Shoshanna’s LGBT Hoopla Picks
April 8, 2020
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
- Available as an eBook
- The groundbreaking YA novel which was the first to really deal with issues of same sex relationships in young women, originally written in 1982. The emotionality of it is so real, so raw, so loving. Sometimes I felt like I was floating in a warm cloud, unmoored from reality. The struggles Annie and Liza deal with are pretty real and pretty scary too. You find yourself so emotionally invested in the two of them. Moments when it’s becoming more clear that what they are feeling is love are some of the most tender passages I have ever read.
Dreadnought by April Daniels
- Available as an eBook
- YA novel which follows a teenage girl of trans experience, who discovers that she is a superhero. Part of her transformation into a superhero also transforms her body as well to be more in line with how she sees herself. I love the way that the author it draws connections between Danielle’s transfemininity and her special abilities. She deals with issues teens deal with, with issues girls deal with, with issues transgender girls deal with. There is a FUN superhero ACTION aspect as well, that will draw many people in, though this aspect gets very dark too.
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
- Available as an eBook graphic novel
- Before she was known for “Fun Home,” Bechdel wrote a comic strip that followed a group of friends, mostly all queer women, starting in the 1980s, up until the late 2000s, as they change, their relationships change, and the world around them changes.
Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- Available as an eBook graphic novel
- One of the main books which helped foster the explosion in autobiographical and memoir comics, “Fun Home” by Alison Bechdel has become a staple in classrooms an on “Best of” lists. My favorite comic, this work follows the author’s coming out story in parallel with her father’s story, in a different time, and much different circumstances. Literary, poetic, really grabs you.
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown
- Available as an audiobook and an eBook
- A YA fiction that centers around a young woman who moves with her father from Atlanta to Rome, Georgia and agrees to “lay low” (effectively semi closet herself) to help her dad with his career but also with his new wife’s parents. Obvi this situation doesn’t last and I won’t give away any major plot points but it’s really interesting to read a book centered around someone who is faithful as well as queer. I also really love that when she sends up prayers, she often sends them to “heavenly mother” not “heavenly father.”
George by Alex Gino
- Available as an audiobook
- This middle grade fiction book has gotten quite a lot of attention. The story follows a young girl of trans experience, who is learning how to talk about who she is and what she wants. This book is really important because while many books centering trans characters for young people are written for teens and feature relationships, dating, and sex, this middle grade book deals much more with the main characters relationship with herself, with her friends, with her mom. Definitely recommended for adults (I’m an adult!) who want to read a book that may help them learn more about the experience of young trans people in a context which is less sexualised than many books on the matter.
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
- Available as an audiobook
- If you are a fan of the television show “Pose” or the documentary “Paris is Burning,” you will really love this. Be warned, the story can get very bleak, grim, sad, terrifying. However, it is also bursting with energy! “The House of Impossible Beauties” follows multiple characters, Angel, Daniel, Venus, Dorian, Juanito, through the world of hustling and the world of the drag ball scene. I very much appreciate this book written by a man of color, in which the main characters are QTPOC, and the focal characters are women who are transgender.
It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura
- Available as an audiobook and an eBook
- Teen realistic fiction with lesbian romance elements, most of the main characters are women (with many queer women / Women of Color). The story has a queer angle but also deals a lot with families, secrets, and also with racism and prejudice between different minority groups in California.
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
- Available as an audiobook
- Story follows a queer Bengali-American young woman in high school as she navigates her friends, school, but mostly family, especially in terms of disclosure. At times kind of scary, I don’t want to give away plot elements, but let’s just say her family has a very bad reaction when they find out she’s gay. Very immersive settings and engaging characters!
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics by Various Authors
- Available as an eBook graphic novel
- An incredibly authoritative, historical look at queer comics. Really interesting because you see attitudes changing over time about different aspects of identity and sexuality, within the queer community.
Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller
- Available as an eBook
- Very interesting depiction of a lesbian couple in the 1810s in rural New England, falling in love and making a go of a life together, in a time that really had no place or even words for it. Based on a historical woman painter who lived in the same area with her partner and “never married.” The love in this book is so tender and dear. Originally written in 1969.
The Price of Salt / Carol by Patricia Highsmith
- Available as an audiobook and an eBook
- A window into mid century lesbian life. A constant smolder. The whole time you feel a warmth in you, a tenderness, a longing. It feels like a mine fire: hot, dangerous, under the surface. If you want to feel the loving, the desire, the heartbreak, the sadness, the dullness, the vibrancy, if you want to feel it, truly feel it, you owe it to yourself to read this book.
P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy
- Available as an audiobook
- An epistolary YA novel about a girl in a Christian family who starts to feel like maybe she’s gay and she writes to her sister who had a baby out of wedlock. Sweet and sad.
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
- Available as an audiobook
- An essential memoir of early life of a prominent woman of trans experience of Black and Hawaiian background. I love the moments where she finds peaks of her true self in her earlier life and getting to hear about the allies she met early on. Really loved the discussions of class, race, gender, sex. Interspersed amidst her herstory are small breaks to discuss how she feels transfeminine people are treated, through her lens. I found these little moments very affirming. Also really interesting learning about how Hawaiian culture interfaces with gender!
Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition by Julia Kaye
- Available as an eBook graphic novel
- A very real and very funny collection of short comics about the trials and tribulations early on in a trans person’s life!
Tomboy: a Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
- Available as an eBook graphic novel
- In this autobiographical comics young memoir, Prince looks back at her life from early childhood up through high school and deals with issues of gender expression / socialized gender roles / gender appearance through the eyes and experiences of someone who had a difficult time identifying with her gender as a child. This is an incredible (comic) book for anyone who is interested in getting into the contemporary world of comics, reading comics by one of the current stars of women in comics, reading about real life experiences with gender and expression, or just someone who wants to read a very touching (and funny) human story.