I’ve Read 500+ Sapphic Books. Here are My Favorites.

Welcome to Pride Month at the Lesbrary! We’re celebrating with a post every day. We’re starting with an updated version of my giant list of all the sapphic books I’ve read and loved! According to my calculations, I’ve read about 500 bi and lesbian books in my life, most of which I’ve reviewed here, if that gives any authority to these recs!

The Lesbrary has been around since 2010, so we’ve covered a lot of books here. It can be overwhelming. You can browse by genre, rating, and representation, but if you’re looking for a shorter list, here are a few of my personal favorites by genre. Most of them are linked to my full reviews.

These are just my (Danika’s) picks, so be sure to browse the site for all the other Lesbrarians’ favorite books!

Classics:

• Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
• The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (review)
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (review)
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf (review)

Fiction:

• Nevada by Imogen Binnie (review)
• The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman (review)
• Milk Fed by Melissa Broder (review)
• My Education by Susan Choi (review)
• Missed Her by Ivan Coyote (review)
• Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi (review)
• Drag King Dreams by Leslie Feinberg (review)
• Just Girls by Rachel Gold (review)
• Painting Their Portraits in Winter by Myriam Gurba (review)
• Stray City by Chelsey Johnson (review)
• When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai (review)
• The Collection edited by Tom Leger and Riley Macleod (review)

• Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey (review)
• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (review)
• The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie (review)
• Hero Worship by Rebekah Matthews (review)
• A Dream of a Woman: Stories by Casey Plett (review)
• A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett (review)
• Lizzy & Annie by Casey Plett (review)
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (review)
• Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera (review)
• (You) Set Me On Fire by Mariko Tamaki (review)
• Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
• Fresh by Margot Wood (review) (New Adult)

Historical Fiction:

• The Last Nude by Ellis Avery (review)
• Miss Timmins’ School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy (review)
• The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh by Molly Greeley (review)
• Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin (review) (YA)
• Prairie Ostrich by Tamai Kobayashi (review)
• All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell (review) (YA)
• Pulp by Robin Talley (review) [YA]
• Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
• The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

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Middle Grade:

• Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow (review)
• Hazel’s Theory of Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow (review) [Two moms]
• Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender (review)
• Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee (review)
• P. S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy (review)
• Goldie Vance: The Hocus Pocus Hoax by Lilliam Rivera (review)
• Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (The Derby Daredevils #1) by Kit Rosewater, illustrated by Sophie Escabasse (review)

Middle Grade Graphic Novels:

• Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman (review)
• The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor (review) (Graphic Novel)
• Aquicorn Cove by Kay O’Neill (review)
• The Girl from the Sea by Molly Ostertag (review)
• Space Battle Lunchtime Volumes 1 & 2 by Natalie Riess (Vol 1 & 2 review) (Vol 3 review)
• Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Shannon Watters (review)

Young Adult Contemporary:

• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (review)
• Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli (review)
• This is What it Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow (review)
• Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow (review)
• Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake (review)
• How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (review)
• The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta (review) [agender main character/genderfluid love interest]
• Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo (review)
• Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (review)
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth (review)
• Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan (review)
• Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan (review) [Bisexual M/F, Bi LI)

• Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett (review) [Bisexual M/F]
• The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George (review)
• In the Silences by Rachel Gold (review)
• Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin (review)
• Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan (review)
• You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan (review)
• A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo (review)
• Indestructible Object by Mary McCoy (review)
• Out of Character by Jenna Miller (review)
• Middletown by Sarah Moon (review)
• Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (review) [Bisexual M/F]
• Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (review)

• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus (review)
• Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen (review)
• Noteworthy by Riley Redgate (review) [Bisexual M/F]
• Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
• The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe (review) [Thriller]
• Under Threat by Robin Stevenson
• As I Descended by Robin Talley (review)
• Pulp by Robin Talley (review)
• Follow Your Arrow by Jessica Verdi (review) [Bisexual M/F]
• The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde (review)
• Going Off Script by Jen Wilde (review)
• Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde (review)
• The House You Pass On the Way by Jacqueline Woodson (review)

YA Romance:

• Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler (review)
• Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler
• Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins (review)
• Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick (review)
• Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar (review)
• The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (review)
• She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick (review)
• I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (review)
• She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen (review)

YA Anthologies:

• All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell (review)
• Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales edited by Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake (review)

SFF Young Adult:

• Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (review)
• The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow (review)
• The Lost Coast by A. R. Capetta (review)
• Once and Future by A. R. Capetta and Cori McCarthy (review)
• Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova (review)
• Of Fire and Stars (review) and Of Ice and Shadows (review) by Audrey Coulthurst
• Dreadnought by April Daniels (review) and Sovereign (Dreadnought #2) by April Daniels (review)
• The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (review) (YA Horror)
• Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel by A. W. Jantha
• Adaptation (review), Inheritance (review), and Natural Selection (Adaptation 1.5) (review) by Malinda Lo
• The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh (review) (YA Horror)
• Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce (review)
• Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft edited by Tess Sharpe (review)
• Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley (review)

Science Fiction:

• Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (review)
• An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (review)
• Meanwhile, Elsewhere edited by Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett (review)
• The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist by S.L. Huang (review)
• The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (review)
• Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi (review)
• The Seep by Chana Porter (review)
• The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (review)
• Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead (review)

Fantasy:

• Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey (review)
• The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (review)
• The Narrows by m. craig (review)
• The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean (review)
• Indigo Springs by A.M. Dellamonica (review)
• Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue
• Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older (review)
• The Second Mango by Shira Glassman (review)
• “The Freedom of the Shifting Sea” by Jaymee Goh from New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl (review)
• Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (review)
• Spear by Nicola Griffith (review)

• The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson (review)
• Falling In Love With Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson (review)
• Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson (review)
• The Worldbreaker Saga by Kameron Hurley (review)
• Bearly a Lady by Cassandra Khaw (review)
• Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks (review)
• A Lake of Feathers and Moonbeams by Dax Murray (review)
• Everfair by Nisi Shawl (review)
• The Dawnhounds (Against the Quiet #1) by Sascha Stronach (review)
• Hellebore & Rue edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff (review)
• The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (review)
• Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel (review)

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Horror/Zombies/Vampires:

• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (review)
• Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth (review)
• Fist of the Spider Woman edited by Amber Dawn (review)
• Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink
• A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson (review)
• The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez (review)
• The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould (review) (YA Horror)
• Gnarled Hollow by Charlotte Greene
• Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram (review)
• The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (review)
• Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampire Stories by Pam Kesey
• The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan (review)
• Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria Machado (review)
• The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh (review) (YA Horror)
• Better Off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon (review)

Romance and Erotica:

• Rescued Heart by Georgia Beers (review)
• Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake (review)
• My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris (review)
• A Pirate’s Heart by Catherine Friend (review)
• Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman (review)
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (review)
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone (review) [Bi/Bi M/F romance]
• Roller Girl by Vanessa North (review)
• The Long Way Home by Rachel Spangler (review)
• Macho Sluts by Patrick Califia (review)
• Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica edited by Sinclair Sexsmith (review)

Comics/Graphic Novels:

• Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey, Pius Bak, and Roman Titov (review)
• As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman (review)
• Stage Dreams by Melanie Gillman (review)
• The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor (review)
• Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (review)
• Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson (Author) and Brittney Williams (illustrator) (review) (as well as Vol 2 and Vol 3)
• Slip written by Marika McCoola and illustrated by Aatmaja Pandya (review)
• Sugar Town by Hazel Newlevant (review)
• Jem and the Holograms by Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell
• Heavy Vinyl, Volume 1 by Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva (review)

SFF Graphic Novels:

• Heathen, Volume 1 by Natasha Alterici (review)
• When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll (review)
• The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars by Michael Dante DiMartino
• Motor Crush Vol 1 by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr (review)
• Kim Reaper: Grim Beginnings and Vampire Island by Sarah Graley (review)
• The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (review)
• America Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Gabby Rivera
• Darlin’ It’s Betta Down Where It’s Wetta by Ro Salarian (review)
• Supermutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki (review)
• Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Vols. 1-3 by Jeremy Whitley (review)

Manga:

• I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up by Naoko Kodama (review)
• Girl Friends: The Complete Collection by Milk Morinaga (review of volume 1, review of volume 2)
• My Cute Little Kitten Vol. 1 by Milk Morinaga (review)
• My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata
• Revolutionary Girl Utena manga by Chiho Saito (review)
• Whisper Me a Love Song Vol. 1-4 by Eku Takeshima (review)
• How Do We Relationship? Volumes 1 & 2 by Tamifull (review)
• Citrus, Vols 1-3 by Saburo Uta (review)

Nonfiction Comics & Graphic Memoirs:

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (review)
• I’m a Wild Seed: My Graphic Memoir on Queerness and Decolonizing the World by Sharon Lee De La Cruz (review)
• Be Gay, Do Comics!: Queer History, Memoir, and Satire from the Nib (review)
• Kimiko Does Cancer: A Graphic Memoir by Kimiko Tobimatsu, illustrated by Keet Geniza (review)
• War of Streets and Houses by Sophie Yanow (review)

Memoirs and Biographies:

• Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison (review)
• The Life and Times of Butch Dykes by Eloisa Aquino (review)
• The Family Tooth by Ellis Avery (review)
• When We Were Outlaws by Jeanne Cordova (review)
• Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote (review) [Nonbinary]
• Hunger by Roxane Gay (review)
• Prairie Silence by Melanie Hoffert (review)
• How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler (review) [Nonbinary]
• Love is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar (review)
• Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde (review)
• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (review)
• First Spring Grass Fire by Rae Spoon (review) [Nonbinary]
• Gender Failure by Rae Spoon & Ivan E. Coyote (review) [Nonbinary]
• Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love & Revolution by Luisita Lopez Torregrosa (review)
• Licking the Spoon: A Memoir of Food, Family and Identity by Candace Walsh (review)

Nonfiction:

• Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker, illustrated by Julia Scheele (review)
• Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman (review)
• Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire by Lisa M. Diamond (review)
• Inseparable: Desire Between Women In Literature by Emma Donoghue (review)
• Queers Dig Time Lords edited by Sigrid Ellis and Michael Damian Thomas (review)
• Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer
• The ABCs of LGBT+ by Ash Hardell (review)
• Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid by Shayda Kafai (review)
• Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (review)
• Kicked Out edited by Sassafras Lowrey (review)
• Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller (review)
• The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman (review)
• The Women’s House of Detention by Hugh Ryan (review)
• Dear John, I Love Jane edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre (review)

Poetry:

• Sisterhood by Julie R. Enszer (review)
• Bodymap by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (review)
• When I Was Straight by Julie Marie Wade (review)
• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho edited by Anne Carson

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