Skip to main content
LGBTQIA+ History Month
  1. Queen Mary University of London
  2. LGBTQIA+ History Month
  3. Past Events
  4. LGBTQA+ History Month 2022 Events Programme
  5. LGBTQA+ History Month Book Recommendations

LGBTQA+ History Month Book Recommendations

Books are so important as they give people the opportunity to be transported to another world, learn about other people’s lived experiences or see themselves reflected and represented. Below is a collection of books that explore the lived experience of LGBTQA+ people through time and space. 

LGBTQA+ History Month gives us the opportunity to raise awareness of the lived experiences of people from the LGBTQA+ community, educate ourselves and become a better ally. 

Non-fiction  

  • Sissy: A coming-of-gender story by Jacob Tobia  
  • Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identify, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley 
  • LGBT People and the UK Cultural Sector: The Response of Libraries, Museums, Archives and Heritage since 1950 by John Vincent 
  • Believe Me by Eddie Izzard 
  • A Dutiful Boy by Mohsin Zaidi
  • Eleanor and Hick, the Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn 
  • The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy 
  • Gender Outlaw, on Men, Women and the Rest of us by Kate Bornstein 
  • The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television by Maria San Filippo 
  • Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows by Christine Burns 
  • The Velvet Rage by Alan Downs  
  • Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon  
  • Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows by Christine Burns 
  • Non-Binary Lives: An Anthology of Intersecting Identities by Jos Twist, Ben Vincent, Meg-John Barker and Kat Gupta (eds) 
  • Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee 
  • She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
  • The Book of Queer Prophets: 24 Writers on Sexuality and Religion edited by Ruth Hunt

Fiction  

  • Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown 
  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 
  • Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters 
  • A Love Story for Bewildered Girls by Emma Morgan 
  • Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth 
  • The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst 
  • The Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis 
  • The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North 
  • Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg 
  • The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff 
  • Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg 
  • Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave 
  • Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz 
  • Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden 
  • Disobedience by Naomi Alderman 
  • Love Bi The Way by Bhaavna Arora 
  • The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories by David Leavett and Mark Mitchell  
  • The Last Romeo by Justin Myers  
  • The Color Purple by Alice Walker  
  • Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman 
  • Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin 
  • Maurice by E.M Forster  
  • Carol by Claire Morgan  
  • Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson  
  • Orlando by Virginia Woolf  
  • Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin 
  • Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan  
  • Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

 

If you have any other book recommendations that you would like to share or would like to be included in this list please contact Eleanor McDavis (e.mcdavis@qmul.ac.uk) with the title, author and why you are recommending the book.  

You can learn more about the books avaliable in Queen Mary libararies by visiting the Library webiste and looking at our LGBTQA+ History Month book display. 

Back to top