I don’t need to tell you how terrible this year has been in ways none of us could have predicted in advance. Nor am I particularly interested in the silver linings of horror and pain. But in the face of the pain, we’ve all experienced this year, there are opportunities to choose joy, however fleeting. And this year, it’s undeniable that many great books by queer and LGBTQ+ authors have made their way into the world- both a joyful thing in and of themselves and with plenty of joy to be found between their covers.
That said, gatekeeping in publishing continues to limit not only the number of queer books that are published and the demographics of these authors but also the amount of money and marketing power that goes into their work. The publishing industry still has a lot of work to do.
That said, I’ve read more queer lit this year in many genres, and I’m grateful to the writers who created this work. It would be impossible for me to rank the books I read, but here are five that stood out for me, that moved me deeply, or made me laugh in a year of crisis.
1. Alabama Boys By Geneviève Hudson
I’ve been a fan of Genevieve Hudson’s writing since I read their short story collection, pretending to Live Here (Future Tense Books), in 2018. Hudson’s writing is magnetic. It’s like the Kristen Stewart of prose- like a chameleon, layered, funny, serious, sad, gay, and attractive. I’ll always look for their writing, so I was really excited about this first novel- 304 pages of Hudson prose, yes please- and it destroyed me, just like I wanted it to.
The main character, Max, is a German teenager who moves to Alabama with his parents for his father’s car manufacturing job. Max, who is mourning his first love, begins to fall in love with Pan, all the while being drawn into the evangelical, football-like culture of the American deep south. Plus, he can bring dead things back to life. Hudson grew up in Alabama, and their complex relationship with the place shines through in this story, which rushes silently and then loudly to a climax that had me staring blankly for 10 minutes after reading it.
2. A Story Of My Brief Body By Billy By Ray Belcourt
Billy-Ray Belcourt (Driftpile Cree Nation) is perhaps the most genius living human, and this short but dense book is his first to be marketed as a collection of essays-his previous books, This Wound is a World and Mechanisms of Adaptation NDN, are poetry. But Belcourt’s writing defies genre labels. In fact, Belcourt intentionally and beautifully subverts Western, colonial, and imperial writing conventions on every level.
His imagination transcends imposed boundaries as he writes about dating apps, bodies, his grandmother, the future, and joy as an act of resistance. This book is only 142 pages long, but it is a powerful volume. The fact that we are alive at the same time as this writer and that we have access to his words, is a gift. I have underlined almost every sentence in this book, which goes against the point of underlining, but here we are.
3. Under The Rainbow By Celia Laskey
This was one of the last books I finished in a coffee shop where I was reading before the pandemic hit. I remember it because I started crying at my corner table as I turned the last page, then realized I hadn’t even finished my coffee. The tears were unexpected because it’s such a wacky book, but in the best way.
The premise is that a GLAAD-like organization designates the fictional town of Big Burr, Kansas, as the most homophobic town in America and sends a task force of queer people to help change hearts and minds. Like what? But this collection of interconnected stories strikes a delicate and beautiful balance between satire, humor, and emotion that really did it for me. I found myself truly invested in these stories and downright in love with some of the characters. It is a book that we highly recommend.
4. Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society And The Meaning Of Sex By Angela Chen
As an ace, you’d think I’d know a little more about asexuality than the average person, even the average queer. I did, but this perfectly readable nonfiction/memoir hybrid made me feel seen and validated as a queer ace, and I also learned some things. Angela Chen is the first to say that this is not the definitive book on asexuality and that there shouldn’t be such a thing.
But it is the first mainstream nonfiction book reported on the subject. However, this book is not just about asexuality, and that’s what makes it such a vital read; it’s about society, society’s rules, norms, and expectations about sex, sexuality, and all forms of relationships. It’s so good, and I want every person on earth to read it.
5. Memorial By Bryan Washington
When this book came out in October, I needed a character-driven story that would take me out of my brain and into someone else’s brain. Bryan Washington’s fiction is some of my favorite writing in the world, and this debut novel transported me into the lives of Mike and Benson, a gay couple living in Houston who have become a little too comfortable in their routines with each other while also not communicating. effectively.
When Mike leaves at the last minute to reconcile with his dying father in Osaka, Japan, just as his mother Mitsuko arrives for a visit, Benson and Mitsuko build their poignant relationship as Mike comes to terms with his relationship with his father. I was engrossed in the lives of these characters, which were fleshed out with many tertiary characters and a sense of place, and I found the ending so moving. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a story that reads smoothly and is rich in setting (and food, it made me hungry).
Sound off in the comments section below, and tell us what you want to read next and if you want to read more about book recommendations.
