Summer Book Bingo: Recommendations from Charlie’s Queer Books
June 24, 2024
2024 Summer Book Bingo, our free summer reading program with The Seattle Public Library, is in full swing! Download your card here. Start your summer reading now and if you get a bingo or blackout, you can enter for a chance to win fantastic prizes. Connect with other Book Bingo readers by using the hashtag #BookBingoNW2024 on social media.
Have you ever wanted to fill your Summer Book Bingo board entirely with queer authors? If you answered yes to that question, Charlie’s Queer Books has got you covered! Owner Charlie Hunts has compiled a list of book titles to inspire your summer reading.
By Charlie Hunts, Owner
Summer Book Bingo has a very special place in our hearts here at Charlie’s. It was our very first social media campaign and our first experience partnering with Seattle institutions like Seattle Arts & Lectures and The Seattle Public Library. Our store only existed online and as a humble disco-tiled book cart carried around the city in the back of my Subaru (as if I could get any gayer). We discovered so many new titles by challenging ourselves to fill every square of the bingo card with authors who identify as queer.
Now, only one year later, we have a pink and purple storefront in Fremont and back to bring you queer recommendations for your bingo card!
- In Translation: Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed, Lie With Me by Philippe Besson, Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada, Tentacle by Rita Indiana
- SAL Speaker: Be a Revolution by Ijeoma Oluo, Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Korean American by Eric Kim, Poet Warrior by Joy Harjo
- Queer Joy: Sissy by Jacob Tobia, Gender Magic by Rae McDaniel, Hola Papi by John Paul Brammer, Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
- Something that Scares You: Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle, Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke, Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
- Body Liberation: The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor, Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder, Decolonizing the Body by Kelsey Blackwell
- Suggested by an Indie Bookstore: The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, Thunder Song by Sasha LaPointe
- Short Story Collection: Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, Love After the End by Joshua Whitehead, 100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell
- Environmental: Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler, How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
- Sky Creatures: Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
- Friendship: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, Outlawed by Anna North, The Other Significant Others by Rhaina Cohen, Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis
- Suggested by a Library Worker: Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco, Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni, Open Throat by Henry Hoke
- Fantastical: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas, The Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
- Retelling: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa, Our Hideous Progeny by C E McGill, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
- Young Adult: Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes, We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
- Queer Poetry/Essays: There Are Trans People Here by H. Melt , Post Colonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, Funeral Diva by Pamela Sneed, Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
- BIPOC Romance: D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins, I’m So Not Over You by Kosoko Jackson, Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun (YA) by Jonny Garza Villa, Meet Cute Diary (YA) by Emery Lee
- Housing/Poverty Justice: Into the Light (YA) by Mark Oshiro; Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States by Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock; The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan; Queering Urbanism: Insurgent Spaces in the Fight for Justice by Stathis G. Yeros
- Black Art/Artists: Art on My Mind by Bell Hooks; Revolution is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation by Qween Jean, Joela Rivera, and Mikelle Street; Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic by Eugenie Tsai, Connie H. Choi, and Insoo Cho; Wrong Is Not My Name: Notes on (Black) Art by Erica N. Cardwell
- Cozy: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers; Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree; Can’t Spell Treason without Tea by Rebecca Thorne; Goblin Mode: How to Get Zoy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck by McKayla Coyle
- One Big Book (400+ pages): The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisen, Hild by Nicola Griffith, Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth, The Third Person by Emma Grove
- Refugee/Immigrant Memoir: Under the Udala Trees by Chiinelo Okparanta; Greenland by David Santos Donaldson; A Dutiful Boy: A Memoir of Secrets, Lies and Family Love by Moshin Zaidi; Love is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar
- Read in the Sun: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, The Guncle by Steven Rowely, That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey, Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
Follow along with Charlie’s Queer Books on Instagram or at charliesqueerbooks.com.
Thank you, Charlie!