Finding Light in Lockdown

Reading Romance and Fantasy During Shelter-in-Place.

Hello from under a pile of quilts in my tiny, book filled apartment in Oakland, CA. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve been socially distancing for almost a month, and sheltering-in-place for weeks. Work is canceling, visiting dear ones is verboten, and we’re all finding ways to be gentle to our hearts, and looking for connection. It seems like a strangely perfect moment to take a lifetime love of books online in a new way: a blog.

A little about me: I’m Charlie, a 30-something, gay femme from the Bay Area. I’ve been a devourer of books my whole life, and spent much of my twenties working in independent bookstores in Berkeley, as a bookseller, a buyer and a rare book cataloger. My work focus has changed over the years: I now work in healthcare, doing patient advocacy for the LGBT community. What hasn’t changed is my love of reading. Books make me whole, give me hope, teach me lessons and help me feel connected.

In non-pandemic times, I read a bit of everything: speculative fiction, queer theory, radical political histories, mysteries, YA. In this particularly Twilight Zone-y moment, though, I’ve decided to let myself let go of the serious tomes, and indulge entirely in my favorite brain candy: romances and science fiction/fantasy, both adult and YA. These books remind me of two very important lessons: whatever is going on in the world, love is a powerful force, and it is possible to imagine better, more loving futures and worlds.

I’ve read 58 books so far this year. This blog will primarily be reviews, highlighting the sweetest, the queerest, the most playful and inspiring of what I read.

Sending you love, and hope, and joyful reading, wherever you are.