It’s Pride Month, celebrated every June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, when the gay community protested against its treatment by police. These days, June is a month of celebration and awareness about the LGBTQ+ community worldwide, but it’s especially marked in the US.
As a company with tight connections to the US, and one which opened Amsterdam’s first gay bookstore back in 1975, ABC always highlights books written by authors from the community—both to raise awareness about the writers and the themes they address. If you’d like to know more about it and the opening of Wild Ride, please read this article.
We have a great newsletter archive from the time we still had printed versions and just came across a 1999 New York Times article with its list of the 100 greatest gay novels of all time. It includes such classics as:
• Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
• The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
• Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
• The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
• The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
• Sita by Kate Millett (Out of Print – only available from our Antiquary/Second-Hand supplier)
Since then, The New York Times has added a slew of Young Adult (YA) gay books not to be missed, including:
• The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
• Gay Club! by Simon James Green
• I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
• Kings of B’more by R. Eric Thomas
• Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
• Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa
• Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
• We Are Totally Normal by Naomi Kanakia
Of course we also have our own list of popular LGBTQ+ titles, which includes:
• To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
This is just a small sample, so for a more comprehensive list, check our LGBTQ+ highlights list here, or come visit us for a chat and to browse our stock!
