Gay Classics

Cat Sebastian's We Could Be So Good is a tender 1950s slow burn about two newspapermen falling in love. Not a page-turner—but the yearning is exquisite.

Gore Vidal's 1948 novel is a landmark of gay literature—and a book that's easier to admire than enjoy. Jim Willard is a groundbreaking protagonist, but his obsessive fixation left me more disturbed than moved. Essential history, impeccable prose, and an ending that still haunts me (not in a good way).

Harriet Tubman is back from the dead and she's making a hip-hop album. It sounds ridiculous—and it kind of is—but Bob the Drag Queen makes it work through sheer force of voice and genuine reverence for his subject. Part history lesson, part story of personal reinvention, Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is funny, educational, and surprisingly moving. The audiobook is a must.

Gaunt and Ellwood love each other—but saying it might ruin everything. In Memoriam is a brutal, beautiful WWI novel about the cost of silence, the weight of war, and what it means to love someone you can't openly claim. Push through the first quarter; what's waiting is extraordinary.