Queer Literature

The Little Bookshop
Jun 7
7 min read

At The Little Bookshop we want everyone to feel welcome. We know we are just a bookshop but we want our place to be a safe haven for our readers. This is something important to us and also to our Book Dragons - so we do our best every day, every week, every month.

Pride month

June is Pride month and we will focus on queer literature - with our events and our window display (with a quote by Harvey Milk: "Hope Will Never Be Silent"). No surprise that the book club pick is ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller, one of my favorite love stories. Before I dive into all the books, I wanted to know why Pride month takes place in June. I’m from the Netherlands and we have our Pride Parade in August - which is always a colorful & spiritful parade on the canals (been there in the rain and I can confirm it’s still great even when you’re soaked wet hahaha!). So why June and why August?

A short history lesson (mostly for myself I guess). The reason why the Pride month takes place in June is because of the Stonewall riots in 1969 in NY City.

In the early morning hours of June 28, police raided this popular gathering place for young members of the LGBTQ community—arresting the employees for selling liquor without a license, roughing up many of the patrons, and clearing the bar. Outside, the crowd that watched the bar’s patrons being herded into police vans became enraged. Previously witnesses to police harassment of members of the LGBTQ community had stood by passively, but this time the crowd jeered the police and threw coins and then bottles and debris at them, forcing the police to barricade themselves in the bar to await backup. Before long some 400 people were rioting. Source: Britannica

And then why in August on the other side of the ocean?

Unlike the Stonewall uprising in the States, the Amsterdam Pride did not start as a demonstration/riot. It was a party organized by gay hospitality entrepreneurs to promote the city as the party city for gay people and to celebrate freedom and diversity. On the Dutch website about Pride Amsterdam they say “it was a gift from the gay entrepreneurs to the city”. Then it became this big Parade on the Canals for LGBTQ+ communities all over the Netherlands and the world.

History of queer literature

I’m happy we have so much diversity in our books today but we still have a long way to go (looking especially at you USA). Sometimes I wonder why because queer literature goes all the way back to Ancient Greek (and further?). Publisher Penguin wrote a feature about “From Sappho to Stonewall, and beyond: how fiction tells LGBTQ+ history” which you can find here.

Or if you prefer more visuals, there’s a video from Epic Reads with author Eliot Schrefer:

Our selection at The Little Bookshop

We have quite some books in our queer collection but we always love to discover more! So if you have some to add, please let us know :)

Children’s books

The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron

Book Crush: Fantastic middle grade series about vampires, family, and friendship! Not everything is as it seems in The Vanquishers (this also counts for people… and vampires?). Love the dynamic between Boog and her friends, this was really well-done! (age 8-12)

The Night Forest by Polly Ho-Yen

When Ziggy goes to sleep in their new bed at their dad's house, they wake up in the middle of the dark and scary night forest. When even sleeping at their mum's house doesn't help, they are forced to face their fears... but maybe that scary forest isn't as scary as it sounds? (age 5-7)

YA books

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

Book Crush: The worldbuilding in this duology is fantastic - with every trial you discover a new amazing place in this world. The characters - even though they're half gods - feel so human. Mexican folklore shines through the world, the characters, and the events. There's a dash of modernity with the queerness, which I loved. And did you see this cover?! Just gorgeous!

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Two boys, alone in space. Sworn enemies sent on the same rescue mission.

Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of a launch. There’s more that doesn’t add up: evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship’s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed—not when he’s rescuing his own sister.

In order to survive the ship’s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust each other... especially once they discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive.

The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter (interview with author on website)

Book Crush: Are you looking for a queer romance? With perhaps a ghost involved? Then "The Ghost of Us" is perfect for you! Even with tough subjects (death of a brother, grief), it was lighthearted and fun. I was laughing a few times because of sentences like: "I realized I was correcting a ghost on how to talk to ghosts. Ghostsplaining.". What else did I love? I loved Cara's parents, they looked really awesome (can't think of a better word) and I loved Aiden and the banter between him and Cara.

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he’s injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it’s to be scared of what other desperate people will do... so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other? After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn’t adding up about Andrew’s story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He’s starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.

Pray the Gay Away by Natalie Naudus

Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she’s ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything. Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative. Publicly, the girls are close friends—holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance—until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.

Contemporary/Classics Our book club pick: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

David, a young American in 1950s Paris, is waiting for his fiancée to return from vacation in Spain. But when he meets Giovanni, a handsome Italian barman, the two men are drawn into an intense affair. After three months David's fiancée returns and, denying his true nature, he rejects Giovanni for a 'safe' future as a married man. His decision eventually brings tragedy. Filled with passion, regret and longing, this story of a fated love triangle has become a landmark of gay writing. James Baldwin caused outrage as a black author writing about white homosexuals, yet for him the issues of race, sexuality and personal freedom were eternally intertwined.

Dream On, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake

Once upon a time, Ramona Riley was a student at a prestigious art school, with dreams of landing in Hollywood as a costume designer to the stars. But after her father's car accident, she had to quit everything and return to her small New Hampshire town, Clover Lake, to help take care of her younger sister. Twelve years later, Ramona is still working at the town's café, all but given up on her dream. But when a big-budget romantic comedy comes to Clover Lake to film, she wonders if this could be her chance. There's only one problem-Dylan Monroe, her first kiss and Hollywood's favorite wild child—is the star…

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for life: a video that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold. Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her down: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire. But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all—and that they are heading for a bloody confrontation that no one will survive unscathed.