My Top 10 Favourite LGBTQ+ Books

[@sabitsuita]

Even as a bisexual man, Alice Walker's The Color Purple shredded me emotionally. It was so good! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in LGBTQ+ lit.

[@ErinLOVESmakeupxoxo]

Always makes me smile to see a notification from you. 🙂

[@OliviasCatastrophe]

Audre Lorde is one of my favourite poets and my favourite essayist of all time! So I am so happy to know you adore her too and she is amazing at intersectionality and talking about it. I have some Juno Dawson on my shelves and need to read her YA fiction books! I didn't know she had an autobiographical book so I should check that out. I have actually met her at a signing as well. White is the witchling sounds good to me - I like that lowkey creepy horror feel as well! I also need to read long way down D:

[@FloraNB]

When I was in Edinburgh last year I picked up "Wain: LGBT Reimaginings of Scottish Folklore", a poetry collection by Rachel Plummer, with gorgeous watercolour illustrations by Helene Boppert. And I think everything you need to know is in that sentence ^_^

[@grahamhaddock3537]

This was the first book I read this month and it's a fantastic collection I can't recommend enough

[@roberrrrto93]

Thanks for sharing, Jean! I've just started the audiobook for The Gender Games on your recommendation (and to further my understanding given recent events). I'd definitely recommend The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez. It's the script of the play that was in London the other year (not sure if you saw it), but there's so much to be gained from just the text, as most is told through a narrator. It's so readable and so deeply moving.

[@flaviaaalouise]

my top ten (according to goodreads but also curated because old ratings): 1. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour 2. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz 4. Girl Made Of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake 5. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman 6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 7. The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi 9. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 10. I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver (picking just 10 is hard though...)

[@marija2830]

This video was just what I was looking for, now I'm adding A Portable Shelter and White is for Witching to my reading list! I enjoyed The Queen of Ieflaria and Girls of Paper and Fire and look forward to continuing both series.

[@anxious_apparition]

My top top lgbtq+ books/authors would have to be The Bone Doll's Twin and the Nightrunner series (basically everything) by Lynn Flewelling, the Alexander the Great trilogy and The Charioteer by Mary Renault, Maurice by E.M. Forster, and quite a few Sarah Waters and Jeanette Winterson books.✨

[@jaimieduncan7249]

Yes to The Charioteer! I first found it in the local public library as a precocious twelve year old and it is still a favourite thirty (ahem - or so - ahem) years later. Highly recommended.

[@Seolhe]

Yes, I love Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy, but I never see anyone talking about it! I really want to read more of her work! :)

[@batlavender]

You turned me on to Jeanette Winterson about a year and a half ago & I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her! Frankissstein felt particularly special, because part of it takes place in my home town, which I don’t see in a lot of contemporary works. Thanks for another great video, Jean! :-)

[@ryanvale6066]

Added Sister Outsider, The Gender Games and A Portable Shelter to my tbr I also loved Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, some of my other favourite LGBTQ+ books are The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Chasing a Ghost by D.A. Ravenscroft, all of which I'd recommend to you :)

[@grahamhaddock3537]

I don't really have 10 I could say I really feel that strongly for so just some I generally love; Wain by Rachel Plummer, which is a collection of poems retelling Scottish folklore as LGBT stories Sonny and Me by Ross Sayers, which is wrote in Scots and is about two teens investigating a murder in Stirling No.6 by Atsuko Asano (specifically the novels but the manga is also good), which is a dystopian series about two teens having to expose the government for corruption and trying to cover up a pandemic and needing to save friends and family, and also they're falling in love Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig was one that is primarily a "entered my life in the right moment" book, but it's wrote almost entirely in just dialogue and is a trans woman in a prison in Argentina, telling the man she shares a cell with about films she loves and it deals a lot with abuse The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic but I loved it as a teen And I literally just finished Giovanni's Room and also loved it Also not that I highly recommend it but Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite is one of those complete junk food books I love, and it's about a cannibal and a necrophile happening to meet cause they both intend to kill each other and end up falling in love, and it's set in the AIDs crisis and is just complete dramatic smutty junk food

[@christinacampbellbooks]

You've completely sold me on Girls of Paper and Fire - it sounds wonderful! Definitely adding to my TBR :)

[@Seolhe]

I haven't read A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan yet, but I read her book The Gracekeepers a few years ago and I've wanted to read more from her ever since! :) There are so many books here that are on my tbr list, but the only ones I've read so far are The Queen of Ieflaria, which I read on your recommendation and quite liked, and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which unfortunately wasn't for me. I did start reading Girls of Paper and Fire and really wanted to love it, but I just couldn't get into it and decided to dnf :( A lot of my personal all time favourites all fall under adult historical fiction and/or fantasy, indluding The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, Stealing Fire by Jo Graham, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I really, really wish I had more adult f/f books that I really loved, but I have such a hard time finding those. Among YA books, I really loved both The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee, they just make me so happy, and as someone on the aro and ace spectrum, Felicity as a character means so much to me

[@rachaelgrimes5775]

I think my favourite lgbtq+ books are Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (which I JUST finished and it's absolutely delightful and it's my favourite book I've read so far this year), Walking with Ghosts by Qwo-Li Driskill (the most stunning collection of poetry I have ever read in my life bar none), Roller Girl by Vanessa North (a very sweet wlw contemporary romance), and VERY MUCH Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova (an amazing YA fantasy featuring a bisexual protag and a wlw romance!!)

[@YourTrueShelf]

I have heard so so many good things about don't call us dead. Must get it. White is for witching is on my tbr 🙂 Loved oranges are not the only fruit.

[@themermaidandtheowl6573]

Forgot about Things a bright girl can do by sally nicholls that involves a central f/f relationship and Suffragettes, a great piece of historical fiction and lies we tell ourselves by Robin Talley which is an enemies to lovers when the first black kids went into white schools and it’s really gorgeous!

[@WordWonders]

i looove Girls of paper and fire!! i also discovered books i've never heard of here so thank you 💕

[@ms.reader9799]

Eeekk! I haven't read a single one of these!! But you're so articulate about them. :)

[@AFrolicThroughFiction]

There's a few here I've been debating adding to my Wishlist for awhile - Kissing the Witch and White is for Witching (wow can you tell I like witchy vibes LOL) so it's safe to say I've been convinced aha

[@giadavallone2213]

Have you ever read Amatka by Karin Tidbeck? Its author is Swedish but she translated the book herself into English. It's a dystopian novel with a female-female romance in it (although it's not the focus of the novel) and, since I'm not very good at describing books I love, I'll simply say that it's one of my favourite books 😊

[@JasmineReads]

This was great!🌈 I really need to read some Audre Lorde. Thank you for reminding me about Kissing the Witch! It sounds fantastic. I love Don't Call Us Dead, Oranges, and Gender Games so pleased to see all of those mentioned! (Homie by Danez Smith is also incredible✨)

[@zoerobinson9897]

I needed some more books to read this month, so thank-you! First on my list is The Queen of Leflaria!

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh yay - it's so lovely I hope you enjoy iy ^_^

[@chloe.imogen]

I've had Kissing the Witch on my tbr for years, definitely moving it up after seeing this video! My absolute favourite LGBTQ+ book is Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, it's so sweet and just makes me so happy!

[@phobosm]

If you enjoy high fantasy then you might enjoy Priory of the Orange Tree! I really enjoyed the relationship between two of the female main characters.

[@justiniswesleyandnotdavid3831]

Great video. My top ten that id recommend are- 1. In One Person by John Irving 2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secretes of the Universe by Benjamin Airee Synges 3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 4. Everyday by David Levithan 5. Orlando by Virginia Woolf 6. Sacrament by Clive Barker 7. Far From You by Tess Sharpe 8. Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin 9. More Than This by Patrick Ness 10. Top Ten by Kate Cotugno Happy reading.

[@justiniswesleyandnotdavid3831]

Another recomendation; 11. How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

[@CoynieReads]

I loved the memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal even more than Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, possibly because magical realism/fairy tale elements aren't always my favourite thing. But I kind of love that we have the two, it's like there is a different version of Jeanette Winterson's story for different readers 😊

[@virag5627]

White is for witching sounds sooo amazing, but reading it I just couldn't find anything I liked! I was so confused all the time, and when I wasn't I was scared. Sometimes both at the same time.

[@TheBookishMom]

Girls of Paper and Fire is a new favorite of mine as well!

[@wordsofclover]

Kissing the Witch is one of my favourite short story collections I've read. So unique and clever!

[@elenathegreat]

ahhh I still have to get to Girls of Paper and Fire, everything I've heard has been GREAT

[@libbyhanzlik3110]

This is very random but you sound exactly like the voice actor that did the voice for Merida in the Disney movie Brave. Also, I very much enjoy your videos!

[@manoeksbooknook]

Always here for all the LGBTQ+ content 🏳️‍🌈

[@Ivielynn123]

Annie on my mind I read in high school and it was wonderful. This was back in 2005. Great book.

[@maartjedegroot9598]

I finally added The Queen of Ieflaria to my list. And also Don’t call us dead.

[@judybrown1624]

I loved Kissing the Witch too and have also been meaning to reread it.

[@BethVlogs_]

*Adds every book to TBR!

[@JeansThoughts]

Yas - goal complete!

[@TithenPen]

Thank you for the video! Happy pride fellow bisexual lady! I have just finished "The Wolf in the Whale" by Jordanna Max Brodsky and I really think you'd enjoy it Jean. I loved it so much. It's a mythology (Inuit, Norse, Native American and early Christianity) based fantasy & historical fiction novel with gender themes and a well intigriated romance.

[@TheMelodramaticBookworm]

Thanks so much for this video, Jean. So many books that I found intriguing and added to my wishlist thanks to you.

[@butchpoetics5096]

i love audre lorde! have you read the priory of the orange tree? i think that you might really like it! i think if i had to pick a favourite lgbtq+ book it would be close to the knives: a memory of disintegration by david wojnarowicz

[@beautyb4876]

The Queen of Ieflaria i need to read and Kissing the Witch

[@LifeWithLauren23]

Don't think I've been as excited for a video! 😂 Can you ever have too many LGBTQ+ books? Definitely not 🙈🏳️‍🌈

[@JeansThoughts]

Ugh NEVER aha

[@LifeWithLauren23]

@@JeansThoughts counteracting that troll who clearly has eyesight problems because you are beautiful inside and out 🥰

[@laurenrodriguez918]

Have you read Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo? One of the main characters is LGBTQ

[@pratistha8420]

The Priory of the Orange Tree ❤

[@xXIshantiXx]

If you are up to a translated work, I'd like to recommend you 'The Center of the World' by Andreas Steinhöfel. Very poetic and touching,

[@Tarasreadingnook]

I love orange are not the only fruit

[@Binbee22222]

Wtf I want to read all of these lol I love your recommendations

[@sarahs2951]

Call Me by Your Name!!!!

[@roch6940]

ah, just the video i needed! :D

[@JeansThoughts]

Glad to be of service ^_^

[@LiteraryStoner]

🏳️‍🌈

[@djcorvette8375]

unsubbed

[@JeansThoughts]

Woohoo mission complete!

[@lauren7194]

Wow

[@NikLaGnome]

Hans, bye! Thanks for the recommendations, Jean! There are some I‘ve been meaning to read, but glad to have more books to add to my TBR ☺️

[@DrinkingByMyShelf]

Aah Kissing the Witch is so good. I think I read it from a recommendation of yours years ago!