Northbrook Public Library

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Pose -  Set in the 1980s, this dance-musical drama explores the ball-culture world in New York City.

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Definitely check out the following movies which offer insight directly into the subculture fictionalized in Pose:  Paris is Burning and the modern ball culture in  Kiki.  Mala Mala explores the drag and transgender subculture in Puerto Rico.

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara -  Dramatically re-creates the world of Harlem balls and the houses  that revolve around them, focusing on the real-world House  of Xtravaganza, the first Latino house  in the ball scene.

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters -  Nancy Astley becomes smitten by male impersonator Kitty Butler and attends shows until the star notices her, which leads to the two becoming partners in romance and performance until societal pressures drive the two into situations that embrace the ambiguity of sexual preference and gender roles. Although set in Victorian England, the detail about the male impersonator performances is well-researched and fascinating.  

Fabulous : The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric by Madison Moore -  A timely and fascinating book that explores how queer, brown, and other marginalized outsiders use ideas, style, and creativity in everyday life. Includes interviews with people associated with the ball culture of the 80s. 

City of Night by John Rechy - Explores the garish neon-lit world of hustlers, drag queens, and men on the make who inhabited the gay underground of the early sixties.

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Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe - A woman living in a near-future totalitarian society is forced to undergo memory erasure for rebelling against her society’s strict norms. Watch the short film for the album here.

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Elysium by Jennifer Maire Bissett -  Adrianne/Adrian moves back and forth through  time, switching sexes and situations—with each life interrupted and restarted by a mysterious computer code in the atmosphere of the futuristic world. 

Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxane Gay -  Ayo and Aneka are recruited to the Dora Milaje  but their growing feelings for one another complicate their place in Wakanda’s society.

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi - Alana Quick gets more than she bargained for when she stowed away on the cargo vessel Tangled Axon. Although all she wanted was a job, Alana finds danger, adventure, and an unexpected queer romance. 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood -  In a future world where the birth rate has declined, fertile women are rounded up, indoctrinated as "handmaids," and forced to bear children to prominent men. 

Delirium by Lauren Oliver -  Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

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Crazy Ex Girlfriend -  A young woman abandons a choice job at a law firm and her life in New York in an attempt to find happiness in the unlikely locale of West Covina, California.

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The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart - A Seattle fifteen-year-old explains some of the reasons for her recent panic attacks, including breaking up with her boyfriend, losing all her girlfriends, tensions between her performance-artist mother and her father, and more.   

Hyperbole and a Half : Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and other things that happened by Allie Brosh -  A humorous collection of personal stories with an incredibly informative story about what it’s like to have clinical depression.  Brosh’s style resembles many tonal aspects of Crazy Ex Girlfriend. 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before  by Jenny Han - Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.

I Believe in A Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo - A disaster in romance, high school senior Desi Lee decides to tackle her flirting failures by watching Korean television dramas, where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie -  Agreeing not to pursue a relationship after one date, unlikely lovers Min Dobbs and Cal Morrisey are thrown together again in the wake of such factors as a jealous ex-boyfriend, a determined psychologist, and a bizarrely intelligent cat. 

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A Dog’s Purpose – A dog tries to discover his purpose in life over the course of several lifetimes and owners.

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A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron – In the sequel to A Dog’s Purpose, Buddy discovers a new destiny with a troubled teenager, but when they are separated he wonders who will take care of her.

Tomorrow by Damian Dibben – A wise old dog travels across Europe and through the centuries in search of the master who granted him immortality.

Nop’s Trials by Donald McCaig – A stolen border collie stolen suffers numerous hardships, while his beloved master refuses to give up hope of finding him.

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley – A lonely man whose closest companion is his 12-year-old dachshund becomes aware of an “octopus” on her head that threatens to take her away from him.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein – Evaluating his life on the eve of his death, a dog considers the sacrifices his master made in pursuit of becoming a professional race car driver.

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Call the Midwife – In postwar England, a group of midwives based at a convent serve the diverse and impoverished community in London’s East End.

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The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman – In the 1930s, an Appalachian midwife faces seemingly insurmountable conditions of disease, poverty and prejudice as she strives to bring new life into the world.

Land Girls by Angela Huth – Three women from different backgrounds share an attic bedroom as they work on a farm in England’s West Country while the men are away at war.

In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl – In France during World War I, an Australian nurse helps establish a field hospital in the old abbey at Royaumont, staffed entirely by women.

The Birth House by Ami McKay – A brash new doctor who promises fast, painless childbirth arrives in an isolated Nova Scotia village and clashes with the traditional ways of the midwives.

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett – A pregnant but married woman makes a place for herself at a home for unwed mothers amid the extended family of nuns and an ever-changing group of pregnant girls.

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A Quiet Place -  A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

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The Silence by Tim Lebbon -  In the darkness of a underground cave system, cut off from the world for millennia, blind creatures hunt by sound. Then there is light, there are voices, and they feed. Swarming from their prison, they multiply and thrive. To scream, even to whisper, is to summon death. Deaf for many years, Ali knows how to live in silence. Now, it is her family's only chance of survival.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman - In their postapocalyptic world where looking outside is potentially deadly, Malorie and her two children must make a dangerous journey to attempt to find safety. 

The Mist by Stephen King - A group of neighbors trapped in a grocery store by a supernatural mist--which may have been unintentionally unleashed by a nearby military base--must fight the horrific monsters that live within it.

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Lady Bird – A teenage girl who has a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother navigates her senior year of high school and dreams of going away to college.

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Try these coming-of-age novels and books dealing with mother-daughter relationships.

Flight of the Maidens by Jane Gardam – In postwar England, three young women who have earned scholarships to university prepare to leave home and explore the world beyond Yorkshire.

Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno – On Chicago’s South Side in the early ‘90s, a high school boy realizes he has feelings for his best friend, a pink-haired punk rock girl.

Where’d You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple – A teenage girl searches for her reclusive mother who disappeared before an upcoming cruise to Antarctica to celebrate her daughter’s grades.

Anywhere but Here by Mona Simpson - A resourceful girl and her ambitious mother leave the Midwest and head to California in search of fame and fortune.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - A young girl growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early 1900s survives despite the odds.

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout – The relationship between a single mother and her teenage daughter becomes strained when the girl is discovered having an affair with her math teacher.

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Fortitude Season 1 - In a remote Arctic town isolated from the outside world, a gruesome murder shakes the community as the police try to determine who - or what - among them is a killer.

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Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason - A detective returns to his family’s old home in the Eastern Fjords of Iceland seeking answers about his brother’s disappearance during a blizzard years earlier.

Black Ice by Matt Dickinson -  Scientists at a small Antarctic research station answer a mayday call from two stranded explorers, setting off a deadly chain of events.

Ararat by Christopher Golden - Investigating an ancient relic on Mount Ararat believed to be Noah's Ark, a team of explorers are trapped with a mysterious predator in a blizzard.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - Isolated on an Alaskan homestead with a mother who refuses to leave her abusive husband, an adolescent girl learns to adapt to the harsh yet beautiful wilderness.

The Bone Seeker by MJ McGrath - The murder of a teenager rocks a remote settlement in Canada’s high Arctic in summertime.

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson - In a quiet fishing village in northern Iceland, accessible only by a tunnel through the mountains, a rookie policeman is dragged into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.