For our Pride Month Read, we picked Noah Can’t Even by the fantastic Simon James Green.
We were all convinced that we couldn’t either, if we were in Noah’s shoes. From questioning his sexuality because his best friend Harry kissed him out of the blue, to his mum putting on the most embarrassing Beyoncé cover act, to having to deal with his classmates and other irritating issues a 15-year old boy could have. Noah manages quite well in our eyes, considering all the drama that comes his way.
Mimi from the Book Club summed the book up quite well: “Never have I ever met characters who were this pure of heart but dumb of ass and that’s my favourite combo ever.”
We can’t help but agree. While we shared laughs and our favourite funny scenes, we also got talking about straight culture and how far that might play a role in why Noah acts how he acts and thinks how he thinks, e.g. that it’s high time for him to have a girlfriend, even though he hasn’t paused for a second to think about whether or not he actually wants one.
Besides reading this fabulous story together, we hosted an exciting giveaway this month, in which our members were asked to send in stories of their past in which they “couldn’t even”. We then had a vote and are excited to announce that our member Barry won a rare physical copy of the Noah short story “Noah goes Nuclear”, which was available at the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) in London one year. We hope Barry loves the story as much as we do and for everyone who wasn’t lucky this time, the short story can be found on Simon’s website.
But of course, we don’t want to keep the fantastic stories from you that we received! So have fun reading! If you’d like to join us, you can find us on Goodreads and our book for the month July is A Phoenix First Must Burn.
Hope to see you there!
#1 Ordering A Bear
Okay so I was in London and I was at a pub with some of my friends and the bartender was seriously cute so I decided to give it my all and flirt with him when I went to get a round of drinks. I was kind of nervous because he was so hot and my English isn’t perfect. So I walked up to him, smiled, and ordered in my most British sounding accent. It was all fun until I ordered a berry flavoured cider and for some reason my brain didn’t remember the correct word for berries and ordered ‘a cider with bear’. It took a while until he understood and when he did, he laughed so loudly half of the pub was looking at us and I was mortified. Obviously the flirting was put on ice, but even worse, the guy kept looking over and randomly starting to laugh the rest of the night and my friends thought it was equally funny. I was so embarrassed.
#2 Lunch In The Loos
Hi! What happened to me still haunts me today and I get random flashbacks to it. I was in high school at the time and I had this huge issue about eating in front of other people (I was slightly chubby back then and was bullied)… Sometimes I would eat my lunch in the bathroom, like sitting on a toilet getting my lunch out trying to be as quiet as possible so no-one heard what I was doing… This one day it was very busy in the toilets while I was eating my sandwich and all of a sudden the door to my cubicle opens and my classmate is standing there staring at me… That’ll teach me to never ever forget to lock a cubicle again. I was so embarrassed I didn’t talk to her for the rest of our time there.
#3 Drunken Shenanigans
A few years ago I was on a night out and I got drunk INCREDIBLY quickly to the point that I had to be supported down the street from friends so I didn’t fall over. We went in a new bar but it quickly became evident that I needed to go home. A taxi was called. As we waited, I fell asleep in the street and my friends later told me that a homeless person felt so sorry for me that he put his blanket over me to keep me warm while we waited. I got taken home (I don’t remember any of this…) And woke to find myself completely naked in the kitchen as my brother’s girlfriend walks in. Suffice it to say I couldn’t look her in the face for weeks.
#4 Can I try that?
I was at a barbecue with some friends and one of the girls invited had brought her boyfriend who was sitting next to me. He opted for a burger while I had a sausage. She had some grilled vegetables. So he leaned over and examined the sausage I was eating and asked “Can I try some of that?” a good reaction would have been to say “sure, so ahead” and let him have at it. Was that what I did? Nope. I honest to god said “sure” and cut him off a piece of my sausage which was then of course on my fork. I have no idea what I was thinking but between the awkwardly fumbling with my fork and his knife on his plate and feeding him, there literally are no other options. Awkward fumbling it was. Everyone was clearly taken aback and I felt so embarrassed. Since then, I avoid him at parties – and this was 2 years ago!
#5 My meet-and-kiss
I was incredibly lucky to have won a meet and greet with one of my favourite singers. I went there all giddy and excited and when he hugged me in greeting, we kind of went into the same direction with our heads? Which may or may not have ended with my lips brushing the corner of his mouth? As a VIP fan, I had the perk of staying in the venue right after the M&G so technically front row rights. Trust me that I was standing way way in the back with the reddest face I’ve ever had and can’t even recall most of the concert.
