What are some good gay books? fictional and non-fictional. I have not read any in the past (even though i very much wanted to) because I felt weird going up to the register of like borders buying a book from the gay and lesbian section.
Clay's Way, by Blair Mastbaum is one of my favorites. It's short, and really fun to read. David Sederas (I forget how to spell his name) writes a decent amount of short stories that have to do with being gay. There's also the Rainbow Boys, and geography club. I heard that Dancer from the Dance is supposed to be really good, I haven't read it yet. Home at the End of the World is good. Umm... the Christopher Rice books are a lot of fun, they're like gay thrillers. Oh, and the Tragedy of Miss Geneva Flowers is good so far, I haven't finished it yet. But, as a side note, reading a work of gay fiction can be a lot of fun sometimes, but besides Clay's Way, which I thought was excellent, I think a good piece of regular non-fiction is better than anything in the gay lit section. Of course, people may disagree, but I think you get a lot more out Dickens than Dicks in general (sorry, I know how corny that was, but I had to throw it in!).
I heard that Geography Club is supposed to be really good. I've read one of the chapters and I must admit it sounded like a cool book.
I love to read!! Okay, I absolutely love to read. I am a subscriber to ISO, and it has some of the greatest book line-ups in the world. If you arent subscribed to that thing, then you best sign up, personaly, I loved Geography Club, its sequel Order of the Poison Oak, Beyond the Wind, Trouble Boy, Luna, and Looking for it. I own all of the books, and they all have my appraisal. I highly recommend them to anybody that would like to sink into a book and loose themselves in the pages.
I don't know about gay books... I don't read THAT much any more. However if you want to understand society a little better I could recomend you Isaac Assimov's Foundation saga (from The Robots of Dawn up to Foundation and Earth). It's a social study disguised in a fantastic novel. A friend just gave me Maurice... she told me she really liked it, so I'll give it a try. She gave me the movie as well... XD but I'll watch that AFTER I read the book... I'll tell you in a couple of days...
There really are so many. First off, nearly anything by Ethan Mordden, but especially "How Long Has This Been Going On?" It's an amazing epic about gay life in America over the course of about 40 years. Another good "gay epic" is "Like People In History" by Felice Picano. I used to think I would never say this but Christopher Rice actually has something more going for him than an extremely famous mother and the fact that he's hot: he's a really good writer. I haven't read his latest (third) book but his first two are really good. I liked the first one best ("A Density of Souls") but "The Snow Garden" was good too. I read both of these this summer. The one gay book that wowed me more than any others was... okay, there were two: "The World of Normal Boys" by KM Soehnlein and "Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story" by Paul Monette. Soehnlein's much-anticipated second novel just came out ("You Can Say You Knew Me When") and if you're in a major city in the US northwest you can go to one of his readings/signings. I haven't read it but I'm chomping at the bit to. http://www.kmsoehnlein.com/ Monette's most famous book is probably "Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir" but I really preferred "Becoming A Man." He also has a book of essays called "Last Watch of the Night"... you can't really go wrong with him. Fantasy/sci-fi-wise, you have to read Mercedes Lackey's trilogy "Books of the Last Herald-Mage," which comprises "Magic's Pawn," "Magic's Promise," and "Magic's Price." They're exceptionally relevant if you're coming out. Non-fiction, everyone should have to read Randy Shilts' "And The Band Played On." You wouldn't think an account of the early days of the AIDS crisis could be so gripping but I was pretty much crying all the way through it. Similarly moving is a collection called "A Promise To Remember," which are letters about the NAMES Project quilt. My friend Mary Gray edited a book called "In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth," which is a collection of first-person accounts about being young and gay. So go find it! It's really amazing. Dramatically, read the two Angels In America volumes: "Millenium Approaches" and "Perestroika." Then rent the DVD of HBO's 6-hour miniseries of it. It's full of top-notch acting talent. Finally, a guy named Peter McGehee wrote two extremely funny books called "Boys Like Us" and "Sweetheart." And yes, I read a lot. It's not like we get taught queer studies in high school!
Classic My favourite classic: The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood...We all know it as "Cabaret"...
In my humble opinion, Maurice by E.M. Forster is a great book, I bought it and read it after Goratrix told me about it (...as far as I know, he hasn't read a single page of it so far!). Right now I'm reading (well, devouring actually) Equal Affections by David Leavitt. I am really enjoying this book, it's highly commendable. I'm reading it in Spanish and unfortunately the translation isn't good, but still I love it. I decided to buy it after reading the first three pages in print.google.com! (...in English, obviously!).
The Book of Salt- Monique Truong This is an amazing book... It takes place in 1920's-1930's France, and the main character is a poor Vietnamese cook (he's also gay :icon_cool ). It's one of those stories where it's better not to give too much description (don't read the synopsis if you decide to check it out). It has a lot of between-the-lines stuff, and the author writes wonderfully. It would be slightly easier to understand for those who speak French, but I recommend it for everyone.
I read the first two of a series by Christopher Hart (I think thats his last name). They are called "Geography club" and "The order of the Poison Oak". They are the funniest and most enthralling books our school library has lol. My freind Damion is reading one called somethign like "Hiding you" or something like that. I wanna read it too.
I'd also recommend Maurice. I read that a few years ago now. Or The City and the Pillar, written in 1948 by Gore Vidal. They're both coming out type books. But for something more modern, The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, set in 1980s Thatcher London. I really enjoyed both the book and the BBC adaptation. Nick in that is fairly much out at the beginning, it deals with the AIDS epidemic and general British politics at the time. The politics is probably why I loved it so. Or you could read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Nothing explicitly gay in it, but clearly written by a gay man with gay characters in it. It was enough to be used as evidence against him in court. Oh, all of these are ones that should be in the main literature/fiction section of a bookshop.
"Heroes" by Perry Moore (protagonist is gay) "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult (has gay characters and feelings in it) "The Last Vampire" by Whitley Strieber (lesbians/bisexuals in it) Anne Rice's Vampire Series are supposed to have gay/bi characters in it. I have yet to read them though.
Also, not all the books with LGBT themes are going to be in the gay/lesbian section! I found "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown (which is a lesbian coming of age story), and several books by Sarah Waters in the fiction section. The gay/lesbian section largely had nonfiction books, and "Best Gay Erotica!" stuff in it. =P At least at the bookstores I've been to. On that note, most of the LGBT books I've read have lesbian (rather than gay male) themes, so maybe most of the fellas won't be so interested, but here are the good ones I've read - "Ash" by Malinda Lo, which is sort of a twist on the Cinderella story (and it's more than just 'oh it's cinderella but she falls in love with a chick'). It's delightful! "Tipping the Velvet" and "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters. OH MY GOD. SO GOOD. Also, Victorian-era lesbians, you guys. Rubyfruit Jungle is good if you like coming of age stories. ;p Not my favorite genre but it was a good read.
12 days in August was a good one Info on the book is here: http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Days-August-Ketchum-Murrow/dp/0380723530
"The Full Spectrum" is a good one: http://www.amazon.com/Full-Spectrum-Generation-Transgender-Questioning/dp/0375832904 So is "My First Time: Gay men describe their first same-sex experience." http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=my+first+gay+sex (this one is more or less porn without pictures, but its pretty enjoyable to read)
