10 LGBTQ+ Novels to Read This Month

Over the past couple years I’ve enjoyed reading and engaging with books that feature LGBTQ+ characters, plots, and speak to/about the gay community. Here are just a few which have stuck with me:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

• I loved Vuong’s amazing use of language. This is a coming-of-age novel that I recommend to anyone looking to understand the Asian American experience through a queer lens.

Edinburgh by Alexander Chee

• This novel is heartbreaking, tender, and truly powerful in its use of metaphors and language. I cried multiple times reading Edinburg, but it’s worth it.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

• Greenwell is an expert at culling beautiful and emotionally charged moments between the narrator and Mitko. Can’t recommend this one enough.

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

• Chang’s language is poetic, metaphorical, and structurally unique.  Every moment is awe-inspiring.

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

• While much of Capote’s fame comes from In Cold Blood, I found Other Voices, Other Rooms groundbreaking in its boldness on gay characters when it was published at the time.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima

• I loved the way Mishima gets inside the mind of the narrator, his feelings of another boy, and the way it unravels. The voice was its main draw to me.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

• Miller is able to take a well-known Greek myth and show its queer contexts. Lovely read and there are some wonderfully tender moments.

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

• I loved the movie as well as the novel, and while Aciman had initially written the novel without a gay bend, it’s still a beautiful story.

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

• The relationships and tensions Taylor creates is unparalleled and fascinating within the context of a university gay community.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

• This novel is devastating, brilliant, and powerful. I don’t want to spoil or warp perception, so all I’ll say is it has changed me as a person.