Peppermint Book Club: 7 Juicy Queer Reads From Secret Book Stuff

Words by Peppermint

29 March 2024

From stories of resistance that remind us the fight isn’t over yet to steamy tales and books that simply have queer characters without it being a big deal (a novel concept!), Amy Lovat and Laura Kebby give us seven of their favourite queer reads.

Hailing from Newcastle, Amy and Laura are the married couple behind Secret Book Stuff, an online business that helps bookworms find their perfect literary match (queer or not) with curated book gifts and book subscriptions. It’s the home of the very clever Secret Book Club, which takes the stress out of choosing what to read, with bloody great reads delivered to subscribers’ doorsteps every month.

Ready for Amy and Laura’s top picks? Here we go…

INSOMNIAC CITY BY BILL HAYES

Amy: “It’s hands-down one of our favourite books of all time. It’s a memoir of the photographer’s life in New York City and his long, romantic relationship with the late – and very famous – neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. You’ll absolutely bawl your eyes out and every sentence will be worth it. I introduced this book to Laura when we first met and it’s now one of our shared faves that we revisit over and over.”

WOMEN BY CHLOE CALDWELL

Laura: “I discovered author Chloe Caldwell’s work in a book of essays that, funnily enough, Amy recommended to me many years ago. Chloe’s novella, Women, was published by a small press in the US originally, but it’s now so iconic that it was featured on an episode of The L Word: Generation Q. It absolutely punched me in the gut when I first read it. Women is a story of lust and love – Lena Dunham called it a ‘perfect primer for an explosive lesbian affair’. Chef’s kiss.”

DRESS REHEARSALS BY MADISON GODFREY

Laura: “This book of poetry is glorious and funny and relatable and just so damn good. Madison Godfrey writes about gender, sexuality, bodies, bands and a decade of performing womanhood in a confessional style that will have you clutching your chest, laughing out loud and shouting, ‘Yes, yes!’”

MISTAKES AND OTHER LOVERS BY AMY LOVAT

Laura: “Look, I’m a little biased since this is my wife’s debut novel – hey, Darl! – but it’s honestly the first book that popped into my mind when thinking about my favourite queer novels. The story follows a 23-year-old, El, who has broken up with her fiancé and is embroiled in a toxic, secret love affair with the married youth pastor of the local evangelical church. The beauty of Mistakes and Other Lovers is that El’s queerness isn’t at the forefront – her sexual fluidity is a quiet fact of her identity, not a problem to be solved.”

SHE AND HER PRETTY FRIEND BY DANIELLE SCRIMSHAW

Amy: “This book is joyous, inside and out! She and Her Pretty Friend is part memoir, part historical deep-dive into lesbian and bisexual women’s relationships throughout history. Danielle writes about how colonisation altered ideas of sexuality and how women’s relationships have so often been downgraded – ‘she lived with her pretty friend and they were buried next to each other, but definitely weren’t ever in love LOL’. It’s so fascinating and a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about queer history.”

THE IN-BETWEEN BY CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS

Amy: “Christos Tsiolkas is one of my most loved Australian authors, starting with his debut novella Loaded, which was published in the 1990s and takes place over a 24-hour period in which a young man moves around Melbourne, having sex and taking drugs – adore that 90s grunge era of fiction! His latest novel, The In-Between, revisits those queer roots with a story of two heartbroken men in their fifties who meet on a dating app.”

THE BOY FROM THE MISH BY GARY LONESBOROUGH

Amy: “Written by Indigenous author Gary Lonesborough, this young-adult novel is just the most goddamn cute thing I’ve ever read. It’s sort of like the iconic Heartstopper, but it’s not a graphic novel. Two teen boys fall in love as they deal with family, culture and growing up.”