queer books you should read
and the titles I will be reading immediately
June is over, which means Pride Month has come to a very sad end. It looked like everyone had the gayest June ever, but I’m the most anti-social and homebodied person to exist (you’d think I'm a taurus, yet surprisingly I’m a libra), so I did absolutely nothing fun and dodged all parties. womp womp! One day I feel like I’ll have to start saying yes, but I was more interested in reading a ton and keeping to myself. Until then I thought I would share what’s on my mind in the queer literary world. I’ve spent the better part of the last year reading as much queer lit as I could and have subsequently sunk my teeth into some top tier, boundary pushing lit. I’ve been having to pick my jaw off the floor FREQUENTLY after experiencing these worlds that have been created and the tender, realistic view of queer relationships within them. Looking back at my reading history, queer yearning seems to be a theme and you know what… good! Queer yearning makes my mouth water and it’s just so fun not having a straight person in the center of the text.
So here we are sharing with you, my gorgeous substack subscribers, some of my favorite queer fic + non-fic that i’ve read and devoured and dreamt about as well as a list of titles I'm excited to read, expeditiously so.
First we’ll start with titles that i’ve read and will recommend to EVERYONE. I would like to clarify that I read a lot of trans and sapphic lit (sorry in advance if you were looking for Call Me By Your Name dupes — you’re in the wrong place), so the first part of this list are titles that I fell in love with personally. They may not be your jam, but I think everyone should be adding more trans narratives to their shelves and trying new things.
Then we will move on to titles that I have sitting on my shelf waiting to read or are sitting in my virtual carts ready to max out my credit cards. The list is long, but I condensed it as best I could for you.
So, let’s jump in Brats!!! A summer of queer reading is waiting for you.
queer books I think you should read:
The Argonauts — Maggie Nelson, a gorgeous long-form essay exploration of queer motherhood and life experiences with a transitioning partner. I read this book ages ago and I still have a specific paragraph forever engrained in my brain that brought me to tears. This book gave me a new perspective on birthing bodies and will forever be a perfect read for those that need help understanding the emotional waves of watching someone transition. This book made me unhealthily obsessed with Maggie Nelson and Harry Dodge as a duo.
Bellies — Nicola Dinan, a quick evolving relationship between Tom (cis) and Ming (trans) that turns sour after the two come to a crossroads in their queerness. This is a deep dive into the thoughts and patterns of a partner that can’t come to terms with the other’s transness. This story will stay with me forever, constantly making waves in my brain over cis/trans relationships and the amount of dedication, love, and patience it takes to be in one.
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl — Andrea Lowler, sexy and raunchy, yet tender and expansive. Lowler writes about a shape-shifting queer boy that actually likes to take the form of a girl for pleasure. It’s trans, it’s non-binary, it’s confusing, it’s the queer experience. A lot of this novel helps make sense of a confusing gender journey in a really fun way.
Valid — Chris Bergeron, if you know me personally you have heard me GUSH about this dystopian auto-fiction. With this novel we get an intimate monologue between Chris who, for safety, has de-transitioned and her AI captor. Through this monologue you are witnessing Chris seeking to lead the revolution that will corrupt the system. So much of this book seeks to prove that transness, even if silenced, will always exist.
Miss Major Speaks — Toshio Meronek with Miss Major, a gorgeous collection of interviews/conversations between Miss Major and her long time assistant Toshio. Through these conversations we get a real look into the life of a pioneering trans woman and a firsthand experience from stonewall and much much more. This is an extremely precious and rare piece of work and we must preserve it with all of our might.
Giovanni’s Room — James Baldwin, a well established queer classic! If you haven’t read this yet, you must. A story filled with heartbreak, yearning, moral failings and coming into queerness in an anti-queer world. Baldwin is a master.
Homebodies — Tembe Denton Hurst, detailing both the queer and black experience within media, work environments, and sticky lesbian relationships this book had me hoooked. Tembe cracks open what it means to be authentically yourself in spaces that don’t allow you that right. It’s messy, it’s sexy and it’s extremely enlightening.
Housemates — Emma Copley Eisenberg, or “The Great American Novel” according to Sam Cohen. This is THE queer book of 2024. This is the roadtrip novel queers have been needing. Dealing with various relationships ranging from housemates, sexual partners, body image and mentor/mentee power dynamics we get to see two characters evolve into themselves and each other while learning what it means to make art outside of an institution, create meaningful/lasting work, and reflect on confusing relationships that were kind of bad but kind of good. This might be my favorite book of 2024 so far and the intimacy in this book is palpable.
Women — Chloe Caldwell, if there ever was a book about queer yearning, it would be this one. My friend Nic told me I needed to read and i’m so happy I did. This is a short novella detailing the love affair of two women, the good, the bad, and the intimate of it all. I found myself like a voyeur salivating over their relationship and hurting deeply watching it all fall apart.
Old Enough — Haley Jacobson, while exploring what it means to be an SA survivor and also a queer woman, we get to experience the incredible story of Sav, who is navigating her queerness while also trying to figure out her feelings for her non-binary classmate. The character development in this story was delicious and that’s all i’ll say.
queer books I will be reading immediately:
*descriptions taken from online book sellers because clearly I haven’t read these yet
Family Meal — Bryan Washington, the ghost of Kai, the love of Cam's life, won't leave Cam alone. He follows Cam from LA back home to Houston, his visits wild, tender, and unpredictable. Searching for a way past all the wounds and secrets—a way to be okay together, maybe for the first time— the pair find hope and sustenance from the most unlikely source.
The Abyss — Fernando Vallejo, set in Columbia, Fernando, a writer, visits his brother Darío, who is dying of AIDS. Recounting their wild philandering and trying to come to terms with his beloved brother’s inevitable death, Fernando rants against the political forces that cause so much suffering.
The Late Americans — Brandon Taylor, in the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a loose circle of lovers and friends encounter, confront, and provoke one another in a volatile year of self-discovery. A novel of friendship and chosen family, The Late Americans asks fresh questions about love and sex, ambition and precarity, and about how human beings can bruise one another while trying to find themselves.
In Tongues — Thomas Grattan, a young gay man upends the lives of a powerful art-world couple in this steamy novel of self-discovery. Anchored by winsome lyricism, glinting intellect, and a main character whose yearnings and mistakes come to feel like our own.
Bad Habit — Alana S. Portero, another Nic rec — my hero! Anchored by the voice of its sweet and defiant narrator, Bad Habit casts a trans woman’s trying youth as a heartfelt odyssey. Raised in an animated yet impoverished blue-collar neighborhood the protagonist struggles to find her place. As the city around her changes from the heroin epidemic that ravages Madrid through the '80s and '90s, rallying calls of worker solidarity and the pulsing beat of the city's night scene, she becomes increasingly detached from the world and, most crucially, herself.
Ponyboy — Eliot Duncan, Ponyboy unravels in his Paris apartment. Cut to the bar. Cut to the back room. Ponyboy is strung out and struggling. He is falling into the widening chasm between who he is―trans, electrically so―and the blank canvas his girlfriend, Baby, wants him to be.
I Wish You All The Best — Mason Deaver, when Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.
Love and Money, Sex and Death — Mckenzie Wark, a transgender woman reflects on her late transition and coming out, trans politics and culture, motherhood and memory, in this provocative epistolary memoir. In letters to her childhood self, her mother, sister, and past lovers, she writes a backstory that enables her to live in the present.
How We Named The Stars — Andrés N. Ordorica, When Daniel de La Luna arrives as a scholarship student at an elite East Coast university, he bears the weight of his family’s hopes and dreams, and the burden of sharing his late uncle’s name. Daniel flounders at first―but then Sam, his roommate, changes everything. As their relationship evolves from brotherly banter to something more intimate, Daniel soon finds himself in love with a man who helps him see himself in a new light. But just as their relationship takes flight, Daniel is pulled away, first by Sam’s hesitation and then by a brutal turn of events that changes Daniel’s life forever.
Hombrecito — Santiago Jose Sanchez, a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant’s complex relationships with his mother and his motherland. Ducking in and out of bed with different men, he seeks out something, someone, to make him whole again.
And that’s that!! I hope you found one (or ten) new titles to add to your nightstand. I would love to hear what stood out to you, if you’ve read any, or have any recs for me because I am endlessly searching for the best queer lit. Happy Reading, gays! xoxo
🫶🏾 thank you for including homebodies!!
So many of my favourites from the last few years are on this list!!!! 🤗🤗