3.54 avg rating — 836 ratings

"Kinky queers building family and home in the best way they know how to without help from those too responsibly grown up to understand."

3.71 avg rating — 5,830 ratings

"Wish-fullfilment for any wronged, unstable queer, but also, in many ways, a realistic portrayal of the mental & emotional realities many of us have to contend with."

4.27 avg rating — 131 ratings

"Explorations of the radicalness of queer | black | female | body/-ness & the limitations + freedoms that language and art can lend it."

4.15 avg rating — 1,248 ratings

"Building a life is hard work, but can be done."

3.63 avg rating — 1,914 ratings

"Adult recently divorced lesbian woman gets diagnosed with RRMS, deals with ableism. I am amazed and over the moon enough people thought this interesting enough to really get it out in the world. You should definitely pick it up if the topic is unfamiliar to you or you're looking for representation of yourself or both."

4.28 avg rating — 29 ratings

3.87 avg rating — 669 ratings

"Fictional predecessor of "How Poetry Saved My Life"."

3.85 avg rating — 1,156 ratings

"As another reviewer put it: about lesbians being unaccountable to each other in 1980s NYC; but also, about a life lived without protection from men and under the radar of mainstream society."

4.22 avg rating — 1,264 ratings

"Everybody in the queer community should be aware of Piepzna-Samarasinha's work, but especially queers of color, survivor queers, and queers with disabilities."

4.56 avg rating — 9 ratings

"I think?"

3.93 avg rating — 70 ratings

"Obvious. Happy this exists."

4.24 avg rating — 53,287 ratings

"There's too little about race on this list, but this is one excellent collection to start fixing the problem with."

4.43 avg rating — 54 ratings

"Gender-variant, genre-variant, form-variant, queer, lived, true."

3.56 avg rating — 7,554 ratings

"Mid-apocalyptic bending of boundaries. Not a perfect story by any means, but ticks a lot of the boxes that potential users of this list are guaranteed to have."

3.96 avg rating — 1,888 ratings

"Less queer and more a reminder that there are many ways to fall into the "underclass", but also many ways out of the pit; and an honest relation of hardships on the way. A memoir."

3.66 avg rating — 2,181 ratings

"Check: queerness, disability, sex work, cultural chasms... Fiction."

4.18 avg rating — 19,830 ratings

"One of the many reasons I started this list. A memoir."

4.43 avg rating — 3,984 ratings

3.69 avg rating — 829 ratings

"Native, African American & mixed race women grappling with the complexities of their histories & identities. WLW and het romance on the side, among other things."

4.05 avg rating — 15,063 ratings

"YA/NA tale of not-so-wealthy peeps &, I think, their experiences w/the US Army. Haven't read yet, so please alert me if I'm wrong & it doesn't belong on this list!"

4.31 avg rating — 222 ratings

"Coping, or not, with mental illness & having a body in the world & expressing it with words. Poetry."

4.03 avg rating — 34 ratings

4.07 avg rating — 46 ratings

3.50 avg rating — 2,248 ratings

"Drop-outs make do?"

3.92 avg rating — 173 ratings

3.64 avg rating — 2,222 ratings

4.47 avg rating — 346 ratings

"No, this list isn't male-exclusive. ;)"

4.36 avg rating — 58 ratings

"Everything I have read of this, I have loved. "

3.58 avg rating — 1,006 ratings

3.71 avg rating — 241 ratings

"clear-eyed female rage as you've never seen it."

3.92 avg rating — 1,384 ratings

4.21 avg rating — 19 ratings

4.25 avg rating — 1,273 ratings

"Indigenous general queerness - what else could be asked for?"

4.11 avg rating — 239 ratings

"NA romance, one lead battling physical disability and addiction, the other mental illness - and yes, it is a real romance, ie not a half-baked tragedy. Exactly the kind of realistic yet heartwarming story I thought I'd never see."

3.98 avg rating — 7,612 ratings

"North Korean literature from within the system."

4.65 avg rating — 20 ratings

"Again - queers building family."

3.67 avg rating — 557 ratings

"#ownvoices trans lit for the plotters and revenge fantasists."

3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings

"MC is a Jewish lesbian."

4.07 avg rating — 174 ratings

4.01 avg rating — 119 ratings

4.12 avg rating — 248 ratings

4.15 avg rating — 17,345 ratings

3.82 avg rating — 229 ratings

4.05 avg rating — 1,217 ratings

3.93 avg rating — 34,494 ratings

"WONDERFUL YA/NA representation of disability. Otherwise flawed as hell."

4.02 avg rating — 15,614 ratings

3.91 avg rating — 927 ratings

4.22 avg rating — 141 ratings

4.23 avg rating — 6,206 ratings

4.12 avg rating — 1,954 ratings

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 598 ratings

3.92 avg rating — 20,596 ratings

"Kind of everywhere when trans lit is being talked about, but still stands out for not offering an easy tale."

3.70 avg rating — 150 ratings

4.44 avg rating — 1,046,179 ratings

"Not necessarily "rarely told" per se, but rarely from this perspective and with such authenticity."

3.77 avg rating — 390 ratings

"omg wish-fulfillment romance centering trans readers' reality - why did I not read this sooner"

3.97 avg rating — 236,707 ratings

4.01 avg rating — 119 ratings