During turkeyFest month, I devour books. Between the seasonal shift in Duluth weather and endless miles I walk with my dog, reading lends infinite balance. This year I’ve noticed how especially delicious queer-ed bodies and pleasures taste on the page. Here are a few titles with BIPOC + gender expansive folx + queer stories front and center. May more of us queers write- taking up space and talking loudly with our pens about what feels good.
My QUEERED up top six:
In at the Deep End kate davies (when a writer queers up their book with the phrase “grinding into each other like a mortar and pestle” before I hit page twenty-five, I’m an instant gay devotee)
Mostly Dead Things kristen arnett (yes to this gay, Floridian author who is Totally unafraid of placing messy family dynamics next to hot queer sex with a sprinkle of weird + provocative art on top of everything)
You Should See Me in a Crown leah johnson (2020 YA goodness= LGBTQ teenage sexuality woven into well developed characters and plotlines. Helps folx of all ages imagine badAss+nerdy+pleasure positive ways of queering the world).
Recollections of My Nonexistence rebecca solnit (her book is feminist/journalist love letter to queer culture, communities, places, liberation)
Love and Rage lama rod owens (scroll down to episode 34, interview with rod echoes brilliance of chapter 10 in his book on queer sexuality/queer spirituality/queer bodies)
Soul to Keep rebekah weatherspoon (oh hell yeah I recommend all her books! especially the LAMBDA literary awarded ones)