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Books like Close to the Knives
A raw, scathing, and sublimely humorous collection of essays that serves as a fierce personal testimony of queer survival and artistic defiance. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Close to the Knives.
- raw
- defiant
- intense
- unflinching
- 01
How to Survive a Plague
David France
An urgent, intimately reported chronicle of the fierce defiance and grassroots science that fought back against a devastating epidemic.
- 02
American Savage
Dan Savage
A fiery, foul-mouthed, and fiercely intelligent romp through the battlegrounds of modern American culture and queer identity.
- 03
Widow Basquiat
Jennifer Clement
An intimate, atmospheric immersion into an avant-garde artistic partnership and the shared life that bloomed within it.
- 04
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Andy Warhol
A sensational, voyeuristic plunge into the private lives and glittering secrets of the rich and famous.
- 05
The lonely city
Olivia Laing
A nocturnal wander through the lives of marginalized artists that transforms the ache of urban isolation into a profound sense of shared humanity.
- 06
Sissy
Jacob Tobia
A funny, deeply moving exploration of growing up outside the gender binary that balances heartache with abundant joy.
- 07
How We Fight For Our Lives
Saeed Jones
A haunting, beautifully poetic coming-of-age memoir that explores the fierce sacrifices required to forge a Black, queer identity.
- 08
Holding the man
Timothy Conigrave · 1995
An intimate, heart-wrenching memoir that captures the enduring power of love in the shadow of a devastating epidemic.
- 09
Redefining realness
Janet Mock
An intimate, unflinching, and ultimately triumphant journey of claiming one's truth and bodily autonomy against all odds.
- 10
Gay New York
George Chauncey · 1994
A revelatory stroll through the bustling, defiant, and surprisingly visible queer subcultures of early twentieth-century Manhattan.
- 11
A list of things that didn't kill me
Jason Schmidt
A darkly witty and brutally honest memoir about surviving a chaotic, secretive childhood and searching for a moral compass in the wreckage.
- 12
Running with Scissors
Augusten Burroughs
A hilariously horrifying plunge into a childhood where the adults are the lunatics and survival requires a razor-sharp sense of irony.
