top 5 queer book reccs for someone who’s just getting into queer literature? :’)
Hello! What a glorious question. Here are some of my absolute favourite queer stories and writings to get your hands on. I hope you love them as much as I do.
I will always recommend this book. It felt unlike anything I've ever read. Actually, no, it feels the same way fanfiction feels. Like, it reaches into your chest and moves things around a little. It's soft and careful, and you fall so deeply in love with the characters without even realising it's happened. It has absolutely fantastic representation, as well as some truly gorgeous lines and moments.
2. Maurice by E.M Forster
So this is probably the first 'classic' I ever read. It's a story about class, politics, society and queerness from a time when everything revolved around those things, even though nobody really liked to speak about them. It was so different to everything I'd read before, so it took a little getting used to. An old friend recommended I listen to the audiobook, so I did, and it was absolutely fantastic, really, really well done. I also desperately need you to read the Terminal Note at the end of the book, as well. It made me cry to hear how far we've come and how far we still have to go.
3. Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin
This is a glorious story about grief, queerness and identity, and relationships with religion. The main character's brother dies, and the catholic church decides to turn him into a saint. Literally. What follows is our MC trying to figure out how to reconcile that within themselves, whilst also trying to stop her grief spilling out onto everyone around her. It's really well written, it has a fantastically honest portrayal of what it feels like when you've lost someone, and it takes a good, hard look at the saintification of people that happens when they die (in this case, literally, but you catch my drift).
4. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
This is my favourite series ever. Maybe you've read it already, I'm super late to the party on this one, having only read it for the first time this year. It's a coming-of-age, YA, fantasy masterpiece, full of so many beautifully queer relationships and identities and diversities. It has magic on each page, both in the plot but also in the power of observation of being human. The characters are well-rounded and fascinating, the plot is somehow both ridiculous and genius, and it is quite easily home to some of the best writing I've ever clapped eyes on.
5. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Again, you might have read this, but I fear it would be a bit insane of me not to include this. It's absolutely on its way to becoming a classic, I think. This story's reputation is notorious: beautiful, heartbreaking and very, very queer. It's got some of the most quotable lines you'll ever come across, it introduced so many of us into this particular genre, and has an audiobook that will surely go down as one of the best ever created. If you prefer your queer mythology retellings without quite as much tragedy, I also really, really recommend The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley. It feels more modern in language but just as ancient in story, and is quite easily one of the best books I've ever read.
Honourable mentions of varying genres:
If you like your books to feel like fanfiction with a hefty dose of trauma but character fanart and a fandom to make up for it, check out All For The Game by Nora Sakavic.
Olivie Blake's Masters of Death is a gorgeous and batshit story of Death and his son, some vampires, ghosts, and some sensationally witty banter.
If We Were Villains by M.L Rio doesn't seem like it's going to be queer, but then also it does, and also how couldn't it be when it's literally a bunch of murderous theatre kids obsessed with Shakespeare?
If you like to be creeped out while you read, I highly recommend Don't Let The Forest In by C.G Drews. I particularly encourage buddy reading this with a friend to see if you get similar outcomes. I reckon you won't. Let me know.
London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp is one of the most disturbing, enlightening and moving books I've read. It follows three men, 50(?) years apart in era, and is an absolutely audacious account of what the life of queer men has been like and continues to be like to this day.
The Locked Tomb Series (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth) by Tamsyn Muir is one of my favourite series on the planet. The characters, the plot, the acrobatics my brain has to do to try and keep up with what the everloving f*ck is happening. The wit, the yearning, the diversity. Lesbian necromancers in space. I repeat: Lesbian necromancers in space.
This Arab is Queer by Elias Jahshan. This is a collection of essays and thoughts written by Queer Arabs all over the world, from all walks of life. As a very proud, queer, Lebanese person, it changed my life. It's beautiful and harrowing and hopeful. I implore you to read it and step into our world that looks nothing like the names people give it.
You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson. This is not exactly what you asked for, either, but it's a collection of poems by one of the most beloved voices in the Queer community. Andrea's words have touched so many of us that it's hard to quantify. They spread magic and hope across the world at a time when it felt there was none left. Even since their passing, these poems live on and keep them alive in all of our bookshelves. Highly recommend.
A little self plug here: I recently started a Patreon to help garner some support for Just Friends Book Box: a queer subscription book box I'm working on bringing to life. I talk more in depth about queer books I'm reading or have read on there, so you're very very welcome to follow along.
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