Pride & (no) Prejudice: LGBTQIA+ Book Club

Join our newest book club! All are welcome! Books are available to borrow and can be found at our 3rd floor desk.

October Selection: “It Came from the Closet” by Joe Vallese.
November Selection: “Female Husbands” by Jen Manion
December Selection: “You’re A Mean One, Matthew Prince” by Timothy Janovsky

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It Came from the Closet by Joe Vallese

Through the lens of horror—from Halloween to Hereditary—queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

It Came from the Closet features twenty-five essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

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Female Husbands by Jen Manion

Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women who loved them. Female husbands – people assigned female who transed gender, lived as men, and married women – were true queer pioneers. Moving deftly from the colonial era to just before the First World War, Jen Manion uncovers the riveting and very personal stories of ordinary people who lived as men despite tremendous risk, danger, violence, and threat of punishment. Female Husbands weaves the story of their lives in relation to broader social, economic, and political developments in the United States and the United Kingdom while also exploring how attitudes towards female husbands shifted in relation to transformations in gender politics and women’s rights, ultimately leading to the demise of the category of ‘female husband’ in the early twentieth century. Groundbreaking and influential, Female Husbands offers a dynamic, varied, and complex history of the LGBTQ past.

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You’re A Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky 

An “effervescent” (Rachel Lynn Solomon) stand-alone Christmas LGBTQIA+ New Adult RomCom, perfect for fans of Schitt’s Creek and Red White & Royal Blue.

BRING A LITTLE JOY TO THE WORLD? NOT TODAY, SANTA.

Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He’s on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents’ charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?

It’s bad enough he’s stuck in some festive winter wonderland—it’s even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who’s unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.

Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior…with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can’t resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince’s heart grow three sizes this year.

While part of a series, this book stands alone.

People Are Raving About Timothy Janovsky:

“This book made my queer heart so very full and deeply happy.”—Anita Kelly

“A cinematic daydream guaranteed to steal your heart.”—Julian Winters

“Wonderfully upbeat and sweet.”—Suzanne Park

“Full of hope and heart.”—Alexandria Bellefleur

“[A] fresh, sweet, and swoony love story that blends coming-of-age comedy with the nuances of exploring sexual identity.”—Alison Cochrun