Giovanni’s Room
James Baldwin, 1956
Romance Literary fictionContemporary fiction
An American in postwar Paris is engaged to a woman and in love with a man, and cannot choose — Baldwin's tight, merciless novel of desire and cowardice.
Feels like longing, dread and tenderness. About love, freedom and home.
A page from the book
The self you go looking for may be the one you were running from.
Perhaps, as we say in America, I wanted to find myself. This is an interesting phrase, not current as far as I know in the language of any other people, which certainly does not mean what it says but betrays a nagging suspicion that something has been misplaced. I think now that if I had any intimation that the self I was going to find would turn out to be only the same self from which I had spent so much time in flight, I would have stayed at home. James Baldwin.Baldwin's second novel, written in Paris and Switzerland and published in 1956; he said he wanted to write a book that was not a 'protest novel' about race.
Books that feel like this
More by James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin, 1963
Baldwin's 1963 essays — a letter to his teenage nephew and a long reckoning with race, faith and American self-deception — still sound like an alarm nobody has switched off.
Το δωμάτιο του Τζοβάνι (έκδοση 2026)
James Baldwin, 1956
A young man looks back on desire, fear and the stories he tells himself while trying to become someone he can live with.
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- What is Giovanni’s Room like?
- Feels like longing, dread and tenderness. About love, freedom and home.
- What should I read after Giovanni’s Room?
- If you liked Giovanni’s Room, try Obsidian (Jennifer L. Armentrout), The Sun Is Also a Star (Nicola Yoon) and Brimstone (Callie Hart).
A taste of the feed
Hostility this polished is usually something else entirely.
Thanks,” I muttered and added under my breath, “Douchebag.” He laughed, deep and throaty. “Now that’s not very ladylike, Kittycat.” I whipped around. “Don’t ever call me that,” I snapped. “It’s better than calling someone a douchebag, isn’t it?” He pushed out the door. “This has been a stimulating visit. I’ll cherish it for a long time to come.” Okay. That was it. “You know, you’re right. How wrong of me to call you a douchebag. Because a douchebag is too nice of a word for you,” I said, smiling sweetly. “You’re a dickhead.” “A dickhead?” he repeated. “How charming.” I flipped him off.
Obsidian · Jennifer L. Armentrout
A word for the feeling that someone is already your future.
There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.
The Sun Is Also a Star · Nicola Yoon
What a man says when the only thing he owns is his life.
Every part. I love all of you.” He blew a dark curl out of his eyes. “I’d spend the fortunes of the universe to protect you. I’d drain the seas dry. Fell every tree. I would sacrifice the sun from the fucking sky and surrender the stars, too, if I could. But those things aren’t mine to give. All I have is my life. It isn’t much, but I’d spend it and consider the price small if it meant keeping you safe.
Brimstone · Callie Hart
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed