It’s June, which means you’re halfway done with your Goodreads reading goal… right? If you’re nervously opening your Goodreads app right now to see “5 books behind schedule,” or whatever the number may be, you’re not alone. As college students, it’s difficult to make time for reading that isn’t required by a syllabus. If the months are creeping by too quickly and the reading goal you set in January is feeling a little too ambitious, don’t give up yet! Here are five sapphic books you’ll love, just in time for Pride Month — and the race to your Goodreads goal finish line.
Wild Things by Laura Kay
“I wonder if you know, I think, I wonder if you know I’d cancel it in a heartbeat to be with you. Not even go on a date with you. Just to sit in the same room as you.”
Wild Things by Laura Kay
In Laura Kay’s latest novel, a young woman stuck in a rut takes on a year of adventure, trying a new “wild thing” every month until the rut is resolved. Unexpectedly, the wildest thing she encounters is her massive crush on her best friend. This funny and fast-paced read had me laughing at every page and astonished at how real the main character, El, felt. It’s undoubtedly my favorite book I’ve read this year.
Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick
“Good things happen when I follow my heart, even when it’s hard, even when it’s impossible.”
Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick
In this young adult novel, a teenager gets into an accident that makes her lose her memory, especially that of her secret double life: her hidden relationship with her girlfriend and their plan to escape to California after graduation. This book was impossible to put down — I was reading it under the covers at 4 A.M., completely unaware of how much time was passing — and is a huge tearjerker.
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
“I am ready to feel happy, universe. Lay it on me.”
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
This witty novel follows Gilda, an extremely anxious, atheist, death-obsessed lesbian who accidentally gets a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church. Emily Austin is a prodigy at writing lines you’re unsure if you should laugh or cry at. It’s dark, hilariously relatable, and a must-read for every woman in her twenties.
Passing by Nella Larsen
“But she did not look the future in the face. She wanted to feel nothing, to think nothing; simply to believe it was all a silly invention on her part. Yet she could not. Not quite.”
Passing by Nella Larsen
In this classic novel, a woman reencounters an old friend who has begun passing for white, hiding her identity as a Black woman, since they last saw each other. This book is my favorite discovery from the syllabuses of my American literature classes; it puts the complicated intersection between race and sexuality into words, and I will never be mad about writing another paper about it.
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
“I’m aware I can be exhausting — ‘you exist too much,’ my mother often told me.”
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
Zaina Arafat’s debut novel follows a young Palestinian-American woman who seeks mental health treatment for a cumulation of reckless behavior she calls a “love addiction.” This is the one book on this list I haven’t read yet, but it’s screaming at me to be picked up from my TBR. Reviewers say it’s a marvelous look at the intersection between queerness, race, and religion, and it’s for fans of disastrously flawed main characters. I can’t wait to finally dive into it.