Giovanni's Room
French and American novelist, 1924–1987.
Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. It was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1957.
In LGBTQ+
On 3 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- James Baldwin
- First published
- 1956
- Length
- 160 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- National Book Award for Fiction shortlist, 1957
- Genre
- Literary fiction, LGBTQ+, Psychological, Migration and identity
Is Giovanni's Room worth reading?
3 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian) and 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019) | Listed | See the list |
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 1957) | Shortlist | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 44 | See the list |
Best edition of Giovanni's Room
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2007), 160 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2007)
- Pages
- 160
- ISBN
- 9780141032948
How critics, prizes and readers rate Giovanni's Room
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 33% of the points available on prize lists, against 21% on critics' lists and 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Giovanni's Room
If you liked Giovanni's Room, try Go Tell It on the Mountain, The Line of Beauty or Fingersmith.
