December CultureCAT - LGBTQ+ cultures

To close out the 2025 CultureCAT, we have the opportunity to read about LGBTQ+ cultures. I come to this culture as an ally rather than a member, but it's close to my heart, since I am the parent of a transgender child.

This is a large, varied topic you could take in many directions, but here are a few ideas to get you started. You have biographies and histories:

The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
The Stonewall Reader
How to Survive a Plague

Memoirs:
Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen
Better Living Through Birding
How Far the Light Reaches

And so much fiction:
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
The Scapegracers
The Mimicking of Known Successes
Sailor's Delight
Queerly Beloved

Enjoy your reading, and add your books to the wiki if you're so inclined.

I have several which might fit (prioritising own voices).

I'm looking at:

Look Up, Handsome by Jack Strange (British gay romance)
Hi Honey, I'm Homo by Matt Baume (LGBT+ people on American TV)
The Midnight Shift by Seon-ran Cheon (Korean gay vampires)
Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (by a Scottish lesbian, but I don't know if there's any LGBT content)
Carnival of Lies by D. V. Bishop (gay historical fiction set in Medici Florence)

One that's been on my Kindle for a long time is Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Time to move it to the top.

Thank you >2 Robertgreaves: for reminding me of this author Jeanette Winterson

Just wanted to send out a little reminder that we're still looking for four more hosts for CultureKIT 2026! We're changing things up a little bit in a way that hopefully will allow more folks to participate. Please come check us out: https://www.librarything.com/topic/375228

I finished Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf.

I already read so much LGBTQ+ lit, there's a ton of it on my TBR, so I'm not sure yet what I'll read, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's choices. For anyone into Horror, I'll also recommend Timber Ghost Press, which focuses on publishing LGBTQ+ voices. NineStar Press has the same LGBTQ+ focus, but publishes Romance and Literary Fiction.

COMPLETED Look Up, Handsome by Jack Strange - a very enjoyable cheesy Christmas rom-com set in Hay-on-Wye (on the border between Wales and England).

I just finished Spent which was a selection for one of my book clubs this month.

Only one (of three) parts of the story fit, Mary's story in 1953

Starting Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love. Grandfather and grandson are both coming out as gay.

COMPLETED Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love. My review:

79 year old Arthur comes out as gay to his children but his daughter does not react well, little suspecting that her 21 year old son is trying to nerve himself to tell her something.

The premise of an older man coming out was intriguing and as far as I know rarely explored in fiction. Contrasting it with his grandson's experiences made the story-line even more interesting. Unfortunately it was let down by stilted and at times rather preachy dialogue.

As mid-December fast approaches, we still need just a few more hosts for CultureKIT 2026! Please come check us out, even if you're not sure yet: https://www.librarything.com/topic/375228

Blood Ink Sister Scribe

I was a big fan of this contemporary fantasy. Johanna lives alone, protecting her family's collection of magic books. Her sister Esther moves every year according to her late father's warnings. Nick, the last living Scribe after his parents' murders, the only one who can write new magic books, is living under the protection of his uncle and the Library of magic books his uncle runs. However, not everything is as it seems...

The romance is very light in this book, and doesn't really impact the plot as much as I was sort of hoping it might, but I do nevertheless recommend this book.

Full synopsis/review on my thread.

Starting Hi Honey, I'm Homo by Matt Baume - gay representation on American TV

COMPLETED Hi Honey, I'm Homo by Matt Baume

My review:
I've watched some of the author's videos on YouTube and there isn't much more in this book than in the videos. The videos also have the advantage of being able to show clips from some of the shows discussed, which is useful if I haven't seen them before. It's not a bad book, just kind of pointless if you can see the videos.

COMPLETED The Shortest Day by Colm Tóibín. The author is gay, but there is no LGBTQ content in the story.

I read and enjoyed a romance between and trans man and a trans woman, Chef's Choice by TJ Alexander.

I'm about halfway through Lily of the Tower, a mid-19th Century romance in the vein of what might have happened had Jane Eyre fallen in love with Rochester's mad wife. Except it's not a re-telling of Jane Eyre (much to my disappointment) but it does fit the challenge.

After reading Spent, I went back to read her well-known memoir Fun Home

I finished with Lily of the Tower and decided "meh." I checked on-line to see if there were other reviewers of this book and decided it was not just me.