There's no question that books are the kinds of gifts that keep on giving. These titles by queer (and queer-friendly) authors featuring queer lives belong on your 2024 holiday gift list.
As colorful and clever as it is informative and imaginative, "Gay Science" (DK/Penguin Random House), by gay comedian Rob Anderson, creator of the viral internet series of the same name, proves that you can laugh while you learn. Subtitled "The totally scientific imagination of LGBTQ+ culture, myths, and stereotypes," the book separated into three parts — Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Formal Sciences — with sections touching on biology, anatomy, chemistry, physics, anthropology, history, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and forensics, among others. www.heartthrob-anderson.com
Winner of the 2023 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, the non-fiction novella "The Mary Years" (TRP: The University Press of SHSU) by multi-award-winning poet and essayist Julie Marie Wade celebrates the unexpected parallels between a young lesbian living in a restrictive home setting and the triumphs and tribulations of Mary Tyler Moore and her beloved sitcom character Mary Richards. Wade tells this coming of age/coming out story with grace and insight. As she writes, "Everything we read, everything we write — all of it turns out to be an ongoing investigation — into the world and into ourselves." The book's sensational middle section alone, "Lamonts Might Have Been My WJM," makes "The Mary Years" a fabulous gift. www.juliemariewade.com
The late, gay photographer Peter Hujar, who passed away from AIDS complications at 53 in 1987, is experiencing a kind of renaissance. Originally published almost 50 years ago by De Capo, Hujar's black and white photography book "Portraits in Life and Death" (Liveright/W.W. Norton, 1976/2024), featuring new digital scans of the original negatives, has been rereleased with a new foreword by Benjamin Moser. Featuring portraits of John Waters, Divine, Fran Lebowitz, John Ashbery, William S. Burroughs, Charles Ludlam and others, as well as photos of mummified corpses in the Palermo catacombs, the book is essential for the photography fan on your list. www.peterhujararchive.com
"Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant...and Completely Over It" (Tiny Reparations Books), the title of the debut book by Entertainment Weekly and former Out Magazine editor Lester Fabian Brathwaite, almost says it all. But those deserving readers on your holiday gift list won't want to miss out on how he says it in essays such as "Fucking White Boys," "I Hate The Gays," "Memoir of a Blouse," and "Gifted," to mention a few. www.lesterfabian.com
Winner of the Barrow Street Editors Prize, "Brutal Companion" (Barrow Street) by queer Latine poet Ruben Quesada features glowing blurbs from Jericho Brown, Laurie Ann Guerrero, and Spence Reece. The poems are in constant motion from Los Angeles, Lubbock, SLC, Chicago, Manhattan, Roswell, and Ireland, with references to performers Helen Reddy, Grace Slick, Buddy Holly, Rock Hudson, and visual artists, as well as tributes to the late gay writer Paul Monette. www.rubenquesada.com
Malaysian novelist Tan Twan Eng has been long- and short-listed for the Booker Prize for his books, including "The House of Doors" (Bloomsbury), newly released in paperback. Set in 1921, the novel is a fictionalized telling of Somerset Maugham, his marriage, his hidden homosexuality, and a life-changing experience while visiting friends in Penang. www.instagram.com/tan.twan.eng
The past few years have been all about Joni; Mitchell, that is, both in terms of music and books. The same can be said for Dolly; Parton, that is. Dolly was celebrated in the 2023 poetry anthology "Let Me Say This," and this year, her acclaimed 1989 album "White Limozeen" (Bloomsbury) gets the 33 1/3 treatment from queer author Steacy Easton. www.instagram.com/pinkmoose4eva
In their latest book, "Who's Afraid of Gender?" (FSG), groundbreaking queer theorist Judith Butler, who has become one of the leading voices in feminist and gender studies, creates an "urgent and imperative work" offering "rigorous analysis, hope, freedom and solidarity" while "confronting the reactionary politics" seeking "to intensify marginalization and inequality." www.instagram.com/_judithbutle
Jami Attenberg is one of a growing list of straight female writers, including Rebecca Makkai, Hanya Yanagihara, Meg Wolitzer, Chloe Benjamin, and Ann Patchett, who incorporates authentic queer characters in their novels. Attenberg's acclaimed new book, "A Reason to See You Again" (Ecco), follows the lives of sisters Nancy and Shelly, the daughters of Rudy, a secretly queer Holocaust survivor, over the course of 40 years. www.jamiattenberg.com
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