Here’s What to Read if… you celebrate the LGBTQ+ community

What To Read If...

Jan 18

This is not an exhaustive list of every book that includes the LGBTQ+ community, just ones that I have read and enjoyed enough to pass along.

The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne
- 10/10
- One of my favorite books. I absolutely love the main character. It is literary fiction at its finest.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
- 10/10
- I am partial to this one because Makkai and I share an alma mater. The Great Believers is a raw tale of the early days of the AIDS epidemic in Chicago that is told along side a plot that takes place thirty years later in Paris. It helps us all to find the beauty in the middle of tragedy.
Yerba Buena by Nina Lacour
- 9/10
- The writing in this book is incredible. It was a coming of age story to me of two women finding their place in a complicated world where they truly had to pave their own way. It is a story about love, but it is also a story about two individuals and a book with a deep sense of place.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
*Trigger Warning of every single kind, in addition to the saddest book of all time, beautifully written and a beautiful story for those who want to read it
- 8/10
- Beautifully written. Heart aching. I never cry while reading and I cried multiple times while reading this one. I grew to love the characters so deeply, especially Jude. This one is not for the faint of heart. I have warned you.
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
8/10
- Guncle = Gay Uncle. A mother dies and her children are left in the care of her gay brother. He starts out seemingly unfit, but slowly becomes the most loving, caring, understanding caretaker she could have asked for. Very heartwarming!
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
- 6/10
- I read this back in 2018, so the details are foggy, but I remember liking it and will go back to re-read and do a full review! The second book of the series also just came out (Less is Lost), so if you like that one – stay on for the second.