15 must-read lgbt books like The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

Cover of The Town of Babylon by Alejandro  Varela

The Town of Babylon

By: Alejandro Varela

3.96

Format: 308 pages, Hardcover

In this contemporary debut novel—an intimate portrait of queer, racial, and class identity —Andrés,…

If you liked the lgbt plot in The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela , here is a list of 15 books like this:

Cover of If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

1. If I Survive You

By: Jonathan Escoffery

3.69

Format: 260 pages, Hardcover

In the 1970s, Topper and Sanya flee to Miami as political violence consumes their native Kingston. … read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Escoffery's If I Survive You book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • adult
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"What does Whiteness feel like?... I imagine it's like walking barefoot…"

-Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You

"Why don't stars make any sounds in the winter? What sounds? Ethan said."

-Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You

"Every boy deserves to believe him father is good, but if each father were good, we’d be living in a different kind of world."

-Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You

"I imagined I could have begged an old girlfriend from college to send money; enough of them had expressed ambivalence about their trust funds that this seemed a plausible path down which I might drag…"

-Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You

Cover of Family Meal by Bryan Washington

2. Family Meal

By: Bryan Washington

3.56

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel abo… read more

Similar categories in Bryan Washington's Family Meal book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • mental health
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

3. Martyr!

By: Kaveh Akbar

4.24

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves… read more

Similar categories in Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
Cover of The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

4. The Rabbit Hutch

By: Tess Gunty

3.52

Format: 399 pages, Hardcover

Blandine isn't like the other residents of her building. An online obituary writer. A young moth… read more

Similar categories in Tess Gunty's The Rabbit Hutch book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"On the opposite end of the sidewalk, a large woman in her sixties collapsed. Immediately, two people rushed to the woman's side, gingerly tending to her, touching her shoulders and face, speaking to …"

-Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch

"· Las calles por las que caminas, el alimento que comes, el trabajo que haces, el medio de transporte que eliges, los productos de belleza que compras, los programas que ves, los enlaces en los que p…"

-Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch

"Acaba de ponerse a llover. Estamos encantados de que se quede un rato más, si quiere. Milagroso. Joan recuerda que existen los perros, las tiendas de manualidades, los analgésicos, las bibliotecas pú…"

-Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch

"—Estoy harta —dice Blandine— de la violencia contra las mujeres disfrazada de validación. —Lo siento —murmura James de manera automática, pero tiene el gesto de la mascota reprendida que no sabe qué …"

-Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch

Cover of Blackouts by Justin Torres

5. Blackouts

By: Justin Torres

3.77

Format: 306 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling author of We the Animals, Blackouts mines lost histories--personal and collect… read more

Similar categories in Justin Torres's Blackouts book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
Cover of Just by Looking at Him by Ryan O'Connell

6. Just by Looking at Him

By: Ryan O'Connell

3.76

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

From the star of Peacock’s Queer as Folk and the Netflix series Special comes a “funny, tender, and… read more

Similar categories in Ryan O'Connell's Just by Looking at Him book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"I used to believe it was a privilege to be loved by anybody. Not anymore."

-Ryan O'Connell, Just by Looking at Him

Cover of My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson

7. My Government Means to Kill Me

By: Rasheed Newson

4.25

Format: 276 pages, Hardcover

A fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story following the personal and political awakening of a… read more

Similar categories in Rasheed Newson's My Government Means to Kill Me book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • coming of age
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"So I loved my sister, but held that love loosely in my arms, anticipating its death and mourning it as it lived"

-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

"...Generations of black men had been frequenting Mt. Morris since the Harlem Renaissance. Rumor had it that Countee Cullen ditched his wife after he and Harold Jackman made Mt. Morris their regular r…"

-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

"Zee had only grinned at me when I was valuable to her. I'd go on to tangle with other bosses and authority figures, and that dynamic never changed. Affection never outlasted need. This was the first …"

-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

"The theory goes that governmental agencies don't accidentally make accessing information or resources difficult. They do this shit on purpose. The forms are confusing, and the record keeping is ass-b…"

-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me

Cover of How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

8. How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

By: Angie Cruz

3.90

Format: 195 pages, Hardcover

Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But whe… read more

Similar categories in Angie Cruz's How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
"She knew I had to cry until I undrown from the inside."

-Angie Cruz, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

"If you're lucky, you find a man that you don't fall in the hole with."

-Angie Cruz, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

"Lulú talks and talks because she dique knows everything. But when I say something, people listen. This I learned from my father. The less you say, the more the people listen."

-Angie Cruz, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

"Talking reminds me that no matter how difficult my life is, I have always found a solution my problems. When I think about this, I am not afraid. We can do this. I can do this."

-Angie Cruz, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Cover of The Late Americans by Brandon  Taylor

9. The Late Americans

By: Brandon Taylor

3.38

Format: 303 pages, Hardcover

A deeply involving new novel of young men and women at a crossroads In the shared and private sp… read more

Similar categories in Brandon Taylor's The Late Americans book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal

10. Temple Folk

By: Aaliyah Bilal

3.74

Format: 256 pages, Hardcover

A groundbreaking debut collection portraying the lived experiences of Black Muslims grappling with … read more

Similar categories in Aaliyah Bilal's Temple Folk book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
Cover of All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

11. All This Could Be Different

By: Sarah Thankam Mathews

3.85

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

Graduating into the long maw of an American recession, Sneha is one of the fortunate ones. She's mo… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Thankam Mathews's All This Could Be Different book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
"The world has ended a thousand times and my name called in each new book of it."

-Sarah Thankam Mathews, All This Could Be Different

"The world we knew has always been half-terrible, made as it is by the powerful, for the powerful. We were crowning a different one. Its birth would not be easy; no birth was."

-Sarah Thankam Mathews, All This Could Be Different

"This is my tragedy and my great good fortune, to be the recipient of this bond, to be kept alive under its crushing warmth and weight, to be given it so freely, so much more than I have ever deserved."

-Sarah Thankam Mathews, All This Could Be Different

"I use the present tense, but I mean, that’s the way I remember it, and these are the things I learned about it, later, and the two combined have formed my truth of a place. We all have our truth of a…"

-Sarah Thankam Mathews, All This Could Be Different

Cover of When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar

12. When We Were Sisters

By: Fatimah Asghar

3.93

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

An orphan grapples with gender, siblinghood, family, and coming-of-age as a Muslim in America in th… read more

Similar categories in Fatimah Asghar's When We Were Sisters book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Greenland by David Santos Donaldson

13. Greenland

By: David Santos Donaldson

3.80

Format: 326 pages, Hardcover

A dazzling, debut novel-within-a-novel in the vein of The Prophets and Memorial, about a young auth… read more

Similar categories in David Santos Donaldson's Greenland book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of The Town of Babylon by Alejandro  Varela

14. The Town of Babylon

By: Alejandro Varela

3.96

Format: 308 pages, Hardcover

In this contemporary debut novel—an intimate portrait of queer, racial, and class identity —Andrés,… read more

Similar categories in Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • coming of age
  • mental health
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai

15. The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

By: Jamil Jan Kochai

3.99

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

A luminous meditation on sons and fathers, ghosts of war, and living history that moves between mod… read more

Similar categories in Jamil Jan Kochai's The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"Why must we always ruin what is beautiful with what is true?"

-Jamil Jan Kochai, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

"Agha's one of those OG Pashtuns who'd argue with Allah over the nature of existence."

-Jamil Jan Kochai, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

Cover of In Tongues by Thomas Grattan

16. In Tongues

By: Thomas Grattan

4.04

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

A young gay man upends the lives of a powerful art-world couple in this steamy novel of self-discov… read more

Similar categories in Thomas Grattan's In Tongues book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica

17. How We Named the Stars

By: Andrés N. Ordorica

4.04

Format: 304 pages, Paperback

Set between the United States and México, Andrés N. Ordorica’s debut novel is a tender and lyrical … read more

Similar categories in Andrés N. Ordorica's How We Named the Stars book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • coming of age
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones

18. The Birdcatcher

By: Gayl Jones

3.04

Format: 216 pages, Hardcover

Legendary writer Gayl Jones returns with a stunning new novel about Black American artists in exile… read more

Similar categories in Gayl Jones's The Birdcatcher book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • mental health
"You cannot grow without growing inside."

-Gayl Jones, The Birdcatcher

Cover of Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

19. Housemates

By: Emma Copley Eisenberg

3.66

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in a fractured America in this sp… read more

Similar categories in Emma Copley Eisenberg's Housemates book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"Teaching? When it’s good? A marvel. A fucking miracle. They live, and then they turn to you to tell you about it."

-Emma Copley Eisenberg, Housemates

Cover of Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan

20. Ponyboy

By: Eliot Duncan

3.64

Format: 240 pages, Paperback

An evocative debut novel of trans-masculinity, addiction, and the pain and joy of becoming. In t… read more

Similar categories in Eliot Duncan's Ponyboy book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez

21. Hombrecito

By: Santiago Jose Sanchez

3.95

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

A novel by a brilliant new voice, Hombrecito is a queer coming-of-age story about a young immigrant… read more

Similar categories in Santiago Jose Sanchez's Hombrecito book and Alejandro Varela's The Town of Babylon

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • gay
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer

21 Best fiction books like The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

Transform Your Habits

If I Survive You

Jonathan Escoffery

3.69

Transform Your Habits

Family Meal

Bryan Washington

3.56

Transform Your Habits

Martyr!

Kaveh Akbar

4.24

Transform Your Habits

The Rabbit Hutch

Tess Gunty

3.52

View all the books

21 best-selling fiction books like Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

Transform Your Habits

Perfume & Pain

Anna Dorn

4.06

Transform Your Habits

All Fours

Miranda July

3.81

Transform Your Habits

Exhibit

R.O. Kwon

3.24

Transform Your Habits

Margo's Got Money Troubles

Rufi Thorpe

3.97

View all the books

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