This was a bit of a surprise, but I was tagged by Alex at MyBookWorld24 in the Pride Flag Book Tag. It looks like this was originally started by Common Spence, however I don’t know if they are still posting. Still, I wanted to give credit to the original creator. I also made a banner since I couldn’t find an official one. Hope that was okay!
Here’s the rules of the tag: for each of the meanings of the colors in the Pride flag, select one book that you feel embodies that the most. It doesn’t specify whether those books need to be LGBTQIA+, but that’s what I did, just to keep in the spirit of the tag. This also proved to me that I need to read way more LGBTQIA+ books. Anyway, here we go!
Red (Life) – A book with a spirited protagonist totally proud of who they are. Someone who gives you LIFE!
For this, I’m going with Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. If anyone has read this, you know who I’m talking about – Tiny Cooper! He is loud, proud and unapologetically himself.
Will Grayson meets Will Grayson. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers are about to cross paths. From that moment on, their world will collide and lives intertwine.
It’s not that far from Evanston to Naperville, but Chicago suburbanites Will Grayson and Will Grayson might as well live on different planets. When fate delivers them both to the same surprising crossroads, the Will Graysons find their lives overlapping and hurtling in new and unexpected directions. With a push from friends new and old – including the massive, and massively fabulous, Tiny Cooper, offensive lineman and musical theater auteur extraordinaire – Will and Will begin building toward respective romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most awesome high school musical.
Orange (Healing) – A book that made you, as the reader, find a deeper meaning or catharsis in your own life.
For this, I’m choosing The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. This is such a beautiful coming-of-age story about friendship and, while those friendships can change over time, it doesn’t mean that they disappear. They just become different, and that’s okay.
Their friendship went so far back, it bordered on the Biblical — in the beginning, there was Nina and Avery and Mel. So says high school senior Nina Bermudez about herself and her two best friends, nicknamed “The Bermudez Triangle” by a jealous wannabe back on Nina’s eleventh birthday. But the threesome faces their first separation when Nina goes away the summer before their senior year. And in ten short weeks, everything changes. Nina returns home bursting with stories about Steve, the quirky yet adorable eco-warrior she fell for hard while away. But when she asks her best friends about their summer romances, an awkward silence follows. Nina soon learns the shocking truth when she sees Mel and Avery…kissing. Their friendship is rocked by what feels like the ultimate challenge. But it’s only the beginning of a sometimes painful, sometimes funny, always gripping journey as three girls discover who they are and what they really want.
Yellow (Sunshine) – A book that fills you with so much joy it could brighten even your darkest day.
For this, I’m choosing The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. It’s just such a beautiful book. Found family, learning to accept those who are different, and a middle aged love story. It’s just so sweet!
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
Green (Nature) – A book that is set out of this world — a reality different to our own.
Cheating a little on this one, as the book is technically set in our world, but a different version of it. The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. Magnus Bane is one of my favorite fantasy characters, definitely my favorite out of the characters in the various Shadowhunters series by Clare. This is a compilation of short stories featuring just Magnus himself and it is so fun.
Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices can get to know warlock Magnus Bane like never before in this collection of New York Times bestselling tales, in print for the first time with an exclusive new story and illustrated material.
This collection of eleven short stories illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality, flamboyant style, and sharp wit populate the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices.
Originally released one-by-one as e-only short stories by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan, this compilation presents all ten together in print for the first time and includes a never-before-seen eleventh tale, as well as new illustrated material.
Blue (Peace) – A book where one of the characters finds peace with a difficult truth.
For this, I’m choosing Murder at the Nightwood Bar by Katherine V. Forrest. I was actually assigned this book as part of my women’s studies literature class in college and it has stuck with me this long. This is part of a series surrounding Kate Delafield, a LAPD homicide detective who also happens to be a lesbian. The case in this book is pretty grisly and, while I don’t think Kate completely finds peace with everything that happened (it would be difficult, I think, given what she does for a living), finding the truth is very important to her.
Dory Quillin, nineteen-years old, her white-blonde hair ruffled by the gentle breezes of a June evening, lies dead in the parking lot of a lesbian bar. Her bewildered silver-blue eyes stare beseechingly into the mind and soul of the woman who kneels beside her: LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield.
The investigation is far from a simple matter. Kate uncovers shocking facts about the brief life of the murdered young lesbian. She finds her road to the killer obstructed by Dory’s uncooperative, judgmental parents, the waning interest of her own partner, and most frustrating of all, the open hostility of women who should be her allies―the lesbians who frequent the Nightwood Bar. Kate’s emotional equilibrium is further disturbed by her powerful attraction to one of those women, the enigmatic Andrea Ross.
Who killed Dory Quillin? And why? Accompany Kate Delafield on her electrifying, emotional journey to the answer, an answer you will never forget.
Purple (Spirit) – A book that deals with LGBT+ themes and religion.
This is another one that I’m cheating on slightly, as I don’t think I’ve read any books that dealt with LGBTQ themes and religion. So I’m going with A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. One of the characters, Felicity, is definitely trying to figure out her sexuality, while also dealing with a lot of other issues. While religion isn’t specifically mentioned, this series is set in a girls’ boarding school in England in the late 1800s, where they do spend time going to chapel. Being gay would definitely be heavily frowned upon in society, especially since Felicity has a fairly high status given her family, and I don’t think it a stretch that there would be religious implications there as well.
It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?
So there’s my list! Thank you to Alex once again for the tag. I’m not going to tag anyone specific to join in, but please feel free to do so if you’d like and link it in the comments. Happy Pride Month!
Categories: Challenges, Drabbles
Life With No Plot 
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