Reading the Rainbow Book Club is Dauphin County Library System’s monthly meetup for readers of books written by LGBTQ+ authors about LBGTQ+ characters, but it also defies definition. As member Matthew Neavling notes, the club’s reading list “is as diverse as its members.”

“We’ve read books that hit on aging, community, isolation, addiction, mental health, family, love, disability, and much more, through a lens of queer experience that motivates our discussions but never limits what we can take from them,” he Neavling said.

What are you reading?

I like to read anything I can get my hands on, from academic essays to indie fanfiction. I also like to read social criticism, queer theory, classic literature, poetry, historical fiction, horror, and — occasionally — a pulpy romance. I was really impressed by the scholarship in Out in Central Pennsylvania; The History of an LGBTQ Community, by William Burton with Barry Loveland. Burton unearths histories of LGBTQ life in Central Pennsylvania that predate what we consider the ‘modern’ movement, and reveals surprising stories of resilience.

Which Reading the Rainbow selections have made the strongest impression?

One of my favorites has been Punch Me Up To The Gods by Brian Broome. It’s the memoir of a Black gay man. As his story tells, coming out for many people is just the start of a life-long confrontation with yourself and with the social demands placed on you both by the ‘straight’ world and the ‘gay’ world. On the other side of the spectrum, we read Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, a fantasy sci-fi. In between its battles between giant robots and monsters, it features a surprisingly psychological story, dealing with issues of sexism, the role of the traditional family, and the politics of mass media. The ethics of the protagonist’s decisions stimulated a lot of interesting conversations.

What does The Library mean to you?

I started looking into programs offered by Dauphin County Library System as soon as I moved into the area. I wasn’t looking specifically for an LBGT-oriented offering, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Reading the Rainbow. Reading is a big part of my life, in particular reading books by and about queer people, so seeing an opportunity to share something that I consider not only a hobby but a way of looking at the world with other people — and with the support of a public institution – was exciting. I’m endlessly grateful to the people behind programs like Reading the Rainbow, the LGBT Center, and GLO for creating places for queer people in central Pennsylvania to look to for community, understanding, and acceptance.