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36 Best LGBT Books of All Time


Our goal: Find the best LGBT books according to the internet (not just one random person's opinion).

    Here's what we did:
  1. Type "best lgbt books" into our search engine and study the top 5+ pages.
  2. Add only the books mentioned 2+ times.
  3. Rank the results neatly for you here! 😊
    (It was a lot of work. But hey! That's why we're here, right?)

(Updated 2024)

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Last Updated: Monday 1 Jan, 2024

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  1. 1
    Giovanni's Room

    Giovanni's Room

    James Baldwin

  2. MOST RECOMMENDED!
    2
    A Little Life

    A Little Life

    Hanya Yanagihara

  3. 3
    The Color Purple

    The Color Purple

    Alice Walker

  4. 4
    Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
  5. 5
    Detransition, Baby
  6. 6
    Rubyfruit Jungle
  7. 8
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
  8. 9
    Call Me by Your Name
  9. 10
    A Brief History of Seven Killings
  10. 11
    On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  11. 12
    Middlesex

    Middlesex

    A Novel

    Jeffrey Eugenides

  12. 13
    The Hours

    The Hours

    A Novel

    Michael Cunningham

  13. 14
    With Teeth

    With Teeth

    A Novel

    Kristen Arnett

  14. 15
    Radical Hope
  15. 16
    The Guncle

    The Guncle

    Steven Rowley

  16. 17
    Fun Home
  17. 18
    The Price of Salt

    The Price of Salt

    Patricia Highsmith

  18. 20
    Tales of the City

    Tales of the City

    A Novel

    Armistead Maupin

  19. 21
    Boy Erased

    Boy Erased

    A Memoir

    Garrard Conley

  20. 22
    Some Girls Do

    Some Girls Do

    Jennifer Dugan

  21. 23
    Maurice

    Maurice

    E. M. Forster

  22. 24
    Orlando

    Orlando

    A Biography

    Virginia Woolf

  23. 25
    Black Girl, Call Home
  24. 26
    Under the Udala Trees

    Under the Udala Trees

    Chinelo Okparanta

  25. 27
    In At The Deep End
  26. 28
    The Line of Beauty

    The Line of Beauty

    A Novel

    Alan Hollinghurst

  27. 30
    Sissy
  28. 32
    City of Night

    City of Night

    John Rechy

  29. 34
    All My Mother's Lovers
  30. 35
    Death in Venice

    Death in Venice

    Thomas Mann

FAQ

  • How was this LGBT books list created?

    We searched for 'best LGBT books', found the top 5 articles, took every book mentioned in 2+ articles, and averaged their rankings.

  • How many LGBT books are in this list?

    There are 36 books in this list.

  • Why did you create this LGBT books list?

    We wanted to gather the most accurate list of LGBT books on the internet.

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