Queer Book Club: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Join librarians virtually to discuss books centering on LGBTQ+ voices.

Meetings are on the second Wednesday of the month (January-December) from 6-7 pm.

For more information please visit: https://sonomalibrary.org/queerbookclub

Physical copies of the book are available (while supplies last).

July 13 - Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin+ 

Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two.

Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.

2022 Discussion Titles

August 10 - Ace: What Sexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen+

September 14 - In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado*+ 

October 12 - Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas*+

November 9 - Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead (Editor)*+ 

December 14 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker*+ 

* E-Books or e-audiobooks are available through Hoopla 
*Hoopla: https://sonomalibrary.org/library-collection/hoopla-digital-0
Books available through Hoopla are always available for unlimited checkout.

+ E-Books or e-audiobooks are available through Overdrive.
+Overdrive: https://sonomalibrary.org/library-collection/overdrive