Living Truth: Even More LGBTQ+ Nonfiction For Your TBR

Let the Record Show is a doorstopper of a book, but it is well worth the time spent sitting down with it for hours. This book is a history of the ACT UP movement, centered in New York City. Schulman breaks down the information by topic, walking readers through the complex organization and reviewing the different challenges they faced during the height of the AIDS crisis. I was incredibly impressed by the amount of detail included here, and even though it’s a hefty book, I became engrossed from the first chapter.

In this modern classic, Lorde examines her life as a queer Black woman and reveals universal truths for every reader. Essay after essay is a home run, tackling topics like parenting as a queer person, intersectional feminism, and the importance of supporting minority women writers. I followed along with the audio, underlining half the print book in the process (at least it seemed like it).

Over 10 years ago, Rae Garringer started their oral history project recording interviews with rural queer and trans folks from across the country. Now for the first time, Country Queers is coming to readers in print. This book includes interviews, photos, and illustrations all highlighting queer rural life. It truly is a love letter to rural queer communities.

Daisy Hernández’s memoir in essays chronicles her Cuban-Colombian upbringing as her family worked to make a home for themselves in the United States. Hernández’s life is filled with the women of her family teaching her how to love and be loved. They teach her how to be in the world. But her tía disapproves of Hernández’s queer relationships and is never accepting of her partners. Full of love and loss, A Cup of Water Under My Bed is an incredible story of a woman and her love for her family.

Jaquira Díaz moves with her family from Puerto Rico to Miami Beach. There, she lives a tumultuous childhood as her mother experiences mental illness. One of her biggest sources of refuge? Her friends. Ordinary Girls is a story of resilience and coming-of-age as a queer Puerto Rican woman forced to find her own way in the world at an early age. Díaz’s prose is beautiful, with a vibrancy that lingers in the mind long after you’ve finished the last page.