Here are some books that defined perspectives. It is often said that the extent to knowledge can be found in the pages of a book, if we look hard enough, and with the right sentiment. The representation of the LGBTQ+ community is now more widely spread and understood than ever before, and these books have helped with that in great numbers. The struggles that people go through, and the courage it takes to overcome the fear and stand true to themselves in this world, is what inspires everyone. Here are some of the handpicked books that we recommend that revolves around the subject of LGBTQ+, and makes us understand their perspectives from a very personal front.
- Less– Andrew Sean Greer
Arthur Less is a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it is from an ex-boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to someone else. Arthur can’t say yes – it would be too awkward; he can’t say no – it would look like defeat. So, he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary events around the world. From France to India, Germany to Japan, Less is a novel about mishaps, misunderstandings and the depths of the human heart.
2. Under the Udala Trees– Chinelo Okparanta
“Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.”
3. Call Me By Your Name– Andre Aciman
“Andre Aciman’s ‘Call Me by Your Name’ is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. … Recklessly, the two verge toward the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy. It is an instant classic and one of the great love stories of our time.”
4. Fun home- Alison Bechdel
“Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the ‘Fun Home.’ It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.”
5. A Boy’s Own Story– Edmund White
“A Boy’s Own Story’ became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. The book’s unnamed narrator, growing up during the 1950s, is beset by aloof parents, a cruel sister, and relentless mocking from his peers, compelling him to seek out works of art and literature as solace and to uncover new relationships in the struggle to embrace his own sexuality.”
6. Giovanni’s Room- James Baldwin
“In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin’s now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.”
