Your Official Reading List of the Best LGBTQIA+ Books Ever

The Great Believers weaves the stories of a Chicago art gallery assistant who loses his friend (and soon everything he knows) to the 1980s AIDS epidemic and his friend’s sister, who grapples with her own loss 30 years later in Paris.

What happens when a detransitioned man discovers that he’s expecting a baby with his girlfriend (who also happens to be his boss)? He recruits his trans ex-girlfriend to help them raise the baby as an unconventional family unit, of course—and that’s exactly what happens in this laugh-out-loud debut.

Here Comes the Sun follows two sisters in Jamaica, the older one of the two hustling at an opulent resort in Montego Bay while hiding her secret preference for women and the younger one sent to school and surviving on her older sister’s profits.

In this v charming debut, high schooler Ben comes out to their parents as nonbinary…and they respond by forcing Ben to move in with their estranged sister and transfer high schools halfway through senior year. Luckily, a charismatic guy named Nathan befriends Ben, and it isn’t long before sparks are flying.

This book-turned-film (featuring everyone’s fave, Timothée Chalamet) is a beautiful love story centered around the blossoming relationship between young Elio and his father’s graduate student assistant, Oliver. With the northern Italian countryside as a backdrop to their summer romance, it’s hard not to feel the butterflies.

David Santos Donaldson’s debut is a quirky novel-within-a-novel following a young queer writer in Brooklyn as he attempts to finish his masterpiece—which tells the story of Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. M. Forster—before his publisher’s deadline.

The Color Purple is a classic. Told through a series of painfully honest letters, the story follows Celie, a woman who lives in poverty and has experienced physical and sexual abuse at the hand of her father, and later her husband, all while exploring her sexuality.

In Amy Feltman’s second novel, a neurodivergent single father and his nonbinary teen find their routine turned upside down when Morgan’s mysterious, magnetic mother—who left them years earlier—suddenly reappears in their life after being dumped by her girlfriend.

Like a Love Story takes place in 1989 New York City, following three teens—a closeted Iranian immigrant, an aspiring fashion designer, and an openly gay photographer—who find themselves in a love triangle that threatens all of their bonds.

In poetic prose, Ocean Vuong writes a letter to his mother who cannot read. He paints a portrait of his family with roots in Vietnam and war, talks through his feelings about being the son of Vietnamese immigrants, and shares intimate stories about his first love and heartbreaking losses.

If you’re a sucker for star-crossed lovers, then you’ll be destroyed by this tearjerker, which follows the forbidden romance between two teenage girls in Iran and the lengths they go to in order to stay together after an arranged marriage threatens to tear them apart.

Felix Ever After tells the sweet and moving story of a transgender teen coming to terms with self-discovery while also falling in love for the first time. Ya, you’ll wanna keep the tissues handy for this one.

Amy Bloom’s White Houses is a fictionalized retelling of the romantic relationship developed (and hidden) between Eleanor Roosevelt and “first friend” Lorena Hickok, an openly gay reporter who took a job in the Roosevelt administration.

With his mother as President of the United States of America, Alex Claremont-Diaz also becomes a notable public figure. But with all eyes on him, his feud and physical altercation with British Prince Henry becomes a scandal that doesn’t exactly bode well for their countries’ relations. Both parties settle on a staged truce, which unfolds as an Instagrammable friendship…and then way more than that.

Inspired by Nigerian folk tales, Under the Udala Trees tells the story of a young woman who comes of age during the Nigerian Civil War, understanding at once that she is attracted to women and that she will more than likely have to hide this fact of her identity as Nigeria recovers from the effects of war.

Southermost explores the aftermath of a destructive flood in a small Tennessee town and the evangelical priest who opens his home to two gay men, forcing him to question his past, his prejudices, and everything he once held true.

Emme Lund’s magical, allegorical debut is all about Owen, a boy who spends his life hidden away due to the chatty bird named Gail living in his chest. But when he’s forced to flee home to live with his uncle and cousin, he finds a family who not only accepts the bird in his chest, but embraces every part of him fully. There, Owen learns how to live fully and openly.

Set in 1954 Chinatown, Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows queer teen Lily as she discovers a lesbian bar where anything seem possible, even while Red-Scare paranoia threatens her family and everything she holds dear.

Joseph Cassara’s The House of Impossible Beauties takes place in 1980s New York City during the burgeoning Harlem ball scene, and tells the story of 17-year-old Angel, who escapes her traumatic past by entering the world of drag.

Legendary author Akwaeke Emezi’s latest novel is an achingly tender romance following a young bisexual artist who—five years after losing the love of her life in an accident—decides she’s ready to get back into the dating scene. However, her new relationship is made complicated by the fact that she can’t stop thinking about her boyfriend’s dad. Enter: literally all the spice and drama.

In this sweet debut, a closeted Bangladeshi Irish teen is determined to hide her queerness from her family, but that mission becomes increasingly challenging when her childhood best friend comes back into her life, igniting a new crush.

Told in a series of vignettes, this debut follows an unnamed bisexual Palestinian-American woman as she struggles to find her place in the world. She travels through New York City, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, and even a treatment center, and along the way, she meets new lovers and learns new things about herself.

16-year-old Simon Spier hasn’t told any of his friends or family that he’s gay. But once he finds someone else on his high school’s confession website who also identifies as gay, he decides to email them under the guise Jacques. He unexpectedly falls in love with someone he’s never met, but also risks being outed when his e-mails get into the wrong hands.

This incredible coming-of-age novel revolves around Kalki, a blue-skinned Indian boy believed to be a human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu—and while he initially buys into the mythology, disillusionment sets in, and eventually, he moves to America to explore his sexuality and form his own identity.

In this Hollywood rom-com with a twist, a starlet makes her assistant Emma laugh at a joke on the red carpet, but when the moment is caught on camera, the gossip mill immediately assumes they’re in a relationship. The more time they spend together—first as colleagues, then as friends—they begin to wonder if the rumors weren’t so wrong after all.

After her parents die in a car crash, Cameron Post is forced to move in with her conservative aunt and grandmother who live in Montana. She unexpectedly forms an intimate friendship with Coley, which Cam hopes will turn into something more. But when Aunt Ruth finds out about Cam’s secret, she attempts to “fix” her by sending her to a “treatment center.”

This hilarious memoir revolves around Edgar, a Florida-born gay man with Nicaraguan and Puerto Rican roots who was forced to come of age in the ultimate anti-gay space: his uncle’s cockfighting ring in Nicaragua, where he was sent at 13 to “become a man.”

When Mateo and Rufus both receive a call telling them they’re going to die today, they’re total strangers to each other—but thanks to an app called the Last Friend, they meet up for one last epic day on Earth together.

This deeply personal memoir tells the story of Jacob Tobia, who since they were a child raised in North Carolina identified both with their masculine and feminine side. Their femininity led people to label them a “sissy,” a term Jacob reclaimed as a source of pride rather than shame.

In Little & Lion, a teen named Suzette flies from her New England boarding school home to LA, where her stepbrother is struggling with bipolar disorder and in love with a girl—who happens to be the same girl Suzette finds herself falling for.

Sarah Waters’ first novel takes place in late 19th-century England, telling the story of an inexperienced young oyster girl who falls for music hall phenomenon and famed male impersonator Kitty Butler, eventually following her to London.

Garrard Conley grew up as the son of a Baptist pastor in a small town in Arkansas. At 19, his family discovered he was conflicted about his sexuality, and entered him into an institutionalized program. Garrard emerges from the torturous journey stronger, and more determined than ever to search for his true self.

Middlesex tells the story of Calliope Helen Stephanides and the journey of the Greek-American Stephanides bloodline—from a tiny Greek village with a view of Mount Olympus to suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Calliope explores her family history and unearths her kin’s secrets in order to ultimately discover what set her apart from other girls, and turned her from Callie to Cal.

When Claude tells his family that he wants to be a girl, his parents support his dreams, but try to protect him from the rest of the world by keeping it all a secret. Of course, this “secret” was never meant to be hidden forever.

Author Arthur Less is approaching his 50th birthday when he decides to go on a literary tour to avoid attending the wedding of his ex-boyfriend Freddy, who he dated for 15 years. While he travels from country to country, he encounters new people, new obstacles, and experiences that trigger old memories, and ultimately he turns the trip into a quest for true love.

This romantic comedy follows 28-year-old Kentucky-raised Katie Daniels, who has just been dumped by her art curator fiancé. She agrees to get drinks with self-assured native New Yorker Cassidy Price, whom she met at work. They form a solid friendship that makes Katie begin to question everything she thought she knew about sex and relationships.

Juliet decides to come out to her Puerto Rican family the night before she flies to Oregon for an internship with her favorite author, Harlowe Brisbane. Her coming out is a disaster, and she isn’t sure her mother will ever speak to her again. She seeks the advice of Harlowe, thinking that she’d know what to do, but when she realizes that her idol doesn’t have all the answers, she has to figure it out on her own.

Kafka is a 15-year-old boy who decides to flee his home in Tokyo for the seaside city of Takamatsu because of his father’s abusive behavior. Before he leaves, his father curses him to an oedipal fate, and his path eventually leads him to a mysterious old man named Nakata, who is drawn to Kafka for reasons he doesn’t understand.

In this moving novel, a trans teen starts a new life at a new school, where she starts falling for sweet, easygoing Grant. However, the closer the two get, the more Amanda fears letting him in, as she’s afraid he won’t accept her if he knows the truth.

It’s 1993. Paul Polydoris is a queer theory student by day, and a bartender at his university’s only gay bar by night. He’s also a shapeshifter, meaning he can morph his body and gender as he pleases. He crosses the country on a journey to find love and pleasure, encountering struggles along the way.

In Milk Fed, a 20-something lapsed Jewish woman becomes deeply obsessed with calorie restriction and food rituals, though all that changes when she meets an Orthodox Jewish woman working at a frozen yogurt shop, who develops a nurturing and very sexy bond with Rachel.

Codi Teller is a 17-year-old who spends the majority of her time watching Netflix in the basement with her best friends, Martiza and JaKory…until they decide to crash a very ~cool~ party. Codi is super skeptical, because she’s not sure she’ll fit in with the straight kids, until she spots a guy named Ricky kissing another dude in the dark. And so begins an amazing new friendship.

Inspired by the life of artist Tamara de Lempicka, The Last Nude takes place in 1927 Paris, following the love affair between a young Italian-American runaway named Rafaela and a wealthy aspiring painter, who convinces Rafaela to serve as her muse.

When two teenage loners—an angry teen with a brother in prison and an annoying know-it-all—meet at a swimming pool, they initially decide they have nothing in common, but it isn’t long before they develop a bond that changes both of their lives.

In her memoir, Carmen Maria Machado recounts her harrowing experience with an abusive girlfriend through multiple genres and forms, working to explore both the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships.

This modern-day Grease tells the story of young Ollie, who has a blissful summer fling with the dreamy Will Tavares. But when summer ends, Will stops replying to his texts. As fate would have it, the two meet each other again after a family emergency forces Ollie to move across the country and enroll in a new school—Will’s school, Collinswood High. Cue all the drama.