Set off on a summer roadtrip this June with these LGBTQ+ road trip books selected by our librarians! You can find a paper copy of this list on the back cover of our June-August newsletter. Happy reading, and happy Pride!
Nevada by Imogen Binnie
A beloved and blistering cult classic finally back in print, Nevada follows a disaffected trans woman as she embarks on a cross-country road trip.
Find a copy of Nevada here.
Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo
Sophomore year has just begun, and Angie is miserable. Her girlfriend, KC, has moved away; her only friend, Jake, is keeping his distance; and the resident bully has ramped up a vicious and targeted campaign to humiliate her. An over-the-top statue dedication planned for her sister, who died in Iraq, is almost too much to bear, and it doesn't help that her mother has placed a symbolic empty urn on their mantel. At the ceremony, a soldier hands Angie a final letter from her sister, including a list of places she wanted the two of them to visit when she returned home from the war. With her mother threatening to send her to a treatment facility and the situation at school becoming violent, Angie enlists the help of her estranged childhood friend, Jamboree. Along with a few other outsiders, they pack into an RV and head across the state on the road trip Angie's sister did not live to take. It might be just what Angie needs to find a way to let her sister go—and to find herself in the process.
Find a copy of Fat Angie here.
And Then the Gray Heaven by RE Katz
And Then the Gray Heaven centers on Jules, whose partner B has recently died in a freak accident. Confronting the red tape of the hospital, the dissociation and cruelty of B's family, and the unimaginable void now at the center of their lives, Jules and new friend Theo embark on a road trip to bury two-thirds of B's ashes in the places they most belong. Along the way, Katz delves into their relationship and their life stories—Jules' rise from abandoned baby origins through the Florida foster care system, and B's artistic transformation, surrounded by kindred spirits who helped them realize it was possible to be regarded as a human and not as a body. Delving into what it means to try to be alive to your own pain and the pain of others under late capitalism, And Then the Gray Heaven explores the themes of queer grief and affection, queer failure, burial as hero's journey, and the grotesqueries of artistic determination within and beyond the institutions that define our lives.
Find a copy of And Then the Gray Heaven here.
The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán
A coffin, a camera, a bottle of pisco: three friends embark on a road trip through the Andes to confront a history they can neither remember nor forget. Felipe and Iquela, two young friends in modern-day Santiago, live in the legacy of Chile's dictatorship. Felipe prowls the streets counting dead bodies real and imagined, aspiring to a perfect number that might offer closure. Iquela and Paloma, an old acquaintance from Iquela's childhood, search for a way to reconcile their fragile lives with their parent's violent militant past. The body of Paloma's mother gets lost in transit, sending the three on a pisco-fueled journey up the cordillera as they confront the pain that stretches across generations.
Find a copy of The Remainder here.
Love is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar
Queer. Muslim. Arab American. A proudly Fat woman. Randa Jarrar is all of these things. In this "viscerally elegant" and "intimately edgy" memoir of a cross-country road trip, she explores how to claim joy in an unraveling and hostile America. Randa Jarrar is a fearless voice of dissent who has been called "politically incorrect." As an American raised for a time in Egypt, and finding herself captivated by the story of a celebrated Egyptian belly dancer's journey across the United States in the 1940s, she sets off from her home in California to her parents' in Connecticut. Coloring this road trip are journeys abroad and recollections of a life lived with daring. Reclaiming her autonomy after a life of survival--domestic assault as a child, and later, as a wife; threats and doxxing after her viral tweet about Barbara Bush—Jarrar offers a bold look at domestic violence, single motherhood, and sexuality through the lens of the punished-yet-triumphant body. On the way, she schools a rest-stop racist, destroys Confederate flags in the desert, and visits the Chicago neighborhood where her immigrant parents first lived. Hailed as "one of the finest writers of her generation" (Laila Lalami), Jarrar delivers a euphoric and critical, funny and profound memoir that will speak to anyone who has felt erased, asserting: I am here. I am joyful.
Find a copy of Love is an Ex-Country here.
Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan
Two teen girls, former best friends and one-time lovers, go on a summer road trip in an ice cream truck.
Find a copy of Melt with You here.
Eli Harpo’s Adventure to the Afterlife by Eric Schlich
Eric Schlich’s Eli Harpo’s Adventure to the Afterlife is an accessible and big-hearted novel that explores belief and forgiveness as a boy grapples with his faith and sexuality on a rollicking family road trip to Bible World.
Find a copy of Eli Harpo's Adventure to the Afterlife here.
A Long Way from Douala by Max Lobe
Bursting with local color, this hilarious, heartwarming coming-of-age tale follows two friends on a raucous journey across Cameroon as they grapple with grief, sexuality, and dreams of leaving.
Find a copy of A Long Way from Douala here.
Less is Lost by Andrew Greer
Arthur Less, after the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis, sets out on a literary adventure across the United States, during which he must finally face his personal demons.
Find a copy of Less is Lost here.
Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
Four housemates, looking for a fifth, the ad read. Queer preferred (we all are).
This is how Bernie, a film photographer, meets Leah, a writer, and from opposite sides of a thin bedroom wall in West Philadelphia, the two become closer than they ever could have imagined. When Leah volunteers to accompany Bernie on a road trip to settle a complicated inheritance, what ensues is an unexpected journey into the heart of America as the duo try to make sense of the times they are living in—falling in love with each other and rediscovering the power of making art along the way.
With humor, warmth, and beautifully observed characters, and told through two generations of queer artists reflecting on the question of how a person should be, Housemates is a glorious celebration of creativity, body liberation, chosen family—and of finding your place in an uncertain world.
Find a copy of Housemates here.
Make Sure You Die Screaming by Zee Carlstrom
An electrifying debut about a nonbinary corporate burnout embarking on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas to find their conspiracy-theorist father, who has gone missing.
Find a copy of Make Sure You Die Screaming here.
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
A queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.
Find a copy of Here We Go Again here.
How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague
Most days, Magda is fine. She has her anxious therapy patients, who depend on her to cure their bad habits, and her longtime colleagues Boomer and Theo, whose playful bickering she mediates. She successfully avoids all discussion of her upcoming 70th birthday and has even brokered a tentative truce with her late best friend Sara's widower, Fred. Magda has her routines. She has other people's lives to fix. She's fine. But when Fred gifts her Sara's journal, she discovers plans for the road trip they always meant to take scribbled inside. And when Fred foists Sara's urn on Magda for the summer, there seems no choice but to go, lugging Sara along for the ride. Magda just wants closure, but the trip has the potential to shake up her careful routines, and the longing she locked away years ago. Because sometimes getting away from it all makes us confront the things we refuse to face. A hilarious and touching meditation on loss, aging, and the boundless power of female friendship, How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? shows how love endures past death, and how it's never too late to start your next journey.
Find a copy of How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? here.
All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad
Intimacy has always eluded twenty-seven-year-old Maggie Krause until, that is, Lucia came into her life. But when Maggie's mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home only to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and, along with Iris's will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man she's never heard of. In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Iris, Maggie embarks on a road trip, determined to hand-deliver the letters and find out what these men meant to her mother. Maggie quickly discovers Iris's second, hidden life, which shatters everything Maggie thought she knew about her parents's perfect relationship.
Find a copy of All My Mother's Lovers here.
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Two women find love but are forced to choose between their feelings for each other and their families.
Find a copy of The Price of Salt here.
Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert
When two "big name fans" go head-to-head at a convention, love isn't the only thing at stake. Charming, charismatic, and effortlessly popular, Conrad Stewart seems to have it all...but in reality, he's scrambling to keep his life from tumbling out of control. Brilliant, guarded, and endlessly driven, Alden Roth may as well be the poster boy for perfection...but even he can't help but feel a little broken inside. When these mortal enemies are stuck together on a cross-country road trip to the biggest fan convention of their lives, their infamous rivalry takes a backseat as an unexpected connection is forged. Yet each has a reason why they have to win the upcoming Odyssey gaming tournament and neither is willing to let emotion get in the way—even if it means giving up their one chance at something truly magical.
Find a copy of Conventionally Yours here.
The Hills of Estrella Roja by Ashley Robin Franklin
When college freshman Kat Fields receives a mysterious email urging her to visit a relatively unknown Texas town with a history of witchcraft, strange sightings, and 'devil lights'--glowing red stars that appear above the town's hills every night—she ditches her plans for spring break and takes a solo road trip to Estrella Roja to investigate for her podcast, Paranormal Texas ... Meanwhile, Marisol 'Mari' Castillo, is also headed for Estrella Roja to attend the funeral for her abuela whom she hasn't seen since childhood. Feeling lost and bored, she decides to help Kat after a chance meeting at the local diner—and, okay, it doesn't hurt that Kat is super cute. As the two girls grow closer not only to each other, but to uncovering the dark legacy that the town was built on, they discover that something hungry lurks beneath the strange stars and that in the hills of Estrella Roja, some secrets should stay buried.
Find a copy of The Hills of Estrella Roja here.
The Bump by Sidney Karger
Two men expecting a baby via surrogate go on the road trip of a lifetime in this hilarious and poignant novel by Sidney Karger, author of Best Men.
Find a copy of The Bump here.
All summaries are provided by the publisher.