Get ready to add to your ever-growing TBR (we're sorry!) because Gays Reading is kicking off the new series What Are You Reading?. On this episode, host Jason Blitman talks to Sarah Dickinson, host of Sarah's Bookshelves Live, about some of the books she's been reading recently. 

Sarah’s Bookshelves Live is a weekly book podcast featuring real talk about books and recommendations from a featured bookish guest.

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Host Jason Blitman talks to 2025 Kirkus and National Book Award longlisted author Angela Flournoy about her newest book, THE WILDERNESS. 

Highlights include:
🪣 Angela's bucket list   
🗓️ the 10 year journey of writing this book
🎃 The Candy Corn Community
🤫 secret family recipes 
🍽️ "group of 7" dinner party guests

Jason is then joined by Guest Gay Reader™️ Rickey Laurentiis, who was ALSO just longlisted for the National Book Award for her book, DEATH OF THE FIRST IDEA. Make sure to stick around to hear Rickey read one of her poems. 

Angela Flournoy is the author of The Turner House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, an Indie Next pick, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, and she has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Flournoy has taught at the University of Iowa, Princeton University, and UCLA. She lives in New York.

Rickey Laurentiis is the author of Boy with Thorn, which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the Levis Reading Prize. Laurentiis is the recipient of fellowships from the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP), the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, among others. Her poems have appeared in The New Republic, BOMB, and poets.org. A 2018 Whiting Award winner, she lives in New Orleans.

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Host Jason Blitman talks to Eliana Ramage about her debut novel, TO THE MOON AND BACK, this month’s Reese’s Book Club pick. 

Highlights include:
💭 many childhood ambitions
📚 Reading Rainbow contest trauma
🌈 the intersection of queerness and Cherokeeness
🧜🏻‍♀️ comparisons to The Little Mermaid

Jason is then joined by Guest Gay Reader™️ M.L. Rio, who shares what she’s been reading, gives Shakespeare beginner recommendations, and talks about her new book, HOT WAX.

Eliana Ramage holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has been a Lambda Literary fellow and writer-in-residence, a Harpo Foundation Native American Residency Fellow at Vermont Studio Center, a Tin House Scholar, and a Kimmel Harding Nelson resident. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she lives in Nashville with her family.

M.L. Rio has been an actor, a bookseller, an academic, and a music writer. She holds an MA in Shakespeare studies and a PhD in English literature. She is the author of the internationally bestselling novel If We Were Villains, the USA TODAY bestselling novella Graveyard Shift, and Hot Wax. She never stays in one place for long, but keeps her books, records, and four-legged sidekick in south Philadelphia.

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In this *spoiler free* conversation, host Jason Blitman talks to author Alejandro Varela, about his book MIDDLE SPOON, the October Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora.

MIDDLE SPOON unpacks what happens when you’ve got the husband, the kids, the bougie life… AND you’re going through a breakup with your boyfriend. Provocative, witty, and deeply human—this one’s not afraid to challenge the so-called “rules” of love.

Alejandro Varela’s debut novel, The Town of Babylon, was a finalist for the National Book Award. His short story collection, The People Who Report More Stress, was one of Publishers Weekly’s best works of fiction in 2023, a finalist for the International Latino Book Awards, and longlisted for the Aspen Literary Prize, the Story Prize, and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Varela is an editor-at-large of Apogee Journal, holds a master’s degree in public health, and is based in New York.

What do you get when you join the Gays Reading Book Club?

• Curated book delivered monthly to your door (at a discount!) – the books we’d call “accessibly literary”
• 30% Off Allstora’s website
• Access to the book club “Kiki” to talk about the books
• Exclusive author Q&As
• Allstora donates a children’s book to an LGBTQIA+ youth
• This club exclusively supports LGBTQIA+ authors
• And more!

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BOOK CLUB!
Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE
December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

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Get ready to add to your ever-growing TBR (we're sorry!) because Gays Reading is kicking off the new series What Are You Reading?. On this episode, Jason talks to the host of Bookends, the CBC's literary podcast, Mattea Roach, to learn about what they've been reading recently.

About Bookends: the CBC's literary podcast
When the book ends, the conversation begins. Mattea Roach speaks with writers who have something to say about their work, the world and our place in it. You’ll always walk away with big questions to ponder and new books to read.

Support the show

BOOK CLUB!
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December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

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Host Jason Blitman talks to Patrick Ryan about his new novel, Buckeye, which is this month’s Read with Jenna Book Club selection. They talk about writing inspirations, father-son relationships, and Ryan's love for pinball. Jason is then joined by Guest Gay Reader, Rabih Alameddine (The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)) his perspective on dealing with trauma, devotion, and forgiveness.

Patrick Ryan is the author of the novel Buckeye. He is also the author of the story collections The Dream Life of Astronauts (named one of the Best Books of the Year by the St. Louis Times-Dispatch, LitHub, Refinery 29, and Electric Literature, and longlisted for The Story Prize) and Send Me. His work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, the anthology Tales of Two Cities, and elsewhere. The former associate editor of Granta, he is the editor of the literary magazine One Story and lives in New York City.

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels The Wrong End of the Telescope; Angel of History; An Unnecessary Woman; The Hakawati; I, the Divine; Koolaids; the story collection, The Perv; and one work of nonfiction, Comforting Myths. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He received the Dos Passos Prize in 2019 and a Lannan Award in 2021.

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BOOK CLUB!
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December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

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Host Jason Blitman kicks off season 5 with political leader and author Stacey Abrams discussing her latest legal thriller, Coded Justice, the role of AI in healthcare, and what it means to be a professional troublemaker. Later, Jason is joined by Dan Pelosi, beloved for his culinary adventures on Instagram as @grossypelosi, who chats about his new cookbook Let's Party.

STACEY ABRAMS is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and political leader. She served as Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, and she was the first black woman to become gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history.  Abrams has launched multiple nonprofit organizations devoted to democracy protection, voting rights, and effective public policy. She has also co-founded successful companies, including a financial services firm, an energy and infrastructure consulting firm, and the media company, Sage Works Productions, Inc.

DAN PELOSI is the Italian meatball making meatballs behind GrossyPelosi, the popular Instagram favorite for all things comfort and food. Approachable and tasty, Dan’s recipes are meant to be shared and celebrated with the ones you love. Dan’s first cookbook, Let’s Eat, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and his Big Italian Sandwich Puzzle is the first-ever deli sandwich jigsaw puzzle (as far as he knows!). Dan is a contributor to New York Times Cooking. He splits his time between Brooklyn and upstate New York, but you can always find him online at @grossypelosi.

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December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

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THE SUNFLOWER BOYS by Sam Wachman is a terrific debut that delivers exactly the kind of deeply necessary storytelling we need right now. Sam crafts a profoundly moving narrative that tackles urgent contemporary themes with sensitivity and power—yes, it takes place at the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, but it's so much more than that. 

In this *spoiler free* conversation, Sam shares inspiration for the novel, details about the writing process, and much more. 

Sam Wachman is a writer from Cambridge, Massachusetts with Ukrainian roots. His short fiction has appeared in Sonora Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, and New England Review. Before writing The Sunflower Boys, he taught English to primary schoolers in central Ukraine and worked with refugee families in Europe and the United States. 

What do you get when you join the Gays Reading Book Club?

• Curated book delivered monthly to your door (at a discount!) – the books we’d call “accessibly literary”

• 30% Off Allstora’s website

• Access to the book club “Kiki” to talk about the books

• Exclusive author Q&As

• Allstora donates a children’s book to an LGBTQIA+ youth

• This club exclusively supports LGBTQIA+ authors!

• And more!

Support the show

BOOK CLUB!
Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE
December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

SUBSTACK!
https://gaysreading.substack.com/

MERCH!
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In the season finale of Gays Reading, host Jason Blitman reconnects with author and former college classmate J.R. Dawson to discuss her new novel, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World. Their conversation explores the book's themes of grief, memory, and navigating life's inevitable transitions—while also diving into debates about ketchup, Chicago-style pizza, and music in their first chat in fifteen years. Later, Jason welcomes Guest Gay Reader Jonathan Capehart, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Yet Here I Am, who opens up about his lifelong relationship with books and reading.

J.R. Dawson (she/they) is the Golden Crown award-winning author of The First Bright Thing. Her shorter works can be found in places such as F&SF, Lightspeed, and Rich Horton's Year's Best. Dawson currently lives in Minnesota with her loving wife. She teaches at Drexel University's MFA program for Creative Writing, and fills her free time with keeping her three chaotic dogs out of trouble.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart is a co-host of the morning edition of The Weekend on MSNBC. From 2020 until 2025, he was anchor of The Saturday Show and The Sunday Show on MSNBC. Capehart is Associate Editor at the Washington Post, where he is also an opinion writer. He is also an analyst on The PBS News Hour. Capehart was deputy editorial page editor of the New York Daily News (2002-2004) and served on its editorial board (1993-2000). His editorial campaign in 1999 to save the Apollo Theater earned the board the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing. His memoir Yet Here I Am was published in May 2025.

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Host Jason Blitman talks to Brad Summerville, aka @bradboughtabook on Instagram in this pseudo-bonus episode. They discuss their current reads, ranging from queer sci-fi fantasy to heartwarming romances and engrossing crime fiction. Jason and Brad delve into their tastes in books, the influence of nineties romcoms on contemporary queer literature, and the complexities of writing male-male romance. 

Support the show

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December Book: Like Family by Erin O. White

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