Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Hi guys,

I hope you are all doing well. I work in a small town library in rural England and I’ve been tasked with adding some extra LGBTQ+ books to our catalogue. I’m a gay woman myself so have added a fair few I’ve enjoyed myself, but I’m hoping to get some suggestions across children’s, teen and adult fiction and non-fiction.

Let me know what books you’ve loved! Thanks very much!

Read and enjoyed recently:

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
She of the Mountains
Last Night in Nuuk
George (juvenile)
No One Can Pronounce My Name
The Black Flamingo (YA)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (YA)
Witchmark
Sorrowland

Others I plan to read soon:

The Bedlam Stacks
Cantoras
All Boys Aren't Blue

Thanks so much! Really helpful!

Hi Jessie,

Someone elsewhere recommended this website:

https://www.queerlit.co.uk/

Some of my recent favourites are:

On the Red Hill: Where Four Lives Fell into Place
The Black Flamingo
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Becky Chambers Wayfarers series

And everyone seems to love The House in the Cerulean Sea though I haven’t read it.

I recently got Keep This to Yourself through a book exchange.
Its not a romance novel and its not focused on LGBTQ issues, but a normal mystery/thriller and the main character just happens to be gay.
There is a romance in the book, but it has a normalcy that is generally reserved for straight couples.

I'm a straight woman, so my opinion might not be as relevant in this discussion, but i really like that in this book the gay characters were just a normal part of the story, a normal part of life (as it should be), without being the sassy gay token friend and without drama.

No, that’s great thank you! All opinions are more than welcome!

The Heart's Invisible Furies is an excellent book. It follows the main character from his childhood in 1950's Ireland "where homosexuality doesn't exist" into this century. It's very painful, powerful, and hopeful. It's unforgettable.

I also liked Less, which is more modern and humorous.

I loved the Wayfarers series as well. This is science fiction with a focus on cultural issues. Humans are just one of many species of beings from different planets. The author explores cultural sensitivity, multicultural issues, biological sexuality, and sexual identity issues. Some planets have beings with no gender, multiple genders, or changeable genders. The first book is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. The diversity messaging seems to get stronger with each successive book.

Many of the best (or award winning) books show the struggles for acceptance. It's also nice (to Nicole's point) to just show the acceptance sometimes. In my imagination, after gay marriage became legal, editors everywhere started asking authors - can you make this character gay, or give this woman a wife instead of a husband?

I highly recommend The Heart’s Invisible Furies and The Last Night at Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo.

Malice by Heather Walter
The Song of Achilles
Ten Low by Stark Holborn
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi
Escape from Fire Island!
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

If you are looking for more suggestions, the book group Shine and Shadow https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... my have some. Most of my recent LGBTQ reads have been suggested by them.

A really fun cozy mystery is Quito Murder Mystery
by Jenny Yates. It features a sleuth who is part of a loving lesbian relationship.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson was terrific. Funny, quirky and insprirational.