Edward Cahill
[isbn]
This historical novel captures the complexities of life as a gay man living in New York City in the early 1960s. In part a romance, in part a mystery, Disorderly Men is a thrilling and infuriating, but ultimately hopeful, read.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Bryan Washington
[isbn]
Bryan Washington's Lot and Memorial were two of my favorite queer fiction books of the past five years. I've also loved the food writing Washington's done. Family Meal combines his interests by telling the story of two queer friends examining their history and figuring out their future, while working side by side at a family bakery.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Justin Torres
[isbn]
Blackouts, the long-awaited second book from Justin Torres, uses words and images to attempt to recover and illuminate stories of queer people living in the 20th century. Blackouts doesn't give its secrets away easily, or for free. Torres demands your time and focus, and earns your respect and awe. This is an experimental and moving book, sure to be read and reread in the years to come.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Aaron Smith
[isbn]
Simultaneously campy and serious, Aaron Smith's poems capture his experiences and perspective as a gay man. Stop Lying, his fifth collection, is perhaps his best yet — a tender and nuanced revisiting of his relationship with his dying mother, especially his complicated response to her lifelong rejection of his queerness.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Hannah Sullivan
[isbn]
Hannah Sullivan's debut, Three Poems, was a revelation — a funny, urbane voice addressing modern life and love through intelligent and unforgettable verse. Was It for This, her follow-up book, is somehow even better — a hybrid work of prose and poetry that expands her vision to examine motherhood, memory, and mortality.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
DeShawn Charles Winslow
[isbn]
Set in the 1970s, De'Shawn Charles Winslow's Decent People is in part a murder mystery, as well as an exposé of the racism and homophobia that divide and connect the residents of the small North Carolina town of West Mills. Winslow is a perceptive and empathetic writer who doesn't shy away from examining nuanced relationships, and Decent People is a thrilling and complex novel.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Maggie Millner
[isbn]
In Couplets, Maggie Millner has written a highly structured, accessible book about the fluidity and restraint of relationships and sexuality. These rhyming couplets interspersed with prose meditations thrilled me. I've never read a book quite like this one before.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Tom Crewe
[isbn]
In his debut novel, Tom Crewe brings 19th century London to life through the story of two men collaborating on a book that defends homosexuality. The New Life documents a time of great social and sexual upheaval, and is a thrilling read!
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Cormac McCarthy
[isbn]
In his first novel in 16 years, Cormac McCarthy returns with The Passenger — a surprising and propulsive story of a man, his sister, a plane crash, and many more mysteries to unravel. This late career masterpiece from McCarthy demands your full attention, and rewards it mightily.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
George Saunders
[isbn]
George Saunders makes a triumphant return to the short story form in Liberation Day. These nine stories revisit the quirky language of his early collections, and in them Saunders continues to find ways to uncover emotionally resonant moments in extremely unusual situations.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Andrew Sean Greer
[isbn]
In this worthy follow-up to Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer Prize–winning Less, we again follow Arthur Less on a journey of self-discovery, this time on a road trip through the United States. Less is Lost is a witty, poignant, and often hilarious book.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Nick Drnaso
[isbn]
In Acting Class, Nick Drnaso applies his distinctive visual style and singular perspective on modern life to a group of strangers who meet for a series of acting classes. Through their surprising and sometimes surreal experiences, new lessons are learned about truth, performance, and human connection.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Ted Chiang
[isbn]
For over 30 years, Seattleite Ted Chiang has slowly and steadily been writing emotionally intelligent, speculative short stories. He’s not a quick writer, or a prolific one. He’s published just 18 stories in that time. But what incredible stories they are. (Sci-Fi award committees agree: Chiang’s won four Hugos and four Nebulas.) Exhalation is Chiang’s second collection, and though it was only published a few years ago, these nine... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Casey Parks
[isbn]
In Diary of a Misfit, Casey Parks blends research and memoir to tell a complex story of queerness in her childhood, family, and hometown. Part mystery, part journalism, part personal history — Diary of a Misfit tells an important story about identity and belonging.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Jack Lowery
[isbn]
The past few years have seen some excellent books published that revisit ACT-UP's work during the AIDS crisis in the early 90s (see Sarah Schulman's Let the Record Show). It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful focuses specifically on Gran Fury, an affiliate group of artists in ACT-UP, their successes and failures, their iconic images and interpersonal struggles. Jack Lowery has written an eminently readable and ultimately inspiring... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Ada Calhoun
[isbn]
I picked this book up because, like Ada Calhoun, and her father, Peter Schjeldahl, I love Frank O'Hara's poems. As I hoped and expected it would, Also a Poet delivered wonderful anecdotes about O'Hara and his milieu that I hadn't previously heard. I was surprised and delighted to be just as invested in Calhoun's focus on her complex relationship with her father, writing, gender, and art. Also a Poet charmed and moved me. I'll be... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
David Trinidad
[isbn]
In his newest book, David Trinidad uses his well-established (and gossipy) poetic style to revisit his childhood in southern California, his family history, and his decades-long career as a poet. Digging to Wonderland is highly indebted to Joe Brainard's I Remember, and is a worthy heir to it.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Frank O'Hara
[isbn]
Lines of this collection from Frank O'Hara bubble up into my brain almost daily as I make my way around the city, visiting record stores, riding the MAX, and finding other reasons to not totally regret life. I can't really imagine living without these poems, and I'm glad I don't have to.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Carl Phillips
[isbn]
Every new collection from Carl Phillips is a reason to celebrate! Then the War is a hybrid book: both a complete collection of new poems, and selections from the past fifteen years of his work, including the entirety of his chapbook, Star Map with Action Figures, and an extended prose piece called "Among the Trees." If you've never read Carl Phillips, this book is an excellent entry point, and if you're a fan, well, you already... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Frank Bruni
[isbn]
As we age, our bodies often fail us in ways that can be surprising, frustrating, and scary. In The Beauty of Dusk, Frank Bruni describes how the loss of sight in one eye changed his perspective on life. This is a touching and wise memoir that entertained and moved me.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Anthony Marra
[isbn]
Anthony Marra's second novel is an epic tale of reinvention. Cinematic in scope, theme, and structure, Mercury Pictures Presents tells the stories of immigrants and refugees from Europe and Asia that converge in Los Angeles in the early 1940s. I was captivated by Marra's deft plotting and loved getting to know these flawed but very human characters as they navigated their families, careers, and romantic relationships.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Elif Batuman
[isbn]
Selin, our narrator from Elif Batuman's first novel, The Idiot, returns in Either/Or, and I couldn't be happier! Either/Or captures the excitement and confusion of Selin's sophomore year at Harvard, as she attempts to find out what it means to live the life of an artist while also navigating complicated friendships, family drama, and new sexual experiences. Batuman's already solid reputation as an astute observer of the... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Chloe Cooper Jones
[isbn]
Chloe Cooper Jones continually makes incisive observations about the world, her relationships, and herself. By the time I was halfway through reading Easy Beauty, I started telling everyone I knew how I excited I was about her writing. She mixes philosophy, memoir, music, sports and travel writing in service of exploring her own experiences with gender, race, and disability. Easy Beauty acknowledges pain and discomfort, but... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Jennifer Egan
[isbn]
In her newest book, Jennifer Egan imagines a future where — among other scientific innovations — people are able to upload their memories to the cloud and revisit them, as well as view other people's memories and thoughts like hyper-realistic movies. Reading The Candy House felt like living in this (very plausible) future. As the book progresses, we see situations and characters familiar to us from earlier stories, or from Egan's... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Julie Otsuka
[isbn]
In The Swimmers, Julie Otsuka captures the anxiety and stress that so many people experience from living in this precarious modern age. She then shows how unexpected cracks in our protective layers can destabilize our lives, and our relationships. The Swimmers surprised me, unsettled me, and moved me with its portraits of mothers and daughters, aging, memory, and love.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Emily St. John Mandel
[isbn]
Emily St. John Mandel's Sea of Tranquility really surprised me. Like so many other people, I read and loved Station Eleven, but I wasn't prepared for the sparse poetic style of her new novel. I read this in one afternoon a couple months ago, and haven't been able to get it out of my mind since.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Andrew Holleran
[isbn]
In his first book of fiction in 16 years, Andrew Holleran documents the life of an aging gay man, whom readers will recognize from his earlier novels. As the protagonist observes modern life continue around him, he imagines his future, and remembers his past. Holleran is a masterful novelist, and this book cements his place as one of the great writers of our time.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Lee Cole
[isbn]
In Groundskeeping, Lee Cole illuminates the building terror of living in America in 2016, the thrill of embarking on life as an artist, the tenderness of new love, the inevitable grief of aging and changing families. So rarely can an author balance all these concerns in a single book, and even more rarely is that book a debut novel.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Antoine Wilson
[isbn]
I loved this suspenseful novel, these mysterious characters. Antoine Wilson has created a situation worthy of Hitchcock, or of Highsmith. Mouth to Mouth asks if we can ever know the truth about those we love, or indeed, ourselves.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Joshua Clover
[isbn]
What a great introduction to a new series! I read this in the same 24-hour period during which I watched the new Todd Haynes-directed Velvet Underground documentary, and what an excellent pairing they made for each other. I loved Joshua Clover's poetic style and exciting observations about Roadrunner. The book took surprising turns (Cornershop, M.I.A.) that now look inevitable in the rearview mirror. I will gladly read any and every book in this... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Hanya Yanagihara
[isbn]
In To Paradise, Hanya Yanagihara takes themes from her previous novels — queerness, family, shame, love — and revisits them in this expansive story that spans 200 years, from an alternate past into a terrifyingly possible future. No matter the time period, her characters look desperately at their ordinary surroundings, and then take extraordinary risks in hopes of securing a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Douglas Stuart
[isbn]
In Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart continues his project of documenting working-class Scottish life in the late 20th century. While alcoholism, homophobia, and violence are all very present in Mungo's world, so is the possibility of escape into a time and place where his developing attraction to other boys can be accepted. Young Mungo is suspenseful and heartbreaking, hopeful and tender, and a worthy follow-up to Shuggie... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Jonathan Franzen
[isbn]
If you've never read Jonathan Franzen's fiction, you may be surprised by how insightful and moving Crossroads is. If you're a fan, you'll see a new humbleness and empathy in his writing that makes this story of a family in crisis in the early 1970s Franzen's best book yet.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Randall Kenan
[isbn]
If I Had Two Wings marked Randall Kenan's triumphant return to fiction, 28 years after his previous collection. Tragically, Kenan passed away less than a month after publication, leaving his readers to treasure all the more these stories of primarily Queer, Black characters living in the American South.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Patrick Nathan
[isbn]
In this powerful work of cultural criticism, Patrick Nathan explores the myriad insidious connections between Fascism, politics, identity, art, and photography. Through surprising and insightful discussions of social media, memes, gifs, films, and literature, Image Control encourages us to watch the world carefully and actively, instead of only looking passively at images and propaganda. Nathan is a thrilling writer and thinker, and... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Sarah M. Broom
[isbn]
In The Yellow House, Sarah M. Broom recounts her family history and life in New Orleans by shifting the focus from the French Quarter to New Orleans East in general, and her mother’s house in particular. She highlights a part of the city usually omitted from guide books, and struggles to keep its story from being washed away by rising tides of inequality and storm surges of shame. This incredible memoir is a necessary and compelling... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
John Elizabeth Stintzi
[isbn]
Vanishing Monuments follows Alani, a nonbinary artist, as they visit their childhood home in Winnipeg because their mother’s dementia worsens. Stintzi explores themes of love and distance, art and memory, and examines why we can take extreme measures to escape our birthplaces and birth families, how we can be pulled back to our roots, and what we may discover about ourselves should we decide to return.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Maggie Doherty
[isbn]
A well-researched group biography of five women and their experiences at Radcliffe's Institute for Independent Study. These writers and visual artists all struggled to balance society's expectations of women with their own artistic and personal goals, and through their friendships and collaborations helped guide and inspire women for years to come.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Molly Wizenberg
[isbn]
Memoirist and food writer Molly Wizenberg has been married to the same man for nearly a decade, and has always thought of herself as a straight person, when a chance encounter at jury duty (of all places) develops into a crush. Deeper feelings soon emerge — feelings she is unwilling to dismiss and unable to ignore. This insightful memoir follows Molly as she realizes that gender, sexuality, and love are much more fluid and expansive than she’d... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Olivia Laing
[isbn]
In this collection of essays, Olivia Laing generously shares her influences and enthusiasms. By reading about the lives and work of these varied visual artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers, we join Laing in celebrating art that opens doors and dismantles walls. She suggests new ways of seeing that focus on seeking pleasure, as a way to repair our relationship with a broken world. Laing invites all of us in, and says, “Yes. You are welcome... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Lauren Redniss
[isbn]
Oak Flat, a sacred place for the Apache people, is the focus of this new book from MacArthur Fellow Lauren Redniss. Through a combination of research and reportage, art and science, Redniss bears witness to the Apache people’s struggle to preserve their culture in the face of an ever-increasing demand for the copper buried beneath Oak Flat.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Jordan Kisner
[isbn]
Jordan Kisner has an engaging writing style, and distinctive voice and background, which drew me in on the first page. I loved the mix of personal history and research she brought to the book. A great read for anyone interested in a new perspective on religion, race, sexuality, and science, and the myriad ways those subjects intersect.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Douglas Stuart
[isbn]
Set in working-class Glasgow in the 1980s, Shuggie Bain tells the story of Agnes Bain and her three children. In it, we watch closely as a loving family is shattered by poverty and addiction over the course of a decade. I cared deeply about these characters, in particular her youngest son, Shuggie, whose burgeoning sexuality is an additional barrier to acceptance by an uncaring government. Douglas Stuart has written an incredible debut... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Mark Doty
[isbn]
Blending memoir, cultural criticism, and close readings of Walt Whitman's writings, Mark Doty uses his considerable skill as a poet to trace the streams of Whitman's influence to their sources, and shows how Whitman continues to live in us today.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Carter Sickels
[isbn]
In 1982, 18-year-old Brian left his Appalachian Ohio home, and moved to New York City, where he found community, friendship, and love. Six years later, Brian's new community has been thrown into crisis by the AIDS epidemic. After Brian's own diagnosis, and the death of many of his friends and his lover, Brian moves back home in hopes of reconciling with his family. Both Brian's mother and his younger sister help narrate this novel of a rural... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Douglas Crase
[isbn]
Thanks to this long overdue reissue from Nightboat Books (perhaps my current favorite publisher), I read more books by Douglas Crase than any other author in 2019. Enthusiasts of John Ashbery and Lorine Niedecker, take note: this book is not to be missed!
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Garth Greenwell
[isbn]
Cleanness is a powerful, musical book, and Greenwell's themes of sex, shame, and self-acceptance develop across its nine sections. Each sentence is carefully crafted; each punctuation mark is perfectly placed. Cleanness shines like a gem, and cuts like one too.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Jamel Brinkley
[isbn]
This moving debut collection illuminates the lives of a generation of young black men in gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx. As these nine stories move in time from the 1990s to the present, we watch as characters attempt to make connections and survive in a rapidly changing world.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Caleb Crain
[isbn]
I loved all the characters in Caleb Crain's Overthrow, and how the narrators bounced between them, while keeping the plot moving forward. Poetry, history, law, and queerness intermingle — all things that get me excited about a book. Not since I read Ben Lerner’s 10:04 have I felt like a novel captured the fraught relationships between humans and technology in late capitalism. I love a big novel with social concerns. If Henry... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Alexander Chee
[isbn]
In this collection of essays, Alexander Chee weaves his personal and political memory and history into a detailed fabric depicting his life as a queer writer in the world today. I was left feeling moved, inspired, and perhaps even somehow healed through Chee's piercing observations and insights.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Patrick Nathan
[isbn]
I can't tear myself away from this debut novel. Patrick Nathan shows us a close-up view of a family wracked with grief who are gasping for breath, desperate to make sense of their changing bodies, their old desires, their shared history, their new world.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Isaac Butler, Dan Kois
[isbn]
A detailed, engrossing oral history of perhaps the most important play of the last 50 years. Narrated by a cast of hundreds — fabulous creatures, each and every one.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Andrew Durbin
[isbn]
Poet and critic Andrew Durbin’s first novel takes you on a journey through superstorms and rising tides, underground nightclubs and drunken hookups, artists’ colonies and Californian cults. We may never have that recipe again, but we can certainly join Durbin on this peculiarly queer search for connection. MacArthur Park is a liquid book that continually surprises, arouses, confounds, and delights.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Alexander Chee, Jin Auh
[isbn]
Chee's first novel is back in print, and shouldn't be missed. I read it earlier this year, and wasn't prepared for its beauty and deft handling of difficult and complicated subjects.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Glenway Wescott, Michael Cunningham
[isbn]
One of the greatest short novels of the 20th century. A lost classic!
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Damon Krukowski
[isbn]
I loved this beautifully designed book from Damon Krukowski, drummer for the band Galaxie 500. Krukowski discusses what is lost, and what is gained, when we move from an analog to a digital world of sound. Through his fascinating examples and experiences, we explore new ways of hearing, in the hope of finding unexpected connections in our contemporary society.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Sarah Gerard
[isbn]
In the title essay of this wonderful collection, Sarah Gerard describes herself as a "memoirist" rather than a journalist. In combining those two forms, Sunshine State's essays inform the reader about the history of Amway company and the development of the Christian Science movement in America, and also talk about the love and pain that bind relationships between family and friends. I'll be seeking out more writing from Sarah Gerard... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
André Aciman
[isbn]
I'm not sure why it took me 10 years to read this book. I'd always heard it was great, but never actually picked it up until earlier this year. But when I did? I was stunned.
Few books capture the power of obsessive, overpowering first love and lust like Aciman does here. And with a movie adaptation coming out later this year, there isn't a better time to read (or reread!) this incredible book.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Brian Blanchfield
[isbn]
In these essays, Blanchfield covers a wide range of subjects, from housesitting to footwashing. We follow his thought process and memories through surprising convergences and connections, ending up learning about the world and ourselves in the process. I've rarely been as excited by a collection of essays as I was while reading this book!
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Garth Greenwell
[isbn]
If I were making a list of the best queer books of the past 100 years, I would proudly place this astounding first novel by Garth Greenwell alongside Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin and The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst. What Belongs to You is THAT GOOD. Structurally sound, emotionally resonant, and startlingly erotic, this novel explores both lust and love in the lives of two men, as they attempt to find... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|
W. G. Sebald, Michael Hulse
[isbn]
One of the most inventive and strange novels of the past 25 years, The Rings of Saturn follows a nameless narrator on a walking tour of Suffolk in England. We meditate with the narrator, not only on the physical landscape, but also on his thoughts and memories, as we're led through this peripatetic book. Black and white photographs punctuate the novel, and help provide a reading experience like few others.
Recommended by Adam P.
|
Javier Marias, Margaret Jull Costa
[isbn]
Often mentioned as a potential future Nobel laureate in literature, Javier Marías is primarily concerned with connections between people. In his fiction, he examines relationships and secrets in close detail, and explores how possible it is for people to truly know each other. Margaret Jull Costa's translation of A Heart So White renders his Proustian sentences in exquisite English. This book is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
|