'Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read'

[Maurice]

edited and introduced by Richard Canning

published by Alyson Books

Waterstones.com - £10.28p





I SAMUEL and II SAMUEL - after 960 BC

reviewer Aaron Hamburger



GILGAMESH - between 668 and 627 BC

reviewer David McConnell



POEMS - c.600 BC - Sappho

Maureen Duffy



THE SYMPOSIUM - c.384 BC - Plato

Shaun Levin



LETTERS - 1798 and later - Horace Walpole

Duncan Fallowell



MOBY DICK - 1851 - Herman Melville

Vestal McIntyre



LEAVES OF GRASS - 1855 and later - Walt Whitman

Philip Clark



A SEASON IN HELL - 1873 - Arthur Rimbaud

Kevin Killian



THE BOSTONIANS - 1886 - Henry James

Regina Marler



A SHROPSHIRE LAD - 1896 - A. E. Houseman

Mark Merlis



DE PROFUNDIS - 1895-97; published 1905 and 1962 - Oscar Wilde

Fenton Johnson



CLAUDINE AT SCHOOL - 1900 - Colette

Alison Smith



DEATH IN VENICE - 1912 - Thomas Mann

Christopher Bram



THE FLOWER BENEATH THE FOOT - 1923 - Ronald Firbank

Brian Bouldrey



MRS. DALLOWAY - 1925 - Virginia Woolf

Jane DeLynn



TIME REGAINED - 1927 - Marcel Proust

Felice Picano



MORE WOMEN THAN MEN - 1933 - Ivy Compton-Burnett

Lisa Cohen



POEMS - 1935 and later - Constantine Cavafy

David Plante



NIGHTWOOD - 1936 - Djuna Barnes

Eric Karl Anderson



THE LETTERS OF VITA SACKVILLE-WEST TO VIRGINIA WOOLF - 1922-41; 1985

Vita Sackville-West, reviewer Carol Anshaw



BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - 1945 - Evelyn Waugh

Bob Smith



MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN - 1951 - Marguerite Yourcenar

Edmund White



CAROL The Price of Salt - 1952 - Patricia Highsmith

Stella Duffy



IN THE MAKING - 1952 - G. F. Green

Peter Parker



FORBIDDEN COLORS - 1953 - Yukio Mishima

Randall Kenan



HOWL AND OTHER POEMS - 1956 - Allen Ginsberg

David Bergman



GIOVANNI'S ROOM - 1956 - James Baldwin

Douglas A. Martin



FIRST LOVE AND OTHER SORROWS: STORIES - 1958 - Harold Brodkey

Noel Alumit



A TASTE OF HONEY - 1958 - Shelagh Delaney

John Weir



A SINGLE MAN - 1964 - Christopher Isherwood

Patrick Ryan



PARADISO - 1966 - Jose Lezama Lima

Richard Reitsma



EUSTACE CHISHOLM AND THE WORKS - 1967 - James Purdy

Jonathan Franzen



MY FATHER AND MYSELF - 1968 - J. R. Ackerley

Andrew Holleran



BETRAYED BY RITA HAYWORTH - 1968 - Manuel Puig

R. Zamora Linmark



THE WILD BOYS: A BOOK OF THE DEAD - 1971 - William Burroughs

Kathy Acker



THE PERSIAN BOY - 1972 - Mary Renault

Jim Grimsley



TOO MUCH FLESH AND JABEZ - 1977 - Coleman Dowell

Bradley Craft



DANCER FROM THE DANCE - 1978 - Andrew Holleran

Matias Viegener



THE CANCER JOURNALS - 1980 - Audre Lorde

Tania Katan



THE COLOR PURPLE - 1982 - Alice Walker

Mark Behr



A BOY'S OWN STORY - 1983 - Edmund White

Robert Gluck



ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT - 1985 - Jeanette Winterson

V. G. Lee



TO THE FRIEND WHO DID NOT SAVE MY LIFE - 1990 - Herve Guibert

Alistair McCartney



THE TERRIBLE GIRLS - 1990 - Rebecca Brown

Carol Guess



THE MAN WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MOON - 1991 - Tom Spanbauer

Larry Duplechan



TAKE ME TO PARIS, JOHNNY - 1993 - John Foster

Rob Beeston



PALIMPSEST - 1995 - Gore Vidal

Paul Reidinger



ALLAN STEIN - 1999 - Matthew Stadler

Blair Mastbaum



GHOST DANCE - 2004 - Douglas Wright

Richard Canning



BURNING DREAMS - 2006 - Susan Smith

J. D. Glass

[Rowdon]

Hmm. These seem more like classics that contain a gay scene/character/plot line.

Where's Larry Kramer? Or even Jake Arnott?

Come to that, Maurice, where's Maurice?



I'd like to see a list of "Fifty Red-haired Character books everyone must read."

[Mandragora]

Although Oscar Wilde is mentioned, The Picture of Dorian Grey is omitted. Mrs Dalloway hints at one character, the lady of the title as having lesbian tendencies but she is also married with a child and Septimus Smith the shell-shocked soldier trapped in a sterile marriage has clear gay references. As for Sappho’s poetry there are some references to female-to-female erotic sensuality, but her poetry deals with a huge range of issues relevant to many areas of ancient Greek culture. One of the few known facts about Sappho (gleaned only from the surviving fragments of her poetry) is that she was married and had a daughter. I would also add Djuna Barnes Ladies Almanack to this list and probably the historically important The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. I would also mention I Know My Own Heart, the diaries of Anne Lister, (1791-1840) edited by Helena Whitbread. A huge omission is probably the superbly written short story Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proux…

[Rowdon]

I don't think it's that easy to list omissions since the list as is doesn't have any clear basis. What are the criteria used? Gay writer? Gay character? Asexual character?

[Maurice]

I agree with Rowdon about E. M. Forster's MAURICE and Mandragora regarding THE WELL OF LONELINESS and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.



BROKEBACK often reminds viewers of the first made-for-TV movie exploring a gay relationship: THAT CERTAIN SUMMER (US TV, 1972), directed by Lamont Johnson.



In a reversal of the usual routine, movie was not an adaptation of novel.

Wikipedia points out: "a novelization of the film was written by Burton Wohl".



Despite several Emmy Awards, and Golden Globe for 'Best Movie Made for TV', THAT CERTAIN SUMMER remains one of the most significant, acclaimed films never released on video or DVD.



IMDb User Comments indicate high regard for the movie - and frustration at the absence of a DVD.



Cast included Hal Holbrook, Martin Sheen, Scott Jacoby, Hope Lange and Joe Don Baker.



The novel might, or might not, qualify for a 'Top 50' on its own merits. But its inclusion could have led to a new generation taking an interest in the movie.

[Mr Sloane]

While these lists are always subjective I can't believe the Armistead Maupin Tales of the City series has not been included. It brought gay characters and issues into mainstream popular literature for the first time ( and is an excellent read).

[Lord Lionheart]

I wonder if there's a list of books by midgets, albinos, virgins, obese writers. It's just not fair that gays and lesbians get all the non-mainstream limelight

[homeguard]

Is this the latest Labour Party Policy, and is it compulsory? Will I need one of these

[Mr Sloane]

name='homeguard']Is this the latest Labour Party Policy, and is it compulsory? Will I need one of these

Eh!....

[will.15]

name='Lord Lionheart']I wonder if there's a list of books by midgets, albinos, virgins, obese writers. It's just not fair that gays and lesbians get all the non-mainstream limelight

There are some good stories about midgets, but not written by them:



Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare



The short story Spurs, quite different from the movie that adapted it, Freaks. In the original story, the midget completely dominates his wife, riding on her back while wearing spurs. She isn't mutilated by the other freaks.



I'm sure there are other great midget stories, but that's all I know.



There are plenty of 19th century novels about virgins, possibly written by virgins as many were unmarried women.



Obese writers with obese protagonist: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.



I don't know any albino stories or authors.

[torinfan]

I've read "The Poems of Bilitis", does that count?

[Mr Sloane]

name='will.15']There are some good stories about midgets, but not written by them:







I don't know any albino stories or authors.

The Da Vinci Code ?

[Lord Lionheart]

name='will.15']There are some good stories about midgets, but not written by them:



Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare



The short story Spurs, quite different from the movie that adapted it, Freaks. In the original story, the midget completely dominates his wife, riding on her back while wearing spurs. She isn't mutilated by the other freaks.



I'm sure there are other great midget stories, but that's all I know.



There are plenty of 19th century novels about virgins, possibly written by virgins as many were unmarried women.



Obese writers with obese protagonist: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.



I don't know any albino stories or authors.

Not much of a list though is it. I was hoping for a choice of at least 10 books in each category. The gays and lesbians are running away with it, with a choice of 50 books

[marker]

Why would normal people want to read Gay books

[will.15]

name='marker']Why would normal people want to read Gay books

A lot of people read Moby Dick unaware it was a gay novel. Who was the gay character...Ishmael...Captain Ahab...or Moby Dick?

[Mr Sloane]

name='will.15']A lot of people read Moby Dick unaware it was a gay novel. Who was the gay character...Ishmael...Captain Ahab...or Moby Dick?

Would that be normal people or abnormal people?

[will.15]

Anybody who actually finished reading that ponderous bore has an abnormal tolerance for tedium.

[Mr Sloane]

name='will.15']Anybody who actually finished reading that ponderous bore has an abnormal tolerance for tedium.

[marker]

name='will.15']A lot of people read Moby Dick unaware it was a gay novel. Who was the gay character...Ishmael...Captain Ahab...or Moby Dick?

Thank god I never read Moby Dick

[Lord Brett]

name='marker']Why would normal people want to read Gay books

Aren't gay people normal?