By Megan Thomas
In the Books That Matter July 2022 box, ‘Girls Come First’, I got my hands on Bad Form, a book-ish magazine whose theme was Sex in this issue. The content inside was really wonderful and reading a magazine like this cover to cover, as if reading an anthology, is my favourite way to do it.
Inside the issue, there are plenty of reviews, essays, short stories, poems and interviews which focus around either sex positivity or the lack thereof in the weird time in which we live. I was particularly fond of Sugar Water, a short story by Letitia Jarrett – who wouldn’t appreciate a narrator who refers to themselves as the Scheherazade of Sexts? That, and the story Margot Robbie by Rachel Imrie.
In Deesha Philyaw’s essay On Discovering Sex, I was not only primed for her novel which I’ve previously reviewed (and which came in the box), The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, but I also found myself manically Goodreads-ing every book she mentioned. This happened quite a few times with reviews, and the following books are also now amongst many others on my wish list: Halal If You Hear Me and In Every Mirror She’s Black.
There is so much more to mention, so you really ought to just get yourself a copy and see what I’m on about. But I will add before I leave you: the interview by Sophie Marie Niang of Brontez Purnell was a charming and frank reminder of how important inclusive art is.
BUY THE MAG HERE
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