As a person who also loved Girls Can Kiss Now and has been on a quest to find a collection that comes at least a tiny bit close to how good that was I think you'd love Against Memoir by Michelle Tea. I feel like she has a very similar sense of humor to Gutowitz but with less of the milennialisms (lol). Each essay in this collection is about some moment in queer history, Tea came of age at the cusp of the 80s and 90s, moved to San Francisco at that time, and the shit she saw makes for essays that you just eat up. Her way of blending memoir with cultural analysis is excellent. Sharp, witty, immersive, funny, literally cannot praise her writing enough. "The 2000s Made Me Gay" by Grace Perry was also a good time, although it's less memoiry and more media analysis (but fun!). I loved "Everything I Need I Get from You" by Kaitlyn Tiffany, even though I was never a 1D fan, I find them fascinating as a cultural phenomenon and I loved the way the author used her own personal story of being in 1D fandom as a starting point of exploring what fandom is to women, what it used to be and what it is now, just amazing stuff. "This Will Be Funny Later" by Jenny Pentland, the daughter of Roseanne (the sitcom one) is not an essay collection but it's a memoir very firmly set in the world of 90s America with its specific cultural climate, Jenny's life was divided between Hollywood filming sets and institutions for "troubled youth" and the story of her life was a real page turner I'll recommend this book to everyone lol. Two more "brainy" collections I also recommend were "Dancing on My Own" by Simon Wu, a queer Whitney museum curator and "Letters to My Weird Sisters: On Autism and Feminism" by Joanne Limburg who examines whether it's okay to look at historical figures in terms of whether they might have possibly been autistic, and just in general explores the concept of normalcy and what it meant to be different as a woman in the span of the past 200 years or so. Gosh that's more than I thought I'd recall jshdgdh honestly if I had to pick just one of these it would be Michelle's book. But I hope any of these will be of interest to you! I stand by them all.
@@solidsnake1806 oh my god, you truly heard my cry for help. The Michelle Tea sounds GREAT - I loved her memoir about her fertility journey (Knocking myself up) if you haven't done that one yet. The rest all sound brilliant and are news to me - off to hunt them down at the library 😍😍
OMG there are so many great essay collections I could recommend. So I just throw in some of the author's names and you can look up what you're most interested in. Rebecca Solnit, Alicia Elliot, Mary Ruefle, Deborah Levy, Lucy Ellmann, Virginie Despentes, Melissa Febos, Alice Wong, Emer O'Toole, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Molly McCully Brown, Audre Lorde
For some reason I enjoy hearing about non-fiction titles more than reading the books. Great video, thanks.
@@ShelleyTee 😂😂 I think I know what you mean!
As a person who also loved Girls Can Kiss Now and has been on a quest to find a collection that comes at least a tiny bit close to how good that was I think you'd love Against Memoir by Michelle Tea. I feel like she has a very similar sense of humor to Gutowitz but with less of the milennialisms (lol). Each essay in this collection is about some moment in queer history, Tea came of age at the cusp of the 80s and 90s, moved to San Francisco at that time, and the shit she saw makes for essays that you just eat up. Her way of blending memoir with cultural analysis is excellent. Sharp, witty, immersive, funny, literally cannot praise her writing enough. "The 2000s Made Me Gay" by Grace Perry was also a good time, although it's less memoiry and more media analysis (but fun!). I loved "Everything I Need I Get from You" by Kaitlyn Tiffany, even though I was never a 1D fan, I find them fascinating as a cultural phenomenon and I loved the way the author used her own personal story of being in 1D fandom as a starting point of exploring what fandom is to women, what it used to be and what it is now, just amazing stuff. "This Will Be Funny Later" by Jenny Pentland, the daughter of Roseanne (the sitcom one) is not an essay collection but it's a memoir very firmly set in the world of 90s America with its specific cultural climate, Jenny's life was divided between Hollywood filming sets and institutions for "troubled youth" and the story of her life was a real page turner I'll recommend this book to everyone lol. Two more "brainy" collections I also recommend were "Dancing on My Own" by Simon Wu, a queer Whitney museum curator and "Letters to My Weird Sisters: On Autism and Feminism" by Joanne Limburg who examines whether it's okay to look at historical figures in terms of whether they might have possibly been autistic, and just in general explores the concept of normalcy and what it meant to be different as a woman in the span of the past 200 years or so.
Gosh that's more than I thought I'd recall jshdgdh honestly if I had to pick just one of these it would be Michelle's book. But I hope any of these will be of interest to you! I stand by them all.
@@solidsnake1806 oh my god, you truly heard my cry for help.
The Michelle Tea sounds GREAT - I loved her memoir about her fertility journey (Knocking myself up) if you haven't done that one yet. The rest all sound brilliant and are news to me - off to hunt them down at the library 😍😍
"I was very optimistic about the sort of person I would be"... this is what causes 99% of my problems in life 😂😂
@@bethmw28 😇😇😇😇
OMG there are so many great essay collections I could recommend. So I just throw in some of the author's names and you can look up what you're most interested in. Rebecca Solnit, Alicia Elliot, Mary Ruefle, Deborah Levy, Lucy Ellmann, Virginie Despentes, Melissa Febos, Alice Wong, Emer O'Toole, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Molly McCully Brown, Audre Lorde
@@ameliareads589 THANK YOU! Audre Lord - agree! Molly McCully Brown - started earlier and loving! Will check out the rest 🫡🫡