In addition to being a fabulous and influential activist and voice for the LGBTQ+ community, Jacob Tobia is also a lover of all things books. Learn what our March Guest Editor reads now – we dare you to not be inspired by Jacob’s picks.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
This novel is everything, and then some. It needs to be taught in every high school in the United States.
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg is a feminist masterwork and I wish I could’ve met Leslie Feinberg when ze was alive.
Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights by Eric Marcus
In a world that often seeks to erase the contributions of queer and trans people, Eric Marcus documents bravely and movingly that we are an indelible part of history. When I first read it at the age of 16, this book changed my life.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
A post-modern, poststructuralist nightmare, the footnotes of this book are a novel unto themselves.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
This book is earth-shattering in its vulnerability, its frankness and its candor. Roxane shares her experience as a bisexual woman of size in the most human of ways, but with a boldness that’s tough to put your finger on. What I love most about this book is that Roxane gives herself permission to ache on the page without providing remedy or hopeful conclusion. Too often, memoirists are pressured to “wrap things up,” to “keep things light,” to do the emotional labor of soothing their audience after divulging their pain. It strikes me as radical and profound that in Hunger Roxane refuses to do those things. I want to write a book like Hunger one day.
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