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1. The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox
“The thought of flight has melted me, I am less solid than liquid, then I’m going up and going invisible like steam.” ―Elizabeth Knox, The Vintner’s Luck
A sensuous blend of crushed grapes in summer nights, half-remembered bits of theology, and the fluttering of an angel’s wings coming to rest beside you. That Elizabeth Knox’s initial proposition in The Vintner’s Luck. During a summer night in 1808, vintner Sobran stumbles half-drunk through his family’s vineyard and is caught mid-fall by Xas, a male angel. The angel promises to visit him every year at the same place with stories of heaven and hell, and Sobran’s ordinary life is no longer the same. Exploring themes like love, mortality, and faith, Knox crafts a beautiful novel that will leave you buzzing for weeks after, just as if you’d had a glass of wine.
2. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
“Did I want him to act? Or would I prefer a lifetime of longing provided we both kept this little Ping-Pong game going: not knowing, not-not-knowing, not-not-not-knowing? Just be quiet, say nothing, and if you can’t say “yes,” don’t say “no,” say “later.” Is this why people say “maybe” when they mean “yes,” but hope you’ll think it’s “no” when all they really mean is, Please, just ask me once more, and once more after that?”―André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name
Egyptian-born André Aciman’s first novel, usually remembered as that novel with the peach scene, was regarded with awe by critics when it was first released in 2007. Powerfully poetic, picturesque and deliriously erotic, the coming-of-age novel explores the romance between a 17-year-old American-Italian Jewish boy and a 24-year-old visiting Jewish scholar in 1980s Italy, and the consequences of said dalliance as revisited by the younger man. It explores the themes of sexuality, youth and nostalgia, and leaves a bittersweet sense of longing and loss long after it’s finished. It is now being adapted into a film by A Bigger Splash (2015) director Luca Guadagino, and the film is expected to be released in 2017 with original songs by Sufjan Stevens.
3. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
“I love you,” I say to him, only it comes out, “Hey.”
“So damn much,” he says back, only it comes out, “Dude.”
He still won’t meet my eyes.”
―Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun
Jandy Nelson’s power is in her ability to make knives out of the simplest of words. With Michael A. Printz Award winning novel I’ll Give You the Sun, Nelson created a heartbreakingly honest and raw piece of work about twins, Noah and Jude, separated by life’s circumstances as they struggle to fall back into the sweet and uncomplicated relationship they had as children, only to realize that it’s impossible. It’s one of those books that will have you simultaneously laughing and crying, but will ultimately leave you feeling like you’ve found a lost piece of yourself.
4. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”―Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
Before writing The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller studied and taught the Classics for years. The novel itself took her ten years to write. Set in Greece, the novel works as a romantic retelling of Achilles and Patroclus’ relationship in the Iliad, through the eyes of Patroclus. Dizzying and passionate, the novel often reads like poetry, and will have you reevaluating the complex relationship between the heroes Achilles and Patroclus as something larger and more beautiful than what your high school teacher may have told you.
5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing.”―Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age story that deals with the budding relationship between two Mexican-American young men, Ari and Dante, as they deal with their sexualities, the realities of race, and masculinity. The novel is often sweet and gentle, like a gust of wind shaking the leaves of a tree, and other times it’s harsh and raw and real. Overall, it’s a tender exploration of growing up and accepting who you are.