Does quarantine have you bored out of your mind? Is your brain in need of some stimulation? Are your eyes sore from staring at a screen all day and night? Then it sounds like what you need is a good book! Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of 10 great LGBTQ novels to help queerify your quarantine as we ride this coronavirus out. Happy reading!
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
What happens when America’s First Son (of the first Latina female president) falls in love with the Prince of Wales? For starters, lots of sex, lots of DMs, lots of drama, and lots of tabloid fodder. Casey McQuiston’s bestselling gay rom-com is an outrageous escape. View on Amazon
This Town Sleeps by
Set on a reservation in far northern Minnesota, Native American writer Dennis E. Staples’ haunting debut chronicles the fraught romantic relationship between a gay Ojibwe man and his white, closeted high school classmate. View on Amazon
Cleanness by Garth Greenwall
Set in southern Europe, this deeply moving collection of stories follows a gay American teacher as he reflects upon a life transformed by love and loss, loneliness and regret, and redemption. View on Amazon
Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony
A closeted millennial Republican congressman planning his first reelection campaign receives a gigantic taxidermied aardvark in the mail. Need we say more? View on Amazon
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
This coming-of-age story charts a queer Black man in the Midwest who engages in an unexpected encounter with a classmate over the course of a late-summer weekend that has lasting repercussions on their sleepy university town. View on Amazon
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
the real-life love affair between two glamorous women, Suzanne Malherbe and Lucie Schwob, during the surrealist movement in Paris and the horrors of the world wars. View on Amazon
assionate, post-war love story between two young men in early 1980s Poland during the violent decline of communism. View on Amazon
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland
After stumbling upon long-lost love letters written between Carson McCullers and a woman named Annemarie, Jenn Shapland captures the life of the iconic author through a series of quirky, heartbreaking, hilarious, and deeply moving vignettes. View on Amazon
A queer Vietnamese-American man struggles to come to terms with traumas from his family history and find his place in a world that sees him as “other.” View on Amazon
Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey
A task force of LGBTQ volunteers are sent to “the most homophobic town in the US” to live and work in the community for two years in an earnest attempt to open hearts and minds, but no one is prepared for what happens next. View on Amazon
Related: 12 great queer memoirs to help pass the time
This article includes links that may result in a small affiliate share for purchased products, which helps support independent LGBTQ+ media.
Kangol2
A serious question: Dear Queerty, have you read any of these novels? Are these summaries cribbed from various online PR notes and Amazon reviews? I ask because one of these novels–not the one by Ocean Vuong, which is lyrical, has little plot, but is definitely worth spending time with–is so boring and slow that reading it was like watching paint dry. I won’t even comment about another one, but I am curious, who selects these books? You could select 10 classic LGBTQ novels, or mix things up, because there’s a rich trove of LGBTQ lit out there. Having said all that, thanks for the suggestion about reading, since now many of us have little to no excuse not to.
jayceecook
**PORTION OF COMMENT DELETED** MODERATORS NOTE: Attacking fellow readers or Queerty’s writers is against our policy. Is mean-spirited energy really what you want to be spreading right now?
So which book is the one you found atrocious? I’d like to avoid it if possible. Though some of these aren’t in my wheelhouse.
dm3080
These all sound like trite millennial garbage. Got anything that sounds exciting Queerty
Cam
So make some of your suggestions
BuddyinCA
The only one on the list that I’ve listened to is Red, White & Royal Blue. It’s actually very funny. I think all adults would enjoy it. It won a ton of awards. The humor is great as is the story. But, I highly recommend the audio version.
Cam
If anybody finds the list too short, or not in your wheelhouse. Post some of your suggestions here.
I stayed away from some of the obvious (Giovanni’s Room, Brokeback Mountain, Maurice)
Some older classics
Tales of the City
The Front Runner
At Swim Two Boys
Stone Butch Blues
Beach reading
Glamourpuss
Cut and Run
Fantasy/Sci Fi
Hero
The Song of Achilles
Dark Space
john.k
I’ve read one of Armistead Maupin’s books. The only other one on your list that I have read is Glamourpuss. I enjoyed it hugely. At the time it was written AIDS was rampant and many gay themed books were very “angsty”. Glamourpuss was funny and upbeat.
jimontp
I’d like to agree with you about “At Swim two boys” an absolute classic, by Jamie O’Neil. Don’t let the Irish slang of the first 80 pages put you off, you’ll get into it.
Some other classics- virtually anything by Alan Hollinghurst, especially The Swimming Pool Library and Line of Beauty, the first gay novel to win the the Booker prize (also made into a two part BBC film). Christopher Isherwood, who wrote the Berlin stories which became Cabaret, also wrote A Single Man, also made into a great film. For murder mystery fans, Joseph Hansen was the first great writer in the field, and Michael Nava wrote another series of mysteries. I just finished Leading Men, a “novel/memoir” of Tennessee Williams, in which Williams is Not the only leading man. While we are all isolated at home, read good gay novels.
timothyjaysmith
Beach reading:
The Fourth Courier — currently a finalist for Best Gay Mystery in the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards
edfu
Probably the funniest gay novel ever:
“Blue Heaven” by Joe Keenan
(Keenan was the Executive Producer of “Frasier.”)
Skip
Big queer sci-fi fan here; Dark Space is new to me. Several sci-fi books by that title on Amazon. Which are you recommending?
johnson02118
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is beautiful, poetic, and thought provoking.
timothyjaysmith
I’m looking forward to reading it.
Robert-in-Seattle
Just one to add to your Sci-Fi/Fantasy would be CHROME by B-listed actor of the 50s and 60s, George Nader, who was gay. His nephew is actor, Dex Dexter, in the original DYNASTY!
jayceecook
For people recommending books please do everybody a favor and include the author and if it’s part of a series or just a single book. So many books out there with the same titles that it makes it hard to find the correct one. Thank you.
Skip
Dark Space, by Lisa Henry. The six-volume space opera, Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott doesn’t seem to have any gay elements, none mentioned by Goodreads reviews at any rate. Love multi-volume space operas – wish this one had the queer content (just like the 8- [-9?] volume series The Expanse didn’t).