Hello! I’ve recently got back into reading, and my taste is for thought provoking literary books. I would especially love to read some more queer stories. I have a running list so far, and would love thoughts on them alongside any other recommendations you may have.
Current list: A Little Life, Giovanni’s Room, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Young Mungo, In Memoriam, Swimming in the Dark
Examples of queer books I didn’t like/not what I’m looking for:
* The House on the Cerulean Sea (Reading it right now. I’m enjoying it, but it’s a little too twee for me)
* The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (I found it very shallow and the flippant way the author handled the AIDS epidemic upset me),
* Red, White & Royal Blue (I went in with low expectations and couldn’t even make it to the inciting incident. I’ll just watch the movie.)
Would especially love recommendations for the following:
* W/W stories (I’ve only read This Is How You Lose The Time War which I enjoyed)
* Trans/Gender stories (I’ve read The Left Hand of Darkness and liked it)
Many thanks!!
e: formatting
by STAR-LORG
4 Comments
I really enjoyed “Two Boys Kissing” by David Leviathan. The book is narrated by those who died of AIDs looking down at the younger generation of queer men who came after them. There’s a strong sense of celebration for how far we’ve come and grief at those who can’t join us here. AIDs is not treated flippantly at all. There is also a trans character.
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi and Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield!
they’re both wlw, but Gingerbread is a LOT more subtle
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Maurice by E.M. Forster (a queer love story written in the 1910s)
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (about the life of a group of friends in 1989s Chicago during the AIDS crisis and modern day Paris)