reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
It’s approaching the end of December which means it’s time to announce our book club read for January! As ever, we got you to vote on twitter and you picked the genre of… (drum roll please) ROMANCE!
Read on to find out which book we selected! And look out for our reviews* of December’s read sometime next month.
*Disclaimer: we may not actually have read it by that point… oops.
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.
In November, we tried out a new thing of offering multiple novellas to pick and choose from. This month we’re going back to a single book (though a fairly short one).
So, you voted, and the genre we’re reading is historical! Don’t worry, though, there’s still plenty of time to read November’s choice(s) before we get to it.
But, without further ado, here’s our choice.
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.
I didn’t originally plan this as a post for LGBT History Month. I actually only wanted to make this list because I read a book about gay teens set during the AIDS crisis that was written by a straight woman & that rubbed me the wrong way. But hey, what better time to publish it, right?
What this rec list won’t feature: books written by anyone but gay men.
What else this rec list won’t feature: non-fiction books. No memoirs, no biographies, no essays. Not because I don’t value those, it’s the exact opposite. But because I had a clear goal in mind and that goal was to show you what it looks like when gay men tell the stories and write the world as they remember it.
Also, I should come clean about a crucial fact… I’ve only read the first book on here, so really, this is a list for all of us. And it’s why I opted out of the “why should I read it?” section, given how my only argument would be the same for every book: it’s authentic.
You’ll notice that the iconic Angels in America by Tony Kushner & The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer are not on the list – I figured y’all already know about them (and I was right if you noticed the lack of them).
High fantasy’s all well and good, but sometimes you just want to read something that happens in a world you recognise. So that’s what’s happening in this rec list! Ten great urban fantasy novels (featuring LGBT characters, of course).
And just to make it that much better, I’ve tried to make this rec list as not-white as possible (though you’ll be able to tell where I failed in that), for whoever asked for this specifically (because I don’t remember, so I hope you see this!!).
So, let’s go!
See also: Urban LGBT Fantasy, part II.
Part three of my retellings rec lists, as promised (ages ago)! If you haven’t seen it before, take a look at part one (all about LGBT retellings of fairy tales) & part two (LGBT mythology retellings).
Today we’re talking about new takes on classic books and when I say that, I mean books like Peter Pan or The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s interesting, actually, because there are a few books that seem extremely popular & have a lot of retellings (honestly, I could make a whole post just about Peter Pan…), but then there are some that hardly have any at all. I don’t know who decides which classics deserve to be retold in a gay way… (Whoever they are, they’re wrong, because clearly the answer is: all of them.)
Let’s get into it, though.
I am here today, entirely reluctantly it should be noted, to rec you all some f/f fantasy books. (Not reluctantly because I don’t like the genre, I hasten to add, but because sometimes it’s all I seem to be asked to rec when it comes to f/f. But anyway.)
But you asked, so here I am.
As ever, I haven’t read every single book on this list. This is just a starter pack for you. And today, because f/f fantasy is a comparatively big genre, I’m going to try rec books that I know are less popular (so if you don’t see some big names on here, that’s why! And also I feel like I end up reccing the same books over and over for this genre so…trying to branch out a little).
Again, all the previous posts are here.
I’m back with the second part of this series (the previous parts can all be found here)! This time, I’m reccing mystery/thriller books (because they are my favourite genre when done well). Good mysteries keep you on your toes the entire time, with plot twists you don’t see coming until they’ve happened (you know when you get a good one, and then you think back to what’s come before and you’re like oh this was coming. That’s just *chef’s kiss*). So with these recs I hope you will find some of that.
P. S. Some of the books I recced in the previous post may also apply here as mysteries, but I haven’t included them here so as not to duplicate too much.
P. P. S. Once again, I haven’t read all of these, so as such, I think some don’t have an f/f romance but do have a wlw mc, but I don’t necessarily know which those are.
We all know how US-centric the book blogging community can sometimes (often, if we’re being less nice) get. Myself and Anna have probably fallen into that trap on this blog a few times as well. So, in the interests of expanding this blog, here are 20 UK (and Irish) YA books.
First, a disclaimer: I haven’t read every single one of these books. And some of them aren’t even published yet (boo). But in the interests of raising awareness of LGBT lit out there that isn’t set in the USA*, I’m putting them all on here.
* Loosely speaking. Two books on this list still are.
Part two of my retellings rec lists, as promised! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the series: LGBT fairy tales retellings & LGBT retellings of classic books.
Now, when it comes to mythologies… I actually had a bit of a problem. I wasn’t sure if I should include retellings of The Odyssey, for example. Sure, we have mythology there, but also part three of this series is going to be Classic Texts & wouldn’t it be more of a fit there? I even ran a poll on twitter and y’all were who decided in the end. :>>
Also obviously my first thought for this theme was The Song of Achilles, because I am gay and love to suffer, but I figured there’s no point in reccing a book we have all read multiple times.
And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
Approximately once a month, twitter throws up a certain argument along the lines of there is no f/f, or where is all the f/f, or where is all the hyped f/f. And while I think there is a genuine case to be made for f/f books getting less attention, that doesn’t mean there is none (and also to say there is barely any/none blatantly ignores the authors who are producing f/f and the publishers who are backing it (did you know there are several publishing houses who only publish f/f), which is not cool). Basically, it’s there if you look.
But this will become too much of a rant unless I shut up now.
What I’m aiming to do with this series is provide you with a bunch of rec lists so that, next time someone says there’s no f/f, you can point them in this direction. Because yes. There is f/f.
Quickly, and finally, before I start I want to point you towards Mahana @ Sapphic Library who not only posts a lot of sapphic rec lists, but also has a twitter dedicated to it all.
So, on with the historical f/f recs! (There is some overlap in some cases with fantasy and mystery, just fyi.)
P. S. in the interests of full disclosure: I haven’t read all of these. This is less a rec list in the sense that these are ones I’ve read and enjoyed, more these are 20 f/f historical books as proof they do exist.
This rec list comes from a request I got on twitter for LGBT books with neurodiverse characters. Obviously, neurodiversity covers an enormous spectrum, so I’m in no way attempting to cover all that (and if you look at the list, you can probably see where there are gaps, i.e. rep that isn’t anxiety, depression, PTSD, because sure those are the most common disorders but there’s a lot more out there).
What I’m attempting to give you here is a handful of recs (ownvoices where possible, elsewise covered respectfully) to start you off. And, as ever, I would happily take recs from you in return. (Also I have extended the rec list to feature 12 books instead of the usual 10 just so I can broaden the variety here.)
P.S. I’m only giving the rep for the neurodiverse LGBT character(s) in the book, even if there are more LGBT or neurodiverse characters in all. If that makes sense.
We’re so excited to be part of a blog tour for This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone! This beautiful little epistolary novel is out today, and is definitely one you’re going to want to pick up (like, now, please pick it up right now). If you’ve been looking for an f/f book with that kind of intense and all-consuming romance you only ever see with m/m or m/f couples? Well, how can you say no to this?
So, scroll down, read my review, and then head on over to the other blogs to see how they felt.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
And thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more.
Except discovery of their bond would be death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. That’s how war works. Right?
Amal el-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Rating: 5/5 🌈
Published: 18th July 2019
Goodreads
Rep: wlw mcs
But hunger is a many-splendoured thing: it needn’t be conceived in limbic terms, in biology. Hunger, Red – to sate a hunger or to stoke it, to feel hunger as a furnace, to trace its edges like teeth – is this a thing you, singly, know? Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out?
