2026 Reading Challenge

Listopia > Queer Studies Book Lists

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathJane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëA Room of One’s Own by Virginia WoolfThe Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Best Feminist Books
2,519 books — 3,524 voters
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeA People’s History of the United States by Howard ZinnThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerNickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Social Justice: Books on Racism, Sexism, and Class
2,129 books — 1,536 voters

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodWe Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieA Room of One’s Own by Virginia WoolfThe Second Sex by Simone de BeauvoirBad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Women & Gender Studies
1,461 books — 546 voters
Fun Home by Alison BechdelAnd the Band Played On by Randy ShiltsStone Butch Blues by Leslie FeinbergThe Mayor of Castro Street by Randy ShiltsOdd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
Best Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Non-Fiction
820 books — 478 voters

Fingersmith by Sarah WatersTipping the Velvet by Sarah WatersThe Night Watch by Sarah WatersStone Butch Blues by Leslie FeinbergBackwards to Oregon by Jae
Historical Lesbian Fiction
251 books — 254 voters
Fun Home by Alison BechdelThe Essential Dykes To Watch Out For by Alison BechdelLe bleu est une couleur chaude by Jul MarohAre You My Mother? by Alison BechdelBatwoman by Greg Rucka
Best Lesbian Graphic Novels
249 books — 233 voters

The Color Purple by Alice WalkerBeloved by Toni MorrisonKindred by Octavia E. ButlerAmericanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
Contemporary Black Women's Literature
569 books — 233 voters
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootThe Radium Girls by Kate MooreRejected Princesses by Jason PorathGood Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena FavilliHidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
The Overlooked Women of History
948 books — 223 voters

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia FraserCatherine the Great by Robert K. MassieCleopatra by Stacy SchiffEleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
Biographies of Significant Historical Women
542 books — 175 voters
The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean by Ann RoseBi by Shiri EisnerFar From You by Tess SharpeThe Horizontal Poet by Jan SteckelOtherbound by Corinne Duyvis
Bisexuality EXISTS!
358 books — 171 voters

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette WintersonFun Home by Alison BechdelTwo or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy AllisonZami by Audre LordeLeaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
Lesbian Memoirs
280 books — 138 voters
Sister Outsider by Audre LordeBlack Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill CollinsAin't I a Woman by bell hooksSister Citizen by Melissa V. Harris-PerryFeminist Theory by bell hooks
Black Feminist/Womanist Studies (nonfiction)
129 books — 108 voters

Paulyanna International Rent-boy by Paul Douglas LovellThe Las Vegas Madam by Jami RodmanThe Happy Hooker by Xaviera HollanderMattress Actress by Annika CleevePaid For by Rachel Moran
Sex Worker Memoirs
196 books — 108 voters
The Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads by Eric RosswoodJourney to Same-Sex Parenthood by Eric RosswoodThe Kid by Dan SavageFun Home by Alison BechdelDoes This Baby Make Me Look Straight? by Dan Bucatinsky
Nonfiction: Gay & Lesbian Parenting
165 books — 83 voters

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouThe Immigrant by Nery McMahonI Am Malala by Malala YousafzaiBlack Indian by Shonda BuchananThe Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Non Fiction/Memoirs by Women of Color
358 books — 71 voters
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian FadermanBefriending China by Dee Charles KnightBoots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Elizabeth Lapovsky KennedySurpassing the Love of Men by Lillian FadermanThe Disappearing L by Bonnie J. Morris
Lesbian Herstory
151 books — 62 voters

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodWe Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieBad Feminist by Roxane GayThe Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah ArendtA Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
Let's Dismantle the Patriarchy
288 books — 58 voters
Virgin by Hanne BlankCharity and Sylvia by Rachel Hope ClevesMasters of Sex by Thomas MaierUnmentionable by Therese OneillWolf Girls at Vassar by Anne MacKay
Sexuality and History
233 books — 57 voters

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve BrusatteI'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamaraFascism by Madeleine K. AlbrightEnlightenment Now by Steven PinkerChildren of Nazis by Tania Crasnianski
Historical Nonfiction 2018
217 books — 51 voters
Getting Bi by Robyn OchsBi Any Other Name by Loraine HutchinsAdaptation by Malinda LoThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg LarssonInheritance by Malinda Lo
Bisexual Women Fiction and Memoirs
190 books — 48 voters

Becoming by Michelle ObamaLove, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson by Tara T. GreenSee Me Naked by Tara T. Green#SayHerName by Kimberlé CrenshawThe Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis
Black Women: Biography, Autobiography, Personal Essays, and Memoir (nonfiction)
373 books — 43 voters
Fun Home by Alison BechdelStone Butch Blues by Leslie FeinbergAnd the Band Played On by Randy ShiltsThe Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick BurdOdd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
Stonewall Book Award Winners
110 books — 34 voters

Hunger by Roxane GayWe Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieFreedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. DavisBad Feminist by Roxane GayWomen Don't Owe You Pretty by Florence Given
21st Century Feminisms
100 books — 32 voters
You Can't Buy Love Like That by Carol E. AndersonCompulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence by Adrienne RichLesbian Ethics by Sarah Lucia HoaglandThe Straight Mind by Monique WittigCall Me Lesbian by Julia Penelope
Lesbian-Feminist Nonfiction
66 books — 30 voters

Set the Night on Fire by Mike DavisWhen We Rise by Cleve JonesAnd the Band Played On by Randy ShiltsThe Mayor of Castro Street by Randy ShiltsBoots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy
Books about queer history (nonfiction)
51 books — 28 voters
The Dyke and the Dybbuk by Ellen GalfordPaper is White by Hilary ZaidThe Second Mango by Shira GlassmanIn Every Laugh A Tear by Lesléa NewmanBeyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon
Lesbian Jewish fiction
39 books — 27 voters

Sex Is a Funny Word by Cory SilverbergIt's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. HarrisWhat Makes a Baby by Cory SilverbergIt's So Amazing! by Robie H. HarrisIt's Not the Stork! by Robie H. Harris
Progressive Sexuality Education
34 books — 20 voters
The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf by Vita Sackville-WestViolet to Vita by John PhillipsOpen Me Carefully by Emily DickinsonSister Love by Julie R. EnszerLove Letters by Virginia Woolf
Epistolary Lesbians
29 books — 13 voters

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. DavisAin't I a Woman by bell hooksAssata by Assata ShakurSister Outsider by Audre LordeSisters in the Struggle by Bettye Collier-Thomas
Books from MHP's Black Feminism Syllabus
34 books — 11 voters
Nice Jewish Girls by Evelyn Torton BeckNaked in the Promised Land by Lillian FadermanRiding Fury Home by Chana WilsonFraming a Life by Roberta S. KuriloffUncovered by Leah Lax
Jewish Lesbian Memoirs
14 books — 6 voters

« previous 1

Browse By Tag