reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
Our first rec list of the month has a theme! And that is, books which fit the labels assigned to the colours in Gilbert Baker’s pride flag (with the added black and brown stripes, obviously).
So we took each label as a prompt and tried our best to come up with a theme, and a book each to pick that theme.
And if you want to take this as a book tag and do your own post, please do because we would love to see what you’d rec!
(As ever, 🌈 means the author identifies as LGBT.)
The other day I asked people on Twitter to give me their 5 favourite trans books. Now, I’m using trans here as an umbrella term to include all non-cis identities, so you will find recs with nonbinary characters, genderqueer characters and more.
And let me just say, the responses were great and I managed to compile a list of so many gems! And a lot of them seem to be rather overlooked, which is just another bonus & very good news to people starved for rep, who have already read all the popular titles.
Of course, as always on this blog, books by LGBT authors are marked with a 🌈 emoji. Please let me know if I got something wrong, so I can correct it!
It’s been a while since I last did one of these, and I have since read a fair few sapphic books. So, with the second resurgence of the f/f twitter discourse in a week, obviously my only recourse is to rec posts.
And here I am.
I also figured I’d go back to YA contemporary because, duh, I know more of them. But to mix things up a little, I’ll add a couple of upcoming ones you can support!
As ever, all the previous posts are here. The previous contemporary rec list can be found here.
Also as ever, it’s actually f/f or otherwise sapphic books.
It’s quarantine day 2839394, you already baked your sourdough bread, learned how to embroider, cleaned all the grout in your flat, and – in a ideal world – finished all the books on your bookshelves. What to do now, you ask? Read more, of course!
Because we’re all tight on funds right about now, I would like to remind you that Scribd is offering a 30 days free trial on their whole library. If you’re not familiar with the website, this post would be a good place for you to get going. I tried to include a variety of genres in this list, but like it says in the title, it literally is just a starter pack.
(And if you’ll use my invite link, you will actually get two months off and I will get one, too. It’s a win-win situation.)
Final note: I very much encourage you to leave reviews of the books you’ll read on amazon and/or goodreads, and buying your own copies, if you can afford it. Or requesting them at your local library once it’s open again!
The other day I asked people on book twitter to list 5* of their favourite books with best sapphic romance and this is what happened. I got so many great responses, I couldn’t just leave it as a tweet and let it disappear forever! Which is why I decided to turn all those recs into a post.
*Yes, Charlotte was allowed ten books because she’s my co-blogger and gets special treatment.
Some books appear multiple times on this list, yes, I know! But that only shows the bookish community loves them a lot. And I mean, a lot. And if they shower those books with love like that, then you definitely want to read them as well!
(As always on this blog, ownvoices books are marked with a 🌈 emoji.)
I’m a simple reader: give me a good mystery and I will be satisfied. Make it gay and I will be over the freaking moon. And I’ve finally read enough excellent mysteries that I can make a rec list of them!
I have fairly high standards for mysteries, I’ll admit. I mean, I want something where I could potentially guess the culprit myself for a start. But not too easily. Basically I have to be able to follow along but also have some element of actual mysteriousness. I told you it was high standards.
But that, of course, means that all the books on this list are especially excellent (not that they wouldn’t be otherwise but. Stringent criteria and all).
So, onwards.
Today, I have for you a massive rec list of books by and about QPOC (and Latinx authors/characters). There are fifty books on here – though that isn’t the sum total of those I know, so if your favourite isn’t here, it’s simply because I couldn’t fit it.
It’s gonna go like this: I’ve split this post into contemporary, historical, science fiction or dystopia, and fantasy sections. In each section, half the books have been released, half are upcoming (barring sci fi, where I could only find 4 upcoming releases).
So, enjoy!
I said I want to make this a series of poetry recommendations, but the first and only post so far is from July last year… But I am here with ten more poetry collections and better late than never, right?
Like last time, I changed our traditional “Why Should I Read It?” section into a place to share my favourite quotes from a book. Or at least one of many favourites…
Let’s go then!
At the beginning of December, I decided (foolishly) to aim to have read 400 books in 2019 (being, at the time, only on about 325). I made it, exhaustedly sure, but I made it. And I did so by reading a lot of novellas on tor.com.
So, obviously, armed with that knowledge, I had to make a rec list. There are only my favourite 10 on here, but I also made a longer thread on twitter, with every single one I read over that time.
So enjoy!
I’m back with another sapphic rec list and just in time for #FFFeb! (If you haven’t heard, I’m running a month of only reading sapphic books on twitter and you’re welcome to join! More info is here.) Since mystery is my favourite genre (and Mahana @ Sapphic Library told me to do thrillers), this rec list is, unsurprisingly, full of mystery and thrillers.
To note first though, a fair few books on here are upcoming, so I have occasionally only been able to find limited information about them. So, apologies if I have made a mistake anywhere.
As ever, all the previous posts are here.
Last year we only allowed ourselves to choose 3 best books each. That was torture and so this year we expanded that number to 5. We were also very careful to choose only books that were published in 2019 and read by us in 2019 (barring one 2020 release from me, Charlotte, because I never listen to what Anna says and also I need everyone to mark it to read ASAP).
I wonder if any of our choices are predictable to you, guys…
In any case, here are ten best LGBT books we have read this year! (And our dear wish that we could have pick more books.)
Because we promised (vaguely, maybe a while back on twitter), me and Anna have some wintery rec lists for you! We’ve trawled through all the Christmas (and other winter holiday) media, just to find something gay all for you (ask Anna about her travails with Christmas films I dare you).
And here is the first of those rec lists! Ten books (mostly novellas in this one) for you set during Christmas (or another winter holiday, but mostly Christmas because it’s surprisingly difficult to find holiday novellas that are a) gay and b) not Christmas-specific. Obviously I wasn’t trying hard enough).
But anyway. Onwards.
It’s that time!!! The votes are in, and we’re about to announce the results of our Alternative Choice Awards (Goodreads who?). You’ve been voting for 5 weeks and now we have our winners*.
*In the interests of promoting as much LGBT lit as we can, we were actually just going to put top 5, but then some categories had multiple books with the same number of votes, so, as you can see, five is somewhat of an… underestimate?
Anyway. If you’re interested:
Otherwise, happy scrolling!
I have to put my hand up here and admit me and classics don’t tend to get along. There’s just something about them that seems so dry. But then again, how do we define what constitutes a “classic” and what kind of social forces influence that? (But that’s a discussion for another time.)
Anyway to cut that long discussion short, classics tend to be white and straight and about men. Or the ones that have been long considered classics (isn’t it notable how a lot of the gay classics are more “modern” if you will – but that is also a discussion for a different time). Here you will obviously find only gay classics.
Before we start, a confession. I haven’t read any of these, so I’ve dispensed with the “why you should read it” sections.
(Also please rec me more, as ever!)
I’m back with another f/f rec list today! This time, I’m reccing YA contemporary novels. Contemporary, because that’s what you voted for. YA because I decided (or rather, Anna told me) to split the rec lists by age (adult/NA/YA). And because I always* do what Anna says, that’s what’s happening.
(*this is not true.)
Because there is (comparably) a lot of f/f YA contemporary, I’m starting off part one of this lot of rec lists focusing on that which is less well-known (and maybe one or two five upcoming releases I’m incredibly excited for, just to whet your appetite). I’m also including ones which, while they do not have an f/f relationship, do have a sapphic mc.
As ever, all the previous posts are here.
