Pride Recommendations Book Tag

Hello, friends. I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves and each other. It’s been another hard week for many of us, and I admit I’ve been staying offline a lot. As always, of course, reading is a great comfort, and so is writing! Madeline over at The Bookish Mutant tagged me for the Pride Recommendations Book Tag a couple weeks ago, and figuring out my answers and writing this up turned out to be just the distraction I needed. And I’m always happy for an excuse to celebrate and recommend good books!

RULES

• Tag Ally @ Ally Writes Things so I can see your recommendations!
• Give at least one recommendation for each of the prompts below
• If you don’t have a recommendation, talk about a book you want to read
• Tag as many people as you want!

It doesn’t seem to be a requirement, but I liked Madeline’s approach of answers all the prompts with books that are by or feature people in the queer community — it’s the Pride Recommendations Book Tag, after all! And while I certainly believe in reading and talking about LGBTQIA+ books throughout the year and in non-specific tags and posts, it’s nice to have something dedicated to them, too. Now… let’s go!

A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark is many things — fantasy, adventure, mystery, romance — but my favorite part about it is definitely the friendships and the way the heroines learn to work together and communicate across cultural and individual differences, always coming out stronger for the exchange of ideas.

A FAST-PACED BOOK

It’s been too long since I talked about K.J. Charles’s Will Darling Adventures! With dangerous plots, uneasy allies, and a double-cross for every double-cross, these books really are worthy of the adventure label, and with each book coming in under 300 pages, you never get a chance to think about being bored!

A DIVERSE ROMANCE

I may have complaints about the technical aspects of the story’s structure and pacing (it’s almost 500 pages! for a romance novel with no plot!!), but I’m still very happy about the love Alexis Hall’s A Lady for a Duke has received. It’s rare to see a trans heroine in historical romance, and Hall really did right by her and never used her gender as a cheap trick for conflict. I think there were better sources of conflict than what Hall did choose, but at least it wasn’t that. Hopefully, we will see more trans characters in happy historical romances going forward.

AN UNDERRATED MEMOIR

Though it’s hard to say anything definitive about some of Hollywood’s stars of yesteryear, who worked hard to keep their private lives private and scandal-free, there’s a lot of speculation that Joan Crawford was bisexual — and frankly, I believe it. But whether she was or wasn’t, she is a favorite of the queer community. Because SHE’S JOAN FREAKIN’ CRAWFORD. Say what you want about the controversial actress and her parenting methods, but there’s no denying she was one of a kind. I read a memoir from her several years ago that was very enjoyable, and though I’m not 100% certain (it’s been years), I believe it was A Portrait of Joan, co-written by Jane Kesner Ardmore, who I’m sure did a lot to make it presentable. As memoirs often do, it comes off as a publicity tactic to make Joan look relatable and wholesome (and this was years before Mommie Dearest, mind), but taken with a grain of salt, it’s entertaining — and very short.

A NONFICTION OTHER THAN MEMOIR

I read several books on Hollywood star Anna May Wong for a paper in college, and I remember especially liking Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905-1961) by Anthony Chan. A fascinating read about a fascinating woman, trailblazer, and gay icon.

A BOOK WITH FEWER THAN 10,000 RATINGS ON GOODREADS

Worth a Fortune by Sam Ledel comes out July 12 and has less than 20 ratings as of this writing. As a moving piece of historical fiction AND sapphic romance, it is excellent and deserves a lot more attention. Please add it to your list!

A BOOK WITH AN LGBTQ+ PROTAGONIST

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo is a fantastic (in both senses) book, and the narrator is achingly real. How she learns to live on her own terms as she sees how others navigate the snake pit of Hollywood (some more successfully than others) is great and kept me on the edge of my seat.

A BOOK WITH MORE THAN 500 PAGES

Crooked Kingdom, the second in the Six of Crows duology, is a fun romp of drama and confidence schemes, and I enjoyed it much more than the first (which I liked more for what it intended to be than for what it actually was, if I’m honest).

A TRANSLATED BOOK

Coming in at over a thousand pages, The Count of Monte Cristo could have been my answer for the last book, but I’m putting it here. Even in translation, Dumas’s adventure is a masterpiece, and I love watching all of the various side stories come in for their part in the final act.

BOOK YOU WANT EVERYONE TO READ

Well, this has to be the Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine. Even if you don’t typically read scifi, these are are great books with things to say about politics, philosophy, generational gaps, and almost every other topic you can think of. And we all might understand ourselves and each other a little better if we read them.

A SHORT STORY COLLECTION

I haven’t read all of the stories, but I loved “As Good as New” from Charlie Jane Anders’s Six Months, Three Days, Five Others and want to read the rest sometime.

A BOOK BY A TRANS OR NONBINARY AUTHOR

This is another one sitting on my TBR, but I’ve heard such good things about Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao and from so many reader friends, that I feel confident recommending it unread.

And there are my answers! If you want to do this, consider yourself tagged by me! I can attest that it’s a good time.

—b