Queer Stories

1. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin — A classic about desire, identity, and shame

2. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters — An emotionally charged novel about gender, parenting, and what it means to build a queer family when life doesn’t go as planned.

3. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo — A gorgeously written sapphic coming-of-age story set in 1950s San Francisco’s Chinatown.

4. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston — The son of the U.S. president falls for a British prince in this charming, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

5. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw — Short stories that explore the hidden desires and complex inner lives of Black, queer women within and beyond religious expectations.

6. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong — A letter from a son to his mother becomes a stunning meditation on language, love, trauma, and queer identity.

7. Nevada by Imogen Binnie — A trans novel following a punky narrator on a chaotic cross-country trip to confront herself and the world around her.

8. The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes — A funny debut about a queer Mexican-American teen navigating identity, faith, and first love in a Catholic school.

9. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield — A story of love, loss, and grief told through the lens of a woman whose wife returns from a deep-sea mission… changed.