Gay Male Fiction Help

December 1, 2007 5:39 PM

Gay Male Fiction: Please Recommend something good to read

I liked the following books: Death in Venice By Thomas Mann
Giovanni's Room By James Baldwin
Call me by your name by Andre Aciman
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
Maurice by E.M. Forester
The Persian Boy By Mary Renault
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Hotel De Dream by Edmund White
Prick up your ears By Joe Orton
Tales of the City Books by Armistead Maupin
All of Alan Hollinghurst Books
All of James Earl Hardy Books
All of Gordon Merricks Books
What should I read next?
If you would like your response to be private you can also email me [e-mail]
Thank You

posted by blast to Writing & Language (25 answers total)

Michael Thomas Ford? Closer to Maupin than Mann ...
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 5:54 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also -- if you like the bitchy society stuff, you might check out W. Somerset Maughan's short stories. (Gay author -- don't know if it counts as gay fiction, though.)
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 6:00 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Prick Up Your Ears is not fiction, it's Orton's autobiography (the title is a pun, and includes an anagram). If you liked it, you'll probably like his plays, which are all hysterically funny, and mostly center around characters of ambiguous sexuality, if not out-and-out homosexuality. Start with Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Loot.

Much of Joseph Hansen's output concerns homosexuality, especially the 12 Dave Brandstetter novels -- Brandstetter was the first hard-boiled private investigator who was openly gay.

On the other hand, be warned that Billy Lee Brammer's The Gay Place, though a masterpiece and totally worth reading by anyone, has nothing to do with homosexuals.
posted by ubiquity at 6:02 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Peter Cameron -- The Weekend

Also, if you liked Brideshead Revisited (one of my most favorite books), check out The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. Similar if more decadent vibe.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:10 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

and anything by Christopher Isherwood.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:10 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I really enjoyed Lawnboy by Paul Lisicky.
posted by Craig at 6:12 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Indian Clerk.
posted by drezdn at 6:13 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

E. Lynn Harris.
posted by Stewriffic at 6:15 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

An Arrow's Flight, by Mark Merlis. An amazing, amazing book.

"The award-winning An Arrow's Flight tells the story of the Trojan War and Pyrrhus, the son of the fallen Achilles, now working as a go-go boy and hustler in the big city."

Anything by Andrew Holleran, especially The Beauty of Men.
posted by rtha at 6:40 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I love Tony Bidulka's Russell Quant mysteries.
posted by Amy NM at 6:58 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

While England Sleeps by David Leavitt is one of my favorites by a favorite author.

Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley is a downer. But a great book you can finish in a single sitting.

And you really can't go wrong with reading anything by Gore Vidal.
posted by munchingzombie at 6:58 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank You to The Hive. I look forward to reading all of these books.
Ubiquity is Correct! Prick Up Your Ears By Joe Orton is Non Fiction Autobiography. (My Mistake) Thanks for pointing that out.
Cheers to one and all from Blast
posted by blast at 6:58 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think that the works of Denton Welch should be right up your alley.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:05 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Jake Arnott wrote a trilogy upon his fictional British, gay gangster Harry Starks, based on the very real-life Ronnie Kray.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:16 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

The God in Flight by Laura Argiri is oddly beautiful.
posted by notashroom at 8:32 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

The glbtq culture encyclopedia has some really good articles about gay and lesbian fiction, including pieces about the gay male novel, mysteries, drama, lit from various centuries, countries and ethnic groups, etc. A site definitely worth spending time at if you're interested in gay lit (and other queer stuff; it's still one of the best gay-related sites around).
posted by mediareport at 10:39 PM on December 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

Alex Chee's (who attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the same time as me) Edinburgh is an incredible novel.
posted by brujita at 11:07 PM on December 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill is a wonderful book. It's about two gay adolescents growing up in pre-Republican Ireland and an older gay man who's just out of prison for indecency. If this doesn't sound particularly interesting, well... it's a really good book. It comes highly recommended.
posted by Kattullus at 12:34 AM on December 2, 2007 [4 favorites]

Neal Drinnan, an Australian author, has written a couple that I've really enjoyed: Glove Puppet and Quill. Looks like used copies are very cheap through Amazon.

Cumberland by Canadian Michael V Smith is also good.

Larry Kramer's Faggots is worth reading.

If you like plays, pick up a Jonathan Harvey collection.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 6:10 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

I post this with the caveat that I haven't actually read it yet (it's ENORMOUS), but Embrace, by Mark Behr, is supposed to be wonderful. His Smell of Apples is one of my favorite novels.
posted by catesbie at 8:09 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

(sneakin's gf here)

Seconding Alexander Chee's Edinburgh.
I also like some of David Leavitt's work, especially While England Sleeps.
posted by sneakin at 8:58 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Some of my recent favourites: Spaceman Blues: A Love Song, Richard Bowes 'Minions of the Moon and One For Sorrow, though it is not a "gay" book in the strictest sence.

And I sencond At Swim Two Boys, this is truly a magnificent novel, surely one of the best gay-themed books I've ever read.
posted by kolophon at 10:45 AM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding The Sheltering Sky. Augusten Burroughs also comes to mind, but his works aren't nearly as beautifully written as Bowles.
posted by Odinhead at 6:30 PM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying "Funny Boy" by Shyam Selvadurai.
posted by backwards guitar at 8:49 PM on December 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Anything by Joe Keenan (Blue Heaven, Putting on the Ritz, and My Lucky Star). Modern-day Wodehouse narrated by a gay man, and half the characters are gay -- which allows for at least double the complexity of plot. It's a beautiful thing; Keenan has the style to pull it off.
posted by booksandlibretti at 6:30 PM on December 3, 2007 [1 favorite]