Pride month is all about exploring yourself, looking beyond societal restraints, and owning who you are. The following recommendations prove the importance of finding and taking pride in who you are. Whoever you are — a himbo, heartbroken, shipwrecked, a fantasist, or simply sleep-deprived, every story matters and every voice counts.
For the whipped himbo
When it comes to Pride (in both senses of the word), no one does it more classically than the Greeks. Madeline Miller made a name for herself with her Iliad retelling, “The Song of Achilles,” which focuses on the lovers Achilles and Patroclus. While the story has been told many times in many ways, none have struck quite as sonorous a chord as this bittersweet rendition.
It was written from the perspective of Patroclus, who is far more relatable in his everyday ordinariness than his godlike lover, Achilles. Patroclus is a wallflower who is overlooked and forgotten by most, yet he embarks on a journey of love, friendship, passion and loyalty.
Even though it ends unhappily and even though your heart will burn after reading it, it’s simply a must-read. The story, as much for the wallflower as the whipped himbo, is for those who believe in doing what you feel is right regardless of the tragedies to come.
For the heartbroken
“Last Words from Montmartre” by Qiu Miaojin, a renowned lesbian author from Taiwan, was made famous for its material and the story surrounding its publication. The work is a 20-letter collection functioning as Qiu’s last note and a semi-autobiography. Published posthumously just a year after her passing, the plot remarkably mimics Qiu’s life, making it a sort of pseudo-autobiography. It explores the vulnerability of life as seen from between the cracks of society, in the search for “eternal, perfect love”.
The work doesn’t just push the bounds of genre — it obliterates them. If you read it only for the plot, you’ll miss the philosophical exploration; if you examine it purely as a cultural artifact, you’ll miss the bittersweet elegy typically seen in poetry.
The story begins with a nameless protagonist who morbidly obsesses over the death of a shared pet between her and her now-absent partner. It sets the fragile mood between melodrama and genuine vulnerability — a remarkable feat that ultimately paints the intimate portrait of the protagonist’s (as well as the author’s) life that crumbles around her.
The book is a psychological lament mimicking Qiu’s life in a warped fashion so that art and life blend dizzyingly together. The book’s protagonist ends her life in a fashion similar to how Qiu ended hers once the manuscript was finished. This book was written for those unafraid of tragedy, self-deprecating humor and honest self-reflection.
For the shipwrecked lover
Ocean Vuong’s “Night Sky with Exit Wounds” is a poetry collection that deeply explores personal themes while remaining accessible and entertaining. Work from this queer Vietnamese-American wordsmith is always poignant and passionate.
Like Miller, Vuong’s piece draws from the themes of classical Greece, but rather than tell an old story anew, Vuong wrote this four-part collection of poetry as a response to “The Odyssey”.
There’s little true narrative to follow — Vuong’s kaleidoscopic use of images and figurative language leaves a blurred impression of a scene in the mind’s eye. However, like Odysseus set adrift across the sea, surrender yourself to the journey and you will appreciate Vuong’s pieces for what they are.
“Trojan” is a keening song rising from the wounds of societal oppression. Intentionally smudging the boundaries between masculinity and femininity, Trojan is overwhelmingly chaotic and yet decisive as a striking blade.
In Vuong’s “Seventh Circle of Hell,” he speaks through Virgil as a protagonist, guiding his lover through the descending circles of hell until they both finally burn in the seventh circle.
Tragic, emotional and always genuine, Vuong speaks to the shipwreck in all our souls that constantly asks whether we are worthy in our barest of bones.
For the fairytale in you
Another retelling of a classic myth, “A Spindle Splintered” by Alix E. Harrow, is a modern take on Sleeping Beauty that examines fantasy with feminism and subverts tropes using sapphic tones.
The story begins in our world of modern-day Ohio with a terminally ill protagonist straight out of a Tim Burton movie. With the help of a mischievous fairy friend, she falls from our reality and into a dark fairytale. She’s plucky, determined and consistently macabre. We quickly root for her love story with the charming princess who destroys the trope of the helpless damsel.
Grim yet hopeful, this novella is barely over 100 pages. If you’re stuck between reads, this short story will jumpstart that reading habit and make you look at fairytales a little differently.
