SCPL Reads: HIV/AIDS Awareness Week

A definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic, written by the creator of and inspired by the seminal documentary of the same name, also shares the poignant stories of gay activists who resolved to make their life battles purposeful.

Her world upended by the death of a beloved artist uncle who was the only person who understood her, fourteen-year-old June is mailed a teapot by her uncle's grieving friend, with whom June forges a poignant relationship.

Simone, seventeen, HIV-positive and in love for the first time, decides that facing potential bullies head-on may be better than protecting her secret.

The story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.

Pete Crighton came of age in 1980s Toronto, haunted by the fear of being outed and the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Music became his refuge. Avoiding sex, he built a vast music library and pursued “safe” relationships—until his 40s, when he embraced his queer identity. The Vinyl Diaries chronicles his mid-life sexual awakening, with each encounter soundtracked by artists like Kate Bush, Prince, and The Smiths. Honest and unapologetic, it’s a memoir of desire, music, and self-discovery.

In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.

Benjamin is a gay immigrant and working-class musician living in Toronto. One weekend, he is sexually assaulted by a stranger. As a fledgling freelance worker without health insurance, the drugs that Benjamin needs to avoid HIV infection after his assault are not easily accessible. He is pushed to his limit while trying to scrape together the funds for his treatment before time runs out.

The late tennis champion and social activist tells his story from his career as a black tennis player to his battle against AIDS.

A young Philadelphia lawyer with AIDS is the victim of irrational fear of the disease and fights back in the courts where even his own attorney is phobic.

A novel set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris follows the director of a Chicago art gallery and a woman looking for her estranged daughter in Paris who both struggle to come to terms with the ways AIDS has affected their lives.

God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985 and Death is swinging the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, two couples, one gay and one straight, navigate the AIDS epidemic and societal upheaval, culminating in a sprawling narrative about change, love, and the search for meaning.