YA LGBT Books discussion

I'm back here again, trying to figure out what I can do to make this group useful to the members. Participation, even in the picture polls, is really low. Almost nothing on the books of the month. Few reads on the stories.

So clearly, it's not serving a useful purpose to most members.


Is there anything you do want this group to do? Anything that would bring you here that we can set up or arrange?

If you have ideas (and better yet, would help with them) let me know here please.

I like the book recommendations, even if I don't comment!

Sorry for being rubbish at interaction! I do appreciate what you do.

Diane wrote: "I like the book recommendations, even if I don't comment!"

Does that include the book of the month voting, or mainly the recommendation threads?

I do like the book of the month voting and the writing prompts. I have to admit that I get so wrapped up in the day to day details of life that I simply forget about participation until the next month rolls around and the process starts anew. Which is no excuse. I'll make an effort to participate more in future. In addition to the writing prompts, perhaps we can allow writers to post excepts from works in progress for feedback and suggestions from members.

Gene wrote: "I do like the book of the month voting and the writing prompts. I have to admit that I get so wrapped up in the day to day details of life that I simply forget about participation until the next mo..."

That's a fun idea - I'll see what I can set up.

I am not at all certain of the modern teen preferences for interactions (far too old) :D

Would teens here prefer to interact through polls?
Prefer photos?
Want to work on writing?
Want to vote on topics versus specific books?
Want to vote on topics AND specific books?
Specific types of characters?

I love the book recommendations and already read them, but I normally forget to join discussions on here (my fault for sure) - I just wish Goodreads updated the userface to be more friendly, if they did this I feel engagement would be so much higher! 😔😀

Perhaps many members, like me, join this group because we are interested in learning about YA LGBT literature. Getting familiar with this specific genre geared toward YA is useful for me as I might be able to recommend "good" YA LGBT literature to this demographic. As an older adult, I am not in this demographic. Another suggestion is to clearly label the literary products as lesbian, gay, etc. Better yet, if the one recommending them knows beforehand to which audience they are intended, it will be useful. I am particularly interested in perusing titles in the gay genre.

Hoong wrote: "Perhaps many members, like me, join this group because we are interested in learning about YA LGBT literature. Getting familiar with this specific genre geared toward YA is useful for me as I might..."

One option is to check the recommendation thread for different types of books.
You can find gay books here:
Favorite books with gay rep: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

Library list recommendations - this includes specifically gay books - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


Go to the bookshelf
https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

You can try cruising down the "gay" shelf - there are 629 books listed here, and if you look at the "shelves" column, for each one, you can see added info about what topics they contain - https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

some of my favorites with gay MCs
Vivaldi in the Dark by Matthew J Metzger
The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg
Private by Matthew J Metzger
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Elephant Shoe by JS Edge
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Jordan vs. All the Boys by John Goode
A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelly York
Up! (Free novella) by Al Stewart and Claire Davis (or their "Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace" or Nobody's Butterfly)
Foxes (angsty) by Suki Fleet
Looking for Group by Alexis Hall
Knight Errant by KD Sarge
Trailer Trash (angsty) by Marie Sexton
Tales From Foster High by John Goode
Silent by Sara Alva
Know Not Why by Hannah Johnson
How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by JC Lillis
"Chulito" by Charles Rice-González (A little sex, good POC characters)
"The Black Flamingo" by Dean Atta
"Boy Shattered" by Eli Easton
"Like Real People Do" by EL Massey
"Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun" by Jonny Garza Villa
(and definitely Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman )

One option is to check the recommendation thread for different types of books.
You can find gay books here:..."
@Kaje, Thank you for the pointers. I also belong to a gay fiction & nonfiction group, which has a recommended book section where most of the titles are for adults, not likely suitable for recommending to exploring teens.
Searching for "gay genre" fiction and nonfiction is not intuitive on this platform, but I am impressed and grateful that you have managed to find and share hidden lists within it. Meanwhile, I still maintain that we should consider labelling the suggested titles with "lesbian", "gay", "trans", etc. LGBTQAI is extremely broad and not useful to members like me.

Hoong wrote: "One option is to check the recommendation thread for different types of books.
You can find gay books here:..."
@Kaje, Thank you for the pointers. I also belong to a gay fiction & nonfiction group,..."

What suggested titles are you talking about?

If you mean the books of the month, each one does have the blurb posted in the opening post so you can check them out in detail, but yes, then if we keep doing those, I could put at least some of the labels in the thread title when I post it.

Here's another list - this one from Goodreads listopia rather than the group - Best Gay Novels for Young Adults - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

could put at least some of the labels in the thread title when I post it.
Yes, please indicate the label in the thread title. The blurbs are helpful, too.

Many thanks for considering my humble request.

I've been bad at participating but I have made it a personal goal to start replying to the discussions on the book of the month threads. I think it's partially my fault because I read the books but then I'll often forget to add some comments to the discussion. But I definitely want to be better about that since there have been some good books picked

kate wrote: "I've been bad at participating but I have made it a personal goal to start replying to the discussions on the book of the month threads. I think it's partially my fault because I read the books but..."

<3 Thank you. I'm glad if you find the book of the month a useful reading guide.