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    Book Recs: Christmas (and Other Winter Holidays)

    13 December, 2019

    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.

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    Book Recs: Classics (I)

    15 November, 2019

    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!)

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    Book Club: The Disasters

    11 November, 2019

    Took us a hot second to write down the reviews, but come on guys, it just be like that sometimes… The important thing is that we’re here and we’re ready to talk about the book! Hopefully you have read it with us and we can actually have some fun chatting!

    And don’t forget: for November we chose three novellas! They’re so short, you have no excuse not to read at least one of them!

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    Book Recs: AIDS Stories (Ownvoices)

    23 October, 2019

    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).

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    Book Recs: Urban Fantasy (I)

    18 October, 2019

    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.

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    Book Recs: LGBT Retellings (Classic Books)

    14 October, 2019

    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.

    See also: LGBT retellings of folklore, fairy tales, classic books & books about historical figures
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    Book Club: Orientation

    10 October, 2019

    September saw us read a mystery book for the book club! We selected Orientation by Gregory Ashe, an ownvoices m/m novel. For once, though, we didn’t have mixed reactions over this book. In fact, we had remarkably similar views (bets on how that lasts for the next book?). Part of that was because, yeah, there are quite a few content warnings for this (we’ve tried to list them all, but please let us know if we’ve missed any!) and they felt almost gratuitous at times.

    So, did we like it? You’ll have to read on to find out!

    One last thing first: you can find our October read here, and look out for the twitter chat we’re planning at the end of the month!

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    Film & TV Recs: LGBT Period Dramas

    5 September, 2019

    The other day I reread one of my favourite classic novels (Evelina by Frances Burney, which I recommend wholeheartedly, even though it’s sadly not gay) (well, if you ask me there’s a butch lesbian there but) & ever since then, I was very much in the mood for period dramas.

    Naturally, I started by rewatching some favourites, as well: Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Persuasion (2007). But then I realised what I’m actually craving are gay period dramas.

    So that’s why I’m here today with 10 LGBT stories taking place in the past.

    Sadly, only two titles with trans characters made it to my list. And that’s because while there is a number of arguably good period dramas with trans characters, I’m not about to rec you movies in which those roles are played by cis actors (like The Danish Girl or Albert Nobbs or Breakfast on Pluto).

    Also, I feel like it’s important I make something clear: I did not rec any stories with Bury Your Gays trope.

    Related: LGBT period dramas, part II
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    Book Club: September Read

    30 August, 2019

    I know what you’re thinking. It’s not even the end of August yet, and that’s true, there’s still a few days left on our last book club read (which was Sing the Four Quarters), but we wanted to let you know what’s up next anyway.

    Again, we asked on twitter what genre you wanted to read, and this month you came  up with mystery! Because we read an f/f book last month, this month we’re reading an (ownvoices) m/m one (also because, shamefully, neither of us know any mystery novels with trans or nb mcs, which was our first thought. Next time definitely though).

    Before I let you know what book we’re reading, just a reminder that we are on twitter for this and we have a hashtag too (#readarainbow). And also, watch out for our review of the last month’s read!

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    Book Recs: UKYA (and Ireland)

    15 August, 2019

    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.

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    Book Recs: LGBT Retellings (Myths)

    6 August, 2019

    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.)

    See also: LGBT retellings of folklore, fairy tales, classic books & books about historical figures
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    Book Recs: Neurodiverse Characters

    20 July, 2019

    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.

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    Buddy Read: Swimming in the Monsoon Sea

    16 June, 2019

    After the disaster that was our first buddy read, we are back again for take two! It was, you might say, an inauspicious start. Anna didn’t even pick up this book until Saturday morning (hence why the post is delayed until Sunday. Thanks for ruining my carefully organised schedule for this month, Anna). But now, we’re sorted, and ready to review!

    So, read on to find out if this week was better than the last!

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    Film and TV Recs: Pride Month Special

    12 June, 2019

    Like we said at the start of the month, we’re making our Pride Month rec lists a little special. We’re adding quizzes to them! If you click the link below, the quiz will help you find a film or TV show that suits your needs. Alternatively, you can scroll through all our recs here.

    Take the quiz!

    Of course, you can be sure that these are all films and shows with happy endings for their LGBT characters (though, if we’re talking ones that haven’t finished yet, we obviously can’t confirm that). But trust us, even when it looks bad in some of them. Trust us. Also, because we haven’t watched all of them, we can’t be sure what content warnings there for them. If there is a * against one, that means we have watched it and there are some CWs, so just comment if you want to know more.

    Finally, the key:

    lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
    gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
    bi or pan characters: 💎
    trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷

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    Book Recs: Superheroes

    26 May, 2019

    Look me in the eyes and answer one single question: is there anything better than gay superheroes?

    No! The correct answer is no & I’m glad we all agree on that. It also means that I compiled a list of ten books with LGBT superheroes just for you guys. And a quick note – only two of those are comics! This is not to say that comics are anything less than, which is an absurd notion & one I absolutely do not want associated with me or this blog. But I wanted to showcase that superheroes are more than beautiful comics and can have their stories told through novels as well!

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