20 must-read transgender books like Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

Cover of Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

Summer Fun

By: Jeanne Thornton

4.14

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

From acclaimed author Jeanne Thornton, an epic, singular look at fandom, creativity, longing, and t…

"We are poison women, Diane, because our bodies do all turn what enters them into poison, and we make poison and spread poison, because we are sadness itself. There is no way for us not to be that."

-Jeanne Thornton, Summer Fun

"We are poison women, Diane, because our bodies do all turn what enters them into poison, and we make poison and spread poison, because we are sadness itself. There is no way for us not to be that."

-Jeanne Thornton, Summer Fun

If you liked the transgender plot in Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton , here is a list of 20 books like this:

Cover of Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones by Torrey Peters

1. Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones

By: Torrey Peters

4.12

Format: None pages,

In the future, everyone will be trans. So says Lexi. She's a charismatic trans woman furious with t… read more

Similar categories in Torrey Peters's Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • queer
Cover of A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett

2. A Safe Girl to Love

By: Casey Plett

4.07

Format: 242 pages, Paperback

Eleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar … read more

Similar categories in Casey Plett's A Safe Girl to Love book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer

3. Small Beauty

By: Jia Qing Wilson-Yang

3.68

Format: None pages, Paperback

Small Beautytells the story of Mei, who in coping with the death of her cousin abandons her life in… read more

Similar categories in Jia Qing Wilson-Yang's Small Beauty book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
Cover of Little Fish by Casey Plett

4. Little Fish

By: Casey Plett

3.86

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

WINNER, Lambda Literary Award; Firecracker Award for Fiction; $60,000 Amazon Canada First Novel Awa… read more

Similar categories in Casey Plett's Little Fish book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
"Maybe living through it isn't the only hard part. Maybe being in the world afterward is also the hard part."

-Casey Plett, Little Fish

"Wendy knew how to deal with looking cis and she knew how to deal with looking trans, but she would never, ever figure out how to be both. How the world could treat her so differently—within days or h…"

-Casey Plett, Little Fish

"What kind of world does the core of your brain expect that you, you personally get to live in? Wendy wanted to be loved. However easily she might have abandoned or ruined her prospects, Wendy did sti…"

-Casey Plett, Little Fish

Cover of Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

5. Brainwyrms

By: Alison Rumfitt

3.66

Format: 304 pages, Paperback

From Alison Rumfitt, the author of Tell Me I’m Worthless — “a triumph of transgressive queer horror… read more

Similar categories in Alison Rumfitt's Brainwyrms book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • audiobook
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Nevada by Imogen Binnie

6. Nevada

By: Imogen Binnie

3.97

Format: 290 pages, Paperback

A beloved and blistering cult classic and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fi… read more

Similar categories in Imogen Binnie's Nevada book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"James does what anybody would do when they see somebody they'd like to know: he ignores the shit out of her."

-Imogen Binnie, Nevada

"It's like I got drunk all the time not because I'm a total addict but because it was a coping mechanism to deal with being unhappy"

-Imogen Binnie, Nevada

"Oh, Williamsburg. There was a point when you seemed like a scary, tough neighborhood, but now it's obvious that the graffiti on your walls gets put there by art students."

-Imogen Binnie, Nevada

"Eventually you can't help but figure out that, while gender is a construct, so is a traffic light, and if you ignore either of them, you get hit by cars. Which, also, are constructs."

-Imogen Binnie, Nevada

Cover of A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett

7. A Dream of a Woman

By: Casey Plett

4.31

Format: 279 pages, Paperback

Casey Plett's 2018 novel Little Fish won a Lambda Literary Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction… read more

Similar categories in Casey Plett's A Dream of a Woman book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
Cover of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

8. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

By: Andrea Lawlor

3.87

Format: 354 pages, Paperback

It’s 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with pol… read more

Similar categories in Andrea Lawlor's Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
"Inside Paul something tight released: a rusted nut turned finally around its old bolt. White sheets were thrown off moldering couches with a fanfare of dust and sunlight."

-Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

"It was June, and like everyone else Paul made himself extremely busy going to queer art openings and queer punk shows and queer spoken word showcases and queer evenings of performance art. He was exh…"

-Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Cover of The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia

9. The Fifth Wound

By: Aurora Mattia

4.41

Format: 288 pages, Paperback

A baroque work of intimate myth exploring one woman's interdimensional search for beauty and embodi… read more

Similar categories in Aurora Mattia's The Fifth Wound book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

10. Dykette

By: Jenny Fran Davis

2.96

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

An addictive, absurd, and darkly hilarious debut novel about a young woman who embarks on a ten-day… read more

Similar categories in Jenny Fran Davis's Dykette book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Darryl by Jackie Ess

11. Darryl

By: Jackie Ess

4.03

Format: 182 pages, Paperback

Darryl Cook is a man who seems to have everything: a quiet home in Western Oregon, a beautiful wife… read more

Similar categories in Jackie Ess's Darryl book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
"I'm not gay, let alone trans. That's like next level gay."

-Jackie Ess, Darryl

"Maybe every guy like me just needs a best friend with a big cock."

-Jackie Ess, Darryl

"Hannibal Lecter is fucking my wife. Ok. I hope he doesn’t eat her."

-Jackie Ess, Darryl

"You live vicariously through celebrities, I live vicariously through the guys who fuck my wife. But sure, ok, I'm the weird one."

-Jackie Ess, Darryl

Cover of Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks

12. Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body

By: Megan Milks

3.98

Format: 256 pages, Paperback

Meet Margaret. At age twelve, she was head detective of the mystery club Girls Can Solve Anything. … read more

Similar categories in Megan Milks's Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • queer
Cover of trans girl suicide museum by Hannah Baer

13. trans girl suicide museum

By: Hannah Baer

4.48

Format: 144 pages, Paperback

Literary Nonfiction. LGBTQIA Studies. Edited by Clare Kelly. one part ketamine spiral, one part con… read more

Similar categories in Hannah Baer's trans girl suicide museum book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • queer lit
  • lgbt
  • transgender
  • queer
"Another thing about K is it feels so connected to the internet."

-Hannah Baer, trans girl suicide museum

Cover of The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick

14. The Call-Out

By: Cat Fitzpatrick

4.16

Format: 144 pages, Paperback

A fast-paced, debut tragicomedy of manners written in verse about queer (mostly trans) women that i… read more

Similar categories in Cat Fitzpatrick's The Call-Out book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"Then Rod comes up, his glasses glistening. He doesn't remove them. He starts to sway. Is he high? - "Hello. Are you all listening? I'm glad so many of you are here today, Because as of now you're par…"

-Cat Fitzpatrick, The Call-Out

Cover of Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

15. Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

By: Hazel Jane Plante

4.31

Format: 200 pages, Paperback

Fiction. LGBTQIA Studies. The playful and poignant novel LITTLE BLUE ENCYCLOPEDIA (FOR VIVIAN) sift… read more

Similar categories in Hazel Jane Plante's Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"Ranjit: I'm sorry, Ian. I still love Captain Alphonse. Ian: But he's a dirty disappearing dog. Ranjit: You may be right. But we love the dog we love, dirt and all."

-Hazel Jane Plante, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

"If you spend hundreds of hours with someone, you have a catalogue of tiny memories. As you live your life, those tiny memories snap and crackle your synapses. It can be overwhelming, like the world i…"

-Hazel Jane Plante, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

"I'd started jotting down my memories of Vivian. There was so much about her that I knew might be forgotten if I didn't try to preserve it. I didn't want her to disappear from this world, unremembered…"

-Hazel Jane Plante, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

"When Vivian died, my world collapsed. I wept for what felt like days, weeks, months. Everything and everyone around me receded. Objects blurred. Colours drained. Sounds muffled. Vivian was my favorit…"

-Hazel Jane Plante, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)

Cover of X by Davey Davis

16. X

By: Davey Davis

3.39

Format: 288 pages, Paperback

A thrilling portrait of political terror and the violent pleasures found in warehouses, bathrooms, … read more

Similar categories in Davey Davis's X book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • audiobook
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • queer
Cover of Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

17. Summer Fun

By: Jeanne Thornton

4.14

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

From acclaimed author Jeanne Thornton, an epic, singular look at fandom, creativity, longing, and t… read more

Similar categories in Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • music
  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"We are poison women, Diane, because our bodies do all turn what enters them into poison, and we make poison and spread poison, because we are sadness itself. There is no way for us not to be that."

-Jeanne Thornton, Summer Fun

Cover of Any Other City by Hazel Jane Plante

18. Any Other City

By: Hazel Jane Plante

4.14

Format: 287 pages, Paperback

Any Other City is a two-sided fictional memoir by Tracy St. Cyr, who helms the beloved indie rock b… read more

Similar categories in Hazel Jane Plante's Any Other City book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • music
  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Girlfriends by Emily Zhou

19. Girlfriends

By: Emily Zhou

4.20

Format: 168 pages, Paperback

In seven light-filled prisms of short stories, Emily Zhou chronicles modern queer life with uncompr… read more

Similar categories in Emily Zhou's Girlfriends book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel

20. Wild Geese

By: Soula Emmanuel

3.89

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

Debut novelist Soula Emmanuel tells the story of Phoebe Forde, an Irish trans woman living in Scand… read more

Similar categories in Soula Emmanuel's Wild Geese book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • literary fiction
  • transgender
  • lgbt
  • queer lit
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • queer
"I try to hurry the encounter along in the manner of a French oral exam, stammering through the procedurals of a regulation rendezvous in the hope of disembarking promptly at au revoir."

-Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese

"Perhaps I am doomed to have sillier and sillier identity crises until I am dead: the one label that accepts no backchat. Paralysis by analysis begetting paralysis the old-fashioned way."

-Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese

"I am thirty years old and living in postscript already, not on the edge but over it, a happenstance life on a tranquil margin. It is a gatecrasher’s quiet. I cannot explain what a thrill it is just t…"

-Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese

"Dolly is a ten-year-old bichon frise. Her fur smells like bran flakes and her breath smells like rotting flesh. Most of the time she’s a languid, trip-over dog, a little cat of a dog, though in her u…"

-Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese

Cover of On Community (Field Notes, #8) by Casey Plett

21. On Community (Field Notes, #8)

By: Casey Plett

4.41

Format: 184 pages, Paperback

ONE OF CBC BOOKS CANADIAN NONFICTION TO READ IN THE FALL We need community to live. But what doe… read more

Similar categories in Casey Plett's On Community (Field Notes, #8) book and Jeanne Thornton's Summer Fun

  • queer
  • transgender
  • lgbt

19 Best fiction books like Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

Transform Your Habits

Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones

Torrey Peters

4.12

Transform Your Habits

A Safe Girl to Love

Casey Plett

4.07

Small Beauty

Jia Qing Wilson-Yang

3.68

Transform Your Habits

Little Fish

Casey Plett

3.86

View all the books

29 must-read fiction books like Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks

Transform Your Habits

Stone Butch Blues

Leslie Feinberg

4.43

Transform Your Habits

Perfume & Pain

Anna Dorn

4.06

Transform Your Habits

Chlorine

Jade Song

3.72

Transform Your Habits

100 Boyfriends

Brontez Purnell

3.76

View all the books

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