This is the last Our Queerest Shelves newsletter of 2022! It’s such a pleasure to be able to write this every week — it really is a dream come true. I hope your New Year’s celebration is as exciting and/or cozy as you are planning.
Speaking of the new year, don’t forget to check out the 2023 Read Harder Challenge! Starting in January, I’ll be giving queer book recommendations for some of the tasks, but sign up to the newsletter at the link to get even more recommendations every week.
Today I wanted to highlight Black Trans Advocacy, which advocates for health, housing, and employment equality for Black trans people. You can find out more about them on their website, and you can support them at their donation page.
Bookish Goods
Pride Books Bookmark Collection by ShopGigiAndBo
These pride bookmarks are stunning, and they come in a variety of pride flag color variations. $3
New Releases
Together: A First Conversation About Love by Megan Madison, Jessica Rall, and Anne/Andy Passchier (LGBTQ Picture Book)
This is the latest in the First Conversations series, and it provides a way into talking about love and relationships with young kids. It includes illustrations of all kinds of families, and it introduces words like “gay” and “queer.”
The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Vol. 2 by Takashi Ikeda (Yuri Manga)
This is a slice-of-life manga following two women, a voice actor and a scriptwriter, who are “just roommates” to the outside world, but inside their apartment, they have a cozy and romantic life together. This volume introduces more characters into the cast, including their neighbors.
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Omnibus by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, and Killian Ng (Sapphic Fantasy Graphic Novel)
What Did You Eat Yesterday? Vol. 19 by Fumi Yoshinaga (M/M Manga)
Making Love with the Land: Essays by Joshua Whitehead (Indigiqueer Essays) (Audiobook Rerelease)
For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
It’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s, AKA the Week That Doesn’t Exist, and all I want to do is curl up on the couch and page lazily through some gorgeous artwork. So here are two queer coffee table books from 2022 that you should check out.
You Grow, Gurl!: Plant Kween’s Guide to Growing Your Garden by Christopher Griffin
You might already follow @PlantKween on Instagram, but this Black Queer nonbinary femme plant influencer now has a book! It’s the perfect choice for the queer plant parent, and it’s packed with hundreds of beautiful photos and illustrations, as well as helpful tips for developing your green thumb.
Paradise Camp by Yuki Kihara, edited by Natalie King
This is a fascinating book that is equal parts photography and history, challenging historical depictions of Pacific Islanders and dismantling colonial gender roles.
All the Links Fit to Click
92 of the Best Queer Books of 2022
Queer Women’s Lit Is Booming. #BookTok Could Be to Thank
Joshua Whithead’s Making Love with the Land is a Luminous Exploration of Queer Indigeneity
That’s it for me this week! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog, the Lesbrary. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.
Happy reading!
Danika