The Service95 Book Club will offer exclusive content from Dua and author Alana S. Portero throughout the month on service95.com and across socials.
Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club has revealed details about September’s Monthly Read: Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero. The Service95 Book Club will offer exclusive content from Dua and Alana throughout the month on service95.com and across socials.
“I got actual chills when I read the opening scenes of this book,” Dua shares. “Beginning with her fallen angels – the boys who become junkies on the streets of San Blas – Alana’s vivid portrait of a young Trans girl growing up in 1980s Madrid had me hooked from the very first page.”
Dua adds, “At its heart, Bad Habit is a beautiful story of someone coming to terms with who they are in an environment that doesn’t allow them to truly flourish. It’s about searching for – and finding in unexpected places – the people who help you grow. It’s a study on identity, love and acceptance, at a time of Spain’s own coming of age after decades of Franco’s dictatorship.”
“This is an important book, one that reminds us of the often painful and treacherous reality of growing up Trans. At times the story screams an almost unbearable loneliness. But it also soars with the euphoria that comes with finding your true self. You’ll delight in the fiendishly wicked sisterhood of the city’s street queens, outcasts and misfits while singing your heart out to the sounds that spill out of the clubs and into the plazas. This is a book to savour. Enjoy every word,” Dua ends.
In Dua’s interview with Alana, the two discuss why this book – a vivid portrait of a young Trans girl growing up in 1980s Madrid – is more than a Trans novel, as well as the importance of class when understanding gender issues, the importance of mentors, the manipulation of the far right on Trans issues, and why as a city, Madrid is the ultimate drag queen.
September’s context piece, written by Alana, centers around class, queerness, and the promise of La Movida in 1980s Spain, which she quips was “a decade of reality and desire.” As with other monthly reads, readers can dive into Alana’s recommended reading list and writing soundtrack from Bad Habit. Plus, this month’s content includes a video of Alana performing a reading of Bad Habit, and there are questions to challenge the reader to think about the book in a different way.
Dua’s Service95 Book Club is the latest offering from her Service95 platform, which consists of the At Your Service podcast and the flagship Service95 newsletter. Service95 has been praised by The Guardian as “some of the most thought-provoking short-form cultural writing you can find,” and the podcast has been lauded by The Sunday Times, Vogue and Vulture. In addition, Spotify named it one of the Best Podcasts of 2022, and praised Dua as “an incredibly thoughtful interviewer with a genuine interest in people, social movements, and the arts.”
You can follow Service95 on socials and YouTube to get the latest, and subscribe to the newsletter here to stay in the loop on upcoming monthly reads.