Here are 100 books that Pizza Girl fans have personally recommended if you like
Pizza Girl.
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I was an odd kidâa bookworm worried about why I was different from others. Luckily, my family continuously reminded me that I belonged. Once out of the closet, I was able to appreciate the importance of families, both chosen and unchosen. I became a writer because I was compelled to articulate that importance and maybe help others understand how knowledge, trauma, emotions, and love move between the generations. Queer and family histories have inspired a lot of my journalism and fiction, but especially my new novel, This Is It. I hope it fits alongside these recommendations that explore queer multi-generational stories with wit, intelligence, and wisdom.
This book gripped me from the opening page. Itâs everything I usually avoidâcomics, suspense, memoir, psychology articleâbut the way it's calibrated invited me in, then wouldnât let me leave until Iâd lapped up every detail. By setting up her childhood review as a mystery that has to be solved through visual exploration, Alison Bechdel justifies every choice she makes. And they are all correct.
With deadpan humor and wry drawings, Fun Home gave me a thickly layered exploration of how queer elements impacted generations of her family. It never felt navel-gazing, and I found it impossible to imagine the story told any other way than in a graphics.
DISCOVER the BESTSELLING GRAPHIC MEMOIR behind the Olivier Award nominated musical.
'A sapphic graphic treat' The Times
A moving and darkly humorous family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Alison Bechdel's gothic drawings. If you liked Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis you'll love this.
Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high-school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and the family babysitter. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescence, the denouement isâŚ
As a queer millennial myself, Iâm fascinated by the many different approaches writers of my generation have taken to queerness. American millennials have, I think, a unique perspectiveâwhen we were kids, gay jokes were prevalent everywhere on TV. Now same sex marriage is legal. On the other hand, there has also been a hard swing of the pendulum, and LGBTQ rights are being curtailed once again. Celebrating the plurality of queer contemporary stories is important to me, a reminder that weâre always going to be here, and that just as queer artists always have, weâll continue having an impact on the cultural landscape.
There are so many things I love about this book, starting with the concept: Kalki, the novelâs narrator, was born with blue skin, and has been raised in an ashram as a child-god, the tenth reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. As the years go by and Kalki grows up, he begins to question his parentsâ authority, the strictures that have been placed on him his whole life, and his own godhood. As a young adult, he finds himself in New York City, where he gets his first taste of real rebellion, with all the joys and sorrows that accompany it. Incredibly queer, fast-paced, and emotional, I read this book in big chunks, gulping it down.
From the award-winning author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies comes a brilliantly written, globe-spanning novel about identity, faith, family, and sexuality.
In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the childâs blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be the tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. In Kalkiâs tenth year, he is confronted with three trials that will test his power and prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. WhileâŚ
As a queer millennial myself, Iâm fascinated by the many different approaches writers of my generation have taken to queerness. American millennials have, I think, a unique perspectiveâwhen we were kids, gay jokes were prevalent everywhere on TV. Now same sex marriage is legal. On the other hand, there has also been a hard swing of the pendulum, and LGBTQ rights are being curtailed once again. Celebrating the plurality of queer contemporary stories is important to me, a reminder that weâre always going to be here, and that just as queer artists always have, weâll continue having an impact on the cultural landscape.
Buchanan has gifted the world with a novel that explores the depths of human feeling in all its strangeness, mystery, irrationality, and wonder, all with a deep compassion. Mina is mentally ill, and her recent potential suicide attempt worries her husband Oscar so much that the two decide to travel to England to give Mina time and space to heal, which she wants to try without medication. In England, Mina meets Phoebe, the sister of Oscarâs best friend, and an attraction develops between the two of them. Mina has always known sheâs bisexual but has never acted on it; now, when Oscar travels for work, Mina finds herself more and more drawn to Phoebe. Exploring themes of mental illness, queer desire, and the power of mythological stories, Starling Daysis an incredible triumph.
The moving new novel by the author of Harmless Like You, a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice and NPR Great Read
On their first date, Mina told Oscar that she was bisexual, vegetarian, and on meds. He married her anyhow. A challenge to be met. She had low days, sure, but manageable. But now, maybe not so much . . . Mina is standing on the George Washington Bridge late at night, staring over the edge, when a patrol car drives up. She tries to convince the policeman she s not about to jump, but he doesn tâŚ
Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: âAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?â Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itâŚ
As a queer millennial myself, Iâm fascinated by the many different approaches writers of my generation have taken to queerness. American millennials have, I think, a unique perspectiveâwhen we were kids, gay jokes were prevalent everywhere on TV. Now same sex marriage is legal. On the other hand, there has also been a hard swing of the pendulum, and LGBTQ rights are being curtailed once again. Celebrating the plurality of queer contemporary stories is important to me, a reminder that weâre always going to be here, and that just as queer artists always have, weâll continue having an impact on the cultural landscape.
I really love books about artists, women who are able to get angry, queer flourishing, and difficult family dynamics, and this book is about all of this. Angelina has recently graduated college when a car accident causes her to lose work and need to move back in with her parents. She and her father have always had a difficult relationship and being under his roof now is harder than ever, especially as she knows he doesnât appreciate her desire to have a career as an artist. When Angelina meets Janet, a young queer artist, the two begin a friendship that blossoms soon into something more, inspiring Angelinaâs own work. The writing is so mesmerizing, and Bogartâs description of the artwork Angelina makes is beautiful. Also â thereâs a dog in this book, a very good dog, and she lives.
The last place Angelina Moltisanti ever wants to go is home. She barely escaped life under the roof, and the thumb, of her violent but charismatic father, Jack. Yet home is exactly where she ends up after an SUV plows into her car just weeks after she graduates from college, fracturing her wrist and her hopes to start a career as an artist.
Angelina finds herself smothered in a plaster cast, in Jack's obsessive urge to get her a giant accident settlement, in her mother Marie's desperation to have a second chance, and in her own stifled creativity - untilâŚ
Iâve been reading queer fiction for, well, I guess about 50 years. First, brilliant novels by James Baldwin, Virginia Woolfâs Orlando, and cheesy lesbian pulp novels. In the eighties, feminist presses and a wealth of new queer literature sprung into existence. Itâs easier now to find great queer fiction, if you dig a little. My approach is to read widely, all kinds of authors, from all kinds of backgrounds. So the whole idea of a âbest 5â is hard for me to get my mind around. I could have listed 25 more. Thank you for reading!
A perfect fit for the not-the-same-old-queer novel list, Taylorâs story features a Black gay biochemist who is working on his degree at a Midwestern university.
I love this book for the intimacy in its portrayal of the protagonist, Wallace, the way his thoughts and feelings and decisions are revealed with such precision. I felt his joys and his pains so clearly.
A science nerd gay character! Whatâs not to love?
A FINALIST for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the VCU/Cabell First Novelist Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the NYPL Young Lions Award, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award
âA blistering coming of age storyâ âO: The Oprah Magazine
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Public Library, Vanity Fair, Elle, NPR, The Guardian, The Paris Review, Harper's Bazaar, Financial Times, Huffington Post, BBC, Shondaland, Barnes & Noble, Vulture, Thrillist, Vice, Self, Electric Literature, and Shelf Awareness
Hi! We are writers currently living in Los Angeles after 18 years in New York. We wrote Margot Mertzafter reading American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Online Lives of Teenagersby Nancy Jo Sales. It was the first time we heard of boys cultivating and curating non-consensual nude pics, effectively treating them like Pokemon cards. It was infuriating, especially when we realized there are no federal laws to protect victims of revenge porn at the time. So it became a focus of our work. We love a main character whoâs angry but also funny, and desperately seeking change.
This is a YA novel told from the perspectives of two very different strong women. Itâs part coming-of-age, part coming-of-action as they learn the best ways to affect change in their communities and how to voice their frustrations with the patriarchy. And we loved how it dealt with these issues in a nuanced and complex way that didnât offer easy answers.
A timely story of two teenagers who discover the power of friendship, feminism, and standing up for what you believe in, no matter where you come from. A collaboration between two gifted authors writing from alternating perspectives, this compelling novel shines with authenticity, courage, and humor.
Malena Rosario is starting to believe that catastrophes come in threes. First, Hurricane MarĂa destroyed her home, taking her unbreakable spirit with it. Second, she and her mother are now stuck in Florida, which is nothing like her beloved Puerto Rico. And third, when she goes to school bra-less after a bad sunburn andâŚ
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorâand only womanâon a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
Hi! We are writers currently living in Los Angeles after 18 years in New York. We wrote Margot Mertzafter reading American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Online Lives of Teenagersby Nancy Jo Sales. It was the first time we heard of boys cultivating and curating non-consensual nude pics, effectively treating them like Pokemon cards. It was infuriating, especially when we realized there are no federal laws to protect victims of revenge porn at the time. So it became a focus of our work. We love a main character whoâs angry but also funny, and desperately seeking change.
Full disclosure: we are both theatre kids, so we appreciated this look at an incestuous and often toxic high school drama department. While much of it is set in high school, Trust Exercise is not a YA novel. Itâs told from the perspectives of three different characters who view the events (and each other) very differently, and who force the reader to question whatâs real. Itâs a beautiful, dark, onion with a lot of layers and a lot of humor. And a pretty smart look at the trauma caused by problematic relationships.
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Both inventive and shocking, Trust Exercise became a sensation on publication in the USA for its timely insights into sex, power and the nature of abuse.
Sarah and David are in love - the obsessive, uncertain love of teenagers on the edge of adulthood. At their performing arts school, the rules are made by their magnetic drama instructor Mr Kingsley, who initiates them into a dangerous game. Two decades on we learn that the real story of these teenagers' lives is even larger and darker thanâŚ
Iâm a communication professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, a social media user, and a mom. After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, I wrote an op-ed for CNN arguing that heâd won the election on social media, and I just never stopped writing. A few hundred op-eds and a book later, Iâm still interested in what social media is doing to us all and the issues women are up against in our society. My book allowed me to explore how social media is impacting every single aspect of the lives of women and girls and exactly what we can do about it. I wrote it as a call to arms.
I loved that, in addition to telling stories of her clients, Goldberg (an attorney) writes about how she herself became the victim of cyber abuse by a former boyfriend. I think hearing this from a smart, successful woman can help other victims overcome the tendency to blame themselves.
The stories Goldberg tells in her book make clear how life-destroying it is when nude images of a woman are posted online, whether because of so-called ârevenge pornâ or sextortion. I think this is only going to become a bigger problem because now, thanks to AI, itâs so easy to create nude deepfakes.
Accounts like Goldbergâs can help galvanize the laws we need to criminalize the sharing of nude images without consent.
Nobody's Victim is an unflinching look at a hidden world most people don't know exists-one of stalking, blackmail, and sexual violence, online and off-and the incredible story of how one lawyer, determined to fight back, turned her own hell into a revolution.
"We are all a moment away from having our life overtaken by somebody hell-bent on our destruction." That grim reality-gleaned from personal experience and twenty years of trauma work-is a fundamental principle of Carrie Goldberg's cutting-edge victims' rights law firm.
Riveting and an essential timely conversation-starter, Nobody's Victim invites readers to join Carrie on the front lines ofâŚ
I am a Scottish writer and have long loved books from and about Scotland. But I would love to see more written about the working-class Scottish experience from womenâs perspective as I think that would lead to less focus on the violence and poverty that is featured in so many contemporary Scottish books from male authors. There is so much joy in the Scottish working-class experience â a pot of soup always on the stove in someoneâs kitchen, the stories, the laughter, a community that cares for their own. Letâs see more of that, and more stories from and about Scottish working-class women.
This is the debut novel by Ely Percy, and tells the story of Kirsty Campbell, an ordinary Scottish girl as she navigates her way through high school in Renfrewshire.
An extremely relatable novel, it is told in short, buzzy chapters, and I love it for relating the best of what a Scottish working-class childhood can give you â resilience, humour, and the will to succeed. The book covers issues like teen pregnancy, drugs, and violence, but it does so without lecturing; rather, it celebrates what it means to be brought up in contemporary, working-class Scotland.
Duck Feet is a coming-of-age novel, set in the mid-noughties in Renfrew and Paisley, Scotland.
It follows the lives of 12-year-old Kirsty Campbell and her friends as they navigate life from first to sixth year at Renfrew Grammar school. This book is a celebration of youth in an ever-changing world. It uses humour to tackle hard-hitting subjects such as drugs, bullying, sexuality, and teenage pregnancy. But moreover, it is a relatable and accessible portrait of figuring out who you are, plunging into the currents of life, and most of all, finding hope.
By celebrated Scottish author Ely Percy, this isâŚ
Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherâsheâs determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseâŚ
As a romance and rom-com writer, summer love stories are my favorite to read. We change during the summer monthsâour schedules are less rigorous, we get out and see the world, we can be a little reckless with our decisions because everything feels temporary, and we show the world a more relaxed side of ourselves. In cuffing season, we attach ourselves to another person to get through the cold months with a warm body by our side. Meanwhile, in summertime, we donât feel burdened to get through it with another person. But the night swimming and salt air romance allows surprising love stories to ignite.
I stole this book off my motherâs shelf when I was fifteen, and no book has ever hit me as hard regarding the complexities inside female friendships.
While I was enthralled by the love triangle in this book, I think the greatest love story Blume has ever written is Vix and Caitlinâs honest, imperfect friendship, revisited year after year as they summer together in Marthaâs Vineyard.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ⢠âSummer Sisters is a book to return to again and again.ââColleen Hoover
âAs warm as a summer breeze blowing through your hair, as nostalgic as James Taylor singing âHow Sweet It Is.â You remember. So does Judy Blume. How sweet it was.ââChicago Tribune
In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonardâs world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweepingâŚ