I was originally not going to do Pride Month recommendations. I am a LGBT+ Ally, but I'm not a member of the community, so it felt wrong to put a list together and claim that I had good recommendations. With June coming to a close, it felt wrong to not do anything, though. I've been pretty active on Twitter, retweeting as much as I can to support members of the community throughout the month, and in a last minute decision last night, I decide to put together a giveaway.
So over on Twitter (@emilyxspeaks) you can retweet my pinned tweet and be entered to win an LGBT book your choice! I wanted to give to the community, and give away a book to someone who may not have the best access to them or not know where to start.
So, in lieu of that, this post is going to be a few short list of LGBT books I love. To be specific, they're books that highlight the experience. There of plenty of books with LGBT characters that are fantasy, or they just skim over the fact that a character is gay, and that's awesome. But after reading this thread from Adam Silvera on Twitter, it can be confusing to recommend a book that just has a gay character on a list like this versus recommending a book that actually highlights the experiences people in the community go through. AND I'm going to tell you which letter in the LGBT+ acronym the book falls under, so as not to be confusing. It's a great thread, and you should check it out!
And if you don't want to read about my recs, I've got an on-going list of other's recs at the end of this post!
1. Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agendas, Becky Albertalli - G
So over on Twitter (@emilyxspeaks) you can retweet my pinned tweet and be entered to win an LGBT book your choice! I wanted to give to the community, and give away a book to someone who may not have the best access to them or not know where to start.
So, in lieu of that, this post is going to be a few short list of LGBT books I love. To be specific, they're books that highlight the experience. There of plenty of books with LGBT characters that are fantasy, or they just skim over the fact that a character is gay, and that's awesome. But after reading this thread from Adam Silvera on Twitter, it can be confusing to recommend a book that just has a gay character on a list like this versus recommending a book that actually highlights the experiences people in the community go through. AND I'm going to tell you which letter in the LGBT+ acronym the book falls under, so as not to be confusing. It's a great thread, and you should check it out!And if you don't want to read about my recs, I've got an on-going list of other's recs at the end of this post!
1. Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agendas, Becky Albertalli - G
It would be impossible to create a list like this without including Simon! This book made me laugh, cry, and helped me gain perspective! This novel follows Simon, who hasn't come out to his friends and family yet. He met a boy through a chat room online, and knows they go to the same high school, but they're not revealing their true identities to each other. Not until they're ready. But one of Simon's peers discovers the messages he's been sending back and forth and tries to use them to blackmail Simon into playing matchmaker. It's a great novel that touches on the boundaries of knowing someone who is gay, as well as the importance of diversity in general.
2. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy - L, B, & P
When the synopsis of this novel was first released into the world, there was a ton of backlash. I think the backlash of this novel says a lot about the biphobia that can occur.* This is about a girl who is certain in her identification as a lesbian, but when she starts having romantic and sexual feelings for her friend, Freddie, she questions her identity. This book highlights the fluidity of sexuality, and the difficulties of trying to define sexuality. Shelly at readsleeprepeat.org wrote a great goodreads review you should read. And recommended it in her own Pride month list.
*If you want some great conversations about this, you should follow @TheBreeMae on Twitter and her account @QueerEnough!
3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - G
This novel talks about so many things, but it mainly follow Aristotle and Dante as they come of age and discover their sexuality through their feelings for each other. If you've read this already, you'll know how much of an understatement that is, because it's so much more than that. If you haven't read this, you just need to.
4. Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde - B
This novel follows two best friends, one of who is a bisexual internet celebrity. This one is less a coming-of-age novel about her discovering her sexuality and more of a dealing-with-the-world novel about her already being confident with her sexuality. Different, but a good different! This novel, while it touches serious subjects, is also just fun, which doesn't happen enough in teen novels. I read this one after Riley (@rileymarie1196) kept raving about it, and she was right!
That's where I'm gonna end this list, as those are the novels I can definitely recommend. I have a lot more LGBT reading to do, and I hope next June, my LGBT Goodreads shelf will be much, much longer. Also, I'm incredibly disappointed I have nothing to represent the T on my list. I haven't read them, but George by Alex Gino and If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo are novels that have been recommended to me many times.
So here's other bloggers who've made lists you should check out:
- Shelley @ readsleeprepeat.org
- Wren @ For the Love of Books
- the bookavid (not a pride list, but a great f/f romance list!)
- Stephanie @ Black Lesbian Literary Collective
- Katie @ The Queen of Teen Fiction
- CBC's "12 Canadian Books to Read During Pride Month"
- Joce @ Write Through the Night
- A Mighty Girl
(this list isn't long enough! send me a link to your lists on twitter and I'll add it!)
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