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AfterElton’s 50 Best Gay Books!49. Comfort & Joy by Jim Grimsley
50. A Better Place by Mark A. Roeder
Submitted by on Wed, 2008-11-12 22:31.  Please publish all the nominees!Submitted by
Smartypants (402 points) (93 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 01:44.Like he said, I can live with this list. Yes, there are many magnificent books that could also be on this list, but I'm thrilled that At Swim Two Boys is rated so highly. Please do a full interview with Jamie O'Neill sometime soon.
And please, please, please, please, pretty please with twink on top, PLEASE POST A LIST OF ALL THE NOMINEES. I don't care how long it is. In fact, the longer the better. We have long dreary winters here in Seattle and nothing relieves the tedium like a long list of books on reserve at the library.
 suggestionSubmitted by
Tess (282 points) (65 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 05:46.It's not as good as a full list, but until one is forthcoming you could always check out the bottom of the voting submission page. A lot of people posted their choices there!
 Yes, i'd check the nominee pageSubmitted by
 We had something like 700+ nominees, so publishing the whole list (much less compiling statistics) would probably be too time-consuming. Basically, someone somewhere nominated every gay book you've ever heard of!
Read my books! Explore "Brent's Brain" at http://www.brenthartinger.com no votes 700+ new books to read?Submitted by
Smartypants (402 points) (93 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 12:21.Sounds like heaven to me. It would be a ton of work for you or Michael to compile the list of nominees while you're constantly developing new content for the site. But honey, this is the interwebs. You have a whole community of loyal reader to draw on. I suspect there are a few of us who would be more than willing to take on the task of assembling the list. Heck, send me the raw data and I'll start on it today. Who else is willing to help get the list ready for posting? If we start now we could easily have it done before Christmas.  I'll help!Submitted by
radlilim (30 points) (6 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 20:36.Count me in on helping compile.
 UnsureSubmitted by
Campion (1340 points) (281 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 03:42.Unsure of just where I should be with the list. Can live with it yes, but also considering moving into a hole like Joseph. Went through the list 2 or 3 times and this is what I discovered. 2 of my 5 votes made it (Tales / Band Played On)---List also reminded me of a book that I should have included in my vote. Have read at least 16 of the 50. Only 7 books and/or Authors were completely new to me/had never heard of before today. There are 10 books on the list that I know I have no interest in and will never ever read them. I also agree with Smartypants about wanting to see more of the nominees. The one thing that I was disappointed with this poll was that did not allow for the various genres of literature. I know that I could have voted / submitted 5 top mystery authors, histories/non-fiction, sci-fic/Fantasy, memoirs, young adult, humour on top of wanting at least 10 votes for fiction. Also, how about a voting on what books that helped people with the coming out process. Would it be at all possible to give us a break down of say the top 5 (or 10) books by various genres from the data you collected ? Winters are long and cold in Canada!  Damn!Submitted by
Frank (635 points) (128 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 03:32.Here I was hoping that I get plenty of ideas which books to read in the future, and then I have to find out that I've already read almost all of them.
I agree that you should publish the whole list no matter how long it is, winters in Germany can be very long too. There just HAVE to be a lot more then 50 good gay books. :-)))))
 Lists like this have moreSubmitted by
inanna (195 points) (46 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 05:24.Lists like this have more to do with popularity and access than actual quality don't they? Although I don't doubt the worth of the books which made the top 50. All I know is that my favorites; Maurice, As meat loves salt, The Catch Trap and Swordspoint are pretty spread over that list. Great ListSubmitted by
Tess (282 points) (65 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 05:45.Thanks for the list! Well time too, with summer coming up for me. I was thrilled to see Boy Meets Boy in #8, its an unlikely novel for such acclaim but very much deserving of it! Also, At Swim, two Boys was a novel that completely slipped my mind at the time of voting, but now I am reminded of it's power and brilliance (and just how much it made me cry). Must reread that soon. 4/5 of my votes got in, but how has The Vintner's Luck not made it onto this list? All of you who have never read this amazing novel, do so as soon as is humanly possible!!!! Particularly as there is a movie of it coming out next year which will probably fall vastly short, even if it does have the gorgeouos Gaspard Ulliel in it.  Jeremie and Gaspard together againSubmitted by
afhickman (3730 points) (773 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 09:11.afhickman "The mountain has wings." "The Vintner's Luck" also stars the incredible, edible Jeremie Renier as Sobran. Gaspard and Jeremie:
 Four of my picks made theSubmitted by
Randommer (1155 points) (240 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 06:19.Four of my picks made the list! Just no love for Regeneration... A novel about actual gay historical figures, and who's sequel won the Booker. Ah well.
I really need to read more.Submitted by
MyNumber99 (90 points) (17 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 06:40.I really need to read more. A lot of these sound very interesting!
I do read enough to have noticed an error though... In Mysterious Skin (my favorite) it's Brian who thinks he got abducted by aliens and Neil who becomes a prostitute.
Got it--thanksSubmitted by
Read my books! Explore "Brent's Brain" at http://www.brenthartinger.com no votes More pleaseSubmitted by
davidm (170 points) (40 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 06:48.Not a bad list, but with a few glaring omissions, and the order's a bit arbitrary. There are enough great works there to keep most readers busy for the winter. (Having Maupin's lightweight effort at #1 is laughable and embarrassing though. He's basically a beach read.)Since I've read most of these 50 I'd also like to see the long list too. I'm running out of titles to request at the library. Thanks for the work that went into this though. A suggestion for next time would be to let people list more than 5 choices. That might help the cream rise to the top.Agree with poster above... where's Mann, Gide and Genet???
 No Proust? No Gide? No Genet?Submitted by
David Ehrenstein (7805 points) (1725 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 09:29.Surprised that Isherwood and Rechy made the cut. Glad to see my old friends Paul Monette and Vito Russo, but PLEASE!
 I agree ...Submitted by
Terence Steiner (268 points) (66 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:35.Querelle, Our Lady of the Flowers, and The Immoralist should be required reading.
 I'm very flattered to haveSubmitted by
Steve Berman (176 points) (34 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 10:06.I'm very flattered to have made the cut. And glad to see SWORDSPOINT earn the kudos among gay readers that it deserves. But I wish you would have used the new cover for VINTAGE.  VintageSubmitted by
octobercountry (1368 points) (311 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 11:20.I was wondering what you thought of the new cover! I think both are fine, though I think I do like the newer version a bit more... Why was the cover changed? (PS---I'd still like a sequel to this book! How's the new novel coming?)
I'm like a superhero, with no powers or motivation... The designer who did theSubmitted by
Steve Berman (176 points) (34 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 12:16.The designer who did the first cover was too busy to make changes for the second edition, so we had to make some radical changes. Thanks for posting the new cover. A sequel? Hmm, I worry I'd only torture the characters too much. Hopefully you will like the new novel which deals with, among other things, reincarnation, photographing straight boys, and another hapless gay teen.
Now Steve's New & Improved with Andre Norton Award Finalist power for Vintage!  Wow..I had no ideaSubmitted by
michaelsobe (101 points) (19 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 11:11.that I had read so many books! As I scrolled down and saw a number of MY choices, I was suprised to be saying to myself "I forgot that book & that one also" http://web.mac.com/michaelmicha  I'd like to add...Submitted by
Gravity81 (117 points) (27 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:01....The Fancy Dancer (Patricia Nell Warren)andThinking Straight (Robin Reardon)Gotta love those!
I'd forgotten...Submitted by
Terence Steiner (268 points) (66 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:42.how hot the Dancer from the Dance cover is. It really brought me back to my coming out days some thirty years ago.
 Great ListSubmitted by
Kabir Altaf (130 points) (26 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 13:43.I was very happy to see "Maurice", "At Swim, Two Boys" and "The Line of Beauty" so high on the list. I'm kind of surprised though that "Angels in America" came in at number 41, I would have thought it'd be more popular than that. It's a great list overall, but it includes a lot of what I would call "middlebrow" stuff. I agree with the posters above that not having Gide, Genet or Proust are pretty serious omissions. But I suppose it reflects the average readers of this site, not too many people are really into Proust, and I guess that's OK. Literary tastes are always subjective:) Once again, thanks for putting this together for us.
Not Reading Proust is NOT OKSubmitted by
David Ehrenstein (7805 points) (1725 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 18:06.Literary taste always needs improvement.
AgreedSubmitted by
Kabir Altaf (130 points) (26 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 19:30.I completely agree with you. As an English major, I'm very big on classic literature. I must confess though that I attempted to read Swann's Way this summer, and had a hard time getting beyond the first 150 pages or so... I'm hoping it was just not the right time for me to read this particular book, and I plan on getting back to it at some more auspicious time But I suppose my point was just that a poll such as this would tend to measure people's favorite books rather than necessarily literary quality. There are several books which ended up on the list which I don't think qualify as "literature" at all, but people enjoyed reading them for various reasons. The poll reflects the demographics and tastes of the site's users and is thus not the arbiter of good taste or literary greatness. I guess lovers of Proust and other high literature are in the minority, and hey those guys are difficult reading, rewarding once you are able to access the text but difficult nonetheless.
 I like the balance betweenSubmitted by
François Peneaud (674 points) (137 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 14:14.
I like the balance between light reading and more literary choices.
Vous etes raisonSubmitted by
Kabir Altaf (130 points) (26 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 14:30.Bonjour Francois! You are right, very few books tend to get translated into English, while far more are translated out of it. It's only natural that this list would have an English speaking, and for that matter North American bias. Kabir Guess I should write my ownSubmitted by
Sethanel (190 points) (39 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 14:17.only 2 fantasy novels?! that is a shot to the heart, but not unexpected. Fantasy tends to have only extremely coded gay charaters like Raffin and Bann in Kristan Cashore's Gracling (who denies to comment on their relationship status) and Terry Brook's Chalk and Fixit from Armageddon's Children. The genre is usually written by straight white men but seems to have an explosion of female writers lately with a lot of female heroes (not that I am complaining but none are gay). Of all the fantasy books I have read, only two authors have had a gay lead character: Perry Moore with Thom in Hero and Tamora Pierce with Daja in The Will of an Empress (who was barely present in the book sadly).
I know there are more out there but they tend to be extremely hard to find...
UntrueSubmitted by
Steve Berman (176 points) (34 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 14:49.There were more than 2 fantasy novels on this list. And actually, there are a great many fantasy novels with strong gay male protagonists. You can look through the finalists for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award (www.spectrumawards.org) each year for recommended reads. Off the top of my head, I can think of several: Wicked Gentlemen, Ironside, Spaceman Blues, Mordred, Dust of Wonderland... Now Steve's New & Improved with Andre Norton Award Finalist power for Vintage! WowSubmitted by
octobercountry (1368 points) (311 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 15:39.Thanks so much for posting the link to the Spectrum awards site. I'm always interested in reading more gay-themed sci fi/fantasy. And holy cow, there are so many books listed there! This will keep me busy for a while, looking up all these titles...
I'm like a superhero, with no powers or motivation... oh, my bad.Submitted by
Sethanel (190 points) (39 posts) on Fri, 2008-11-14 03:28.I guess I really didn't define what I meant by fantasy. I am horribly picky when it comes to Fantasy. It will take a lot to get me to read any book with a vampire/werewolf in it or if it is set in present day(I refuse to read Twilight). I feel Urban Fantasy needs a lot more than many of the authors are capable of pulling off (whether it is gay or straight leads), not to mention vampires/werewolves (that is just a sad, worn-out section that needs revamping which writers tend to fall prey to and fail). I am looking over the list but it isn't very promising (Science fiction is commonly mixed into fantasy in lists but they are two vary different things). I have considered Marcedes Lackey but i can't bring myself to read her books, they just aren't worth the angst. As for Lynn, he wrote those back in 1996, they are kinda out of print and hard to find unless you have a credit card (which i refuse to buy lol). There tends to be a lot of crappy fantasy out there that we have to wade through and unfortunately not many of the good gay protagonist leads make it out of the editors wetroom.  Just thought I'd clarify aSubmitted by
racchelle (15 points) (3 posts) on Fri, 2008-11-14 12:46.Just thought I'd clarify a couple of things. :) None of the books I recommended had vampires or werewolves in them. I think of those types of books as more occult than fantasy. :) Lynn Flewelling is actually a female and although she started the series in 1996, the last book was released a couple of months ago and the next one is due in about a year. They're not out of print, but not always easy to find, I admit. I found them at a Borders bookstore, but you can usually also have your local bookstore order them and pick them up there (so you don't have to use a credit card). I agree that there is a lot of crappy fantasy out there, but I've been able to find some books with good gay protagonists that I love and adore (The Nightrunner books topping the list). (Un)Fortunately Canadian.Submitted by
Sethanel (190 points) (39 posts) on Fri, 2008-11-14 17:57.Boarders... I have never heard of that bookstore (I assume it is american)... unfortunately there is no McNally Robinson around here. They would for sure have it.
Finally, someone agrees with me on the vampire/werewolves! but that was more for the list of boks on gaylactic. Fantasy suggestionsSubmitted by
racchelle (15 points) (3 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 21:12.Have you read the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling? It's fantasy and there are currently 4 books in the series, with at least one more on the way. The main character is gay. Also, in Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald-Mage series (three books) the main character is gay. I find Lackey a little angsty and melodramatic, but I love her characters. Also, The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek is a steampunk fantasy with two main gay characters that I love. It's even available online to read. If you like urban fantasy, Holly Black's books Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside have gay characters, although they are not (always) the main characters.
 Lynn has also written "TheSubmitted by
Ralpo (200 points) (44 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 22:58.Lynn has also written "The Bone Doll" trilogy in the same universe as the Night Runners, where both sexuality and gender (to a degree) are fluid. Also Ricardo Pinto's Chosen series. Pretty dense prose, and I struggled to finish the second book, but I enjoyed the first immensely.  "by Honey Soundsystem"? Seriously?Submitted by
Distingué Traces (412 points) (91 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 16:17.Andrew Holleran gets on my nerves.
No, not "distant gay traces" -- it's distingué traces! no love for Ethan Mordden?Submitted by
Distingué Traces (412 points) (91 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 16:42.I'm sorry not to see anything from the "Buddies" series showing up on here.
No, not "distant gay traces" -- it's distingué traces! Me too. I love that series.Submitted by
François Peneaud (674 points) (137 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 17:26.
Me too. I love that series. I reread it periodically.
François  Ethan MorddenSubmitted by
db (3180 points) (661 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 18:06.Though I like Ethan Mordden's books on theatre and I've read all the Buddies series books they're not really my favorites. I find the younger characters truly irritating and the relationships between the old(er) men and the sort of arrested development young men kind of creepy.
 "Buddies' is a masterpieceSubmitted by
dback (1762 points) (361 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 18:35.I think the first four books in Mordden's New York adventures all have strong moments/chapters, but "Buddies" is hands-down the strongest from start to finish. Alas, with the most recent "How's Your Romance?" Mordden tried to bring in a new bunch of younger characters, and the book was much less successful than its predecessors. I like big chunks of "How Long..." but think that the serial killer subplot is trite beyond belief, and the last bit of the novel throws aside some of the most gripping characters from earlier in favor of younger, callower, less interesting faces. (Geez, same problem that affected "So How's Your Romance"!) I'm surprised that folks picked "How Long..." over the others, but I'm glad any Mordden is on the list, especially when "Tales"--definitely a fun but fluffy read--is #1.
There's Gay Literature ?Submitted by
Ralpo (200 points) (44 posts) on Thu, 2008-11-13 21:03.I'm glad so many of my favourite books have made it onto the list for a start, and I've taken the names of the ones I don't know. I wont be taking that list to Borders though. Borders is pretty new to my city, and as a lover of books AND music I spent a significant proportion of my money there (but only when there is a discount since, at least here in New Zealand, their prices are in general 10-15% higher than most other sellers). When this poll was announced I wrote down some names Brent mentioned in his introduction that I didn't recognise, and toddled off down to Borders (with a discount coupon of course). The first title I looked up was "Mysterious Skin". I'd seen the movie and had been meaning to hunt down the book. "This book is shelved in our Gay Literature section". What? You have one? I've spent hours and hours in this store, and you'd managed to hide a whole section of literature from me? Eventually I found the "Gay Literature" section. Both shelves of it. Stocked with gaudily covered gay erotica collections and large sized glossy gay short stories -- and three whole novels (admittedly all of which made the top 50). Now I dont mind erotica occasionally. I respect the short story form. But the impression I got from Borders "Gay Literature" section was that gay men are sex obsessed satyrs with short attention spans drawn to bright glittery packaging and books with lots of pictures of buff young men and large print. If, as a 40 year old man who knows better I get that impression, what does your scared, curious, closted teen making his first attempt to find stories that reflect HIS life and experiences make of this array of schlock? NONE of the 15 authors whose names I had written down were even in stock let alone shelved in the "Gay literature" section. I doubt more than a third of these top 50 titles are even stocked there. It's a shame really, and I truly feel sorry for the poor lonely teen who, finding this section at Borders, thinks "is that all there is?".  Hey, Ralpo-Submitted by
Dave (2088 points) (433 posts) on Tue, 2008-11-18 22:54.Being from Portland, Oregon I had to take this oportunity to tout our city's pride and joy: Powell's City of Books (you can reach them online here: http://www.powells.com/ ) Powell's is a "mom & pop" bookstore that takes up an entire city block, and their gay and lesbian section is huge. Not sure what the shipping charge to New Zealand is, but I'm sure you could find all of the titles on this list in both new and used editions.
Thanks :)Submitted by
Ralpo (200 points) (44 posts) on Fri, 2008-11-21 16:41.I'm usually a hater of Borders big chain store mentality -- but a 50% off voucher is too tempting to not take up when you're a book lover. My preferred book shop in town does indeed stock a lot of gay fiction...as well as having the best sci-fi/fantasy, gender studies, art books, detective stories, modern literature, classic literature and pretty much every other item stores like Borders don't or won't stock. But alas, when the 50% discount voucher appears in my email inbox I just have to use it. I will browse the Powells site for hours though. Thanks for the heads up.
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OK, I Can Live With This List. . .
. . .even though I did think The Catch Trap was worlds better than the navel-gazing Dancer from the Dance.
C'est la vie!
Kudos to all!
Coincidentally
As of the time of posting, I'm a little over half-way through the first in the Tales of the City series.
It's amusing enough, but I'm guessing (speaking as a naive twenty-something) that the nostalgia factor plays a large role in its popularity. Yes?
Potboilers
I enjoy TOTC, but they are definitely potboilers--written in the tradition of Dickens as serials for a periodical (in this case, a newspaper).
I will say that the writing gets considerably better as the series goes on. By the third novel (or collection, if you will) Maupin's writing has definitely improved--probably since he had been writing the columns steadily for several years by that point. His recent novels are even better, possibly because they were written AS novels and not as columns.
I give up
I give up. Really, I just give up. I'll never fit in with the straight mainstream, and it's clear from this list that I'll never have anything in common with the majority of gay men. I think I'll go crawl in a hole somewhere.
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
This made Michael and I laugh out loud!
Read my books! Explore "Brent's Brain" at http://www.brenthartinger.com no votes
Tom Spanbauer Tom Spanbauer Tom Spanbauer Tom Spanbauer Tom
afhickman
"The mountain has wings."
My message should already be clear. Spanbauer is one of the few contemporary novelists who unreservedly belongs on a list with the likes of Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, and E.M. Forster, and he inexplicably gets left off. Maupin? Holleran? Mary Renault? Where are Gide, Mann, and Genet? I'm with Joseph; I am so out of the mainstream, I'm on dry land.
That having been said, I guess it could be worst--Cunningham, Hollinghurst, and Scott Heim are all winners. Maybe next year, Spanbauer will get his due. Sigh.
I am with you Joseph.
I am with you Joseph.
I'm not an iconoclast on purpose, but sometimes you are what you are.