Gay has arrived at the movies, on television, and at your local bookstore. These days nearly every publisher has gay books or books with gay characters and what follows is a guide to some of the best.

Julia Glass, who dazzled gay readers with her gay-themed Three Junes, is back with a gorgeous second novel, The Whole World Over. Glass' new book contains a secondary but fully engaging and fully-fleshed out gay character, restaurant owner Walter, who isn't just comic relief or a tragic plot twist. Indeed, Walter finds himself in love with a man who may or may not be ready to move on from his previous lover.

Abrams/Image, the prestigious art book publisher has just published Gay Day, with archival photos of New York City's famous Pride Day parade. If you're looking to actually venture away from home, Quirk Publishing in Philadelphia published a guide book for gay travelers, How to Say Fabulous in Eight Different Languages. Invaluable for your next trip to Prague, Barcelona, or Buenos Aires!

Remember last year's Booker Prize winner, The Line of Beauty by Andrew Hollinghurst? It was praised not just as a great gay novel portraying one young gay man's life as he navigated the turbulent 80's, but as a great book period. It is now out in a handsome trade paperback edition (Bloomsbury). Similarly, Colm Toibin's spectacular The Master (Scribner), with gay undertones in the life of Henry James, wasn't praised for its subtle gay content. It was simply touted as a truly great book. It, too, is now in paperback as is Michael Cunningham's follow-up to The Hours, Specimen Days (Picador).

You Can Say You Knew Me When by K. M. Soehnlein (Kensington Books) published by the mainstream publisher Kensington Press (which, by the way, publishes a lot of gay novels) is one of the best books I've read this year. Soehnlein tells the story of Jamie, a young gay man dealing with the death of his homophobic father. In heartfelt, sensual, and bittersweet chapters, Jamie retraces his father's youthful trek from New Jersey to San Francisco. It's a trip readers will find well worth taking.

I also loved My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan (Little, Brown). This hilarious novel (his third) takes off where Keenan's previous books left off. He again depicts a world of humorous, campy gay life, but this time in Hollywood rather than Manhattan. Despite being published by Little Brown, a stately New England publisher, this book doesn't mince words when it comes to hot gay encounters of the Hollywood kind.

While not overly explicit, it is as graphic as a heterosexual romantic comedy of errors would be. Female readers (and even some straight men) will find out what two gay men might get up to if left alone with perfect, seductive lighting! This is a fun, quick read by a Hollywood writer (Keenan won several Emmy's writing for Frasier) that raises suspicions he is writing about real celebrities and just giving them new names.

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