#the henna wars

[augustraine]

Does anyone have good wlw book recs?? Specifically with one of them at least being masc? I'm so sick of going on tiktok looking for books where it's just two fem white women. 😭 I want more then the same 5 books yk??

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

Some books by Asian authors to read this may!

Edit: thank you @linkedsoul for letting me know that I misused the term AAPI in the original post. I’m very sorry about that, and have changed the title to accurately reflect what this list is.

[lunaathorne]

every sapphic book i love → the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar

of course muslims can be gay. how can anyone think otherwise? The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m living, breathing proof.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fiction Free-for-All Book Bracket Tournament: Round 3

Book summaries below:

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.

Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.

Contemporary, romance, coming of age, young adult

Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Araşti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world―and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea.

To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Araşti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who’s got his eyes on Avra’s every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they’re sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.

But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings―and, more important, they’ll be legends.

Fantasy, humor, adventure, secondary world, queernorm, adult

[poetlcs]

books read in 2023. the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar

“What I want more than anything else in the world is to feel like being myself isn’t something that should be hidden and a secret.”

[slaughter-books]

Day 8: JOMPBPC: Empowered Women Empower Women

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷

[glowingmushroom0]

Top Ten TBR for August

1. The Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (currently reading)

Back in December, I was re-watching a bunch of Zhao’s videos on YouTube and in one of them she was promoting her novel Iron Widow. While I’ve never been too into mecha-novels in sci-fi, I decided to give this one a try! I’ve been finding the mechanics of the mechs really interesting, and I find Zetian a very engaging character. It also helps that Zhao explains some of the history of the real-life Wu Zetian in two of her YouTube videos. I still haven’t finished the book, but I am pretty close to finishing it.

2. Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic by Brendan Blaber (currently re-reading)

This novel is a part of the Epithet Erased series on JelloApocalypse’s YouTube channel, which also includes several trailers for this novel and a part of chapter 1 of the novel’s audiobook. I remember seeing the original show on YouTube when it was coming out and it’s a really fun series! This part of the novel focuses on the story of Molly Blyndeff, a twelve-year-old with an epithet, a power that depends on whatever word the epithet is based off of. The story focuses on Molly’s relationship with her older sister Lorelai, and how her friends support her and try to help her as she tries to stop her sister from expanding her dream world within their family’s toy store. I’m actually listening to the audiobook while writing this post! I really recommend the audiobook version of this novel, the voice actors did an excellent job!

3. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austen

I actually was recommended this book a couple of years ago by an aunt and a cousin of mine. I had gone to a Catholic school and they both knew I was pan (I still haven’t come out to them as agender though, but that’s because I don’t see or talk to them very often). However, what actually convinced me to try the book was an old friend group that started a book club, and this was their first book. I still haven’t read it because I didn’t end up making it to the meetings, but I am interested in reading it.

4. The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

This novel I was interested in more from the author than the subject matter, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested at all. I first read Jaigirdar’s Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to read more of her works! That’s when I learned that this was her debut novel, and I wanted to compare the two. Plus, I will always find some joy from learning about different art forms through writing in novels. The most I know about henna so far is from a friend of mine who had another friend who wanted to practice henna on them. Because of that, I’d like to learn more about how Jaigirdar depicts henna artists.

5. A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation by Jacoby Ballard

I actually found this book at a book exchange that was at an LGBTQ+ friendly event. My friend and I are both interested in this book because we’re both into learning about different kinds of religion and how to express different kinds of spirituality. From what I’ve looked over with the book it talks about how queer people create their own spaces within Buddhism and yoga.

6. So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

I’ll go more in-depth with this particular choice in the next book, however the main reasons why I was interested in this novel is because I had already gotten a book from this author that I was pretty interested in. And after looking through another book of Lukens’s (or Lukens’), they also seemed to be really interested in fantasy, especially magic. I also thought it was an interesting idea that the story takes place after the typical “ever after” of defeating an evil king.

7. In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens

Now this is the novel that I originally found F.T. Lukens from, and the main reason why I was interested in reading this novel is because I love pirates. I also found myself hooked from just the summary of the novel. When people say a character is mysterious, I don’t really know if they’re going to be mysterious until they appear in the story. However, the summary does show how mysterious Athlen can be, considering he’s introduced as a prisoner on a burning ship. So, I’m interested in learning more about Athlen just from the summary.

8. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This novel has a bit more controversial reason for why I want to read it. I originally got this book because it was popular, and I was vaguely interested, but then I started hearing about debates on whether this is good MLM (men-loving-men, not multi-level-marketing) representation. However, I then had another friend that’s a part of the queer community that read the book and he liked it. So I wanted to read the book to figure out my own opinion on the novel. Plus I thought it would be a good time to read it since the novel’s getting it’s own show soon. 

9. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Trans (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Brynn Tannehill

This book is less for me and more for family reasons. I’m not going to go into too much detail for privacy reasons, but a lot of my family still don’t quite understand much about what it exactly means to be transgender, especially not someone who’s under the non-binary umbrella. So I wanted to read this book and see if it’d be a good fit for some of my family members who do read.

10. Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques by Evan Skolnick

This book is more for my own learning and future career. My specific dream job is to create a video game story, which would go into scriptwriting. However, most of the creative writing advice and tips I’ve gotten were either for fiction in general, or for short stories and poetry. This book might be able to teach more about scriptwriting, but also how to develop scripts for video games.

[remusfinglupin]

January Wrap-Up

- Alone With You in the Ether: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- 10 Things That Never Happened: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Atlas Complex: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Ghostkeeper: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Gwen & Art Are Not In Love: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Every Time You Hear That Song: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Only Girl in Town: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- The Henna Wars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

- Playing For Keeps: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

[sapphic-book-tournament]

Part 1 of Round 1 starts tomorrow. I hope everyone is excited as I am. It's a bit much but I wanted to include all the recommendations that I got to make everyone happy.

[the-final-sentence]

But because it’s the kind of moment I could never have dreamed of having in a million years.

Adiba Jaigirdar, from The Henna Wars

[pridepages]

‘Muslims aren’t gay,’ she whispers, like this is a hard and fast rule…I would laugh if this weren’t such a ridiculous claim. Because of course Muslims can be gay. How can anyone think otherwise? The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m living, breathing proof.--Nishat, The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fiction Free-for-All Book Bracket Tournament: Round 2A

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.

Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.

Contemporary, romance, coming of age, young adult

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Endorsement from submitter: "Sapphic prison break IN SPACE"

Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who shaped her from a petty thief and lowlife hacker into a promising con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from her slick fashion sense to her unfailing ability to plan under pressure. Together with Bea, a fearless driver who never walks away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s infuriatingly mercurial rival who can sweet-talk the galaxy into spinning around her finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists, massive payoffs, and never, ever getting caught.

Well, until now.

Getting caught is one thing. Getting tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god is a problem this team has never faced before. Aboard the Justice is a world stitched together from the galaxy’s sinners—some fighting for survival, some struggling to build a civilized society, and some sacrificing everything to worship the AI at the heart of the ship.

The Justice ’s all-seeing eyes are fixed on its newest acquisitions, Murdock in particular. It has use for a hacker—if it can wrest her devotion away from Hark. And Murdock’s faith is already fractured. To escape the Justice ’s madness, they need a plan, and Hark might not be up to the task.

If Hark—brilliant, unflappable Hark—can’t plot a way out, Murdock will have to use every last trick she’s learned to outwit the Justice, resist its temptation, and get her crew out alive.

Science fiction, heist, space opera, adult

[lettiegrief]

"The Henna Wars" review

♥️ 10/10

⚠️ Possible spoilers

I finished The Henna Wars and my god what an incredible book. I devoured this book, in one day I read 80% of it. It has such a pleasant rhythm, the writing is so addictive, it generates so much curiosity and makes you freak out so much that it's honestly very difficult to stop reading.

This book debates cultural appropriation in a way I've never seen before. Yes, you can use art, food etc made by non-white people, no, you can't take it as your own, want to go over someone whose thing you are using/reproducing/consuming be part of that person's culture and then act as if it were just fashion, as if diversity were something just for profit, as if it wasn't part of someone's experience.

Appreciate and even utilize art from other cultures made by people from those cultures, and when someone from that culture is saying that what you're doing (without even knowing what you're doing) is cultural appropriation and racism, shut up and listen. It's not about you.

Nishat suffered racism and homophobia in a hellish way. She saw other people using her culture to win a competition and profit /while/ they were racist and violent towards her at the same time that she had to deal with her own friends saying that her discomfort was victimism and childishness. It's no wonder that she had no desire to respond to the violence, because even her own friends saw her pain as nonsense or selfishness. No one cared what she had to say, or her feelings.

I am genuinely happy to have followed the development of these people, especially Nishat's parents. Her parents, whose story made Nishat muster the courage to come out to them, but who were ashamed of their own story and didn't want Nishat to be the shame of their family like they were to hers. However, they really sought to understand, they tried hard to change their limited mindset and support their daughter.

I understand their fear of also not wanting their daughter to suffer from gossip, rejection and other violence, because I've heard my own mother say that too, but after someone brought her out to the entire school, I believe this made them start to put Nishat's safety and happiness first. And it was actually really nice to read, it reminded me of how my mother reacted to me being a lesbian.

Her reaction was the same as Flávia's mother, in fact, but the way Nishat's parents went about studying the community out of love for their daughter reminded me of my mother. It was really cute to read them worrying about what Flávia would want to eat for dinner.

As for Flávia, her development is also very good. I didn't really like how oblivious she was to the racism and bullying that Nishat suffered, it made me very uncomfortable, mainly because her cousin is precisely the person who did all this to her the most, but I believe that she improved a lot like everyone else there, she recognized her mistakes and would be someone who would continue to improve after the end of the book.

I really liked how the author addressed xenophobia against Brazilians too. I don't know if you, foreign moots, have any idea, but, as Brazil is known as the country of Carnival, Football and Funk, foreigners (mainly Americans and Europeans) end up relating these things to mess and bitching, also adding to the fact that they see us as a people incapable of forming complex thoughts (there have literally been Europeans saying that either you are Brazilian or you are a thinking being), and those who suffer most from this are women.

Latina women in general already suffer from a lot of sexism, and speaking as an afab Brazilian, I know how sexualized Brazilian women are, seen as someone who would accept anything and treated like stupid, quarrelsome bitches.

Flávia is a black, bisexual and Brazilian woman, the stereotype gets even worse with people like her.

The author portrayed this very well, she perfectly showed how much Flávia feels out of place in Ireland and uncomfortable because she is fully aware that being Brazilian makes her a very big target of sexism there, while also showing that her dual nationality makes her also have some identity crisis.

The characters in this book will definitely remind you of at least one person you knew in real life, and I think it's impossible for you not to identify with anything there or not feel welcomed/represented.

[valeovalairs]

Every book I read this year

I was feeling really bored so I made this.

[slaughter-books]

Day 18: JOMPBPC: Book Gradient

🩷❤️🧡💛

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Henna Wars

Author: Adiba Jaigirdar

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2020

Genres: fiction, romance, LGBT+, contemporary

Blurb: When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants...as long as she isn't herself, because Muslim girls aren't lesbians. Nishat doesn't want to hide who she is, but she also doesn't want to lose her relationship with her family...and her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly...but when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat's culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled, but Nishat can't quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realises there might be more to her than she thought.