracial Ojibwe girl who loves hockey and her community. Her status as an unenrolled member of her tribe has her stuck with a foot in each world. After a family tragedy, circumstances push her to agree to work undercover with the FBI in order to find the source of a dangerous substance that has infiltrated her community and threatens the lives of those she cares about. I found Daunis to be an extremely compelling character with a strong narrative voice. Watching all the layers of the mystery getting peeled away through her investigation was extremely satisfying. She uses mainstream scientific knowledge in tandem with more tribal specific knowledge of botany and medicine in order to figure things out, which I thought was super cool. This is another book where I feel like it could’ve gotten away with not being YA, but I don’t feel as strongly about it as I do in regards to The Darkness Outside Us.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (2023)

Sci-fi

Where to even begin this one… Have you ever wanted a book that was partly a story about a robot found family on post-apocalyptic Earth and partly a Pinocchio retelling? Yeah me either, but I’m so glad I got it. Victor Lawson is a human raised by robots. He has a peaceful existence with his android father and other mechanical friends until his curiosity unknowingly alerts robots from his father’s former life to their existence. Vic’s father is captured and it’s up to the rest of the family to rescue him. Victor is also asexual and how he describes and navigates his asexuality was so similar to my own it was like looking in a mirror.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (2023)

Memoir

This was a wonderful memoir about a queer Muslim as she reconciles those two pieces of her identity, and the struggles she faces finding community. Growing up religious, there were a lot of experiences in this memoir that I personally related to. Something I really enjoyed is how the author retold stories from the Quran and used them to frame her own queer experiences. There was a lot about this book that was very comforting to me, and I feel like it was written in a way that was accessible and easy to understand.

Black Sun (and by extension it’s sequel, Fevered Star) by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020/2022)

Fantasy

Black Sun is the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, an epic fantasy series with a world inspired by pre-colonial American civilizations. This series has such a large and complex cast of characters, with chapters from multiple POVs, so it’s impossible to say if there is really any one protagonist. Essentially, the upcoming solar eclipse foretells the return of the crow god and the unbalancing of the status quo that has previously been maintained by an order of priests. Some characters are working to make sure this comes to pass, some hope to prevent it, and some aren’t quite sure where their loyalties lie. By the end of the first chapter I already knew I was in for a wild ride (the book opens on a mother sewing her 12-year old son’s eyes shut, ew). This series also features a queernormative world, where non-binary characters and same-gender relationships are commonplace.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (2021)

YA Fantasy

This book was so cool and really had a lot going for it. Briseis Greene has the uncanny ability to grow and control plants. She and her two moms live in Brooklyn where they run a flower shop. One day, a visitor arrives to tell Bri that she has inherited an old country estate in upstate NY from her birth family. Bri wonders if this house could be the answer to her family’s financial woes and so they travel upstate where Bri begins to learn more about her abilities and her family’s history. Every answered question leads to dozens more unanswered and between strange individuals wandering the estate, townspeople who seem to know secrets, and increasing instances of violence and vandalism, Bri begins ask herself if staying here is worth it if it means her family might be in danger. This book is a queer, mythology inspired, part urban fantasy, part thriller/haunted house story, of a modern fairytale. Truly something in it for everyone.

#books #a thousand steps into night #a restless truth #kiss her once for me #the darkness outside us #firekeeper's daughter #in the lives of puppets #hijab butch blues #black sun #fevered star #this poison heart

[thenatureofbutch]

Author photographed with book ‘hijab butch blues’

#hijab butch blues #twitter #books #poc #hijab #butches

[caroldanver]

5⭐️ books so far in 2024 (out of 23 read)

#adriana reads #hijab butch blues #babel: an arcane history #a certain hunger #books

[pieandpaperbacks]

Currently reading: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.

I’ve waited for over a year for my library to get this book in, and I’m so excited to finally be reading it. Hijab Butch Blues is a complex memoir about Lamya’s experiences as a queer Muslim, and how they’ve navigated identity, belonging, and community, both in regards to their religion and sexuality. It’s helped me challenge how I view the relationship between religion and queer identity.

#bookblr #books #currently reading #hijab butch blues #lamya h #book recommendations #book review

[lgbtqreads]

Most Anticipated Non-Fiction: January-June 2023

Most Anticipated Non-Fiction: January-June 2023

This post contains titles published by HarperCollins. Please note that the HarperCollins Union has been on strike since 11/10/22 to get a fair contract for their workers, and this site very much supports that effort. Visit the HarperCollins Union linktree to learn how you can support their fight for a fair contract: linktr.ee/hcpunion. I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life by Cody…

View On WordPress

#Amelia Possanza #Bisexual Men Exist #Black on Black #Choosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance #Daniel Black #Elliot Page #Essays #Francesca Royster #From Here #Hijab Butch Blues #I Am Ace #Lamya H #Leg #Luma Mufleh #Memoirs #Pageboy #R.K. Russell #Shantel Gabrieal Buggs #Stacy Jane Grover #Tar Hollow Trans #The Yards Between Us #Unsafe Words #Vaneet Mehta

[itchydolphin]

shes a beaut :’)

#bookblr #bookworm #reading #hijab butch blues #queer muslim #memoir #lamya h #I LOVE THIS BOOK #this is my pic

[iibislintu]

reading Hijab Butch Blues and it turns out i don't have a problem reading a book in one go if the book just suits me well

... hoo boy the emotions! so much crying from recognising things, and so much emotion from the feeling of sameness at certain points

... and the queer readings of the Qur'an are going to give me A LOT to think about

#hijab butch blues #lamya h. #islam #quran #queer islam

[kakashihasibs]

I just finished reading Hijab Butch Blues and it's so good and i think i need to reread the last few chapters

#i need to process #hijab butch blues

[just-a-turtleduck]

AUGH Hijab Butch Blues. what a book. what an inspiration lamya is. genuienly might be my new favorite book

#hijab butch blues

[randomtwospirit]

Lamya H. - Hijab Butch Blues - A Reflection

Part 1

Me: 🧡 The Father: What’s goin’ on? Me: all was fine and then I picked up this book and it’s been hitting just close enough to home to make me want to break down The Father: Well, there’s your problem. You should never read! Me: ok but then I wouldn’t be shown myself in a mirror like this

#lamya h #hijab butch blues #lgbtq2ia+ #gay #trans #queer #exjw #srd