#having now read all the amberlough books and the traitor baru cormorant it’s time to reblog this

[aristidemakricosta]

my queer library

a short list of some queer books (and plays) in order of how much i love them:

the traitor baru cormorant by seth dickinson: my favorite book ever. wlw protagonist, plus multiple other queer people including my biggest fictional crush, an extremely bitter gay sailor, and an important nonbinary character in the sequel (many, if not most, of the characters are people of color)

amberlough by lara elena donnelly: the third and final book got released today! (i preordered my copy and am currently anxiously waiting for my university mail system to give it to me) one of the biggest components in the books is the relationship between a traumatized spy and a man who doubles as a cabaret emcee and a smuggler. there is an abundance of queerness and gender fuckery, plus a polyamorous relationship and some truly sexy scenes. (i relate to several of these characters to an extent that sometimes feels like lara elena donnelly is personally attacking me)

captive prince by c.s. pacat: okay, so you’ve probably seen stuff about this trilogy on this site. i did not think it would be good, so i ignored it for a couple of years. but then i read it and now i’ve been sucked in and i love it. bi protagonist,  gay deuteragonist, and basically everyone else is queer too. (i will say that this series has a severe lack of female characters)

maurice by e.m. forster: this book was written in 1913-1914 and features a gay protagonist and multiple other queer men. if the history there isn’t enough to convince you this is worth a read, it’s also incredibly relateable to any gay person, deals with class issues, and is just an all-around good story.

the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee: a bi guy (with what i read as ptsd and suicidal thoughts) on an 18th century adventure with his mixed race best friend that he’s in love with and his ace/aro sister.

angels in america by tony kushner: everywhere you look, you will find queer people, people of color, and strong women. i went into it expecting a tragedy and finished it feeling incredibly uplifted,

the persian boy by mary renault: okay, this is actually the middle book of a trilogy about alexander the great. full disclosure: i wasn’t a huge fan of the first book and i still haven’t actually read the third one, so i’m suggesting this one alone. it can be read as a solitary story. it’s narrated by bagoas, a historical figure we don’t know much about, except that he was a eunuch, a lover to the persian king, and that he kissed alexander the great in front of a lot of people.

the song of achilles by madeline miller: you’ve probably heard of this one. it’s achilles. it’s patroclus. they’re in love.

almost perfect by brian katcher: okay, some people view this book as problematic and i understand why. in my opinion, though, it has a problematic narrator on purpose. you are supposed to disagree with the narrator at times. in general, i think this is a fairly good book, but it might be triggering to trans people.

will grayson, will grayson by john green & david levithan: it’s fairly basic, as far as gay high school stories go. i liked it the first time i read it, but that might have been because it was the first gay book i ever got my hands on. i couldn’t get through it again when i tried to reread, so...idk. check it out at the library.

ash by malinda lo: this is only at the end of this list because i only read it once several years ago and i don’t remember it very well. all i recall is that is was a lesbian retelling of cinderella and i think there were creepy faeries? i need to reread it.

a few bonus books (implied queerness and/or queer side characters):

several shakespeare plays: troilus and cressida, richard ii, and twelfth night are the most explicitly queer. achilles and patroclus pop up again in troilus and cressida. we don’t know for sure if they are fucking, but we know that the entire greek army thinks they’re fucking. there is a lot of implied queerness around king richard in general, specifically in scenes regarding bushy, bagot, and green. twelfth night is just...twelfth night. gender fuckery and homoeroticism abound. (i believe there are several other shakespeare plays that are queercoded, but these are the most explicit)

a prayer for owen meany by john irving: nothing is explicit in the novel itself, but the author has implied (including in interviews) that the narrator is gay and is in love with the titular owen meany. (i never would have picked this book up if i hadn’t had to for a class, but i fell in love with it and now irving is one of my favorite authors and i adore his books. so if this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, give it a try anyway, because i never expected to love it as much as i do)

the girl of fire and thorns by rae carson: the second book in this fantasy trilogy introduces a gay couple. they’re not a huge part of the series, but they were the first queer characters i ever encountered in a book. honestly you should read this trilogy anyway. it deals with self image, confidence, and faith and it honestly changed my life.