As we celebrate June as Pride Month, it’s important to highlight the stars who have contributed to raising their voice for the LGBTQ+ community. We have created a stellar list for you that includes celebrated work as well as newly released books to celebrate Pride Month 2021. Time to add them to your reading list
We Are Watching Eliza Bright by A. E. Osworth
A.E. Osworth, a trans novelist has written a brilliant book about workplace hostility. The protagonist of the novel is Eliza Bright who is a self-taught video game coder. Inadvertently, she gets in the cross-hair of the gaming community and the violence against her comes to real life from the cyber space. The novel explores topics such as online male rage, toxic masculinity, blurring lines between the online and the real world.
Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih
It was the most anticipated book of 2021. The book is a fictional account of an art history teacher Sebastian Mote who envies the new generation and how open they are about wearing their pride on their sleeve. Sebastian gets attached to his openly gay student while another character Oscar who is a writer falls in love with an older literary writer. Zak Salih’s debut novel explores theme of loneliness, shame and longing, and is emotionally profound.
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Rainbow Milk is a semi-autobiographical, coming of the age story. It deals with topics like immigration, religion, sex, and race as a nineteen year old Jesse seeks a fresh start in a new country. The novel is written by Paul Mendez who is a British author who came to London to study acting and did odd jobs in the city to survive and pay his fees. Rainbow Milk dwells on Paul’s struggle with loneliness and his falling in love with a Booker prize-winning novelist.
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
A young man navigates delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness in the series of linked stories at the heart of Filthy Animals, set among young creatives in the American Midwest. The author Brandon Taylor identifies himself as gay from a young age. He attended Auburn University at Montgomery and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he did his respective undergraduate and graduate studies in chemistry and biochemistry.
ALSO READ: What to Read This June 2021 | Fiction | Thriller | Young Adult | Fantasy
The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
It’s the story of Nora who is a con artist who has been Rebecca, Samantha, Haley, Katie, Ashley in the past. One day she finds herself at the gunpoint in the middle of a bank heist along with her ex-boyfriend and her secret new girlfriend. The Girl I’ve Been is going to be a made into a Netflix movie soon where Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) will play the part of Nora.
Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan
In this queer romance, an openly gay track star falls for a closeted, bisexual teen beauty queen with a penchant for fixing up old cars. When Morgan, an elite track athlete, takes high school transfer after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic school’s code of conduct. In the new school, she meets Ruby, and the two are drawn to each other and can’t deny their growing feelings. But while Morgan–out and proud, and determined to have a fresh start–doesn’t want to have to keep their budding relationship a secret, Ruby isn’t ready to come out yet.
Previously, the author Jennifer Dugan has also written another book Hot Dog Girl which deals with the LGBT theme.
The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel has written a personal story about selfhood, self-sabotage, mortality, addiction, bliss, wonder, and the concerns of a generation. This is an extraordinary, laugh-out-loud chronicle of the conundrums we all grapple with as we seek our true place in the world. Alison Bechdel is the author of two internationally acclaimed graphic memoirs, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and Are You My Mother? This is her third graphic memoir.
