#let me know if you're ever looking for classic english lit recs i have a million from all eras LMAO

[bnwthinking]

I want to get more into classic literature. Any recommendations? Your taste is awesome. (I'm mainly interested in romantic literature. Major bonus points if it's gay. But I'm up for any kind of classic literature.)

omg thanks for this question!! i love giving recs on this shit lol

ancient queer stuff

'collected works of sappho' is always good place to start, i would recommend anne carson's translation. it is not the most literal in translation but it is the best version in my opinion for understanding the gay emotions that sappho was trying to to convey.

on that note, i would also recommend reading enheduanna's 'poems for the goddess inanna'. think of her as sappho's elder, she was a sumerian poet and the first person we know to have ever created a collection of poems and signed her name to it. she was also very queer.

'the iliad' is also very very gay!! i dont have a favourite translation, my fave greek translator hasn't covered it yet but deffo check homer out.

classic (or modern classic) queer stuff

'orlando' by virginia woolf - a book about a man that wakes up as a woman one day and also immortal. the book is a bisexual in everyway love letter to vita sackville-west, the arguable love of virginia woolf's life. also would recommend reading 'mrs dalloway' or 'a room of one's own' by woolf and literally anything written by vita who was an established writer, too.

'giovanni's room' by james baldwin - this book was really important in my coming out process when i was a teenager. its about letting yourself be loved when you've been raised in shame. james baldwin's writing is a gift. check out his poetry if you're into poetry fs. i also really like baldwin's 'tell me how long the train's been gone'

'the well of loneliness' by radclyffe hall - not a personal fave of mine but definitely an important piece of lesbian literature.

'maurice' by e.m forster - forster hid this book from the world until his death. its about gay happiness and he knew if publishers got their hands on it they would make it about gay sadness. it was publish how forster wanted in the 1970's even though he wrote it in like 1917 or something lol

'the price of salt' by patricia highsmith - the novel that the movie carol is based off of

'the city and the pillar' by gore vidal

'better angel' by forman brown

the dark bisexual quartet that is : mary shelley's 'frankenstein', bram stoker's 'dracula', oscar wilde's 'the picture of dorian gray' and joseph le fanu's 'carmilla'

'rebecca' by daphne du maurier - i love 'rebecca' because it so bisexual and nasty but anything by daphne is a big rec from me!! she was openly bi and it's very evident in her work lol.

'the bell jar' by sylvia plath - the original manic pixie bisexual. i try to read 'the bell jar' once every couple of years.

'the charioteer' by mary renault - mary renault was one of the first people to write gay fiction in the uk in a positive light and her work was frequently banned!!

'Q.E.D' by gertrude stein

'yellow rose' by yoshiya nobuko - she wrote a lot of lesbian lit but 'yellow rose' is one of her only stories translated into english

'tales of a mask' by yukio mishima

'patience and sarah' by isabelle miller

'the color purple' by alice walker - gay but depressing as all fuck however literary wise, the writing is incredible. taught me a lot about voice and perspective.

'the great gatsby' by f. scott fitzgerald - easy to read, so damn short and the most subtext to ever subtext. fitz was a shit but whatever.

non specifically queer classic stuff

'tess of the d'urbervilles' or 'jude the obscure' by thomas hardy - hardy owned my arse when i was a teenager lol, i would consider these two of my fave books ever.

'wuthering heights' by emily bronte - divisive as always. its a book people either love or hate. its also a confusing read and i would recommend looking up a character map if you do attempt it. however, i'm one of the people that thinks 'wuthering heights' lives up the hype and the first time i read it it broke me.

'pride and prejudice' by jane austen - like wuthering heights but fun!

'the mill on the floss' by george eliot - 'silar marner' is good, too but i like mill better. i wrote my entrance essay for uni on it and my ma used to read it to me when i was little.

'metamorphosis' by franz kafka - anything by kafka is good tbh

'the second sex' by simone de beauvoir - important read that helped me understand a lot about early 20th century feminism, the good and the bad. the book i consider the foundation for a lot of what has come since.

'the lord of the rings' by jrr tolkien - idk if you're looking for fantasy (if you are let me know i'll make another list lol) but if you haven't read lotr, i promise it is better than you can ever imagine. tolkien also lives up to the hype.

lovecraft. start with the cthulhu mythos and branch out from there. 'the call of cthulhu' or 'the dunwich horror' or 'the nameless city' are good entry points imo.

okay that seems like a lot, i have more if you need lol. hope this helps in some way!

[inkykeiji]

Hi clari! I just finished reading a book today and I wanted to pick a new one... do you have any recs? Do you have any favorite books? Have a great day :)

HI ANON BB <33 oh did you!!! hmm, the last like, ‘modern’ books i read were: the secret history by donna tartt (one of my absolute favourites!!), if we were villains by ML rio, and the likeness by tana french!! i loved all three so much! they’re all in a similar vein tho; murders that take place at universities.

other than that (and this sounds so damn pretentious i know i know) i read a lot of classic english literature. my favourite book of all time is the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde, and then right behind that is frankenstein by mary shelley!! i am currently (veeery slowly) reading great expectations!! i also really love jane austen!