Pride Month 2020: LGBTQIA+ Audiobooks
June is Pride Month! Here are our LGBTQIA+ audiobook picks.
Angels in America
A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
By Tony Kushner, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough, Beth Malone, James McArdle, Lee Pace, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Bobby Cannavale & Edie Falco
Narrated by: Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough, Beth Malone, James McArdle, Lee Pace, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Bobby Cannavale & Edie Falco
Length: 6 hours 52 minutes
Presenting an original audiobook performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring the cast of the National Theatre's 2018 Broadway revival.
In this production, adapted especially for the listening experience, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the entire cast recreate their acclaimed performances from the 2018 Tony Award-winning National... Read more »
The Gravity of Us
By Phil Stamper
Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Jonathan Davis, Gabra Zackman, January LaVoy, Angelo Di Loreto, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Dorothy Dillingham Blue, Cynthia Farrell, Soneela Nankani, Sullivan Jones, Bahni Turpin & Phil Stamper
Length: 8 hours 16 minutes
The Gravity of Us
“I cannot get over how thoroughly I enjoyed this book. So much so, that I accidentally took a 45 minute detour on a route I know like the back of my hand, because I was so utterly engrossed in it (It's true, ask my family who were wondering why I was so delayed). Stamper has perfectly captured the space race of the 50s & 60s and brought it into our modern social media ethos. And that just barely scratches the surface. You've got one of the sweetest romances I've ever read between Cal & Leon, a super believable bad guy (screw you, Josh), and convincing & ever-evolving family dynamics. But most striking to me was the conversation surrounding mental health (depression in particular) and how incredibly relatable Cal's need to fix things was. His mother's words "Don't aim to fix people. Fixing seems so permanent, so absolute. Like there's no room for error. Aim to make things better.” continue to stick with me long after the last page (or minute rather, since I listened on Libro.fm). I could go on, but you're better off just reading it yourself. ”
Britt, Second Star to the Right
All Boys Aren't Blue
A Memoir-Manifesto
By George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 5 hours 11 minutes
This program is read by the author.
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first... Read more »
Real Life
A Novel
By Brandon Taylor
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
Length: 9 hours 25 minutes
A FINALIST for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the VCU/Cabell First Novelist Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the NYPL Young Lions Award, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award
“A blistering coming of age story” —O: The Oprah Magazine
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington... Read more »
Upright Women Wanted
By Sarah Gailey
Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
Length: 3 hours 52 minutes
Upright Women Wanted
“Sarah Gailey has made me fall in love with them all over again. This novel is quirky, occasionally funny, and constantly heart wrenching. It's for anyone who's ever felt out of place, and a reminder of the beauty that can come when you accept yourself and find your people.”
Jenny, Page 158 Books
Transgender History, second edition
The Roots of Today's Revolution
Seal Studies
By Susan Stryker
Narrated by: Emily Cauldwell
Length: 7 hours 49 minutes
Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans... Read more »
No Ashes in the Fire
Coming of Age Black and Free in America
By Darnell L Moore
Narrated by: Darnell L Moore
Length: 6 hours
From a leading journalist and activist comes a brave, beautifully wrought memoir.
When Darnell Moore was fourteen, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they thought he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It... Read more »
Tranny
Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout
By Laura Jane Grace & Dan Ozzi
Narrated by: Laura Jane Grace
Length: 6 hours 49 minutes
ONE OF BILLBOARD'S "100 GREATEST MUSIC BOOKS OF ALL TIME": The provocative transgender advocate and lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me! provides a searing account of her search for identity and her true self.
It began in a bedroom in Naples, Florida, when a misbehaving punk teenager named Tom Gabel, armed with nothing but an acoustic... Read more »
We Are Okay
By Nina LaCour
Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes
Winner of the 2018 Michael L. Printz Award — An achingly beautiful novel about grief and the enduring power of friendship.
“Short, poetic and gorgeously written.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A beautiful, devastating piece of art." —Bookpage
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need. . . . Until you leave with only your phone, your... Read more »
The Knockout Queen
A novel
By Rufi Thorpe
Narrated by: Michael Crouch
Length: 10 hours 3 minutes
The Knockout Queen
“To say I admire The Knockout Queen feels inadequate, though I do admire a great deal of it: its voice, depth, structure — you name it. But it’s more honest just to say I love The Knockout Queen; I loved reading it, I felt involved in it, and, finally, I was so moved by its ending. This is an epic tale of friendship, one where the magnitude sneaks up on you quietly — but when it strikes home, it rings so brilliantly true.”
Will Walton, Books Are Magic
A Queer History of the United States
REVISIONING HISTORY
By Michael Bronski
Narrated by: Vikas Adams
Length: 10 hours 28 minutes
Winner of a 2012 Stonewall Book Award in nonfiction
The first book to cover the entirety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from pre-1492 to the present.
In the 1620s, Thomas Morton broke from Plymouth Colony and founded Merrymount, which celebrated same-sex desire, atheism, and interracial marriage. Transgender evangelist Jemima... Read more »
Here for It
Or, How to Save Your Soul in America; Essays
By R. Eric Thomas
Narrated by: R. Eric Thomas
Length: 7 hours 34 minutes
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • From the creator of Elle’s “Eric Reads the News,” a heartfelt and hilarious memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope, and experiencing every awkward, extraordinary stumble along the way.
“Pop culture–obsessed, Sedaris-level... Read more »
Call Me by Your Name
A Novel
By André Aciman
Narrated by: Armie Hammer
Length: 7 hours 43 minutes
Call Me by Your Name
“Such a beautiful novel. I get lost in it. The story. The writing. The way the words flow effortlessly. The audio book is one of the best I have heard. ”
Karen, Anderson's Bookshop
The Stonewall Reader
By New York Public Library & Edmund White
Narrated by: Various
Length: 10 hours 44 minutes
"...a remarkable audio experience that emphasizes the revolutionary power of LGBTQ voices and provides an invaluable record of a community that refuses to be silenced." -AudioFile magazine Earphones Award winner
For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and... Read more »
How We Fight For Our Lives
By Saeed Jones
Narrated by: Saeed Jones
Length: 5 hours 34 minutes
How We Fight For Our Lives
“This memoir by black and gay poet Saeed Jones is a visceral coming of age and coming out story. Growing up as an only child to his single mother in Texas and spending summers with his evangelical grandmother in Memphis, Jones struggles to come to terms with his sexuality, to come out of the closet, and to love himself. He wrestles with his fractured identity, learning what it means to be gay in the black community, to be black in the gay community, and to realize that either one on its own is enough to get you killed in a straight, white world. There are passages that will bruise and choke you, but ultimately both Jones and the reader come out of the book all the better for it.”
Rachel, The Book Table
Sissy
A Coming-of-Gender Story
By Jacob Tobia
Narrated by: Jacob Tobia
Length: 11 hours 20 minutes
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Transformative ... If Tobia aspires to the ranks of comic memoirists like David Sedaris and Mindy Kaling, Sissy succeeds." --The New York Times Book Review
A heart-wrenching, eye-opening, and giggle-inducing memoir about what it's like to grow up not sure if you're (a) a boy, (b) a girl, (c) something in between, or (d)... Read more »
The Deviant's War
The Homosexual vs. the United States of America
By Eric Cervini
Narrated by: Vikas Adam
Length: 15 hours 34 minutes
"Vikas Adam draws the listener in, expertly narrating Cervini's work, which charts the beginning of the gay rights movement in the United States...Vikas Adam does an excellent job lending unique voices to real historical figures." -- AudioFile Magazine
A Publishers Weekly most anticipated spring book
From a young Harvard- and... Read more »
Girl, Woman, Other
By Bernardine Evaristo
Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes
Girl, Woman, Other
“The twelve Black British women who are the central characters in Bernardine Evaristo's GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER are so vastly different that when their connections are slowly revealed, like a spider web you didn't see until the light hits it just so, you'll settle in and become entranced. I loved this deep dive into a part of British culture that isn't often depicted. The form is unusual but once you give yourself over to it, you'll see why it works. I particularly loved the last part of the book which reminded me of enjoying a long leisurely meal and still leaving room for the perfect dessert. The ending was terribly satisfying. Highly recommend.”
Rachel, Avid Bookshop
The Groom Will Keep His Name
And Other Vows I've Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance
By Matt Ortile
Narrated by: Matt Ortile
Length: 9 hours 26 minutes
A riotous collection of "witty and captivating" essays by a gay Filipino immigrant in America who is learning that everything is about sex (Bitch Magazine) -- and sex is about power.
When Matt Ortile moved from Manila to Las Vegas, the locals couldn't pronounce his name. Harassed as a kid for his brown skin, accent, and femininity, he believed... Read more »
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Montague Siblings: Book #1
By Mackenzi Lee
Narrated by: Christian Coulson
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
“The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee was truly a pleasure to hear! A deliciously dry sense of humor pervades this tale of English landed gentry making a tour of the Continent in the 1800s. However, this is no ordinary tour and these no ordinary lords. Unrequited love among the two male protagonists, a racial twist, parental abuse, maladies with no cures and more pervade this fast paced, adventurous novel complete with highwaymen, dukes, alchemy and pirates (sort of). Impossible to stop listening and extremely entertaining!”
Phyllis, Wellesley Books