https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/archives/617
DENVER – The Over the Rainbow committee of ALA’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) considered 223 books, with a wide range of diversity among topics and coming from both first-time and established authors. From these we carefully examined all of the titles; 122 in the catergory of literature and 101 in nonfiction. After much reading and deliberation, we chose 39 titles in the category of literature and 42 in non-fiction to be included in the complete 2018 Over the Rainbow list. This year, due to the increase in GLBT publishing, we are presenting two top ten lists one for non-fiction, and one for literature.
This year, the titles were more varied in terms of cultural diversity, and genres such as mystery and romance. The stories told were a mix of histories, memoir, academic, and popular books, presenting viewpoints across the gender spectrum – gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, and trans lives. Themes were wide and varied, from current issues, such as practice in teaching, coming out, hidden history, civil rights, HIV/AIDS, grief, and research that uncovered and reclaimed history from the nineteenth century until the twenty-first century.
The top 12 titles in the category of literature are:
The Angel of History. Rabih Alameddine. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016.
Christadora. Tim Murphy. Grove, 2017
Everything is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person. Daniel Zomparelli. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017.
Long Black Veil. Jennifer Finney Boylan. Crown Publishing (Penguin Random House), 2017.
Marriage of a Thousand Lies. Sindu, SJ. Soho, 2017.
My Cat Yugoslavia. Statovci, Pajtim, translated by David Hackston.Pantheon, 2017.
No One Can Pronounce My Name. Rakesh Satyal. Picador, 2017.
Notes of a Crocodile. Qiu Miaojin. New York Review Books, 2017.
Ruin of a Rake. Cat Sebastian. Avon Impulse, 2017.
Seven Suspects. Renee James. Oceanview, 2017.
This Is How It Always Is. Laurie Frankel. Flatiron Books, 2017.
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. Chen Chen. BOA Editions Ltd., 2017.
The top 11 titles in non-fiction are:
The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker with drawings by Éric Liberge and text by Arnaud Delalande. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016.
Doll Parts. Amanda Lepore and Thomas Flannery. Regan Arts, 2017.
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York. Donald Albrecht. Skira Rizzoli, 2016.
Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Me. Bill Hayes. Bloomsbury USA, 2017.
Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray. Rosalind Rosenberg. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Logical Family: A Memoir. Armistead Maupin. Harper, 2017.
Making My Pitch: A Woman’s Baseball Odyssey. Ila Jane Borders & Jean Hastings Ardell. Univ of Nebraska Press, 2017.
The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir. Ariel Levy. Random House, 2017.
Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me. Janet Mock. Atria Books, 2017.
Tomboy Survival Guide. Ivan E. Coyote. Arsenal Pulp, 2016.
When We Rise: My Life in the Movement. Cleve Jones. Hachette Books, 2016.
