5 Books to read this Pride Month
Here in the UK, and in many other places across the globe, June marks Pride month. A month dedicated to celebrating all our LGBTQ+ communities, wherever they are.
Pride is a time to pay homage to our elders, to commemorate the continued work of LGBTQ+ folks and to take note of the insistent harassment, discrimination and abuse we still see on a daily basis.
One of the ways in which we can do that, is by supporting LGBTQ+ authors and artist. By reading about the Queer character emerging in literary works today. To educate ourselves on the plight of people who might be different from ourselves.
Now, while there is no doubt that we need far more queer representation in the media, when it comes to the literary world we are starting to see the strides LGBTQ+ authors have made in writing and reading stories in their own voice.
Which is something to be incredibly excited about. So I would strongly encourage you to have a look at the list of books below, and celebrate pride by diving into these fabulous stories.
Cemetery Boys - By Aiden Thomas
Published: 1st of September 2020
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Synopsis:
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly to death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.
My thoughts:
I don’t think it would be humanly possible to cram so many things I love into one book.
High Fantasy
Paranormal Themes
Trans representation
Latin culture and history
The only qualm I have is that I haven’t heard of this book before. This is 100% my own fault of course because this book shot up the New York Times bestseller list like you have no idea.
Fragile Remedy - By Maria Ingrande Mora
Published: 9th of March 2021
Publisher: Flux
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Nate is a GEM—Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue created by the scientists of Gathos City as a cure for the elite from the fatal lung rot ravaging the population. As a child, he was smuggled out of the laboratory where he was held captive and into the Withers—a quarantined, lawless region. Nate manages to survive by using his engineering skills to become a Tinker, fixing broken tech in exchange for food or a safe place to sleep. When he meets Reed, a kind and fiercely protective boy that makes his heart race, and his misfit gang of scavengers, Nate finds the family he’s always longed for—even if he can’t risk telling them what he is.
But Gathos created a genetic failsafe in their GEMs—a flaw that causes their health to rapidly deteriorate as they age unless they are regularly dosed with medication controlled by Gathos City. As Nate’s health declines, his hard-won freedom is put in jeopardy. Violence erupts across the Withers, his illegal supply of medicine is cut off, and a vicious attack on Reed threatens to expose his secret. With time running out, Nate is left with only two options: work for a shadowy terrorist organization that has the means to keep him alive, or stay — and die — with the boy he loves.
My thoughts:
The thing I instantly like about this book is that it is Science Fiction. A lot of times you will see books with LGBTQ+ characters focus heavily on the romance side of things. Which is absolutely fine of course, but to have a kickass queer character going on ridiculous adventures sounds even better to me! That and the red thread of this story, the pandemic, access to medicine being only for the few, seems all too fitting in the current climate.
Malice - By Heather Walter
Published: 13th of April 2021
Publisher: Del Rey
Synopsis:
Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss. You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.
Utter nonsense.
Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either. Until I met her.
Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.
But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world. Nonsense again.
Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—I am the villain.
My thoughts:
A dark retelling of sleeping beauty - need I say more? I personally feel no need to explain my obsession with grown-up, gritty re-tellings of the stories we were fed as children. Gone are the days of beautiful helpless princesses. In with the princess who grabs expectations by the throat and gives it a piece of her mind.
She Who Became the Sun - By Shelley Parker-Chan
Published: (Expected) 20th of July 2021
Publisher: Tor Books
Synopsis:
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.
After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.
My thoughts:
First off, yes I understand this book won’t be released until after Pride month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t support this fabulous author by pre-ordering her book. On top of that, this feels like everything Mulan could have been. No, I am not talking about the original legend (amazing if you ask me), nor am I talking about the Disney animation (one of my all-time favourites). I am talking about the abomination that was the live-action remake. She Who Became the Sun looks to be the book that will deliver all its predecessors could not.
The Prophets - By Robert Jones Jr.
Published: 5th of January 2021
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Synopsis:
Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.
With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr. fiercely summons the voices of slaver and the enslaved alike to tell the story of these two men; from Amos the preacher to the calculating slave-master himself to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders.
My thoughts:
A brutal and beautiful love story between two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation, a tale of rage and grace, of refuge among the ruins. I have no words to describe how much I am already in love with this book. I am 100% convinced this will be a book to leave silence in its wake. A story we will need to sit with, a story to make us think, a story to make us grieve, a story to make us love.
What are your thoughts? Have I missed out any books that you cannot help but recommend? Have you read any of the above books and can’t wait to share your thoughts with me? Let me know in the comment section below, and until then - just one more page!