Joyful Books for Pride Month
Reading LGBTQ+ books is a year-round pastime, but Pride Month is a fantastic time to take a deep dive into queer literature. It’s also a great time to read books that celebrate all the joys of LGBTQ+ history, life, and culture. Gay Pride began as a way to recognize the work of LGBTQ+ activists, and while it’s important to continue the work our ancestors began, it’s also important to celebrate our successes. These nine books are just a drop in the bucket of all the joyful LGBTQ+ books out there, but if you’re looking for some humor, whimsy, and fun this Pride Month, this is a great place to start. Whether you’re craving memoirs, essays, novels, or a novel in verse, these fabulous books all celebrate gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer lives.
There's a common misconception that life for LGBTQ+ people in conservative places is bleak, and the only way through is to leave. In this blend of memoir, travelogue, and journalism, trans reporter Samatha Allen thoroughly and beautifully squashes that assumption. She travels from Salt Lake City to the Rio Grande Valley to eastern Tennessee, visiting with queer and trans people building communities, doing important work, and living rich, vibrant, fulfilling lives. Though she doesn't gloss over the challenges faced by the people she visits, the book as a whole is funny, hopeful, and inspiring.
David Sedaris is without a doubt one of the most renowned humorists of our times. The Best of Me collects the highlight reel from his decades-long career. These pieces are full of his sharp wit, keen observations, and hilarious but moving meditations on the messy business of living. Form taxidermy to foreign languages to the banalities of long-term partnership, these essays represent the best work of a remarkable writer.
While Sedaris is best known for his sharp humor, it's often in his most personal writing where he really shines. That's the case in Calypso, which focuses mostly on time spent with his family at a beach house in North Carolina. These essays are certainly full of humor, but they're also insightful ruminations on the complexities of family and aging.
In this honest and often hilarious memoir, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon recounts his sometimes tumultuous journey from being a kid in Scranton, Pennsylvania to a successful figure skater on the world stage. His warm tone and friendly style make this book a delight to read, whether he's reminiscing about good times or bad.
