This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
My search for the queer books on the Best Books of the Year lists continues! This time, I combed through NPR’s staggering 384-title “Books We Love” list. I found about 30 queer books included, which isn’t a ton comparatively, but it’s still interesting to see what they did pick.
As always, this is not a foolproof system: it’s just me browsing through the list and noting the queer books I know of. It’s very likely I missed some!
I also decided to include the tags NPR gave each title. You can filter their list by tag, but sadly there isn’t an LGBTQ tag, so I had to rely on my own mental rolodex.
All Access members, read on for the queer books included on NPR’s Books We Love list.
- Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller (biography & memoir, book club ideas, funny stuff, identity & culture, no biz like show biz, nonfiction, staff picks)
- All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles (family matters, fiction, historical fiction, let’s talk about sex, love & romance, mysteries & thrillers, the dark side)
- A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton (book club ideas, fiction, identity & culture, it’s all geek to me, rather long, staff picks)
- Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid (book club ideas, fiction, historical fiction, identity & culture, science!, staff picks)
- Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (biography & memoir, for history lovers, identity & culture, love & romance, nonfiction, rather long, seriously great writing, staff picks)
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (fiction, historical fiction, let’s talk about sex, rather long, staff picks, the dark side)
- Cannon by Lee Lai (comics & graphic novels, family matters, fiction, identity & culture, staff picks, tales from around the world)
- Casanova 20: Or, Hot World by Davey Davis (fiction, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, seriously great writing)
- Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told by Jeremy Atherton Lin (biography & memoir, for history lovers, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, love & romance, nonfiction, rather long, seriously great writing)
- elseship: an unrequited affair by Tree Abraham (biography & memoir, eye-opening reads, identity & culture, nonfiction)
- The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (book club ideas, fiction, identity & culture, rather long, seriously great writing, staff picks)
- A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo (fiction, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, young adult)
- Fireblooms by Alexandra Villasante (family matters, fiction, identity & culture, love & romance, seriously great writing, young adult)
- Florenzer by Phil Melanson (fiction, for art lovers, historical fiction, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, seriously great writing, staff picks, tales from around the world)
- Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake (book club ideas, fiction, funny stuff, staff picks, the dark side)
- Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (book club ideas, fiction, let’s talk about sex, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, the dark side)
- The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (fiction, rather long, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, tales from around the world)
- The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri (fiction, historical fiction, love & romance, rather long, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, tales from around the world)
- Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (in Love) by Laura Gao (comics & graphic novels, family matters, fiction, for sports lovers, identity & culture, love & romance, staff picks, young adult)
- Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani (book club ideas, family matters, fiction, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, love & romance, staff picks)
- The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li (book club ideas, family matters, fiction, identity & culture, mysteries & thrillers, no biz like show biz, staff picks, the dark side)
- Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor (book club ideas, fiction, for art lovers, identity & culture, rather long, seriously great writing, staff picks)
- Necessary Fiction by Eloghosa Osunde (book club ideas, fiction, identity & culture, tales from around the world)
- A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell (family matters, fiction, historical fiction, love & romance, tales from around the world)
- The Seers by Sulaiman Addonia (fiction, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, rather short, tales from around the world)
- Simplicity by Mattie Lubchansky (comics & graphic novels, fiction, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks)
- Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi (fiction, let’s talk about sex, love & romance, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction)
- Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel (comics & graphic novels, fiction, funny stuff, identity & culture, no biz like show biz, the states we’re in)
- Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories by Torrey Peters (fiction, identity & culture, seriously great writing, short stories, essays & poetry, staff picks)
- The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera (fiction, rather long, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, young adult)
- They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran (family matters, fiction, identity & culture, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, the states we’re in, young adult)
- The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan (fiction, mysteries & thrillers, staff picks)
- The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994 by Thomas Mallon (biography & memoir, eye-opening reads, for history lovers, identity & culture, let’s talk about sex, nonfiction, rather long, staff picks)
- When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee (book club ideas, fiction, historical fiction, love & romance, rather long, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, tales from around the world)
- Woodworking by Emily St. James (book club ideas, family matters, fiction, identity & culture, seriously great writing, staff picks, the states we’re in)
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/07/08/580/n/1922564/f78867556a4e48f63e2a99.33534786_.jpg "Keke Palmer Wowed in a Metallic Corset at Essence Festival – Get Her Look Starting at")
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/07/06/655/n/49352476/b5895de25ab74fb2_imgi_1_733172791_18633218026037720_235082600448149611_n.jpg "Shop J Lo's Wedding Guest Look For Taylor and Travis's Wedding – Starting at")
:quality(85):upscale()/2026/06/17/796/n/1922564/2d1048706a32e253a32346.96073123_.jpg "The Hottest Item in Fashion This Summer? A Soccer Jersey")
