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.
This winter both Charlotte and I wanted to rec you some holiday stories. Charlotte went for novellas and you can find her post here. I decided to rec you Christmas movies. Only… I knew there aren’t many, but I didn’t realise there are actually three and two of them are unwatchable…
If you’re looking for a list of those netflix-like movies of switched princesses and time-travelling knights and princes falling for regular people, but Make It Gay… If you’re hoping for that, this list isn’t for you, because movies like that still don’t exist for us.
But if you’re looking for some pretty cool movies with a christmasy theme in one way or another, you may just find something for yourself here. At the very least, you’ll find canon rep.
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!)
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!
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.
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.
This month, we asked something different in choosing our read. Instead of genre, we wanted to know a trope you wanted to read. (And also because Anna wanted to read contemporary because they’re picky about genre like that.)
And the trope you picked was found family. At which point, me and Anna realised we don’t actually know any contemporary found family books that we haven’t yet read, so we ended up instead going for sci fi.
But this is all just an incredibly rambly way of saying, we have picked our October book, and are very excited for you to join in!
Also, don’t forget to take part in our Orientation twitter chat happening tomorrow at 4pm GMT if you read the book!
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.
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.
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.
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.
