12 Great Summer Poolside Reads

From: Queerty

Paradiso 

by 

José Lezama Lima

Poet José Lezama Lima’s only novel Paradiso was first published in Cuba in 1966 and quickly hailed as a masterpiece. It tells the story of José Cemi, who, in the wake of his father’s premature death, comes of age in turn-of-the-century Cuba. Due to the graphic gay love scenes and the novel’s ambivalence towards the political situation of the day, Paradiso was met with controversy and publication problems. Today, however, it is widely considered one of the most accomplished novels in Cuba’s history