Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Genre: LGBTQ+ YA historical
For fans of: Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore and The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
Malinda Lo’s National Book Award–winning and Stonewall Book Award–winning young adult novel has gained a huge readership and fan base on TikTok. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a sapphic historical novel set in 1954 San Francisco and follows 17-year-old Lily Hu, a Chinese American teen who meets Kathleen Miller at a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Although this isn’t a safe time for two girls to fall in love, Lily and Kathleen risk it all to be together.
18.9916% OFF$16 at Amazon
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Genre: Literary fiction
For fans of: Swamplandia by Karen Russell and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Published in 1989, Geek Love is gaining a new generation of fans, thanks to TikTok. It’s a polarizing read, but if you enjoy the offbeat, you’ll want to pick up this family drama centered on the Binewskis. Faced with a failing business, the couple sets out to create a freak show, using drugs to turn their children into oddities, then hitting the road in a traveling carnival.
“If you feel like curling up in a ball and wallowing in pain and despair, you really can’t go wrong with Geek Love by Katherine Dunn,” says Sonja Ska, who shares book recommendations on TikTok on the account @ghostlyreads. “If you spend time on BookTok, you’ve likely seen it floating around disturbing book lists, but as weird and bizarre and downright disgusting as it gets, nothing prepares you for how much it hurts. Body horror and utter depravity aside, Geek Love is intensely emotional, to the point that you’ll probably need a day or two to recover.”
18.0043% OFF$10.25 at Amazon
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About the experts
- Kalie Barnes-Young works in inventory commercial support and as a senior bookseller at Barnes & Noble.
- Brandon Baker shares book recommendations and talks about reading on BookTok under the account @baker.reads and on Instagram as @baker_reads.
- Ann Hood is the author of over a dozen novels, including the bestselling The Knitting Circle, The Book That Matters Most and The Obituary Writer.
- Kendra Keeter-Gray shares book recommendations and talks all things book on the BookTok account @kendra.reads and Instagram account @kendra.readz.
- Stacy Whitman is the owner of the Curious Cat Bookshop in Winsted, Connecticut. A 20-year veteran of book publishing, she has a master’s degree in children’s literature and is the founder and publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books.
- Sonja Ska shares book recommendations on the BookTok account @ghostlyreads and on Instagram as @spookycurious.
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