The Audacious Book Club

Roxane Gay is starting a book club. It's open to all. Here are the 12 books we're all reading together in 2021. 

Black Futures By Kimberly Drew, Jenna Wortham Cover Image
$40.00
ISBN: 9780399181139
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - December 1st, 2020

“A literary experience unlike any I’ve had in recent memory . . . a blueprint for this moment and the next, for where Black folks have been and where they might be going.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?


Detransition, Baby: A Novel By Torrey Peters Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780593133378
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - January 12th, 2021

NATIONAL BESTSELLER The lives of three women—transgender and cisgender—collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires in “one of the most celebrated novels of the year” (Time)

“Reading this novel is like holding a live wire in your hand.”—Vulture


The Removed: A Novel By Brandon Hobson Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9780062997548
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ecco - February 2nd, 2021

“A haunted work, full of voices old and new. It is about a family’s reckoning with loss and injustice, and it is about a people trying for the same. The journey of this family’s way home is full—in equal measure—of melancholy and love.” —Tommy Orange, author of There There

A RECOMMENDED BOOK FROM


Milk Blood Heat By Dantiel W. Moniz Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9780802158154
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Grove Press - February 2nd, 2021

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN AND PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM AWARDSA NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 5 UNDER 35

"A gorgeous debut" (Lauren Groff) from Dantiel W.


Libertie: A Novel By Kaitlyn Greenidge Cover Image
$26.95
Likely available, but must be ordered by email/phone
ISBN: 9781616207014
Published: Algonquin Books - March 30th, 2021

The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2021
The New York Times Book Review Best Historical Fiction of 2021
Washington Post Best Books of 2021: 50 Notable Works of Fiction
TIME 100 Must-Read Books of 2021


The critically acclaimed and Whiting Award–winning author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman returns


Of Women and Salt: A Novel By Gabriela Garcia Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9781250776686
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books - March 30th, 2021

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
THE WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

WINNER of the Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Fiction Award - International Latino Book Awards
WINNER of


The Five Wounds: A Novel By Kirstin Valdez Quade Cover Image
$26.95
ISBN: 9780393242836
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - March 30th, 2021

Winner of The Center for Fiction's 2021 First Novel Prize
Shortlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Longlisted for the 2022 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel


Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir By Ashley C. Ford Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9781250305978
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book - June 1st, 2021

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NBCC John Leonard Prize Finalist
Indie Bestseller

“This is a book people will be talking about forever.”
Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed


The Renunciations: Poems By Donika Kelly Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644450536
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Graywolf Press - May 4th, 2021

An extraordinary collection of endurance and transformation by the award-winning author of Bestiary


The Heart Principle By Helen Hoang Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780451490841
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Berkley - August 31st, 2021

A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.


Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be By Nichole Perkins Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781538702741
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing - August 17th, 2021

“Hear the dark liquor of her laughter rippling behind her sentences” in this magnetic memoir as it explores a journalist’s obsession with pop culture and the difficulty of navigating relationships as a Black woman through fanfiction, feminism, and Southern mores (Saeed Jones). 

A Roxane Gay Audacious Bookclub November Pick
Named "Most Anticipat


Afterparties: Stories By Anthony Veasna So Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780063049901
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ecco - August 3rd, 2021

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK 

WINNER OF THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTION