My Favourite Gay Books
Seeing as it's June and June is Pride Month I wanted to do a post that had something to do with that. Initially I was going to share my coming out story but that's really not all that exciting as it was a super easy and accepting experience for me. So instead I've decided to share my favourite gay books with you all seeing as reading is one of my biggest hobbies. I almost feel like sometimes I read too much but unfortunately not a lot of LGBT books, mostly because I'm sick to death of LGBT movies and books following the same format and story line and find it hard to find ones that are unique and different or just happy! But the few LGBT books that I have read have been amazing for the most part so here are some of my favourites in no particular order:
Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
This book is a coming of age story which follows Aristotle, an angry teen, and Dante, who has an unusal way of looking at the world, and their friendship; a friendship that will change their lives forever and last a lifetime. Through their friendship the two boys discover and learn important truths about themselves and who they want to be.
This book was just beautiful. the writing, the story, the characters, everything was just perfect and warmed my heart. It's the kind of story that stays with you well after youve finished reasing it and makes you want to be a better person. I havent read this book since 2014 so I think its time to read this one again very soon.
What I love most about this book, and the majority of the books on this list, is that it doesnt focus in on the negative things in the LGBT community which, while are very important to talk about, isnt something i want to read about in every single LGBT book. Yes some people have it very hard but not everyone's experience is like that and even those who have experienced these bad things deserve a break and an escape from them, which after all is what books are for - to escape the real world for a while
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
This is by far the most fun book on this list to read. It's another take on the Chosen One story line but this time the Chosen One isn't exactly up to the challenge. A lot of people say this book is just a rip off of Harry Potter which I personally don't see. Yes it has similarities but doesn't every 'Chosen One' book follow the same archetype and format in some way?
I'm a huge fantasy nerd so I knew I was going to love this one before I even picked it up and I was not mistaken. It was so much fun to read, and also kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The story was mysterious and exciting and the characters are fantastic. Can I have a Simon or Baz in my life, pretty please?
And best of all Rainbow Rowell just announced that a sequel to Carry On titled Wayward Son is going to be released in 2020. so I'll definitely have to give this one a reread before the second one is published! SO EXCITED!!!!
The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Another thing that you might not know about me just yet is that I'm a huge Greek Mythology geek! Any book I can get my hands on the even touches that subject in the most minuscule way I'm going to be all over. I just can't get enough of it! So mix that with a sexy novel about one of the greatest heroes in Greek Mythology and his gay lover - of course I'm going to love it! This is the only book on this list that is for a more mature audience as it depicts a lot of adult themes so maybe not the best for everyone.
The story is action packed with very intimate scenes scattered here and there. But the thing I appreciate most about this book is Madeline Miller's writing. It takes a great writer to take a story where you already know how it's going to end but still manages to keep it fresh and interesting from start to finish. This is yet another book that I haven't read in a really long time (5 years to be exact) so maybe I should fix that in the near future.
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
This book packed a very powerful emotional punch. I remember actually being left speechless after finishing it and just staring at the last page for about 15 minutes straight.
This book confronts the issues of race, sexuality, and class all in a very short period of time, in a world where a genetic company has developed a method of removing specific memories from a person's head. Our main character Aaron is struggling to find his happiness again after a family tragedy and finds himself slowly regaining his happiness and opening up with the help of his new friend, Thomas. As the two get closer Aaron discovers truths about himself that he fears could undo all the progress he's made in finding himself again.
This is another coming of age story, like Aristotle and Dante, but the thing that sets this one apart for me is that it has a darker outlook on things and plays with the age old question a lot of LGBT people face - if you could be straight and change who you are to make things easier on yourself would you? This is also Adam Silvera's debut novel and I have to say if this is his debut I'm looking forward to how he develops as an author in the coming years. The next book I'll be reading is actually another of his novels, History Is All You Left Me.
Something Like Summer (and the entire Something Like... series) by Jay Bell
I know at the start of this post that these were in no particular order but I definitely lied a little and saved the best for last. This entire series by Jay Bell is just amazing. There's 11 books in the series which can seem daunting but trust me, once you start you wont want to stop. Something Like Summer is the first in this series and follows Ben Bentley from when he was a high schooler right up to adulthood and his roller coaster of a relationship with Tim Wyman. It's a wonderful book that explores how people can change and love can change over time but how it can never be destroyed. I felt all the emotions while reading this book, and its numerous sequels, and cannot praise it enough.
The thing I love most about this series as a whole is that each book follows a different characters perspective and its nearly always a minor character from a previous novel so it's interesting to see how the felt about certain scenarios that happened and how it effected them and to just see things through their eyes. And what I also loved was how all these characters lives were connected in some shape or form.
There isn't a single book in the series I don't love but there was definitely some that I preferred more than other which are : Something Like Summer (the first one) because it sets up this whole world and is just a wonderful introduction to the series. Something Like Autumn, which follows a character called Jace, who we are introduced to in the first novel, and is also my ultimate fiction boyfriend. I just love Jace so much! Something Like Spring, which introduces a new character, Jason, who is just a sweetheart. Something Like Thunder, which follows Nathaniel, probably the sexiest character in the entire series. Something Like Hail, which introduces another new character, Noah, and talks about the issue of sex workers and the stigma around that. And Something Like Forever, the final book in the series which puts the focus back on Ben and Tim from the first novel and beautifully ties up all loose ends. One of my goals in life is to own the physical copies of this entire series because 1) they are fantastic and I like to collect physical copies of my favourite books and 2) when lined up the spines form a rainbow which is just the cutest thing in the world!
Thank you for reading and if you have any good LGBT book recommendations for me please leave them in the comments, especially any that focus lesbian, trans, bi etc. characters cause the majority of what I have read has been gay mm fiction! I'm always on the hunt for new LGBT reads.
Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire SáenzThis book is a coming of age story which follows Aristotle, an angry teen, and Dante, who has an unusal way of looking at the world, and their friendship; a friendship that will change their lives forever and last a lifetime. Through their friendship the two boys discover and learn important truths about themselves and who they want to be.
This book was just beautiful. the writing, the story, the characters, everything was just perfect and warmed my heart. It's the kind of story that stays with you well after youve finished reasing it and makes you want to be a better person. I havent read this book since 2014 so I think its time to read this one again very soon.
What I love most about this book, and the majority of the books on this list, is that it doesnt focus in on the negative things in the LGBT community which, while are very important to talk about, isnt something i want to read about in every single LGBT book. Yes some people have it very hard but not everyone's experience is like that and even those who have experienced these bad things deserve a break and an escape from them, which after all is what books are for - to escape the real world for a while
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
This is by far the most fun book on this list to read. It's another take on the Chosen One story line but this time the Chosen One isn't exactly up to the challenge. A lot of people say this book is just a rip off of Harry Potter which I personally don't see. Yes it has similarities but doesn't every 'Chosen One' book follow the same archetype and format in some way?I'm a huge fantasy nerd so I knew I was going to love this one before I even picked it up and I was not mistaken. It was so much fun to read, and also kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The story was mysterious and exciting and the characters are fantastic. Can I have a Simon or Baz in my life, pretty please?
And best of all Rainbow Rowell just announced that a sequel to Carry On titled Wayward Son is going to be released in 2020. so I'll definitely have to give this one a reread before the second one is published! SO EXCITED!!!!
The Song Of Achilles by Madeline MillerAnother thing that you might not know about me just yet is that I'm a huge Greek Mythology geek! Any book I can get my hands on the even touches that subject in the most minuscule way I'm going to be all over. I just can't get enough of it! So mix that with a sexy novel about one of the greatest heroes in Greek Mythology and his gay lover - of course I'm going to love it! This is the only book on this list that is for a more mature audience as it depicts a lot of adult themes so maybe not the best for everyone.
The story is action packed with very intimate scenes scattered here and there. But the thing I appreciate most about this book is Madeline Miller's writing. It takes a great writer to take a story where you already know how it's going to end but still manages to keep it fresh and interesting from start to finish. This is yet another book that I haven't read in a really long time (5 years to be exact) so maybe I should fix that in the near future.
This book packed a very powerful emotional punch. I remember actually being left speechless after finishing it and just staring at the last page for about 15 minutes straight.This book confronts the issues of race, sexuality, and class all in a very short period of time, in a world where a genetic company has developed a method of removing specific memories from a person's head. Our main character Aaron is struggling to find his happiness again after a family tragedy and finds himself slowly regaining his happiness and opening up with the help of his new friend, Thomas. As the two get closer Aaron discovers truths about himself that he fears could undo all the progress he's made in finding himself again.
This is another coming of age story, like Aristotle and Dante, but the thing that sets this one apart for me is that it has a darker outlook on things and plays with the age old question a lot of LGBT people face - if you could be straight and change who you are to make things easier on yourself would you? This is also Adam Silvera's debut novel and I have to say if this is his debut I'm looking forward to how he develops as an author in the coming years. The next book I'll be reading is actually another of his novels, History Is All You Left Me.
Something Like Summer (and the entire Something Like... series) by Jay BellI know at the start of this post that these were in no particular order but I definitely lied a little and saved the best for last. This entire series by Jay Bell is just amazing. There's 11 books in the series which can seem daunting but trust me, once you start you wont want to stop. Something Like Summer is the first in this series and follows Ben Bentley from when he was a high schooler right up to adulthood and his roller coaster of a relationship with Tim Wyman. It's a wonderful book that explores how people can change and love can change over time but how it can never be destroyed. I felt all the emotions while reading this book, and its numerous sequels, and cannot praise it enough.
The thing I love most about this series as a whole is that each book follows a different characters perspective and its nearly always a minor character from a previous novel so it's interesting to see how the felt about certain scenarios that happened and how it effected them and to just see things through their eyes. And what I also loved was how all these characters lives were connected in some shape or form.
There isn't a single book in the series I don't love but there was definitely some that I preferred more than other which are : Something Like Summer (the first one) because it sets up this whole world and is just a wonderful introduction to the series. Something Like Autumn, which follows a character called Jace, who we are introduced to in the first novel, and is also my ultimate fiction boyfriend. I just love Jace so much! Something Like Spring, which introduces a new character, Jason, who is just a sweetheart. Something Like Thunder, which follows Nathaniel, probably the sexiest character in the entire series. Something Like Hail, which introduces another new character, Noah, and talks about the issue of sex workers and the stigma around that. And Something Like Forever, the final book in the series which puts the focus back on Ben and Tim from the first novel and beautifully ties up all loose ends. One of my goals in life is to own the physical copies of this entire series because 1) they are fantastic and I like to collect physical copies of my favourite books and 2) when lined up the spines form a rainbow which is just the cutest thing in the world!
Thank you for reading and if you have any good LGBT book recommendations for me please leave them in the comments, especially any that focus lesbian, trans, bi etc. characters cause the majority of what I have read has been gay mm fiction! I'm always on the hunt for new LGBT reads.
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