Spectrum is LSE’s LGBTQ+ staff network representing and supporting staff who are lesbian, gay, bi, trans and of any sexual orientation and gender identity. Spectrum is a recognised channel for inclusion at LSE and is open to all staff, LGBTQ+ and allies. Founded in May 2008, Spectrum builds on LSE’s rich LGBTQ+ history: the Gay Liberation Front in the UK was founded at LSE in 1970 and LSE Library holds one of Britain’s biggest LGBTQ+ collections.
For Pride Month 2024, Spectrum members and the wider LSE community recommend fifteen LGBTQ+ books to grip, entertain, inform and inspire readers.
Between the Stops. Sandi Toksvig. Virago. 2020.
Besides being an absolute bad-ass of a woman, activist, presenter and lesbian icon, Sandi Toksvig is also an incredible writer. This memoir is written as a bus trip across London, stopping at various locations you’ll know, and others you wont. Each stop telling a story: a snippet of her life, a fun fact, a memory, or general musing. As each chapter or stop is distinct, you can read this in stops and starts a – perfect commuting book. She taught me quite a bit about the history and culture of London and her insights are fascinating. Sandi’s humour and intelligent writing makes for a truly delightful read.
Recommended by Amanda M. Gaddes, Department Manager, LSE Department of Health Policy
Rosewater. Liv Little. Dialogue Books. 2023.
A debut novel centring a black queer woman figuring out her path, Rosewater delves into complicated family, friendly and sexual relations, homophobia and racism and hardships in everyday lives as well as for creatives. This book was beautifully written, easily digestible and fast-paced. The snippets of poetry really drew me in and I’m grateful the Spectrum Book Club brought this book into my life.
Recommended by Martha Clarke Programme Manager, BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. Natasha Pulley. Bloomsbury. 2020.
The sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, this beautiful, queer romance blends elements of historical fiction, fantasy and magical realism. It’s a spellbinding, intricate book which transported me to the palaces and back streets of Japan in the 1800s. Pulley weaves together the threads of the story just as well as her clairvoyant main character lives his life: with style and grace.
Recommended by Graham “G” Snow, Integration Specialist / Technical Lead, Data and Technology Services
Jack and Eve: Two Women in Love and at War. Wendy Moore. Atlantic Books. 2024.
Jack and Eve is the account of two suffragettes, Vera Holme (known as Jack) and Evelina Haverfield, who built extraordinary lives together during the First World War and beyond. Wendy Moore illuminates the radical nature of these women’s lives, as public faces of the suffragette movement, frontline healthcare workers during the war and a proud lesbian couple at a time when few felt able to be openly queer.
Recommended by Gillian Murphy, Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship, LSE Library
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Taylor Jenkins Reid. Simon & Schuster. 2021.
I am so happy our community chose this book as the book club read for the month of June. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo can only be described as a modern classic. The story follows the fictional Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo and her many marriages asking the question: Who was her one true love? I could barely put the book down and might have cried a couple of times.
Recommended by Isabel Lacurie, Marketing and Communications Manager, LSE Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Evelyn Hugo asks what seems to be a random junior writer to write her memoirs despite having not shared her personal life publicly. Evelyn is a complicated character that you don’t always like but seem to root for. She is fierce, a force of nature and strategically has planned her life except for what she really wanted the whole time. I loved this book, everyone I have recommended it to also loved this book. I’m so excited to discuss it at the next Spectrum Book club and hear how much everyone else has loved it too. An absolute must-read, and I can safely say I’ve never read a book of that size so quickly.
Recommended by Martha Clarke, Programme Manager, BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science
A History of my Brief Body. Billy-Ray Belcourt. Two Dollar Radio. 2020.
This is an experimental memoir that examines everything from Belcourt’s relationship to his grandmother (Kokum), first loves, everlasting loves, gender, sex, grief, joy, queerness, indigeneity and colonialism. Belcourt manages to cover each of these topics, often simultaneously, which such beauty and complexity, while also providing a manifesto for queer people everywhere moving forward. This book is as beautiful and heart-wrenching as it is politically riling, and something I go back to regularly.
Recommended by Andrew Crane, Receptionist/Admin Assistant (Apprentice), Estates Division
A Day of Fallen Night. Samantha Shannon. Bloomsbury Circus. 2023.
A Day of Fallen Night is the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I recommended for the LGBTQ+ book list in 2023. However, you can read this book before, after or completely independently from The Priory. The story follows a range of intriguing characters who face the end of the world as they know it – but without the constraints of heteronormative concepts or patriarchy. A refreshing fantasy read that brought back my joy for the genre thanks to Samantha Shannon’s inclusive and compelling writing style.
Recommended by Isabel Lacurie, Marketing and Communications Manager, LSE Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Yours for the Taking. Gabrielle Korn. St Martins Press. 2023.
This is one of my absolute favourite books of the last year. Set in 2050 where climate change has ravaged the earth, the books follows the journey of three women (all of whom are LGBTQ+) and their fight to survive. This book is inherently and deeply queer and focuses on themes of family, love, womanhood and betrayal. It also shines an interesting light on feminism, corporate feminism and the possible future of what intersectional feminism might look like. If you enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman, you’ll enjoy this book as it is a similar thought experiment in many ways. A super gripping read with many twists and turns, you will finish this quickly!
Recommended by Amanda M. Gaddes, Department Manager, LSE Department of Health Policy
Our Share of Night. Mariana Enriquez, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. Granta. 2022.
Our Share of the Night is modern gothic horror epic with a seam of frank queer sexuality running through it. Against the historical backdrop of the Argentinian dictatorship, a ruthless cult seeks to exploit a young family for sinister ends. Covering decades, the multiple different view-point characters all feel realised and queer experiences are woven into the narrative. Though be warned, this novel doesn’t shy away from some grisly imagery.
Recommended by Alex Rose, Executive MSc Programme Administrator, LSE Department of Health Policy
Rainbow Warrior: My Life In Colour. Gilbert Baker. Chicago Review Press. 2019.
This book is a memoir published after Gilbert died: his close friends collated the drafts he’d written throughout his life about his journey creating the Rainbow Pride Flag. Reading this book made me appreciate the Pride Flag in a whole new way, understanding where it came from and how difficult the journey was to get the flag to be the huge Queer symbol it is today. It is not simply a commercialised object; it has its own story, and so does the creator!
Recommended by Martha Clarke, Programme Manager, BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science
The City in the Middle of the Night. Charlie Jane Anders. Titan Books. 2019.
“If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams… And from there, it’s easy to control our entire lives.” – This quote on the back of the book hooked me and from there, there was no escape. I obsessively read this book in one weekend. If you like sci-fi, space hijinks, climate fiction and sprinkles of gay, then you will adore this book as much as I did. It is an absolute banger of a read that will thoroughly entertain. This novel is mostly fun, but topics of love, politics and the destructive nature of humanity are touched on. The best thing about it is that it introduced me to this amazing author, who, alongside publishing many other great books, hosts a Hugo-award-winning podcast with her partner, Annalee Newitz.
Recommended by Amanda M. Gaddes, Department Manager, LSE Department of Health Policy
A Bookshop of One’s Own. Jane Cholmeley. Mudlark. 2024.
A Bookshop of One’s Own tells the story of Silver Moon women’s bookshop, which opened on the Charing Cross Road in 1984 to promote the literary work of, and create a community space for, women and lesbians. Written by shop co-founder Jane Cholmeley, the book is an entertaining and inspiring story of how she, her partner and colleagues created this lively, mission-driven business against the backdrop of homophobia and misogyny that characterised Thatcher’s Britain.
Recommended by Gillian Murphy, Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship, LSE Library
This Is How You Lose the Time War. Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Arcadia. 2019.
Where might you know this title from, you wonder? People who are chronically online (such as myself) might remember the famous tweet by the anime stan account called “Bigolas Dickolas”, who recommended the book in a viral tweet last year, which propelled the book on the top of the bestseller lists within weeks. The tweet read as follows: “read this. DO NOT look up anything about it. just read it. it’s only like 200 pages u can download it on audible it’s only like four hours. do it right now i’m very extremely serious.” And I honestly don’t have anything else to add.
Recommended by Isabel Lacurie, Marketing and Communications Manager, LSE Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Girl, Woman, Other. Bernadine Everaristo. Penguin. 2019.
Girl, Woman, Other is a collection of interlinked and separate stories about Black queer women across generations. It was the first mainstream novel I was aware of that centred Black queer woman. I went through all possible emotions reading this book and was invested in every single story and character. It’s set in London and I enjoyed picturing the characters in places I have visited and am familiar with.
Recommended by Martha Clarke, Programme Manager, BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science
Our Wives Under the Sea. Julia Armfield. Picador. 2022.
A woman’s wife heads to the depths of the ocean in a submarine, gets trapped and returns with all manner of oddities. What happened down there? Why has her wife changed so completely? Is any of it even real? What is this? These are the questions you will ask yourself when reading this book. It gets a bit weird, but ultimately it is a story of WLW love, desperation and grief. It’s quite haunting and really stuck with me. The writing is elegant and whimsical, taking you on this deeply intimate journey that you can’t look away from. Given the submarine setting, I did imagine Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie as the two wives à la Vigil, but that is optional of course. Coincidentally, I was reading this book when the titanic submarine incident happened – creepy!
Recommended by Amanda M. Gaddes, Department Manager, LSE Department of Health Policy
LSE Review of Books thanks all the members of the LSE community who contributed to this reading list with their book recommendations.
Note: This reading list gives the views of the contributors, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, nor of the London School of Economics.
Image Credit: Ezhova Mariia on Shutterstock.
