RuPaul says it every season. Reading is fundamental. This Pride Month we are being intentional to go back to the origin roots of Pride which was a riot. A riot to fight and advocate for equal rights. We’ve put together a list books that you should give a read to stay woke on why celebrating Pride Month is a luxury. Also it’s a good way to put your phone down and get your head into a book. We recommend buying these books from a local bookstore instead of online if possible!
We Are Everywhere
by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown
A rich and sweeping photographic history of the Queer Liberation Movement, from the creators and curators of the massively popular Instagram account @lgbt_history, released in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Giovanni’s Room
by James Baldwin
by James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s groundbreaking novel about love and the fear of love, set among the bohemian bars and nightclubs of 1950s Paris. With sharp probing insight, Giovanni’s Room tells an impassioned, deeply moving story that lays bare the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
On Earth, We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are.
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
by Lauren Hough
At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave, and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity, and how to reclaim one’s past when carving out a future
Boy Erased
by Garrard Conley
Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program, Garrad Conley was supposed to emerge heterosexual. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.
A Brief History of Oversharing: One Ginger’s Anthology of Humiliation
Blunt, awkward, emotional, ribald, this anthology of humiliation culminates in a greater understanding of love, work, and family. Like the final scene in a Murder She Wrote episode, A Brief History of Oversharing promises everyone the A-ha! moment Oprah tells us to experience. Paired with bourbon, Scottish wool, and Humpty Dumpty Party Mix, this journey is best read through a lens of schadenfreude.
If you are looking for some fun ways to celebrate and show your Pride support check out some ideas here.
