It may sound odd, but I am a straight female and not LGBTQI at all! However I read widely, and this includes stories of love of all kinds, both gay and straight. I particularly enjoy stories of human connection, especially if they contain romance, but that also grips me with stunning prose, dialogue, and strong characterisation. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was qualified to write this, but then I decided that love was universal and I knew how to write about that. I chose male characters for Invisibly Breathing because I know what it’s like to be attracted to a male, and sought advice from gay friends.
This book will have you falling in love with, empathising, and aching for the main protagonist, Jude, who goes through more in his life than anyone should – and yet it is one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read. One of my favourite parts of this book is when one of the characters, Willem, says that he’s not gay, he’s merely in love with Jude. The character portrayals in this book are some of the best I’ve ever come across. It’s a hardened person who won’t feel socked in the chest after reading this book. I read it twice, even though it ripped my heart out and tore it in two.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2015 Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction 2016 Winner of Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2016 Finalist for the US National Book Awards 2015
The million copy bestseller, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.
When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted,…
This is a book I’ve also read twice. Imagine if, every day, you ended up in a different teenager’s life, but you only get to live it for one day? Imagine if, one day, you met the love of your life and have to try and conduct a romance with them when you are in a different person’s body every day, sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes tall, sometimes short, sometimes a person of colour, sometimes not... I love the unique take the author has taken on the theme of it being the person inside that matters the most.
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day…
The Birthright of Sons is a collection of stories centered around the experiences of marginalized people, namely Black and LGBTQ+ men. Although the stories borrow elements from various genres (horror, suspense, romance, magical realism, etc.), they are linked by an exploration of identity and the ways personhood is shaped through…
This is the compelling story of an intersex individual (technically, a true haemophrodite i.e. with both male and female genitalia). Calliope is, to all appearances, a girl at birth — but due to a rare recessive genetic disorder, begins to grow male genitalia when they reach puberty, thus transitioning to Cal. A fascinating tale that spans generations.
'I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974.'
So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and her truly unique family secret, born on the slopes of Mount Olympus and passed on through three generations.
Growing up in 70s Michigan, Calliope's special inheritance will turn her into Cal, the narrator of this intersex, inter-generational epic of immigrant life in 20th century America.
Middlesex won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
This is the story of a fashionable, attractive young man who sells his soul for eternal youth. This book was banned immediately after publication (1890) in almost every English-speaking country because of its homoerotic undertones and ‘suggestion’; Oscar Wilde was subsequently incarcerated for eighteen months because of his homosexuality, a sobering reminder of our not-so-distant past. Oscar Wilde’s gift for prose and dialogue, along with his acerbic wit, keep me coming back to his writing time and time again.
'A triumph of execution ... one of the best narratives of the "double life" of a Victorian gentleman' Peter Ackroyd
Oscar Wilde's alluring novel of decadence and sin was a succes de scandale on publication. It follows Dorian Gray who, enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his depravity. This definitive edition includes a selection of…
In May 1941, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, hums with talk of spring flowers, fishing derbies, and the growing war in Europe. And for the residents of a quiet neighborhood boarding house, the winds of change are blowing.
Self-proclaimed spinster, Bessie Blackwell, is the reluctant owner of a new pair of glasses. The…
This is a book that is brutal and tender by turns; a beautiful love story and one of the best LGBTQI coming-of-age novels that I’ve come across. I fell in love with the characters, Ari and Dante, and by the end felt as though I knew them. The prose is lyrical and poetic; the story one of fortitude, hope, and the power of human connection – because really, isn’t that what life is all about?
This Printz Honor Book is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When they meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the two loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special kind of friendship--the kind of friendship that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through their friendship that Ari and Dante will learn…
A moving story about unconventional love, bullying, and being true to yourself. "I wish I wasn’t the weirdest sixteen-year-old guy in the universe." Felix would love to have been a number. Numbers have superpowers and they’re safe – any problem they might throw up can be solved. People are so much harder to cope with. At least that’s how it seems until Bailey Hunter arrives at school. Bailey has a stutter, but he can make friends and he’s good at judo. And Bailey seems to have noticed Felix: "there’s something about him that keeps drawing me in." Both boys find they’re living in a world where they can’t trust anyone, but might they be able to trust each other, with their secrets, their differences, themselves?
This delightful fable about the Golden Age of Broadway unfolds the warm story of Artie, a young rehearsal pianist, Joe, a visionary director, and Carrie, his crackerjack Girl Friday, as they shepherd a production of a musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream towards opening night.
Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.
