Reading lists for LGBTQIA+ audiences: Looking ahead to 2022

In a more timely manner than my summer reading list was, I present some preliminary lists to start you thinking ahead to this winter and the beginning of 2022. You may find some repetition between these, since they come from different compilers, but that just means a prospect might deserve more than one star! I’ve highlighted a few titles here and there, but be aware that I’ve not read any of these, either. And, with that note, here are some lists to help you compile your upcoming lists . . .

1 Beginning with the most comprehensive list first, this compilation of LGBTQ books, from GoodReads.com, provides a grouping of 54 (at current count) new and forthcoming 2022 releases—all genres, both YA and adult audiences. Registered members can vote on favorite titles and add to the growing list.

2 This list, “24 Highly-Anticipated Books Hitting Shelves in 2022” (from We Are Bookish), is a strong forthcoming selection from all genres, gay and straight, but its descriptions do uncover such same-sex romance novels as “steamy rom-com” Count Your Lucky Stars, by Alexandria Bellefleur; “swoony rom-com” I’m So (Not) Over You, by Kosoko Jackson; and young-adult mystery I Kissed Shara Wheeler (only available as an audio book at this time), by Casey McQuiston.

3 LGBTQ Reads, a website run by author and blogger Dahlia Adler, publishes a curated assortment of forthcoming titles for all ages, and keeps it up to date—constantly! Be sure to bookmark that URL.

4 Another website that constantly updates its reading lists is published by LambdaLiterary.com. Their November list includes roughly 100 titles, divided into neat and orderly categories. This month’s installment includes

•  [a] book of poetry [that] honors the deep healing, love, and [joy found] in both trans history and [trans communities];
•  [a] comic [book] about a new Superman who finds his bisexual identity;
•  [a] young-adult novel about a straight-A student who is searching for deeper meaning in her life and decides to stop trying so hard;
•  [a] heartwarming picture book about a transgender boy getting ready for his first day of school;
•  [an] expansive poetry collection covering  . . . deeply personal subjects such as love and grief, as well as topics like climate change and space;
•  [a] young-adult indigenous-futurist novel about two children attempting to meet in a world touched by catastrophe;
•  [and a] historical fantasy romance novel about two men unraveling a magical mystery together in Edwardian England.

This is another URL that you may want to bookmark, though we will probably cite its riches again in future posts.

In addition to these lists, I also came across a few relevant odds and ends while researching titles and fact-checking descriptions:

• To Paradise, by Hanya Yanagihara (a 700-page triptych of three separate and distinct—but also connected—stories set in 1893, 1993, and 2093, “each set in a counterfactual historical iteration of the place we call the United States”; scheduled for public release on January 11, 2022);
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club, by Malinda Lo (from promotional wording: “ . . . the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club . . . everything seemed possible. But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown”—or for Chinese Americans like Lily; scheduled for public release this fall);
• I Wish You All the Best, by Mason Deaver (a story that takes shape “when Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary”; scheduled for public release this fall); and
• Like a Love Story, by Abdi Nazemian (a telling of three teens in 1989 New York City—a secretly gay Iranian boy who has just moved to the city, an aspiring fashion designer who worships her gay uncle, and their school’s only out and proud teen; scheduled for public release this fall).

As for my personal list, I’m in a queue to review galley copies of

• If You Change Your Mind, by debut author Robby Weber (from promotional wording: “Harry is certain love only exists in the movies. . . . But then the cause of his first heartbreak . . . returns with a secret that could change everything. To complicate things further, new-in-town Logan is charming and sweet . . .”; scheduled for public release on May 3, 2022);
• The Dove in the Belly, by Jim Grimsley (from promotional wording: “Ronny’s made some friends, kept his secrets, survived dorm life, and protected his heart—until he can’t. Ben is in some ways Ronny’s opposite . . .”; scheduled for public release on May 3, 2022);
• The Dressmaker’s Daughter, by Linda Boroff (not LGBTQ themed, this book is historical fiction: “an unflinching look at horrors inflicted by the Nazis upon Romanian Jews during the Holocaust”; scheduled for public release on January 25, 2022); and
• Don’t Cry for Me, by Daniel Black (a book of deathbed letters that “illuminate the lived experiences of Black fathers and queer sons”; scheduled for public release on February 1, 2022).

So, enjoy the reads that you choose! And, remember to look at other selected titles at one of our two specialty bookstores for young adults and adult readers.

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originally posted November 12, 2021
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