PIVOTAL LGBTQ BOOKS
These Voices Turned Us On and Saved Lives
As we cross the halfway mark of Pride Month, we’ve put together a reading list of pivotal books in the LGBTQ canon. There’s something on this list for everyone, popular releases from the past few years and modern classics. As the publishing industry grows more inclusive and increasingly seeks out diverse voices, we’re sure to see more queer representation in literature each year. Here’s our reading list for Pride 2020:
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
By now, Fun Home is best known for its Broadway adaptation, but Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic novel cemented itself in the LGBTQ canon for its honest, sometimes heartbreaking portrayal of the relationship between a mostly autobiographical version of Bechdel and her father. As both grapple with their respective sexual identity, they unravel secrets that they keep from themselves and each other.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong has made a name for himself through his poetry, and this, his first novel, made a similar splash last year. Presented as a letter from a son to his mother, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous deals with coming out amidst an abusive upbringing. Little Dog, our protagonist, comes of age as a gay refugee from Vietnam, living in the US with his illiterate mother.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Alice Walker’s 1982 novel is now a classic. The book was turned into a movie and Broadway play. When it was published, it was a raw and sometimes brutal depiction of all kinds of relationships. The most loving relationship in The Color Purple is between two women, spared from the abuse passed down among generations of men. It is an essential read about the intersection of race, gender and sexuality in the South in the early 20th century.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Less is a novel that will appeal to those with prior knowledge of the book world — it’s one of those meta pieces of literary fiction that the publishing industry craves. And it does a great job portraying that world, starring an aging gay author who escapes into his career when his personal life stalls. A hit when it arrived in 2017, this novel won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon
We could have picked any of Ann Bannon’s Beebo Brinker Chronicles for this list, but the first installment, 1957’s Odd Girl Out, is a seminal work in the lesbian pulp canon. This first installment in Bannon’s series finds a young college-aged woman discovering her sexual identity upon joining a sorority. The popularity of this and subsequent Beebo Brinker books earned Ann Bannon the crown of “Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction.”
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Is this a novel or memoir? Audre Lorde called it a “biomythography,” assembling parts of her life around myth and legend. Lorde describes her life and relationships before exploring her sexuality and becomes comfortable in her skin. It is another work that explores intersexuality, also a frequent topic in Lorde’s poetry.
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
André Aciman’s 2007 novel was such a tour de force that led to an Academy Award-winning film and a 2019 sequel. Call Me By Your Name is a story of love between a bisexual teenage boy and a slightly older male student. The two have a summer romance that blooms into something neither can shake. This novel, and its film adaptation, are tearjerkers about the importance of loving someone at the right time.
Faggots by Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer never shied away from depicting the gritty side of the gay experience before and during the AIDS Crisis. His novel Faggots is set in the early 1970s and follows a young man disillusioned by casual sex in the New York gay scene. He longed for something more. Controversial at the time, this novel got renewed attention with the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in America — a subject that Kramer would write about until his death just last month.
