It's LGBT+ History Week, so today's post features some suggestions for reading that highlight this year's theme of how to be a good LGBT+ ally.
The Binding by Bridget Collins
Recommended by the High Master
Set in an alternative version of something that seems like 19th Century England, it’s an incredible novel which offers a gothic explanation of the magic of books and stories and leads readers through the unraveling of an elusive mystery. However, Collins also creates a powerful metaphor for the horror of having society impose restrictions upon individuals which prevent them from being with those they love. A rare combination of being a page turner which packs a moral and emotional punch. For 16+ readers.
Recommended by Mr Kemp
Sensitive short stories about a gay American teacher's loves and losses living in Sofia, Bulgaria. The book came out last year, and Greenwell is a writer to watch. Some of the stories are incredibly touching and powerful about the experience of gay life in a still quite homophobic society. His habit, though, of only ever calling characters by a capital letter (e.g. 'Z. told me...', 'S. explained..') is annoying. But this is overall seriously impressive.
Recommended by Mr Dormandy
A superb novel about coming to terms with one's sexuality, written before the First World War by the author of A Passage to India and Howards’s End, and fit to stand comparison with the best of Forster’s work. A beautiful, finely written, totally satisfying novel, long undervalued because of Forster’s suppression of in in his own lifetime.
Who Was That Man? by Neil Bartlett
Recommended by Mr Dormandy
A personal view of Oscar Wilde’s life by one of contemporary Britain’s leading gay writers, comparing Wilde’s tribulations with the lives of gay men in the AIDS-panicked 1980s. A critical, turbulent, love-hate letter to Wilde's complex, infuriating genius and a window onto the struggles of a young artist making his way in modern London. For older readers only.
Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?
And what has he been after that they groan and shake their fists?
And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?
Oh they're taking him to prison for the colour of his hair.
Tis a shame to human nature, such a head of hair as his;
In the good old time 'twas hanging for the colour that it is;
Though hanging isn't bad enough and flaying would be fair
For the nameless and abominable colour of his hair.
Oh a deal of pains he's taken and a pretty price he's paid
To hide his poll or dye it of a mentionable shade;
But they've pulled the beggar's hat off for the world to see and stare,
And they're haling him to justice for the colour of his hair.
Now 'tis oakum for his fingers and the treadmill for his feet
And the quarry-gang on Portland in the cold and in the heat,
And between his spells of labour in the time he has to spare
He can curse the God that made him for the colour of his hair.
Oscar Wilde makes a cameo appearance in Tom Stoppard's play about Housman, The Invention of Love, which is well worth reading, not just as a fascinating exploration of Housman himself and his complicated relationship with his sexuality, but also for what it tells us about classical and fin-de-siècle notions of love and masculinity.
Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Recommended by Phelim Owens
Winterson's autobiographical first novel, which is about a girl discovering her sexuality within a religious community, has become a classic. Powerful, disturbing and funny in equal measure.
Recommended by Mr Harris
A satirical novel, years ahead of its time, that questions sexual conventionality and the social nature of gender norms. Written as a diary for the titular character, we are treated to the thoughts and lifestyle of a glamorous actress in 1960s Hollywood. The novel covers serious themes, feminism, power, gender identity, but does so in a way that is both hilarious and keenly observed. For 16+ readers.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
Recommended by Mr Harris
A stunning novel of love and lost time that has been popularised by the 2017 film. The story focusses on the memories of a romance between the novel’s narrator, Elio, and his father’s assistant, Thomas, during the summer of 1987 in rural Italy. A coming-of-age story that perfectly encapsulates the difficulties and confusion of growing up, along with the beauty and serenity that nostalgia brings.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Recommended by Miss McLaren
Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel tells the story of her relationship with her complex, closeted father and his domineering effect on her whole family, in parallel with her discovery of her own sexuality and her vocation as a writer/cartoonist. Sometimes dark in tone - the 'Fun Home' of the title stands for Funeral Home: her father's inability to acknowledge his own desires makes him a tormented and tyrannical figure - and full of digressions into art and gay culture from the 1970s to the 2000s, this is a brilliant (and beautifully drawn) fusion of coming out, growing up, Bildungsroman, tragedy, Proust and James Joyce. For more on Alison Bechdel, check out Mr Kemp's excellent post here.
Fathomless Riches: or How I Went from Pop to Pulpit by the Reverend Richard Coles
Recommended by Miss McLaren
Highly entertaining autobiography from the Rev Richard Coles, now known as a broadcaster, but formerly keyboard player of early 80s synth band Bronski Beat, and co-founder of The Communards. Sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, and cheerfully self-deprecating glimpses into the excess (and earnestness) of the early 80s gay scene. If you enjoyed the movie Pride, you'll probably enjoy this, as it evokes a similar era and ethos: it is also funny, touching and illuminating about the challenges of navigating both sexuality and the music industry.
The Stonewall Reader, ed. Jason Baumann
The Stonewall uprising is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library’s archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first-hand accounts, diaries, journalism and other literature documenting both the years leading up to and the years following the riots.
How to Survive a Plague by David France
A definitive history of the grassroots activists whose work turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Almost universally ignored, these men and women learned to become their own researchers, lobbyists, and drug smugglers, established their own newspapers and research journals, and went on to force reform and tackle the homophobic rhetoric around the epidemic. From the creator of, and inspired by, the seminal documentary of the same name, How to Survive a Plague is an unparalleled insider’s account of a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights.
Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows, ed. Christine Burns
From television screens to the ballot box, transgender people have more visibility now than ever before. Trans Britain chronicles this journey in the words of those who were there to witness a marginalised community grow into the visible phenomenon we recognise today: activists, film-makers, broadcasters, parents, an actress, a rock musician and a priest, among many others. Here is everything you always wanted to know about the background of the trans community, but never knew how to ask.
Queer City by Peter Ackroyd
Ackroyd takes us right into the hidden history of London; from the fourteenth century brothels to the frenzy of executions for sodomy in the early nineteenth century, he journeys through the coffee bars of sixties Soho to Gay Liberation, disco music and the horror of AIDS. Today, we live in an era of openness and tolerance and Queer London has become part of the new norm. Ackroyd tells us the hidden story of how it got there, celebrating its diversity, thrills and energy on the one hand; but reminding us of its very real terrors, dangers and risks on the other.
Good as You by Paul Flynn
Journalist Paul Flynn navigates a personal, pop cultural, journey through the milestones of the last thirty years for the UK’s LGBT+ community. From Manchester’s self-selection as Britain’s gay capital to the impact of Thatcher’s Section 28 on a generation of LGBT+ schoolchildren. Includes candid interviews from major protagonists, such as Russell T Davies, Will Young, Holly Johnson and Lord Chris Smith, as well as the relative unknowns crucial to the gay community, we see how an unlikely group of bedfellows fought for equality both front of stage and in the wings.
Queer Intentions: A (Personal) Journey Through LGBTQ+ Culture by Amelia Abraham
Today, the options and freedoms on offer to LGBTQ+ people living in the West are greater than ever before. But is same-sex marriage, improved media visibility and corporate endorsement all it’s cracked up to be? At what cost does this acceptance come? And who is getting left behind, particularly in parts of the world where LGBTQ+ rights aren’t so advanced? Combining intrepid journalism with her own personal experience, Amelia Abraham searches for the answers to these urgent challenges, as well as the broader question of what it means to be queer in 2019.
You can find a link to the Book Blog's LGBT+ reading list here: previous blog posts about LGBT+ authors include Mr Gardner on Christopher Isherwood, Miss McLaren on Sarah Waters, the L8th on Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander, John Hudson on Terence Rattigan and John Venning on EM Forster.
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