LGBTQIA+ Book Recommendations for Pride Month

June is Pride Month for the LGBTQIA+ community, and believe me, we need it. Yes, “we.” I am the A in the acronym, which stands for asexual (not ally, a common misconception that erases asexual people). With heterosexuality celebrated every day of every year for the past two thousand years or more, those of us on the LGBTQ+ spectrum need and deserve a month to be proud of who we are, love ourselves for who we are, celebrate ourselves for who we are, and to be unapologetic about it.

We need this month.

We need community.

We need true allies.

We need books!

Books written by LGBTQ+ authors and/or with LGBTQ+ characters are the most challenged and banned books EVER. That’s not an exaggeration. LGBTQ+ content dominates each year’s list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books curated by the American Library Association, along with books about racism and books about BIPOC people. In 2019, 8 of the 10 titles that made the list had LGBTQ+ content or characters in them. In 2020, the word/phrase most used in censorship reports was “LGBTQIA+.” This is only getting worse, but it won’t stop kids or readers from reading whatever the hell they want to read!

I support the LGBTQIA+ community.

I support LGBTQIA+ authors.

I support LGBTQIA+ books.

Let’s celebrate the freedom to love our way and the freedom to read!

This post is packed with LGBTQIA+ book recommendations for you to add to your TBR list, read, review, recommend to others, gift to loved ones, share with young readers, donate to Little Free Libraries, and request at your local library.

There’s so many books that I didn’t have space for blurbs or short descriptions. I organized the titles into groups based on where they fall on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and used Bookshop’s widgets that you can scroll through. Then you click on the covers of the titles that catch your eye and read more about them on Bookshop.

***This is not an exhaustive list but rather a starting point.***

Enjoy!

First, I have to shout out this great non-fiction book:

Rainbow Revolutions: Power, Pride, and Protest in the Fight For Queer Rights

Buy @ BookShop

My Review: This book is fabulous. This is a history of queer rights that was needed and is needed. I learned knew things and expanded my knowledge on others. There’s so much here that’s not readily known, and for a reason, because it was history that had been buried on purpose or it was taboo to discuss.

For instance, we all know about Hitler’s terrifying reign in which Jewish people, Polish people, people of color, people with disabilities, and queer people were targeted. While the fact that queer people were targeted is mentioned (most of the time), it’s never really discussed. Like how 5,000-15,000 men were sent to concentration camps for being gay, and when the war ended and the camps closed, they weren’t often freed but sent straight to prison for being (or assumed) gay. They are “forgotten victims of the Nazis.” 

This book covers a lot including the Stonewall Riots, the AIDS crisis, voguing, the rainbow flag, Pride marches, the LGBTQ+ acronym, prominent figures, and more.

LGBTQIA+ BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:

Asian American Pacific Islander Book Recommendations

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month.

To celebrate these beautiful cultures, to honor the AAPI community who has seen increased violence, and in order to encourage others to read more books by AAPI authors and/or with AAPI characters, I have created a short list of book recommendations for you. There's romance, memoirs, graphic novels, young adult, and more here. This is not an exhaustive list but rather a starting point.

Enjoy!

Asian American Pacific Islander Book Recommendations

*** MEMOIRS ***

Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina

Representation: Japanese-American

Short Description: Elizabeth's mother was working as a nightclub hostess on U.S.-occupied Okinawa when she met the American soldier who would become her husband. The language barrier and power imbalance that defined their early relationship followed them to the predominantly white, upstate New York suburb where they moved to raise their only daughter. 

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar

Representation: Pilipino-American

Short Description: In these nine globe-trotting tales, Mia Alvar gives voice to the women and men of the Philippines and its diaspora.

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan

Representation: Pilipino-American

Short Description: Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a sun child from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Talusan found childhood comfort from her devoted grandmother, a grounding force as she was treated by others with special preference or public curiosity. 

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

So Many Islands: Stories from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans by Nailah Folami Imoja

Representation: The subtitle says it all.

Short Description: The 17 selections of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in this vibrant collection unite the voices of islanders from around the globe, complete with an excellent introduction by Marlon James...Readers encounter the language, customs, and flora and fauna of many island nations in this delightful and enlightening volume, an invitation to share and experience islands around the globe.

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

*** LITERARY ***

House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport

Representation: Hawaiian-American

Short Description: Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands.

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

*** POETRY ***

Tofu Quilt by Ching Russell

Representation: Chinese-American

Short Description: A collection of poems telling the story of Yeung Ying, a young girl in Hong Kong in the 1960s who, against the conventions of society and family members, aspires to become a writer.

Blurb & Buy @ Bookshop

*** ROMANCE ***

A Look Back At My 2021 Reading Challenges

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. I’m caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding! And prayers and healing vibes for positive results to the treatments would be much appreciated. ❤️

In my last blog post I celebrated 10 years blogging and announced a reading challenge for writers that I am hosting called Read With Fey. You can join it on The StoryGraph here. But you don’t have to be on The StoryGraph to participate! Check out all the details here: Read With Fey: Challenge For Writers

I love reading challenges!

Last year (2021), I participated in FOUR different reading challenges. The most I've ever decided to participate in, and I joined them at all different times throughout the year. Because I participated in so many, I wanted to highlight them and the books I read in a post. I'll share them here in the order of when I joined them.

I hope you enjoy viewing my 2021 reads/challenges.

GOODREADS CHALLENGE:

I set a Goodreads goal to read 30 books. Thanks to graphic novels, short books (middle grade and YA), and picture books, I exceeded this goal. I read 95 books.

REMINDER: All reading counts as reading. Graphic novels are real books. Picture books are real books. Reading graphic novels, short reads, and picture books certainly do count toward reading challenges. Don't let anyone tell you that only novels of 300+ pages count. All reading is valid.

You can view my Goodreads challenge here.

***

ALPHABET BOOK CHALLENGE:

HOSTED BY @FABLESANDWREN AND

@STARLIGHTBOOKTALES ON INSTAGRAM

THE GOAL: Read a book that starts with each letter of the alphabet (J, V, X, Z had to be somewhere in the title to count). There were also a few extra challenges like: a color in the title, one-word title, starts with the same letter of your first name, and #, which I took to mean a number in the title/subtitle.

Here’s my completed graphic we were given to use to share our progress to our Instagram stories:

THE BOOKS I READ: