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.

A Map of Home

by Randa Jarrar

Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, LGBTQ+, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Religion & Spirituality

A Map of Home is a 2008 coming-of-age novel by Randa Jarrar. The novel follows the life of Nidali, a girl of Palestinian, Greek, and Egyptian descent who grows up between Kuwait, Egypt, and the United States. The novel contains three parts, each of which correspond to Nidali’s time in these three different countries. During her childhood, Nidali navigates extreme circumstances, grappling with violence, family conflict, and the backdrop of war, all while exploring her... Read A Map of Home Summary

A Marvellous Light

by Freya Marske

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Appearance & Reality, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Equality, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, World History, Historical Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Edwardian Era

... Read A Marvellous Light Summary

A New England Nun

by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

Publication year 1891

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Marriage, Love

Tags Classic Fiction, Gender & Feminism, Love & Sexuality, Victorian Period, Education, Education, US History, American Literature, World History

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman’s "A New England Nun" was first published in 1891's A New England Nun and Other Stories. The collection exhibits the author’s many modes of writing, demonstrating her mastery of the Romantic, Gothic, and psychologically symbolic genres. The stories focus on the native scenery, dialogue, landscape, and values of 19th-century New England. The stories center on themes of women’s integrity and hardships, femininity versus masculinity, and the commerce and culture of the... Read A New England Nun Summary

Angels in America

by Tony Kushner

Publication year 1993

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Mental Health, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Drama, LGBTQ+, US History

Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by the American playwright Tony Kushner is an epic story that spans two plays – Millennium Approaches, first produced in 1991, and Perestroika, which debuted in 1992. The entire two-part work premiered on Broadway in 1993. Angels in America is Kushner’s most well-known work and is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most significant American plays of the 20th century. Angels in America... Read Angels in America Summary

Anima Rising

by Christopher Moore

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Loneliness, Memory, Gender Identity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Death, The Past, Animals, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Art, Beauty, Power & Greed

Tags Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Arts & Culture

... Read Anima Rising Summary

Another Country

by James Baldwin

Publication year 1962

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Sexual Identity, Race, Love

Tags LGBTQ+, Race & Racism, Love & Sexuality, Depression & Suicide, Relationships, Grief & Death, Trauma & Abuse, Social Justice, American Literature, Classic Fiction

... Read Another Country Summary

A Photo Finish

by Elsie Silver

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Fear, Grief, Hope, Joy, Love, Memory, Masculinity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Animals, Place, Family, Friendship, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Politics & Government, War, Equality, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger

Tags Romance, New Adult

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Apollo

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publication year 2015

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Family, Aging, Sexual Identity, Social Class, Love

Tags African Literature, Education, Education, African American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ+

... Read Apollo Summary

Arden of Faversham

by Anonymous

Publication year 1592

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Femininity, Social Class, Power & Greed

Tags Tragedy, Elizabethan Era, Mystery & Crime Fiction

Arden of Faversham is an Elizabethan play originally performed in 1592. The play’s authorship is disputed. While potential authors include Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Watson, computer stylometric analyses attribute probable authorship to William Shakespeare. The Oxford Shakespeare attributes the play to Shakespeare and an anonymous collaborator, potentially Watson.The play is the first extant example of English domestic tragedy, which would subsequently flourish throughout Elizabeth and Jamesian drama and be rekindled in the 1700s... Read Arden of Faversham Summary

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Shame & Pride, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age

Tags Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Relationships, Bullying, Parenting, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is a young adult fiction novel published in 2012. The novel won a Lambda Literary Award, a Pura Belpre Award, and a Stonewall Book Award. It was also named a Printz Honor Book and has achieved popularity on BookTok. Told from a first-person point of view, the book is a work of realistic fiction set in El Paso, Texas, in the late... Read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Summary

A Room of One's Own

by Virginia Woolf

Publication year 1929

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Literature, Sexual Identity

Tags Gender & Feminism, Philosophy

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1929, is a book-length essay that Woolf modeled after a series of her at the University of Cambridge. A Room of One’s Own is considered a classic and exemplary piece of modernist criticism that questions traditional values. It examines the topic of “women and fiction”–women characters in fiction; the great women authors in English history who wrote fiction; and, more abstractly, “the fiction that... Read A Room of One's Own Summary

Ask Not

by Maureen Callahan

Publication year 2024

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Shame & Pride, Femininity, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Family, Marriage, Social Class, Nation, Politics & Government, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Wins & Losses

Tags World History, Biography, Politics & Government, Gender & Feminism

... Read Ask Not Summary

A Supermarket in California

by Allen Ginsberg

Publication year 1956

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Nation, Sexual Identity, Globalization, Politics & Government, Literature, Nostalgia

Tags Lyric Poem, Love & Sexuality, Arts & Culture, The Beat Generation, LGBTQ+, Classic Fiction

“A Supermarket in California” is a prose poem by the American poet Allen Ginsberg. Written in 1955, it appears alongside Ginsberg’s most well-known work, “Howl,” in his book Howl and Other Poems. Published November 1, 1956 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books as part of their Pocket Poets Series, Howl and Other Poems was subject to an obscenity trial in 1957 due to its use of sexually explicit language. The trial eventually ruled in the... Read A Supermarket in California Summary

A Thousand Steps into Night

by Traci Chee

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Hate & Anger, Grief, Hope, Love, Regret, Revenge, Shame & Pride, Beauty, Equality, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger, Wins & Losses, Appearance & Reality, Space, Animals, Place, Daughters & Sons, Friendship, Fathers, Family, Teamwork, Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Social Class

Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Mythology, Coming of Age, Historical Fiction, Gender & Feminism, Asian Literature, Japanese Literature

... Read A Thousand Steps into Night Summary