12 Queer Books I've Read With My Book Club - Honest Personal and Club Impressions

Cantoras by Caro de Robertis

Five queer women in 1970s Uruguay find one another and claim space for themselves in an isolated beach hut, under a brutal military regime that criminalizes homosexuality.  Cantoras follows these women, their loves and their friendships over the following 35 years as they drift apart and come together again, and travel back and forth from the capital city to their secret sanctuary.  

Our book club was unanimous in our love for this novel. We were drawn in by the heartfelt emotions, the vivid window into another place and time, and the celebration of human resilience in the face of oppression. 

The Price of Salt, or Carol by Patricia Highsmith

This semi-autobiographical novel by the author of the Talented Mr. Ripley books was originally published in 1952 under a pseudonym, as Highsmith did not want to be tagged as "a lesbian-book writer."  The story follows Therese, a young shop clerk and aspiring set designer in New York City, who meets and begins a relationship with the older and more sophisticated Carol.  In 2015 Todd Haynes adapted the novel into the award-winning movie Carol starring Cate Blanchett in the title role and Rooney Mara as Therese.  

Our book club found endless material for discussion in this groundbreaking novel, which was revolutionary for its time because Highsmith didn't "punish" her protagonists for their love at a time when homosexual characters had to pay for their deviance. The themes of class, independence, and societal expectations still resonate today. (And yes, we all agreed the movie casting was absolutely perfect!)

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

This stunning beautiful debut novel by poet Ocean Vuong takes the form of a letter from a Vietnamese American son to his illiterate mother.  The gay protagonist, Little Dog, navigates his relationship with his abusive mother—who has her own traumatic back story—while exploring his own identity, sexuality, and place in America as a first-generation immigrant.

This book was divisive in my club. The non-linear narrative structure of this boundary-pushing novel was not for everyone, but those who liked it really loved it (ranking the novel as an all-time favorite). We all agreed that the poetic prose was beautiful. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

This novel was the first that many members of our club had written by a trans author, and boy was it a messy and exhilerating one!  When Ames (who has detransitioned) gets his boss pregnant, he proposes an unconventional solution: co-parenting with his trans ex-girlfriend Reese, who desperately wants to be a mother. 

I personally both loved and struggled with this one. What I enjoyed: intriguing, layered characters, snappy prose, pointed observations of NYC social scenes, refreshingly frank discussions of sex, and the exploration of vital themes—what it means to be a mother, a woman, class dynamics, and what it's like to exist as a trans woman today.

With the ambitious scope of the novel and the underrepresentation of trans voices in literature, I did feel that the author at times defaulted to telling rather than slowing, but the book still moved along at a page-turning clip. Ultimately I'm glad to have read this—and we had a fantastic book club discussion. 

All Fours by Miranda July

The work described by the New York Times as "the first great perimenopausal novel" was another divisive book club pick that provided a lot of fodder for discussion. Miranda July, the award-winning, multi-hyphenate author, filmmaker and artist takes the rough contours of her own life and transforms them into a boundary-pushing exploration of motherhood, female bodies, aging, marriage, and (bi)sexual awakening.  The protagonist, a semi-famous artist, embarks on a cross-country road trip but makes it only thirty minutes before pulling off the freeway, checking into a motel, and beginning to question everything about her life.

Is this novel an uproariously funny, frank depiction of midlife female desire, or a squirm-inducing, self-indulgent story about an unlikeable narcissist? Square off with your book club! (I'm personally in the former camp—July's fearless honesty about middle-aged women's inner lives felt revolutionary to me.)

Warning: sexually explicit and graphic content.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

This is an under-the-radar novel that my book club absolutely adored.  It's nominally a horror story, which is not our typical genre, but I would argue that it's truly genre-defying.  It's a book unlike any other books we have read.  The story of a grieving mother who grows her dead son's lung tissue into a human-like creature, Monstrilio, or M, is both terrifying and deeply moving, exploring themes of love, loss, and what it means to be human.

Many of the main characters in the novel are queer, including M, who as he matures discovers his own unique set of sexual desires and needs.  The book is told in turn from four different points of views as it traverses the globe from New York to Mexico City to Berlin and back, and is beautifully written.  There is some gore and violence, but it's never meant to be scary.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

This is a classic for a reason. Baldwin's prose is so masterful, and his exploration of desire, shame, and self-acceptance remains as powerful today as when the novel was first published in 1956. The story of an American man in Paris grappling with his sexuality and his relationship with Giovanni is both intimate and universal.   Everyone in my club enjoyed this book.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

Love love loved this one. It's a haunting coming-of-age story set in 1980s Glasgow, following a young gay boy trying to save his alcoholic mother. Yet it's ultimately hopeful, showing the resilience of love even in the darkest circumstances. Stuart's debut novel won the Booker Prize, and it's easy to see why.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

If Shuggie Bain ultimately offers hope, A Little Life rips your heart out and refuses to give it back. I don't think I've ever cried so much while reading a book. This 700-page epic follows four friends in New York City, centering on Jude, whose traumatic past gradually unfolds in devastating detail.

In recent years, the novel has sparked debate about whether it crosses the line into "trauma porn." While I was deeply moved by Yanagihara's exploration of friendship, love, and survival, I hesitate to recommend it without serious content warnings. It's emotionally brutal, and the length makes it a challenging book club pick. But for those who can handle its intensity, it's an unforgettable examination of how we carry our wounds and how love can persist even in the darkest circumstances.

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

This debut novel about a secret love affair between two men in 1980s communist Poland was enjoyable but not revelatory. The prose is beautiful and the historical setting interesting, but several of our members felt it didn't quite live up to the hype. Still worth reading for its portrayal of love under political oppression.

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

There's so much to unpack in this action-filled dystopian novel, including the tender relationship between the two female superstar gladiators, Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker.  In a brutal world in which incarcerated prisoners fight to the death as a form of televised entertainment, Thurwar and Staxxx's love and care for one another stands as a stark contrast to the violence, misogyny, racism and cold-blooded capitalism that surround them.  A novel that horrifies even as it entertains, Chain Gang All-Stars will get your book club talking.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel was inspired by and is dedicated to her friend and longtime lover Vita Sackville-West, a fellow member of the Bloomsbury Group. The novel chronicles the life story of Orlando, who is born a nobleman during the reign of Elizabeth I, mysteriously and suddenly changes sex around age 30, and then lives over 300 more years (into then modern times) without aging.

Groundbreaking in its depictions of gender norms, the novel is different in tone from much of Woolf's other work. It's in many ways a lighthearted farce, but also touches on her recurring themes of gender roles and dynamics. A few notes: this book is a product of its time and includes several racist passages. There is also a movie adaptation with Tilda Swinton starring in the title role, which I hear is excellent.