Comments on: Gay Male Fiction Help

Question: Gay Male Fiction Help

blast — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:39:35 -0800

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 tom_blast@hotmail.com
Thank You

By: ClaudiaCenter

ClaudiaCenter — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:54:06 -0800

Michael Thomas Ford? Closer to Maupin than Mann ...

By: ClaudiaCenter

ClaudiaCenter — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:00:56 -0800

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.)

By: ubiquity

ubiquity — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:02:37 -0800

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.

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:10:11 -0800

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.

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:10:54 -0800

and anything by Christopher Isherwood.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:12:24 -0800

I really enjoyed Lawnboy by Paul Lisicky.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:13:41 -0800

The Indian Clerk.

By: Stewriffic

Stewriffic — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:15:47 -0800

E. Lynn Harris.

By: rtha

rtha — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:40:04 -0800

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.

By: Amy NM

Amy NM — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:58:03 -0800

I love Tony Bidulka's Russell Quant mysteries.

By: munchingzombie

munchingzombie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:58:41 -0800

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.

By: blast

blast — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:58:42 -0800

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

By: Sara Anne

Sara Anne — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:05:02 -0800

I think that the works of Denton Welch should be right up your alley.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:16:27 -0800

Jake Arnott wrote a trilogy upon his fictional British, gay gangster Harry Starks, based on the very real-life Ronnie Kray.

By: notashroom

notashroom — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:32:17 -0800

The God in Flight by Laura Argiri is oddly beautiful.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:39:45 -0800

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).

By: brujita

brujita — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:07:05 -0800

Alex Chee's (who attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the same time as me) Edinburgh is an incredible novel.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:34:02 -0800

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.

By: sevenyearlurk

sevenyearlurk — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:10:11 -0800

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.

By: catesbie

catesbie — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:09:19 -0800

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.

By: sneakin

sneakin — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:58:26 -0800

(sneakin's gf here)

Seconding Alexander Chee's Edinburgh.
I also like some of David Leavitt's work, especially While England Sleeps.

By: kolophon

kolophon — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:45:13 -0800

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.

By: Odinhead

Odinhead — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:30:52 -0800

Seconding The Sheltering Sky. Augusten Burroughs also comes to mind, but his works aren't nearly as beautifully written as Bowles.

By: backwards guitar

backwards guitar — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:49:07 -0800

It's been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying "Funny Boy" by Shyam Selvadurai.

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:30:57 -0800

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.