Pride Month Reads

Held in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall uprising, Pride Month celebrates and affirms the worth and vitality of the LGBTQ community. Titles in this collection include notable fiction and nonfiction works by LGBTQ authors and those writing about LGBTQ topics, including Audre Lorde, Douglas Stuart, and Amy Ellis Nutt.

One Thousand White Women

by Jim Fergus

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Race, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Hope, Loneliness, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Indigenous Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, The Past, Family, Colonialism, Politics & Government

Tags Western, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure

One Thousand White Women (1998) is a work of historical fiction by American author Jim Fergus. A work of revisionist Western fiction, the book was Fergus’s debut novel and received the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association’s Fiction of the Year Award. Fergus drew on his experience as a journalist and his interest in the American West to write the story. Presented as the discovered journal of May Dodd, the novel recounts her experience as a... Read One Thousand White Women Summary

Onyx Storm

by Rebecca Yarros

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Loneliness, Love, Sexual Identity, Death, Future, The Past, Fathers, Siblings, Teamwork, Self Discovery, War, Good & Evil, Trust & Doubt

Tags Fantasy, Romance, New Adult

... Read Onyx Storm Summary

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

by Jeanette Winterson

Publication year 1985

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Sexual Identity, Conflict, Love, Shame & Pride, Family, Mothers

Tags LGBTQ+, Life-Inspired Fiction, Coming of Age, Gender & Feminism, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is the debut novel of Jeannette Winterson, originally published on March 21, 1985 by Pandora Press in London. The story is a semi-autobiographical novel that closely follows the childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood of Jeanette, who, like Winterson, is adopted into a Pentecostal Evangelist household and raised in the church. As she grows, she comes to terms with her sexuality as a lesbian and faces condemnation and judgment from... Read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Summary

Our Evenings

by Alan Hollinghurst

Publication year 2024

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Hate & Anger, Hope, Joy, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Masculinity, Race, Sexual Identity, The Past, Fathers, Marriage, Mothers, Self Discovery, Social Class, Colonialism, Politics & Government, Equality, Fame, Literature

... Read Our Evenings Summary

Out of the Easy

by Ruta Sepetys

Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Social Class, Friendship, Sexual Identity, Community, Safety & Danger, Daughters & Sons, Literature, Mothers, Family, Shame & Pride, Nature Versus Nurture, Fathers, Gender Identity, Appearance & Reality, Truth & Lies, Perseverance, Loneliness, Guilt, Hope

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Southern Literature, Trauma & Abuse, World History, Romance

Out of the Easy, written by Ruta Sepetys and published in 2013, is a young adult historical fiction novel. Sepetys is an award-winning Lithuanian American writer of young adult historical fiction. Her honors include the Carnegie Medal, awarded to one work of children’s or young adult literature per year. Her novels are international best sellers and are widely translated. Out of the Easy is about Josie, a teenage girl living in the French Quarter of... Read Out of the Easy Summary

Paul's Case

by Willa Cather

Publication year 1905

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Art, Beauty, Social Class

Tags Classic Fiction, American Literature, Depression & Suicide, Finance, Education, Education, LGBTQ+

Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case” was published in 1905 in McClure's Magazine. In its original iteration, the story was titled “Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament,” but it was later shortened to the current title. The story became a popular one of Cather’s, in part because it was one of the only few that she allowed to be anthologized, but also for the debates over its interpretation. “Paul’s Case” was turned into a TV... Read Paul's Case Summary

Perfect Peace

by Daniel Black

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Guilt, Regret, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Self Discovery, Community, Religion & Spirituality, Truth & Lies, Family

Tags Gender & Feminism, World History, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+

... Read Perfect Peace Summary

Pericles

by William Shakespeare

Publication year 1608

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Sexual Identity, Appearance & Reality, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Politics & Government, Fate

Tags Classic Fiction, Tragedy, Comedy & Satire, Jacobean Era

Pericles, Prince of Tyre (circa 1608) is one of William Shakespeare’s late plays, co-written with Geroge Wilkins and forming part of a cycle of romances that includes Cymbeline and The Tempest. The play follows the wandering Prince Pericles as he flees an incestuous tyrant, survives shipwrecks, wins and loses love, and is ultimately reunited with his long-lost wife and daughter. Once regarded as difficult to stage, Pericles is now considered one of Shakespeare’s most experimental... Read Pericles Summary

Peyton Place

by Grace Metalious

Publication year 1956

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Social Class, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Mental Health, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Midlife, Appearance & Reality, Daughters & Sons, Family, Mothers, Community, Education, Self Discovery

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance

Peyton Place is a novel depicting sensational and melodramatic events in a small New England town in the 1930s and 1940s; it was written by American novelist Grace Metalious and published in 1956. Peyton Place provoked controversy due to its depiction of taboo topics including sexuality, sexual abuse, and abortion. Nonetheless, the novel sold extremely well, and it was also adapted into successful films and television series. Metalious explores themes such as Shame and Ambivalence... Read Peyton Place Summary

Poor Things

by Alasdair Gray

Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Politics & Government, Power & Greed, Science & Technology

Tags Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Satirical Literature, Postmodernism, Gothic Literature, World History, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

... Read Poor Things Summary

Porphyria's Lover

by Robert Browning

Publication year 1836

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity

Tags Poetry: Dramatic Poem, Victorian Period, Education, Education, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Romance, Classic Fiction

“Porphyria’s Lover,” written by English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889), was first published as “Porphyria” in the January 1836 issue of Monthly Depository. It went relatively unnoticed until it was republished in 1842, in the third volume of a series of 12 pamphlets titled Bells and Pomegranates. This volume was titled Dramatic Lyrics and featured several of Browning’s dramatic monologues. “Porphyria’s Lover” details the troubling murder of a young woman named Porphyria told from the point... Read Porphyria's Lover Summary

Post Office

by Charles Bukowski

Publication year 1971

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Apathy, Conflict, Perseverance, Hope, Loneliness, Masculinity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Midlife, Family, Friendship, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Economics, Nation, Politics & Government, Fate, Justice, Order & Chaos, Truth & Lies, Wins & Losses

Tags Classic Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, Humor, American Literature, The Beat Generation

... Read Post Office Summary

Prayers for the Stolen

by Jennifer Clement

Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Gender Identity, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Femininity, Hope, Fear, Safety & Danger, Sexual Identity

Tags Latin American Literature, Coming of Age, Trauma & Abuse, Women`s Studies, Gender & Feminism, Modern Classic Fiction

Prayers for the Stolen is a 2012 coming-of-age novel by American Mexican author Jennifer Clement, who resides in Mexico City. Clement formerly served as president of PEN Mexico, part of a worldwide association of playwrights, poets, editors, essayists, and novelists that advocates for freedom of expression. Clement took up this role at a time when Mexico was among the most dangerous countries in the world in which to work in journalism. The narrator and protagonist... Read Prayers for the Stolen Summary

Presumed Innocent

by Scott Turow

Publication year 1987

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Justice, Conflict, Forgiveness, Guilt, Revenge, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Midlife, The Past, Family, Fathers, Marriage, Mothers, Politics & Government

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Crime & Law

Presumed Innocent (1987) is Scott Turow’s first novel, originally published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. The hit novel stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks and is often credited as an early example of the modern legal thriller, helping to shape the genre’s conventions. Turow went on to publish 12 additional novels and three nonfiction works. He also continued to practice law, specializing in criminal defense, contrasting with Presumed Innocent’s protagonist... Read Presumed Innocent Summary

Private Lives

by Noël Coward

Publication year 1930

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Love, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Midlife, Social Class, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Humor, Dramatic Literature, Classic Fiction

IntroductionPrivate Lives is a comedy of manners by English playwright, composer, and actor Noël Coward. The play, which opened in London in 1930 and was adapted into a film in 1931, is a social satire on the frailties of marriage and pretensions of high society.Five years after their divorce, Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne have married new spouses; the two couples accidentally book the same hotel in France for their respective second honeymoons. Realizing that... Read Private Lives Summary