LGBTQ Books
ready to go when people start coming.”
Smaller discussions have proven worthwhile for Vintage Books’ LGBTQ adult
book club, which started in January and so far has read classics like Fingersmith by
Sarah Waters and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. Both have sold
well, though the club meetings drew only a handful of attendees. Robinson says she
makes sure that nobody feels pressured to speak. “That’s important; not everybody’s
comfortable talking, but they want to participate.”
Malaprop’s and Prologue have had success with author appearances at club meet-
ings. Malaprop’s had a standing-room-only crowd when local transgender author Tina
Madison White appeared with her wife to discuss her 2015 memoir Between Shadow
and Sun. “That level of community engagement created a really poignant discussion,”
Ruiz says.
When Saeed Jones, who lives in Columbus, visited Prologue in December, Vasey
mentioned that both her store’s clubs would be reading his 2019 memoir How We
Fight for Our Lives. He asked if he could attend, a request Vasey called a “bookseller’s
dream.” The event drew 24 attendees, who were “extremely excited and starstruck.”
Still, Vasey doesn’t plan to make such appearances a regular happening, lest they
compete with other author events and disrupt the more intimate feel of the book clubs.
From personal to political
Vasey has shied away from classics, assuming people have already read them, favoring
lesser-known titles such as the memoir Nîtisânak by indigenous Canadian author
Lindsay Nixon. She looks for “voices that are often silenced because they’re different
from the more popular LGBTQ voices out there.”
When the Malaprop’s club read Garrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased, which explores
conversion therapy, the group discussed the differences between the book and film
versions, as well as current events. “We absolutely talked about Mike Pence,” Ruiz
says. “We discussed his history with it and the parts of the Trump administration that
continue to espouse that practice, and how terrifying that is.”
At Charis Books and More, Anderson says, part of the book club’s role is to steer
readers toward trusted titles. The feminist bookstore’s approval means attendees
“know that we won’t let them choose a book that’s horribly misogynistic or racist.
Having that vetting is another level of appeal for our group.”
Anderson believes the more narrowly focused a book club is, the better it will do.
“People want to be offered niche content because otherwise there’s not really a reason
to leave their houses,” he says. “They can get Oprah’s or Reese Witherspoon’s book
picks; there are a million Instagram influencers who are telling them what to read. So
the reason they’re coming out is to be with people who are like them in some way.”■
God loves you
exactly as you are
$16.99 | Pub August 25, 2020
978-1-5064-6524-1
Queerfully and Wonderfully Made:
A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian
Teens gives readers insight and
support from an amazing group of
LGBTQ+ professionals and young
adult queer Christians.$18.99 | Pub August 25, 2020
978-1-5064-6498-5
Welcoming and Affi rming: A Guide to
Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+
Christian Youth is a handbook for
pastors, youth workers, and educators
that provides answers to the most
pressing questions about sexuality,
gender, mental health, and more.IMPRINTS OF 1517 MEDIABOOKSTORE LGBTQ BOOK CLUBS AND THE CORONAVIRUS
★ With in-person gatherings on hold, Second Star to the Right in
Denver is using Google Meet for its YA book club. Manager Mariana
Calderon says the store has had “a good response to the virtual
option.”★ At Prologue Bookshop in Columbus, Ohio, some of the book club
members are immunocompromised, says bookseller Libby Vasey,
and the groups will be using Zoom for the duration of the pandemic.
Vasey has swapped several upcoming selections for “happier books”
because, she says, “I think we all need a pick-me-up at this time.”Rachel Kramer Bussel is a freelance writer specializing in books and culture.