Announcing the Tag for June

[Anita]

Wow, third month in a row that one choice was dominant.

The tag for June is:

LGBT

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "LGBT" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.

Happy Reading!!!

[John]

I would like to recommend The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It was published in 1952 under her psedonym, Claire Morgan. It was re-released under the name Carol and later as a movie under the same name. It is very sensual with the LGBT being graphic. A beautiful book during a time that a child might be taken from his parent if homosexuality was exposed.

[Meli]

I already have Rise to the Sun for a book club, we'll see what the non-official trim is if I have another LGBT book.

Love this tag and perfect for Pride month! 🌈

[Amy]

I recommend Bookseller Secret by Michelle Gable! I just read it and it’s interesting true story.

[Anita]

John wrote: "I would like to recommend The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It was published in 1952 under her psedonym, Claire Morgan. It was re-released under the name Carol and later as a mo..."

This one sounds very good. I'm going to see if I can get it from my library . . .

[John]

Amy wrote: "I recommend Bookseller Secret by Michelle Gable! I just read it and it’s interesting true story."

Sounds good! Since I am participating in the 2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge, I can use this for one of the "sister" cities as London which has a boatload of other cities to improve my change in reading another book under London's sister city.

[Jen K]

Happy that this one coincides with Pride month! I have a few Transgender books that I've been meaning to pick up including:

The Thirty Names of Night
Detransition, Baby
Future Feeling

I find the Lambda Literary Awards and Stonewall Awards are a good start for those wanting more than a side character.
https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/...

I would definitely recommend The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives for those who enjoy non-fiction.

[Meli]

I really enjoyed Detransition, Baby. Not sure I rated it high, but very thought-provoking and generated interesting discussions in book club.

I am currently reading Manhunt if someone wants to read a book about trans people by a trans author that is genre fiction rather than straight litfic. It's a post-apocalypse / zombie story.

[NancyJ]

There are a ton of teenage, young adult, coming of age stories, but I'm looking for more books about adults, authentic voices, where important characters are gay (not just tossed in for the tag).

I recommend:
A Ladder to the Sky - very smart and entertaining
The Heart's Invisible Furies - sad, unforgettable
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - wacky story, beautiful writing
David Sedaris (anything by him)- personal stories
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot -sad, very lovely story

Sci-fi
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
A Closed and Common Orbit- Becky Chamber - and most of her other books
This Is How You Lose the Time War - weird, poetic, luscious - Try it for yourself (listen to a 5 minute sample to get an idea of the style).

[Amy]

I might pick up 30 names of night!

[Jgrace]

I can recommend these. I liked them all for a variety of reasons.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

The Flight Portfolio

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Left Hand of Darkness

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Days Without End

Regeneration

How to Be Both

I will try to finally get around to reading Fingersmith
It's been collecting dust on a shelf for years.

[LibraryCin]

Yay! This is what I was hoping for!

Not sure what's on the tbr, but I'll find something.

[Jen K]

I also recommend A Memory Called Empire which is a political space opera and really hope to get in book 2 of the series.

[LibraryCin]

Some recommendations, though:

Annabel / Katheleen Winter
The Heart's Invisible Furies / John Boyne
Will Grayson, Will Grayson / John Green
Middlesex / Jeffrey Eugenides

(I'm sure others will also recommend the last three of these, as well.)

[[deleted user]]

Yay - relieved this won as I'm not sure I'm going to get to 'character-driven'!

I'm also doing the PopSugar challenge John - I have the following planned so may get to one this month!
Red, White & Royal Blue
Last Night at the Telegraph Club - this and the following one could work for a possible link for History Lane, depending on what stage you're at!
Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury
Every Heart a Doorway
Detransition, Baby
Sorrowland

Can thoroughly recommend The Priory of the Orange Tree for lesbian representation.

I'm also doing a Sapphic road trip around the US and found this useful website: https://www.autostraddle.com/category...

[LibraryCin]

A couple of options for me:
In One Person / John Irving
My Brother's Name Is Jessica / John Boyne (well, shoot! How does my library not have this one!?)

[Booknblues]

I am not quite sure of what I am going to read maybe The Guncle, The Book of Saltor The Other Man.
I can recommend:

The Thirty Names of Night
Flamingo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Razorblade Tears
Marriage of a Thousand Lies
Everyman
The Pull of the Stars
Less
The Mercies

[Cat]

Yay! At last I can read The Song of Achilles! 🤩

[Cora]

Books tagged LGBTQ that I read and recommend:

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi (young adult)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green (young adult)
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives - Dashka Slater (young adult)
The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune
King and the Dragonflies - Kacen Callender (middle grade)

Some options that I have on my TBR:

Gideon the Ninth
Miranda in Milan
Red, White & Royal Blue
The Bird King
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Cemetery Boys
Felix Ever After
All Boys Aren't Blue
Raybearer
Post colonial Love Poem
Amora: Stories
She Who Became the Sun
Detransition, Baby
A Master of Djinn
Honey Girl
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
The Heartbreak Bakery
The Girls I've Been
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

[Jen K]

Cora wrote: "Books tagged LGBTQ that I read and recommend:

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi (young adult)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green (young adu..."

I loved Gideon the Ninth!

[Anita]

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives sounds super interesting as does John's recommendation, so now I am torn.

I already own:

Detransition, Baby and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and The Song of Achilles so feel like I should really read one of those two . . .

Decisions, decisions . . .

I just finished Love in the Big City, and it would absolutely fit the tag. I enjoyed it, but it does read a bit more like short stories than a novel.

[Joy D]

I recommend:
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
(for the best experience, make sure to refresh your memory on Mrs. Dalloway before reading it, since it is a retelling)

[NancyJ]

Joy D wrote: "I recommend:
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
(for the best experience, make sure to refresh your memory on Mrs. Dalloway before reading it, since it is a retelling)"

This is a definite for me. My local bookclub is looking for some more classic-retelling combos, and I really loved Mrs Dalloway.

[NancyJ]

LibraryCin wrote: "A couple of options for me:
In One Person / John Irving
My Brother's Name Is Jessica / John Boyne (well, shoot! How does my library not have this one!?)"

It might be because Trans activists vehemently objected to the title of the book and encouraged people not to read it. From the comments I saw, they thought the title was insensitive, and the protagonist was a sibling and not trans himself. I don't think they read the book.

This Is How It Always Is is another book from the family's point of view. I thought it was very supportive.

[Sue]

Here are some books with more than token LGBT characters. I tried to avoid duplicates of the excellent lists above:

Butter Honey Pig Bread - One of my top 10 books from last year
In the Dream House
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Guncle

[Patricia]

Okay, I have Aristotle and Dante, Simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda, Heartstopper(This one's popular I guess), Call me by your name, Heartstopper: Volume 2, What if it's us, Heartstopper Volume 3, We are okay, Autoboyography, Heartstopper Volume four. So, I think LGBT's tag is not bad, I guess.

[Lyn]

My F2F book group has The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo coming up. This works for me...

[LibraryCin]

NancyJ wrote: "It might be because Trans activists vehemently objected to the title of the book and encouraged people not to read it. From the comments I saw, they thought the title was insensitive, and the protagonist was a sibling and not trans himself. I don't think they read the book...."

Oh... now that you mention it, I do remember the controversy.

I'm wondering if they even created it as an ebook or audio book? I can't find it to buy, even. (Or maybe for some reason, that's just in Canada?) I do find it as a dtb on amazon (.ca).

[Jenni Elyse]

I’m going to read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. I saw the movie and adored it.

[Patricia]

Jenni Elyse wrote: "I’m going to read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. I saw the movie and adored it."

Yeah, me too. Also, the Heartstopper:)

[Book Concierge]

Books I've read and rated highly:
Maurice by E M Forster
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Girl, Woman, Other
Shuggie Bain
America for Beginners
Giovanni's Room
Patsy
Days Without End
The Sweetness of Water

What I might read:
A Thousand Moons
A Single Man

[Jen]

Holding the Man
For those looking for depth and characters who mess up but are decent loving people I strongly recommend this one. I read it 10 years plus ago and still vividly remember it and how it made me care for the characters. Bet nobody can read it without crying though, I was UGLY crying big time.

[Holly R W]

I see that we'll have no shortage of books to read. I'm taking note of everyone's suggestions. Here are two books that I can recommend:
The Astonishing Life of August March by Aaron Jackson - The book is quirky and fun to read. The author self-identifies under the LGBTQ umbrella. LGBTQ is not a dominant theme in the novel.

On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks - I loved reading this memoir of his. In it, Sacks comes out as gay. He wrote the book in his 80's.

[Amy]

I ordered three books from the library for this tag:

Thirty Names of Night
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
The Priory of the Orange Tree

I hope to knock off at least two of them....

[NancyJ]

LibraryCin wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "It might be because Trans activists vehemently objected to the title of the book and encouraged people not to read it. From the comments I saw, they thought the title was insensitive..."

I wonder if they pulled it to release it with a new name and some edits???

[[deleted user]]

Amy - Priory is great but a chunkster, just to warn you!

[Amy]

I saw that! I think it might get dumped.. Which is a shame because people really love it.

[Amy]

Alternately, Thirty Names of Night appears to be on the shorter side, with Addie Larue in the middle.

[Jen K]

Amy wrote: "Alternately, Thirty Names of Night appears to be on the shorter side, with Addie Larue in the middle."

@Amy, I've borrowed The Thirty Names of Night and will be reading it at the start of the month!

[Amy]

Well we finally have our buddy read, my friend! And we didn’t even have to try!

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "I ordered three books from the library for this tag:

Thirty Names of Night
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
The Priory of the Orange Tree

I hope to knock off at least two of them...."

I don't see the wonderful The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue as LGBT at all. It is a lot of themes but that does not track at all.

The Priory of the Orange Tree does fit. It also reads very fast. Don't be intimidated.

[Amy]

I don’t know because I haven’t read it, but it seems to be pretty high up on the actual tag, and a bunch of people have recommended it above. I’m usually pretty strict about those things myself. Although I did use a few in the election challenge that made no sense, but somehow earned the tag. Someone just reviewed Winter Garden, which oddly enough had the requisite amount of tags for “coffee.” Another I remember, was the book Anita just read, Wind, Sea, and Stars by Antoine de St. Exupery, which somehow was tagged “blues.” Which, if my memory serves me, it was you Theresa who had expertly figured it out. That maybe it was the colors displayed in the cover. I think we like to joke about how the tag thing is so funny. But the only way I can figure that out is by reading the Darn book. My friend Samantha from New York City has been pressing me pretty hard for the last few weeks that this is a book that I should read and would enjoy but also the book club would find a lot to discuss. So I think I will read it for sure, and then we can see together where it does and doesn’t track.

[[deleted user]]

Priory is definitely going to make my end of year list - it might even end up as #1.

[Charlotte]

I've read a LOT in the genre lately... I really enjoyed:

Loveless by Alice Oseman which covered a variety of relationships within LGBTQ+ but also on ACE... being asexual or aromantic or even both.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - it was ok but I don't think it was as good as her other book Red, White & Royal Blue

I really, really enjoyed Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman was super cute and sweet.

As well as books that I've read from Simonverse: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited both by Becky Albertalli

If you haven't read The House in the Cerulean Sea by TT.J. Klune nows a good time. Or you could read the next book which is totally different Under the Whispering Door. I also like TJ Klune's other series starting with The Extraordinaries

[NancyJ]

Theresa wrote: "Amy wrote: "I ordered three books from the library for this tag:

Thirty Names of Night
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
The Priory of the Orange Tree

I hope to knock off at least two of them......."

Re Addie Larue - I don't remember a gay character either but my memory is faulty. She lived 300 years, so maybe one of her relationships was with a women, or she had a gay friend.

FYI - The Priory of the Orange Tree is 25 hours on audio.

[Jen K]

Amy wrote: "Well we finally have our buddy read, my friend! And we didn’t even have to try!"

Super fun!

The Priory of the Orange Tree was a fast read for me despite the length and fits the tag quite well.

[Jgrace]

I don't see the wonderful The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue as LGBT at all. It is a lot of themes but that does not track at all.

Addie LaRue has at least 2 bisexual characters, although I would agree that it isn't a major theme, the contemporary group of 'bookstore' friends at the end of the book are diverse.

[Amy]

Its the B in LGBT!

[Theresa]

Amy wrote: "I don’t know because I haven’t read it, but it seems to be pretty high up on the actual tag, and a bunch of people have recommended it above. I’m usually pretty strict about those things myself. Al..."

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue absolutely ranks as a lifetime 5 star read for me and so rich and layered - I could write a dissertation on that book. It is a fabulous book club book. I have copious notes on my thoughts and discussion from my Feminerdy Book Club which led me to read it, but I don't remember any gender identity or LGBT character even in it. BTW not every member of Feminerdy loved it as I did, though no one disliked it.

[Theresa]

Jen K wrote: "Amy wrote: "Well we finally have our buddy read, my friend! And we didn’t even have to try!"

Super fun!

The Priory of the Orange Tree was a fast read for me despite the length and..."


I read it in 3 days last year.