25 Books for Pride | June 2024
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- čas přidán 12. 06. 2024
- Grab a pen and paper, or however you keep a log of books you simply HAVE to read as I have 25 book recommendations* to read for Pride (and beyond) that are absolutely brilliant. I also really, really, really want your recommendations please. #booktube #pride #readingrecommendations
*Twenty books I’ve read, five books I want to read very soon.
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So many of these are already on my TBR! Thanks for the push to get to them.
A pleasure!
Jan Morris, trans English travel writer is brilliant. She transitioned decades ago. Passed away in 2020 in her 90’s. She wrote Manhattan ‘45 a non-fiction account of the big apple way back when. I loved it. Also loved her memoir Conundrum.
My Gran was a big fan of Jan Morris, I have some of her copies of Jan's books on the shelves.
I really enjoyed how happy and excited you looked talking about all these books. My reading this year is mostly escapism fantasy and it's so much easier to find queer joy there, as the focus of the characters is not queer struggles but the adventure. This sounds strange, but I hope oyu know what I want to say.
The joy of talking about books that are all bangers is an absolute treat. I haven't read any queer fantasy books, but from what you have said (which I totally get) maybe I should have a dabble at some point!
Coexistence by BRB is absolutely beautiful. I hope you love it!
I am really, really looking forward to it!
so many i have on my tbr and your recommendations are making me want to read them yesterday! loved pity it was so clever and would definitely rec bellies. if you haven't read anything by matt cain then you need to get on that, i love them so much they're emotional and make you feel so seen but he infuses great humor into them with a lovely northern characters
I really need to get to Bellies, I am so keen to read it, some prize reading has now slightly got in the way but I will get to it! Matt Cain I have yet to read and I don't know why I haven't as I have met him a few times and he's loooovely!
I totally agree with you regard the read of the new life by Tom Crewe, I thought this was one of my best reads! if you do find any more books and authors that are writing off this era I would be grateful if you could forward. A big thank you for your recommendations! just order Blackouts and the in between, looking forward to these reads. have a great weekend.
You’ll have to keep your eyes on the comments on this post and see what people recommend… as I will log them myself but who knows when I will get to them. Ha. Blackouts is great! Happy reading, well that’s not the happiest book but you know what I mean.
Great list! Just started listening to Mrs S on audio (available on Everand) and am very intrigued. P.s. I love the genre of books that you call 'heartbreaking but hopeful', a possible video idea? 💖
Oooh Mrs S on audio could be quite, erm, intense. Do report back. A heartbreaking and hopeful video could be good... though I don't read that many hopeful books hahaha.
Omg i loved bellies so much. The folks who made normal ppl are adapting this as well.
And Cinema love is brill.
On the nonfiction front, pretty by kb Brookins is quite powerful.
Oooh I haven’t heard of Pretty. I’ll look that up. Exciting that Bellies is going to be adapted. I am going to have to park all my pride reading for later in the summer as I have said yes to judging another prize. I can’t and won’t be stopped. Hahaha.
Autumn is my fave too!
I would love eternal autumn. A cosy pride would be brilliant in that season. Hahaha. All the jumpers.
@@SavidgeReads yes OMG the jumpers !
I loved Rosewater and it was refreshing to read something in this genre that didn't leave me feeling miserable. (But, I must confess that I didn't notice what was on the cover 🤣🤣🤣🤣!)
Hahahaha, it is very well hidden in plain sight.
Some nonfiction recommendations (some old, some new):
10 Bridges I've Burnt, Brontez Purnell
The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
The T in LGBT, Jamie Raines
The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir by Staceyann Chin
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror
Sister Outsider, Audre Lord
Who's Afraid of Gender, Judith Butler
Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza, by Gloria Anzaldúa
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib
Red Azalea by Anchee Min
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, Curtis Chin
Also, nonfiction graphic novels
Washington's Gay General
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together
(Way more than I intended to list, but I kept thinking of others)
And what is it with Australian publishers not making anything available in other countries? I get that it can be hard to have an imprint for physical books, but so many have no eBooks at all.
That is all to do with rights, not the publishers. Rights will be sold to certain countries generally just Australia and if no one else buys the books they can't make the ebooks elsewhere.
Wow thanks for a fabulous list. Lots I have not heard of or red, a couple that I have.
I read I will Greet the Sun again last month and very much enjoyed it although was quite a difficult read. Just finished Small Joys tonight and loved it. I got Brother & Sister Enter the Forest from the library so must be out in the uk now?
Ooooh, that’s interesting that Brother & Sister is out in your library. You may just have some very spot on librarians ordering from overseas. I know some do like Mercedes’ in Norwich.
bellies is one of my favourites books of all time simon !!! please read it i'm soooo serious😭😭😭 the rights have been sold for tv adaptation by the creators of normal people :)
Hahahaha well that is quite the plea. I am away this week with lots and lots of train journeys and I am sure Bellies will be in my bag at some point.
You've made me realize I also need to read more queer non-fiction when I went to think of recommendations! However I do recommend Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House as well as We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib, both excellent memoirs. I've added A Good Year and Experienced to the ever-growing list, thank you!
Ooooh I loved In The Dream House. I have We Have Always Been Here on the shelves thanks to Canada Reads, you've reminded me to bump it up the TBR, thank you!
Small Joys is a lovely book. One of the best books I read in December 2023..
Looking forward to it!
I am reading Mrs S next and A Place Called Winter.
A Place Called Winter is one of my all time favs.
You may have read this one, but A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood is a very good short read. It’s a Picador Modern Classic and can be found in their really cool mini book format.
I have read it, I thought it was great. Loved the movie too.
I just finished A Bookshop of One's Own by Jane Cholmeley which is a lovely queer non-fic book about the founding, running and closure of feminist/queer book shop Silver Moon. Like a memoir but for an indie book shop 🥰
Oooh that sounds like a lovely book, thanks for recommending Hannah.
The great writer 'Toni Morrison' once said, "If there is a book you want to read, and it is not yet written, then you must write it yourself."
Sounds like you have to write it, Simon. You can't go against the word of the lit-god TM!
Hahahaha. Oh blimey. Thats quite the, well, threat 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I don’t want the spirit of TM to come and get me!
I’m currently listening to
The In Between 🤩
One of the best #lgbtqi books I’ve read this year is
Greta & Valdin
Oooh yes! I have that on my TBR!
Hi 👋🏻 I’ve got Pity on library loan waiting to be read (due to your recommendation 👍) 😌 x
Hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
Cereus Blooms at Night is one of my all time favourites; I’ve read it four times. Suggestions: a Canadian trans novel-Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom, and Canadian nonbinary autofiction-Mercy Gene: The Making of a Mad Woman by JD Derbyshire.
Ooooh these all sound like fab recommendations, thank you so much... and am here for more Canadian books in my life.
@@SavidgeReads Billy-Ray Belcourt’s Coexistence is next up in my audiobook queue. Like you, I’m a fan of his work. 🏳️🌈🇨🇦
New hair? Looks great 😊
I'm not sure how available it is in the UK, but I''m reading In Tongues by Thomas Gratton right now and I'm finding it absolutely delightful. Great pick for Pride month if you can get your hands on it. As for great books with a trans character: Didn't Nobody Give a Sh*t What Happened to Carlotta. Queer joy: The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle.
I have In Tongues on import order so am hoping it makes it over here soon. I have Carlotta on the shelves so need to get to that asap! Thanks Greg!
@@SavidgeReads I hope you like it!
I just came out again last year (at 41) so Experienced sounds like one I need to get to! 😂
My fave queer books the last year or so: Dream of a Woman (trans perspectives), couplets by Maggie Millner (bisexual), Agatha of Little Neon, A Real Piece of Work by Erin Riley (trans nonfiction), the appendix by Liam Konemann (trans nonfiction)
Also What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell, I keep my exoskeletons to myself by Marisa Crane, Nevada by Imogen Binnie (trans perspectives) and I have to mention and recommend so hard my soul might explode to anyone that will listen: Nothing to see by Pip Adam
I keep seeing Couplets and am intrigued. I think I have Agatha of Little Neon, though with the library as it is who knows. The other three I’ve not heard of and shall look them up.
Dylin Hardcastle has a new book out later this month that looks stunning called A Language of Limbs - I think I remember you recommending their previous novel, Below Deck, a few years ago?
A non-fiction title I've got my eye on at the moment is Hollywood Pride by Alonso Duralde
Oooh. Thanks Bron, I had a look and (of course) there is no sign of it coming out here. However I am due a Readings binge order next month so will be sure to add Language of Limbs. Looked it up, it sounds great!
I started reading Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters earlier this year. I got through about a third of the book and decided to put it aside for a while, but now that I'm done with other books, I should probably circle back to it during Pride month. I did not want to DNF it as I feel like this is a subject that is different from what I've read in the past and that I get more out of than just being entertained. I'm not exactly sure why I was getting distracted from the story, maybe because I did not feel like the writing was propelling me forward and that I sometimes had to reread some of the sections to make sure I was following properly. I guess I should pick it back up before I can't renew it anymore at the library!
I would say give it another whirl but also don’t stress if it’s just not for you. We can’t love every book and reading should be a pleasure, not a pressure.
If you haven’t already read it, Bad Habit by Alana S Portero is a book I absolutely adored about a trans woman growing up in Madrid and all the people in her community who influence her as a person and a woman - it’s gorgeous and devastating and I want everyone to read it
Oooooooh I haven’t read it but I have been sent it so I really, really must get to it in the coming weeks/months.
Loved Elvin James Mensah's Small Joys. Hope you do too.
Fingers crossed. I will report back in due course.
Loved Cinema Love. The cinema is actually in China. Great characters and a history lesson.
Really, really, really looking forward to that. Though hope it’s a fun lesson and not a lecture.
I feel absolutely the same about Joy in queer novels! My friends and I always talk about wanting to see more joyous queer stories instead of tragic and sad books (although that can of course be really powerful too!). Any recommendations are welcome! 🌈
I will report back if I get any and/or read any lol.
We read very different sorts of books but still I want to recommend The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo. Don't know if it's available in the UK as it just came out in the US earlier this year.
Oooh I’ll have to look it up. Thank you!
Due at any point between the start of the book and Christmas 😂 I feel like that should be a saying!
Thank you for this list! I agree that diversity and celebration of all humans and their voices should be an ongoing event all year round (or at least til Christmas 😅) but it’s a great opportunity to shout it louder while more people are listening. Or at least find it harder to not listen, because it’s everywhere. Like Christmas! Yeah! But with more colors! 😊 And better weather! ☀️🌈✨
The only problem is that when it’s everywhere people can become a bit nonchalant to it too. Or feel overawed or over saturated. It’s a very fine balance.
@@SavidgeReads Yes I see what you mean. I just think that party poopers are no reason not to celebrate 😊 People can choose for themselves what to consume and think, and that’s their problem, I think it’s great that lists like this exist. And there are people who take up space every single day without thinking twice about it, whether I’m fed up with them or not! 😂
great list!
you should check Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. &
Vanishing Twins: A Marriage Leah Dieterich for nonfiction
Enjoy pride month!!
I saw that in The Common Press and put it back down again because of the cover. I’ll have to rethink. Thank you.
For a queer non-fic book: have you read "Lost & Found" a memoir by Kathryn Schulz? Schulz is a Pulitzer Prize winner for journalism and writes beautifully. The book covers the time in her life when she is losing her father and happens to meet the woman who will become her wife. She riffs on loss and discovery, broadly and personally. It is very moving and I highly recommend.
Oooh I hadn’t heard of this and it sounds quite wonderful. I shall go and look it up! Thank you so much!
Bangers and corkers!😁
Can’t go wrong with them!
NF Pride read? "What is the Grass: My Life" with Walt Whitman by Mark Doty. An absolutely incredible book. and just for fun, "Me", Elton John's autobiography.
I can't see myself reading Elton John's memoir, the other sounds interesting. I learnt a lot about Walt Whitman when I stayed with friends in Washington DC and yet have not ready anything about him, or by him. I think Mark Doty is a wonderful poet so this could be interesting. Will have to see if it crossed my path.
@@SavidgeReads What Is the Grass was my favorite book of 2024 so far and will be high on my all time list of favorite NFs--and I read loads of NF.
@@SavidgeReads I'm not sure if you have a beef with Sir Elton John or not, if so, NP. But if not, his autobiography (which he reads himself) is funny, moving, incredible, and inspiring. I'm not a crazy fan but I loved his book.
@@marjoriedybec3450no beef. Just not one I am mad keen to read. Sooooo many other books would rather read. Lol. I’m glad you enjoyed it though.
Rivers Solomon is an author I would love to hear your thoughts on. I’ve read The Deep by them so far - am hoping to read Sorrowland this Pride month but An Unkindness of Ghosts might be their most “popular” one.
Then I’m pretty sure you’ve already read most by Akwaeke Emezi and then I just really love Bryan Washington’s writing. And personally I cannot wait to read Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth (though I might be wrong and it’s more lesbian than bisexual) 🌈
I just have Bitter and Little Rot of Akwaeke’s to go and then I’m all caught up with their work and I’ll be reading them both very soon as I’m interviewing Akwaeke for the channel. If you’ve any questions for them let me know. I have two of River’s books on my shelves so will head to them soon, I’ll put them aside when I get boxing up the library
@@SavidgeReads right! I forgot about that “little” fact, lol, that’s fab! What a treat for us to get to see that convo!
I highly doubt I can come up with any questions you haven’t already thought of but I might just give it a go 🥰
I just finished Neon Roses by Rachel Dawson, would definitely recommend it as a more joyful queer read. It's set in the 80s and follows a girl from South Wales who goes on this journey of queer self discovery after a group of people from Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners come down from London to help with fundraising for the striking miners in her community. It was joyous and filthy and a lot of fun
Oooh I have Neon Roses on the TBR, it is one I have been meaning to head to ever since I was sent the hardback... oops. Thanks for reminding me to get to it!
😊I'm counting No. 23 Burlington Square novel and Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris, apparently much easier for homosexual people in nineteen-twenties Paris than other places, but also people were less likely to place labels on themselves in those days, but the novel is set in the twenties too, but some brave souls were out in the twenties. Enjoyed both books. I want to read Mona of the Manor. An old straight Grandma. Best wishes to everyone.❤
Ooooh that sounds fascinating. I didn’t know about it being easier in Paris at that time. I want to go to Paris again in the next year too.
@SavidgeReads I just bought the winner of Women's Prize in fiction, before they jack up the price.
Best bisexual book I've ever read is Gender Theory by Madeline Docherty. It just came out and it's so good!
Ooh I saw that in a bookshop this very day and did consider it but I’m on a hard book buying ban!
Doing a separate post for trans fiction. (Leans heavily into genre fiction. Includes some horror that can be a bit extreme. Seems trans folks like to write body horror.)
Hell Followed With Us, Andrew Joseph White
The Thirty Names of Night by Joukhadar, Zeyn
Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction
Exquisite Corpse, Poppy Z. Brite (now Billy Martin, but I am pretty sure he still uses Poppy as his nom de plume)
The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang
Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle (and if you want some fun, weird smut, check out his Tinglers)
The Thirty Names of Night by By Zeyn Joukhadar
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by by Andrea Lawlor
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Luda by Grant Morrison
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
A Dream of a Woman, stories by Casey Plett
Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw
Thank you for another corking list, have some of these on the shelves so will head your way those first. I’m very excited to be interviewing Akwaeke Emezi next week!
PS I can’t wait for your review of Tin Man, no pressure or anything 😂
Review of Tin Man? By Sarah Winman? I read that before it came out, lol, way back when. The new edition has a quote from me on it 😉
@@SavidgeReads what?? I thought you said you were reading it for the first time how odd of me to hear that when it was probably YOU that I heard of her from in the first place. Uhhh senior moment don’t mind me lol
possibly the first time you've spoken about The New Life without mentioning the train scene? lmfao
Hahahaha. I had to be brief. Maybe I should have though. People might be more likely to pick it up for that. Hahaha.
I picked it up purely because Simon talked about the train scene. Happy I did because I loved it but can’t deny what caused my initial interest
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin has a bisexual narrator. Not sure if you’ve read it yet…I thought it was fantastic!
Ooooh I haven’t and now I am all the more keen too. Thank you.
Nonfiction Australian memoir - ten steps to Nanette / Hannah Gadsby
Oooh I like Hannah Gadsby.
Try Trans-Sister Radio by Christopher Bohjalian. I thought it was interesting. Thx for recommending The Sleeping Car Porter.
Pleasure, hope you enjoy it if you get to it!
Well most of those I have not heard of, but I do have Mrs S on my shelf to be read but it’s not on this months tbr. So ha! I do not keep queer readings for pride month only 🎉 . That book Pity has one of the creepiest covers I’ve ever seen. For me personally, the thought of being in that pit has me low key freaking out so I’m going to move onnnnn … I’m currently reading Love and Hot Chicken by Mary Liza Hartong about a queer girl in her hometown in Tennessee, which is described as a “delicious southern novel”. Hmm and there’s absolutely no negative people in her town towards her queerness? In the South in the US? Ok….. but my point being, it’s a “joyous” queer read so far because it’s just not something that weighs her down or is frowned upon by her family or contemporaries, anddd bc it’s part romance story and bc it’s full of quirky southern charms and LOTS of funny banter. It’s not literary but it’s fun and light and funny. I also have Rasheed’s book and read that I think a few years ago, it was brilliant! So I’ll be looking to finish this read and get onto Our Hideous Progeny which is an adventure story about Mary Shelly’s niece investigating wait or is it Dr Frankenstein’s niece ?? Anyhoo it’s got a Frankenstein connection and I’m here for that!! And it’s queer as well. It is on that adventure short list so I’m definitely reading it next, then After Sappho which I had picked up
Last year from the library, put it down promptly after a few chapters and bought a copy, holding it for the right time and it’s past time so…! I still haven’t read the Gunkle which I own and quite literally have lost in my shelves doubling up but I will find it and hopefully read in July or August bc it looks so summery! Ok sorry so rambly! Yayyy again for Brotherless Night! Amazing book. So excited that it won!
Love and Hot Chicken is such a brilliant name for a book, I am intrigued from the title alone.
Just read The house in the cerulean sea by T.J. Klune. A fantasy fiction YA. A really thoughtful book about Inclusiveness and being yourself. Would recommend.
Oooh I have that on the shelves, thanks Kirsty, good call!
Just found your channel, love it ❤ I’d recommend Gender Theory by Madeline Docherty - fantastic book by a new author. Includes navigating bisexuality
Oooh spookily I was sent Gender Theory just the other day. I’m very much looking forward to it. I had a few people recommend it to me lately, thanks for adding to the excitement. And thanks for your lovely compliment. Hope you keep enjoying the channel.