READ WITH PRIDE - Gay Pride Month 2019

If your reading is inspired by seasons, celebrations and commemorations, then June is a great time to take advantage of books centered around gay and lesbian characters and stories.  According to Wikipedia, ‘the month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world.” Since the literary world has been greatly impacted by LGBT writers and stories, there is much to read. As such, let’s get started with yet another list (not in any particular order):​

Classics

• GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN - James Baldwin

 

• GIOVANNI’S ROOM - James Baldwin

Both these books take place in the 1950s. The former is semi-autobiographical taking place in Harlem, while the latter takes place in Paris. Neither of them are easy reads because of the portrayal of the protagonists struggles as a black gay young man in a less accepting time. Nonetheless, they are worth enduring reading hardships because they are moving and complex stories by a legend of literary prose.


Contemporary

• TIN MAN - Sarah Winman

Go here for a full review: http://www.paulafarmer.com/books-blog/tin-man-review

• ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS - Ocean Vuong

Go here for a full review: http://www.paulafarmer.com/books-blog/on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous-book-review


- PAPER IS WHITE - Hilary Zaid
Set in ebullient, 1990s Dot-com era San Francisco, Paper is White is a novel about the gravitational pull of the past and the words we must find to make ourselves whole.


- LESS - Andrew Sean Greer
Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes--it would be too awkward--and you can't say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. This is a unique, hilarious travel romp as well as coming-of-age in the middle of your life story. It’s easy to understand why it won the Pulitzer Prize.


- STRAY CITY - Chelsey Johnson
A thoroughly modern and original anti-romantic comedy, Stray City is an unabashedly entertaining literary debut about the families we’re born into and the families we choose, about finding yourself by breaking the rules, and making bad decisions for all the right reasons.