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AfterElton's 50 Greatest Gay Books Poll
Books? Do people still actually read books? Gay and bisexual men do. And why wouldn’t we? For decades, while the movie and television industry actively ignored us (or, worse, openly maligned and libeled us), we gay and bisexual men could turn to books for accurate information, for entertainment, or simply to see ourselves reflected in a more fair and honest way. To be sure, there have been plenty of books critical of gay and bisexual folks over the years (Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), anyone?). No one ever went broke telling audiences exactly what they want to hear: that they’re right to keep their anti-gay prejudices firmly intact. But given their lower production costs, gay books didn’t need mass numbers of heterosexual readers to be “successful.” The medium has allowed us gay folks, and the people sympathetic to us, to have our own say. And so we did. Brilliant authors like Truman Capote, Paul Bowles, and Gore Vidal were raising gay issues as far back as the forties, with James Baldwin, William S. Burroughs, Christopher Isherwood, John Rechy, and Allen Ginsberg chiming in shortly thereafter. Soon the floodgates opened. In the years after Stonewall, gay and bisexual authors like John Murphy, Arthur Bell, and Donn Teal turned out landmark non-fiction, while Larry Kramer, Edmund White, Patricia Nell Warren, Andrew Holleran, Armistead Maupin, and David Leavitt found major success writing novels and short story collections with unapologetically gay protagonists. When no one was talking about AIDS in the 1980s, gay writers like Paul Monette and Randy Shilts were. It was only a matter of time before the gates of genre fiction would be stormed. Mary Renault and Maria McCann made gay history come alive. Gay-themed mystery and suspense books appeared from the likes of Joseph Hansen and Michael Nava, Richard Stevenson with his Donald Strachey books, and Patricia Highsmith with her Mr. Ripley books. Samuel Delany and Mercedes Lackey brought gay people into the realms of fantasy and science fiction. And gay humorists like Joe Keenan, Stephen McCauley, and Robert Rodi made us laugh at our lives, while young adult authors were bringing us gay teens decades before Jack made his first appearance on Dawson’s Creek. After all that books have given the GLBT community, why wouldn’t we gay and bisexual folks be loyal in return? In recognition of the ongoing contribution of books, AfterElton.com is pleased to announce that voting begins today for our reader poll of the 50 Greatest Gay Books. What is a “gay” book anyway? As with our recent reader poll of the 50 Greatest Gay Movies, we leave that for you to decide. Non-fiction or novel? Genre or literary? That’s for you to decide too. Hey, why not a picture book? So get your butt off to the library or local gay bookstore. And then vote below!
Submitted by on Mon, 2008-10-20 21:12. |
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My Choices
Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
The Brothers Bishop by Bart Yates
Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
Boy Meets Bot by David Levithan
Selection
check the plot - As predicted by Isaac Newton the second coming happened and as the world waited to see what was about to happen an appointed man was sent to meet God, hours later God had vanished and the man came out immortal; no apocalypse, no destruction and no salvation. This gave birth to a chain of holy wars that almost chattered Earth's civilizations and so giving birth to a mass colonization of planets to ensure peace by separation. Thousands of years later all was at peace by until Endings were born; humans connected to their planets in such a way that they are capable of destroying them should they wish it. Now Earth's Ending has been born and the day to pass judgment draws near.
it can be found here
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/sodoms-x--a-song-for-the-end-/7182389
Apart from that it is very hard to find if you think this inportant please pass it on, post it on a blog or something...or just tell a friend that cares.
Glamourpuss by Christian
Glamourpuss by Christian McLaughlin
Metes and Bounds by Jay Quinn
Hero by Perry Moore
Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger
Harlan's Race (I love this more than The Frontrunner. Yeah, I know...blasphemy!)
My book choices
Tales Of The City by Armistead Maupin
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White
City Of Night by John Rechy
Here's the Top 5 I Keep Coming Back To:
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Tales of The City by Armistead Maupin
Buddies by Ethan Mordden
The David Kopay Story by David Kopay & Perry Deane Young
My choices are...
'Tales Of The City' by Armistead Maupin
'Last Summer' by Michael Thomas Ford
'I'm Your Man' by Timothy James Beck
'The Front Runner' by Patricia Nell Warren
'Almost Like Being in Love' by Steve Kluger
My top 5:
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
I wanted to say:
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
for the impact that novel had on me, but that would just be childish. ;)
I felt a bit like that about
I've got a little list
afhickman
"The mountain has wings."
On first thought, my selections are:
1. Thomas Spanbauer, "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon"
2. Jean Genet, "Our Lady of the Flowers"
3. Thomas Mann, "Death in Venice"
4. Alan Hollinghurst, "The Line of Beauty"
5. Rose Tremain, "Sadler's Birthday"
But I'm going to savor this list a while before voting. That way, if I've left anything important out, I can rectify the situation. I wanted to include "Brokeback Mountain," for instance, but it probably only qualifies as a short story. I also like Gilbert Adair's "Love and Death on Long Island," although the movie was even better than the book, and Samuel Park's "Shakespeare's Sonnets," but I'm not prepared to place Park alongside Genet and Mann! Tom Spanbauer's place on my list is secure; no one has given me greater pleasure in reading. I'd like to include all his titles.
Mine
Maurice - E. M. Forster
The Vintner's Luck - Elizabeth Knox
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
Boy Meets Boy - David Levithan
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst
My Favourites
The Charioteer by Mary Renault
The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Dave Brandstetter Series by Joseph Hansen
Raised by Wolves by W A Hoffman
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox.
I hope my selection's counted, as I wasn't logged in when I voted.
Voting
Ellen Kushner's
Kushner!!!
I love her books. I submitted "The Priviledge of the Sword" for one of my picks.
Kushner's work is a delicous view of a genre where "peacock" and "butch" can be used to describe characters with impeccable manners, and deadly blades, whether they be steel or tongue.
Y'all have to check out Jamie O'Neill
Best gay novel I've ever read is his book, "At Swim Two Boys".
Other favorites in no particular order:
Tales Of The City (the entire series) by Armistead Maupin
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
Becoming A Man: Half a Life Story by Paul Monette
Could we make this a little easier by splitting up into separate fiction and non-fiction lists? Please? There are so many great books out there.
If there was space, I'd also include Middle Ground by Ursula Zilinsky, a powerful story about a love affair between a Nazi Concentration Camp officer and a young Jewish inmate.
Reaching far back into the past, a 1933 classic by Richard Meeker called "Better Angel". I discovered this one in college and it blew me away with its frank and positive take on gay love in the 1920s. The author, whose real name was Forman Brown, went on to become an internationally reknowned puppeteer and passed away in 1996 at age 95.
Top 50 books
So many books: Here is my journey:
Mark by Lonnie Coleman.
All the Dan Valentine/Clarisse Lovelace Mysteries.
The Nightrunner Series by Lynn Flewelling.
Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan.
The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
All Richard Stevenson @Donald Stachey Mysteries.
All Mark Manning Mysteries, by Michael Craft.
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault.
Tales of the City.
Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin, a true classic, I lived it. I am Michael.
This is a very short list. Books are my guides. I own over 100 gay books and they hold a very special place in my 50 years as a gay man!!!!!!
Awesome list! I love the
My Picks
How I Paid for College by Marc Acito
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Call Me by Your Name by Andre Acimen
The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family
The Line of Beauty by Allan Hollinghurst
If By Gay You Mean Totally Freaking Awesome, Then Yeah, I Guess It's Pretty Gay
--Des Ark
Here's my list
"A La Recherche du Temps Perdu" by Marcel Proust
"Two Serious Ladies" by Jane Bowles
"Sheeper" by Irving Rosenthal
"Billy Budd" by Herman Melville
"Our Lady of the Flowers" by Jean Genet
Other Great gay Books --
"Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli" by Ronald Firbank
"Dahlgren" by Samuel R. Delaney
"Death in Venice" by Thomas Mann
"A Single Man' By Christopher Isherwood
"Myron" by Gore Vidal
"Norman's Letter" by Gavin Lambert
"The Sacred Font" by Henry James
"City of Night" by John Rechy
"To the Friend Who Would Not Save My Life" by Herve Guibert
"My Loose Thread" by Dennis Cooper
"Les Caves du Vatican" by Andre Gide
"I Am Elijah Thrush" by James Purdy
The 50 Greatest Gay Books Poll
My 5 best are:
1. Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx.
2. The Charioteer - Mary Renault
3. Look Down in Mercy - Walter Baxter
4. Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin
5. Holding The Man - Timothy Conigrave
I forgot about Maurice - EM Forster - which should be #4, and I should have left off Conigrave. Grrr
Just finished
Just finished Holding The Man this morning. (Stayed up all night reading it). Loved it.
Really, this poll needs to be broken down into two polls, Fiction and NonFiction, at the very least.
So happy to hear the love for The Vintner's Luck!
The Elizabeth Knox novel was my #1 choice. The other four:
The Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo
Strangers: Homosexual Love in the 19th Century by Graham Robb
The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts
The Spell by Alan Hollinghurst
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
My 5
http://web.mac.com/michaelmicha
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin ( I think I have read this one at least 20 times over the years)
A boy's own story by Ed White
Maurice by E.M. Forester
Line of Beauty by Hollinghurst
Glove Puppet by Neal Drinnan
So many to choose from....
Five I voted on:
Other Favorites: Plain and Normal, How I Paid for College, Candy Everybody Wants, The Benjamin Justice series of books by John Morgan Wilson, BandFags, Sex Toys of the Gods, 35 Cents, Dry, You Can Say You Knew Me When, I Am Not Myself These Days, Geography Club, A Density of Souls, A Very Fine Prom Mess, A Boys Own Story, How The Homosexuals Saved Civilization, Exile In Guyville
An impossible choice... 10
An impossible choice...
10 best books would have been easier :)
Anyway, here's my very subjective list:
Renault, Mary - The Persian boy
O'Neill, Jamie - At Swim, two boys
Grimsley, Jim - Dream Boy
Bram, Christopher - The Father of Frankenstein
Bartlett, Neil - Ready to catch him should he fall
François
---------------
http://gaycomicslist.free.fr
Maurice, The Line of Beauty,
'Picture books'
Gay Books
My Picks..
1. "Magic's Pawn" by Mercedes Lackey
2. "B Boy Blues" by James Earl Hardy
3. "The Lord Won't Mind" by Gordon Merrick
4. "The Privilege of the Sword" by Ellen Kushner
5. "Homosexuality and Civilization" by Louis Crompton
I love the Crompton book
Homosexuality and Civilization is a terrific book; I almost put it on my list, but felt compelled to include a second novel (The Spell thoroughly encapsulates the early-mid 90s for me).
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
I checked Homosexuality and Civilization our from the library
...and after one read through, I was utterly convinced that I absolutely had to own it. Of my non-fiction books, it is easily the most important part of my library.
I'm loving these posts. I'm compiling a list of books to buy and check out from the library even as I type this.
Cheers everyone! :)
When this is over
Please post the full list of all nominees. I'm an avid reader and this is bringing back lots of fond memories and filling up my reserve list at the local library.
The don't necessarily qualify as "great" books, but here are a few more recommendations.
For those of you who enjoyed the Nathan Aldyne mysteries, check out the Dave Brandstetter series by Joseph Hansen, or "The Glory Hole Murders" and other books by Tony Fennelly. Joe Keenan fans will also enjoy the Fennelly books -- they're hilarious. Another good mystery/comedy series starts with "Best Performance By A Patsy" by Stan Cutler.
If you're interested in history, "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality" was a breakthrough book by John Boswell that is a true classic in gay studies. Martin Duberman is another great scholar who is gay and often tackles gay subjects in his books. He's written so many good books, but "Cures" or "About Time:Exploring The Gay Past" are good places to start. Finally, Ned Katz's book "Gay American History" was a shocking book back in 1976, documenting that same-sex love has existed in America since the country's earliest days.
Must stop now. This could keep me busy for a week.
Gay new York
Tough Choices in tough times
The great thing about growing older is that you can savor life more and have more time to read. This was tough because there are far to many to limit it to just five.
A BOY'S OWN STORY by Edmund White
DANCER FROM THE DANCE by Andrew Holleran
THE FRONT RUNNER by Patricia Nell Warren
CITY OF NIGHT by John Rechy
MYSTERIOUS SKIN by Scott Heim
Then there are such titles as
OTHER VOICES OTHER ROOMS bt Truman Capote
CITY AND THE PILLAR by Gore Vidal
THE PERSIAN BOY by Mary Renault
BOYS ON THE ROCK by John Fox
THE BEST LITTLE BOY IN THE WORLD by John Reid
NEBRASKA by George Whitmore
IRREVERSIBLE DECLINE OF EDDIE SOCKET by John Weir
MAURICE by E. M. Forster
LIKE PEOPLE IN HISTORY by Felice Picano
LIFE DRAWINGS by Michael Grumley
THE FAMILY OF MAX DESIR by Robert Ferro
DREAM BOY by Jim Grimsley
LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt whitman
these are just the ones off the top of my head. and does not include some sleazier titles that in some way contributed to forming myself as a gay man. Like the Short Stories of Aaron Travis and the works of Jhn Preston.
INSIDEGUY
lobbying for mystery novels
i really love john morgan wilson's work! i could have put three of his Benjamin Justice Series but "THE LIMITS OF JUSTICE" blew me away.... "JUSTICE AT RISK is such a powerful and sexy novel as well....
2. HOSTAGE - R.D. Zimmerman - another greay mystery novel from his Tod Mills mystery series.
3. Barbary Lane - the whole collection of Tales of the City is such a gem! a true work of art.
4. Gay fairy and Folk Tales - Peter Cashorali - this is my guilty pleasure - not to ruin the book but i do hope people would turn this into a mini series (i think robert gant's production company is thinking about it) such a fun book
5. Geography of the Heart - i wasn't able to finish Borrowed Time by Monnette so i really cannot say that this novel by Fenton Johnson is the best of the aids memoir but i was really really touched by his candor and the raw emotion he conveyed thru this book is so heartbreaking.
Top Five and a bitch about spelling
Here are my top five:1. Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On.2. Kenny Fries, Body, Remember.3. Paul Monette, On Borrowed Time.4. Samuel R. Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue.5. Joe Phillips, For the Boys.
It's often misspelled, but, please, it's Samuel R. Delany, no E after the N.
Thanks!
Top 5 Books
1 - Tales of the City - Maupin
2 - Blackbird - Larry Duplechan
3 - Eight Days a Week - Larry Duplechan
4 - B-Boy Blues - James Earl Hardy
5 - Magic's Pawn - Mercedes Lackey
Maybe not making the top five, but oh, my -
6 through 10 - the rest of the James Early Hardy books with Pookie and Raheim
11 and 12 - the rest of the 'Magic' trilogy by Lackey
My top 5
Sacrament- Clive Barker
peace,
Just
If you've read other books
If you've read other books by Barker, can you recommend any with gay characters? It's been years since I read any of his books (I've read the Books of Blood), so I think I'll try Sacrament. Thanks for the recommendation.
François
---------------
http://gaycomicslist.free.fr
My Top Five
1. Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
2. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
3. Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
4. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
5. The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy
My list: Fellow Travelers by
My list:
1. Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
2. City and the Pillars by Gore Vidal
3. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
4. Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo
5. Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts
I will definitely be looking into the books listed by everyone else.
Thank you, rojoangel!
'Got 'til it's Gone'
Are you kidding me? Another Johnny Ray book? I'd stopped looking for more way too long ago. I found Blackbird at JUST the right time and JRR felt like me. "Telling my whole life with his words" indeed! Thank you!
Gotta go. B&N closes before too long.
Phew...
Mystery Novels
At Swim two boys