Pages of Pride| Reading List for LGBTQIA+
During this Pride Month, we have compiled a list of recommended books that will enhance your understanding of the subject and provide valuable insights.
Straight to Normal: My Life as a Gay Man
ABOUT THIS BOOK
‘God is the reason why I am who I am.
Nature is the reason why I am who I am.
I don’t want to die because of who I am.’
As a fifteen-year-old, Sharif D. Rangnekar could not fathom why he felt aroused watching men
dance in a Jermaine Jackson music video. He soon found the ‘answer’ in a book that told him
that this was just a phase and it would end once he got married. He almost did.
Straight to Normal is the autobiography of a gay man who had to battle bouts of confusion,
vulnerability, fear, dejection and depression and also unlearn the normative definition of lust, love and everything in between, in order to thwart the desire to kill himself and find a reason to live. Through the twists and turns of hate and affection, love and break-ups, violence and near peace, he finally finds the courage to speak for himself and others like him.
After several failed attempts to write this book due to the fear of the law and society, as a fifty year-old gay man who does not want to see a single person losing hope and life, Sharif has written his story where he describes how he gained an identity but lost a near lifetime, looking for love and companionship.
Through this book, he hopes that anyone who feels pressured to appear ‘straight’ finds the strength to be who they are.
equALLY: Stories by Friends of the Queer World
ABOUT THIS BOOK
A book to influence mindsets and motivate people to put humanity first, and live ‘equally’.
equALLY: Stories by Friends of the Queer World is a first-of-its-kind anthology of powerful personal stories by individuals who have stood up and spoken for the LGBT+ community, and created safe spaces at home, schools, colleges, workplaces, and in society. The book features 45 authentic stories of influencers, corporate leaders, parents, teachers, teenagers, and celebrates life experiences, perspectives, and sentiments of their journey to ‘allyship’.
Each tale in this book is an inspiration, a motivation, and a reminder that there are people across the country for whom the aspect of an individual’s identity and existence is imperative. Conveying their solidarity towards the LGBT+ community through their written experience of realisation and transformation into an Ally makes this more than just a book—it is a significant milestone on the path towards inclusion. Everyone has ‘ally’ stories to tell and we recognise that with each retelling, these stories create stronger connections, inclusion and bring about change. This is not just a book, but a movement!
QUEERSAPIEN
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Is queer ‘only’ about sexuality? or is it a state of existence?
In its truest form, nature is queer and queer is free. Nature is queer when water takes the form of oceans, lakes, rivers, rain, snow, steam, dew and every other avatar it chooses and expresses itself through. It’s queer when the soil takes the shape of a hill or a mountain or a ravine. Queer is when one tree doesn’t force another tree to become its clone, and every flower finds a place under the sun. Queerness lies in the consciousness that if left free, everyone becomes more rooted in their existence and stronger in their individuality.
Queersapien is neither an individual’s search for identity, nor is it a lamentation of societal prejudices. The book recognizes the fact that there are many ways to live. A queer mind sees itself as part of the extreme diversity nature offers. It is, therefore, aware that if we shed the veneers we wear and the blinkers we view life with, we’d know there isn’t a solitary kind of food or form to clothing, history, education and wisdom. There isn’t a singular structure to a family, a union or one way to love or one normal.
In what is a searing and raw reflection on life, media, neoliberalism, politics and the inner self,
Sharif D. Rangnekar, who identifies as a gay man, explores through lived experiences, the meanings of love, freedom, identity and dignity in a society where family, religion, caste and class dictate how we live our lives every day. This is a book that can’t be put in a thematic box, much like queerness. Becoming queersapien is not a revolution but an evolution of the self, a nation and its people.