Rainbow Reading

Friday, I looked at records, and yesterday it was film, so what comes next? Television programs? (I don't think there has been enough content). Theatre? (Oh my! Where would we begin)? No today I decided to take a look at LGBTQ related books. How about sports?

Now a list, like I did the past two days, would be much more difficult when looking at books. Should I only include non-fiction? Should the author be part of the LGBTQ community? Should picture books be included? Does the publication date matter? Should it be a life-changing sort of book? Rather than worry about any of those things, I'm just going to throw out a few ideas.

If I were doing a "list" it might include Undoing Gender by Judith Butler, Queer: A Graphic History by Dr. Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele, Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, and Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman. I might be tempted to list Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Wrong by Dennis Cooper, Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story about Growing Up Gay by Aaron Fricke, or even The Color Purple by Alice Walker.  I'm not doing a list though. It would really be too hard.

LGBTQ books aimed at children? There are several very good ones.  Grandad's Camper by British author Harry Woodgate, a picture book about a girl who helps her grandfather with his grief, is fantastic. Her same-sex grandfathers Gramps and Grandad toured all over in their camper, but Gramps has died and now Granddad isn't traveling anymore. Their amazing granddaughter comes to the rescue.  It's a very heartwarming story.

What about you? Are there some LGBTQ themed books that you are planning to read in the near future? Do you have some all-time favorites?