LGBT Books

I finished reading my first LGBT book today. It's pretty generic and non-fiction but a good start I think. The It Gets Better compilation book of stories from people coming out by the It Gets Better project.

Pretty well-known and generic but was a great, great non-fic read.
The It Gets Better Book: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living | It Gets Better Project | Give hope to LGBT youth

 

Dorian Grey was great! When I was reading it, I was absolutely convinced that all the characters were gay until I found out one of them was married. There was no mention of women until four chapters in, for crying out loud. Still a great read for homosexuality as a motif rather than as the making of an LGBT book.

Speaking of LGBT books, my favorite was "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" by Nick Burd. The writing/prose was pretty bad, I have to say, but the book overall is still excellent. It's a typical coming-of-age story intertwined with romance, and of course the protagonist is gay. If the protagonist was straight, the story would have been extremely hackneyed, but I think it's a refreshing read as it is.

 

Re: Good/favorite GBLT books?

Boy Meets Boy is by David Levithan. An excellent book indeed. Also The rainbow boys series by Alex Sanchez is one of my favorites!!!

 

If you're even mildly religious, The God Box by Alex Sanchez is fantastic. I couldn't put it down. Even if you're not religious, give it a try. It's a really quick read.

Also Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez is supposed to be good. I'm only a quarter of the way through, though.

 

Just to make it easier I've put o whther it's lesbian, gay or both; even on the obvious! :lol:

I've Read:

"Tipping The Velvet" by Sarah Waters Lesbian
"Dear Sappho: A Legacy of Lesbian Love Letters" by Kay Turner Lesbian
"Same Sex in the City" by Lauren Blitzer Lesbian
"The History of Lesbian Hair: And Other Tales of Bent Life in a Straight World" by Mary Dugger Lesbian
"Torchwood: Exodus Code" John and Carole Barrowman (as well as most of the Torchwood novels) Lesbian/Gay
"Emily Dickinson poetry" Edited by Helen McNeil Lesbian
"The Picture of Dorian Gey" by Oscar Wilde Gay Implications

Reading right now:

"The Kennth Williams Diaries" by Kennith Williams Gay
"The Night Watch" by Sarah Waters Lesbian
"Love Speaks Its Name: Gay and Lesbian Love Poems" Edited by J.D. McCatchy Lesbian/Gay
"Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" by Jeanette Winterson Lesbian

I've also been reading the "New 52s - Batwoman" comics which are lesbian/gay related

I plan to read

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky Gay
"When God Was a Rabbit" by Sarah Winman Lesbian
"Oranges are not the only fruit" by Jeanette Winterson Lesbian

---------- Post added 29th Nov 2012 at 03:38 AM ----------

When I read it I felt that he was either bisexual or possibly homosexual, but not out of the closet. It was the Victorian age and so many would just hide behind a wife or husband and have homosexual encounters out side of the marriage. You only have too look at the actors and actresses of the 20th and 21st century who have come out as gay, but have been married to cover their sexuality up. So I think your first thoughts are right.

It is also well know that Wilde hid a lot of homosexuality in the book. It was originally much more open and he was asked to change it because the publishers or Wilde wasn't happy with it.

Here's a couple of sites about the book!

Wiki
The Guardian: Uncensored version

 

There is now an uncensored version available Dorian Grey

 

If it's more YA fantasy stuff you're after, Malinda Lo is a great author. Ash is a bisexual retelling of Cinderella which I thoroughly enjoyed. I've flicked through Huntress and liked what I saw of it, and she's got Adaptation, a more contemporary thing.
Also, just reiterating the love for Dorian Gray.

 

Hey I like your name.
Amity sounds a little smoother LOL

I took a test and it says I'm Condor

BTW, the best book is the Divergent trilogy

 

I am J by cris beam. It's about a FtM transguy

 

Just finished reading Born This Way: Real Stories Of Growing Up Gay I found myself relating to many of the stories, especially the gay women. Many of us know how it feels to grow up in the world with no gay role-models and so nobody to relate too.

You don't need to be newly out or not out at all to find this helpful. I am sure everyone here will find something to relate to as I did.

 

Feel kinda bad that I love to read but never ventured far enough to find any LGBT related books. Maybe I'm just off-put by the presumption that most lesbian-related literature is kind of tacky. Also, sounds odd, but I enjoy when I can relate to characters, and I haven't heard of any stories based around teenaged lesbians/gays. Or I'm blatantly ignorant. Somebody recommend me if you know of such a book?

Also, I explored a bit in the world of GL/yuri manga and every female in those stories are either extremely feminine or too moeblob for my tastes and it's kinda tedious. Show me a good story with two cute female characters, one on the slightly boyish side and another fairly girly. Maybe I'm biased and feel like that because that's how I picture myself with my own relationships, ah.. ha. I'm about ready to write myself something because that's about the only way I'll be satisfied I think. :lol:

 

Yeah I agree with Oddish, I've started writing my own as well
I read Vintage: A Ghost Story and I thought it was awesome but it's a very specific genre so it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea .-.

 

Well the Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. One of the main characters is a girl who cross dresses to get into the British Air Force during a steampunk/biopunk alternate history version of WWI...kind of awesome, yeah?

And the Gone series by Michael Grant is awesome (totally amazing) and has one lesbian and two gay boys. I think these are cool because their gay-ness isn't a big deal and it isn't the center of the story or anything.

That's all I can think of for now...
Both of these series are made up of sort of big books, but they're worth it, I promise!

 

Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman All kinds of gender bending, random romances and action. Both books are worth a read.

Celestial Reign: Tears of the Sun Chapter 1: Prologue: The Myth of Creation, a fantasy fiction | FictionPress This piece has a sequel as well, and it'll take up a good chunk of your time. Lesbian romance.

Fingersmith Links to several lesbian stories. Hearts and Flowers Border was my favorite

Good Moon Rising by Nancy Garden - lesbian

Anything written by Julie Anne Peters. She covers lots of LBGT topics.

Don't know much about M+M books. But I know there's a lot of them out there.

**Accidental Ressurection of Thread !! haha. I hate it when I do that!**

 

Intersex and a range on the LGB spectrum in Pantomime by Laura Lam.

 

I enjoyed Dream Boy greatly. It's set in a village and deals with homophobia and a violent father and a mother that closes her eyes from what's happening. Beautifully written, if a little confusing at times. Still a worthy read.

The most beautiful gay story I've ever read was At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. Recommended also for those who don't give a shit about homosexual literature. Set in Ireland during the Easter Rising, it tells the story of two boys that get separated through the war. It's philosophical and brutally real both, and the language is simply a dream. It's so, so gorgeous.

 

Adaptation by Malinda Lo! It's scifi, so not focused on the protagonists' love life. I've heard her other books are good to.

 

Ash, Huntress, and Adaptation by Malinda Lo. Ash and Huntress were really good. I haven't read Adaptation yet.
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan was pretty good, as well as The Trouble with Emily Dickenson by Lyndsey D'Archangelo.
The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce has a couple lesbian characters, but they're kind of minor in this book. I can't remember if it's ever mentioned in other books.

 

For those who like science fiction....Here are some books and authors who include LGBT characters or relationships or similar in their work and treat them in a positive way or as nothing unusual.

Author: John Varley

His Eight Worlds stories, most famously The Ophiuchi Hotline as well as a series of short stories set in the same universe. In the stories, technology allows people to change gender (totally, completely, and at all levels) easily, cheaply, and fairly quickly.

Two novels: Steel Beach and The Golden Globe are set in what seems to be an alternate version of the same universe. In Steel Beach we also learn that tech can let people become neuter if they wish. It's implied that the only real limit on body modification is the customers wallet and imagination.

The novels Titan, Wizard, and Demon: Set on Gaia, a living space habitat the size of a moon, the first two books have the leading characters in a lesbian relationship, with an additional lesbian character introduced in the second book and her daughter introduced in the third.

All of Varley's work is really well done in my experience.

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Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold is set in her Vorkosigan Universe and tells the story of what happens when a representative of an all-male colony (made possible by advances in biotech that make females unnecessary for reproduction) has to go out into the wider universe to replenish the colonies supply of genetic material.

Beyond this, Bujold's Vorkosigan Universe features a whole bunch of books that include the world of Beta Colony, where the whole concept of any particular orientation being 'the right one' is treated as simply ridiculous (Hiring a Licensed Practical Sexual Counselor is not only considered a perfectly normal gift to give your child for graduation from high school, it's almost considered a necessary part of good parenting) and the race of Hermaphrodites were created. Several of the books have a hermaphrodite secondary character, and while the main characters are all straight, the idea of anyone being gay is of barely any concern even on the much more backward world of Barrayar (where most of the stories and characters hail from).

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The Starfarers Quartet (Starfarers, Transition, Metaphase, Nautilus). In this set of four books, the first starship is being built when political tensions lead to the project being scrapped and the ship slated to be turned into a weapons platform. So what does the crew do? They steal the ship of course.

Three of the main characters in the book (two men and a woman) are in a polyamourous triad. This is considered so normal that it is never remarked upon. The main relationship/character development is in the first book, but overall series is pretty good if not exactly heavy prose.

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Friday - by Robert Heinlein

Friday is a genetically engineered courier and agent. She is bisexual (pansexual?) and in a group marriage (which is considered perfectly normal) and later in the book develops a relationship with what is essentially a polyamourous triad that eventually becomes a (much nicer sounding than the first one) group marriage when she joins it.

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Vigilant by James Alan Gardner - Although it only gets a passing mention, the main character in the story is part of a group marriage (8 or so people IIRC) because it's considered so traditional as to be somewhat radical by the standards of her culture.

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Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge - Although the main character is a straight male police detective, his client/patrons are a lesbian couple whose love for one another is mentioned at multiple points in the book and who share the same last name implying they are married, although this is never remarked upon such that one gets the impression that same-sex marriage is so routine that no one thinks to think about it.

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Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick - While the story doesn't really have any gay characters or themes per se, there is a scene right near the end where the main character notices two young men (lovers) tearfully saying goodbye to each other as one prepares to head out to the stars while the other stays behind. The main character has to look away because (and this is from her pov) its so sad. The book itself is a damn good read in any case.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Hope any SF lovers on the forum find this helpful.

Cheers,

Todd

 

A Boy's Own Story and The Beautiful Room is Empty by the always lovely Edmund White.