Pride 2020: LGBT-themed book recommendations

Pride 2020: LGBT-themed book recommendations

As Pride month begins, the Fingal Library staff highlight a few LGBT-themed books which they enjoyed reading in the last few months.

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

There has been a lot of talk about this debut novel from Naoise Dolan recently, with many comparing it to Sally Rooney’s brilliant Normal People, and I can see why. Firstly, both authors are Irish 20-something writers of fresh and contemporary novels about modern relationships. Like Rooney, Dolan brings you into the relationships she writes about. The reader is invited into the most intimate and vulnerable parts – even if, at times, they might not necessarily want to be. It’s not always comfortable, but it is real.

The setting for Exciting Times is Hong Kong. The main character, Ava is a young TEFL teacher trying to find her place in the world. The story takes in the political backdrop of Ireland in recent times and explores what that means for her as a young woman starting out in life away from home. However, that’s very much background, with the main story being about a love triangle she finds herself in. Julian is a wealthy British banker who allows Ava to live in his luxury apartment, spoils her with gifts and challenges her intellectually.

The other love interest is Edith, an ambitious and stylish Hong Kong Lawyer who Ava has an intense, all-consuming connection with. The novel delves into Ava’s psyche and carries the reader along as she navigates both relationships and learns so much about herself along the way. It’s clear each relationship fulfils something for her, but which should she choose? The story is clever, sharply written and provides a modern insight into relationships in “the Instagram age”.

Nadene, Fingal Libraries

Tranny - Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sell-out by Laura Jane Grace

Content warning: This book is for adults and deals with difficult and distressing content and so will this review accordingly. The title of the book and some of the language used may seem offensive but has to be seen within the context of the author’s experience.

In May 2012, a profile in Rolling Stone magazine broke new ground. The singer of the popular punk folk act Against Me! (then known as Thomas Gabel) revealed to the world that they are a transgender woman and wished to be known as Laura Jane Grace. Grace announced that they would undergo psychotherapy and live as a woman for a year before considering gender reassignment surgery. In the traditional macho punk rock world this was a seismic shift, but a far bigger personal one for Grace.

This book tells Grace's life story up until 2016. An “army brat” who bounced between different bases due to her father’s career as an army Major, Grace lived in Naples Italy until, at aged 12, her parents divorced. Grace, her mother and brother then moved to another Naples - in Florida. At the very beginning of the book Grace describes seeing Madonna's Material Girl video, her identification with Madonna and the beginnings of dysphoria. That is to say that Grace did not identify with the gender or name she had been assigned with at birth. Throughout the book Grace reveals events in her tumultuous life including arrests, near-constant narcotic abuse and fledgling attempts at crossdressing that would later become a secret refuge.

Tranny, a word which is considered a slur for transgender people, has origins within the Australian trans community. We are forced to reconsider the significance of the word when it is applied by a member of that community to themselves. Is Grace reclaiming the word? Perhaps partially, but she’s also showing us how she feels people see her when she is at her lowest and most self-conscious.

One anecdote from the book is about a time when Grace bought lingerie before coming out. She describes the cashier’s disgust, imagining that the cashier is holding her breath to avoid Grace's “stink”. The incident inspired the lyrics in Grace's song Transgender Dysphoria Blues.

Grace addresses her own internalised transphobia when she discusses, with guilt, an incident on tour where her bandmates made fun of three trans women. She didn’t speak up and, instead, joined in.

Grace also hints at the fact that long before “coming out” they already had to deal with backlash from the oddly conservative punk scene for perceived “sell out” actions. The band had to contend with their tour bus being vandalised or being attacked with chains by punks for things as banal as signing to an independent record label.

The book is challenging reading, but it’s also compulsive and entertaining for anyone with an interest in rock n’ roll, gender identity and politics. It may not end on a happy note, but it is at the same time positive and looking forward to a future which, to paraphrase the late punk icon Joe Strummer, is unwritten.

Paddie, Donabate Library

June is Pride Month and this year Dublin’s Pride festival is going digital. See https://dublinpride.ie/ for more information. Happy Pride from Fingal Libraries!

More LGBT-themed Staff Picks:

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson (YA)

Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin (YA)

Women by Chloe Caldwell (F)

Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness (Non-fiction)

Untamed by Glennon Doyle (Non-fiction)

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (Non-fiction)

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (YA/A Fantasy Fiction)