Hi Guys! Welcome to the unofficial LGBTQ+/GSRM Book Club!
We use LGBT because it is better understood and visually grabs possible readers, but we also GSRM to be inclusive of all Gender, Sexuality, and Romantic Minorities, even the ones I don’t even know about. If you have a manga you want to read we probably have someone interested in reading it with you!
Currently Reading
はなものがたり
Summary
Highly acclaimed by bookstore staff all over the country!
A manga about a grandmother who woke up to beauty that became a hot topic on Twitter!!
Hanayo, who lost her husband of many years.
Yoshiko is single and runs a cosmetics store.
Two people who have walked completely different lives meet, are attracted to each other, and get to know each other because of her grandmother’s present.
Next book has been chosen by one vote I think! We’re a very divided club as far as tastes go lol. Only one more than half of the voters to win. Starts 10/14 so order you books now if you need a physical copy!
I would like to appeal to the widest range of readers.
Keep the book short-ish.
Keep it low intermediate if possible.
Keep it safe for work please.
Something to think about, we have a ton of different identities so I think it would be nice to be cognizent of stories read recently to open space of types of stories.
As はなものがたり comes to an end we can start talking about the next book. Start thinking and post possible books whenever. When ~probably~ start accepting nominations 11/4, voting 11/11, and the next book will be announced 11/18. There will then be a two week break before the next book starts.
And here’s the official English synopsis for the first volume(It’s not exactly the same as the Japanese one, but if anything the English synopsis is actually a bit more informative than the Japanese one):
Summary
Mogumo is a cute but lonely high school student who just wants a few loving friends. Fellow student Iwaoka Tetsu invites Mogumo to work at his family’s café for “cross-dressing boys,” but he makes an incorrect assumption: Mogumo is non-binary and doesn’t identify as a boy or a girl. However, Mogumo soon finds out that the café is run by LGBT+ folks of all stripes, all with their own reasons for congregating there. This touching manga explores gender, gender presentation, and sexuality from many different angles, including the ways people are pushed to conform in a world that doesn’t understand them…until the world begins to learn, one person at a time.
And aside from the synopsis,
there is also a preview of the first two chapters(in Japanese ) on pixiv :)
I bought that one in English. The quires were bound out of order, making it a bit of a puzzling read at times. I haven’t gotten around to going back to the bookshop to get a new copy.
Not… planning on reading it in Japanese. Just commenting.
I’d recommend all the mangas by Ebine Yamaji. The mangaka is a lesbian herself and her work is very good. She’s quite well known in France - especially in the LGBTQ+ community - as several of her mangas have been translated here.
I enjoyed a lot “Love my Life”, “Indigo Blue”, “Sweet Lovin’ Baby”, “Free Soul”…
Definitely one of my favourites…
I read and really enjoyed 放浪息子 and やがて君になる. Both have some heavy topics (e.g. bullying, loss), but overall I think they classify as “wholesome”. I read a couple other random manga volumes, but none of the others were particularly good.
The only problem you might have with a themed book club is that the difficulty level may be unclear. Will you try to match the beginner book club by reading about one chapter per week?
I totally agree with you. I was worried about that specifically when it comes to vocab. I think the nominator will have to give a estimated difficulty level. Yes I would like to set an easy pace, and try to keep it as beginner friendly as possible. It might end up being more like intermediate… The subject matter is going to relegate most of them to intermediate level.
At a certain point that’s not going to be a problem outside of fantasy/sci-fi and similarly complex genres. It really becomes more about pace I think. When I was a beginner, one chapter a week was a lot and I asked a lot of questions. Now as an intermediate reader, I can easily read multiple chapters a day. So to keep it at a beginner level I’d recommend to keep it as slice of life as possible and about one chapter a week.
