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The Bestselling Queer Books of the Week

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Danika Ellis

Associate Editor

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

Every week, I look at the biggest bestseller lists and note the overlap to see the bestselling books of the week, according to all the lists. It’s always interesting to see the buzzy books of the moment, but the selection usually…leaves something to be desired. That list is usually very predictable and anything but diverse. It points to just how monolithic (white, straight, cis, abled, etc) the biggest books are right now, representing only a very narrow range of voices.

That said, there are different ways to look at the bestseller lists. That weekly feature only looks at the top ten of each list. Today, I’ve gone through every one of the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, and Indie Bestseller lists in full to find the bestselling queer books of the week. With this broader scope, I’ve found eight queer books on one or more bestseller lists, from literary fiction to YA SFF. Let’s dive in!

The 8 Bestselling Queer Books of the Week

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Danika Ellis

Associate Editor

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (USA Today and Indie Bestsellers—Paperback Fiction)

All Fours by Miranda July (USA Today and Indie Bestsellers—Hardcover Fiction)

Heavenly Tyrant cover

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (The New York Times—Young Adult Hardcover and Indie Bestsellers—Young Adult)

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold (The New York Times—Young Adult Hardcover and Indie Bestsellers—Young Adult)

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta (USA Today)

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan (USA Today)

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (USA Today)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Indie Bestsellers—Young Adult)

I have to say, I wasn’t expecting a 1970s gay manifesto-as-fable to make this list! The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions was made into two separate musicals, in 2017 and 2023. I imagine Trump’s re-election has brought this back into the public consciousness.

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