A Reddit user recently solicited recommendations for good books about gay men — “Like Call Me By Your Name, but maybe more authentic and not written for a straight audience,” he added — and commenters certainly came through. Get your library card ready and scroll down to discover those Redditor-endorsed reads.
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Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
In 1950s Paris, a young man engaged to a woman falls for an Italian bartender and feels torn between his public and private identities in this classic of gay literature from one of America’s most influential writers.
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
Two male lovers — who bond, coincidentally, over a copy of Giovanni’s Room — find themselves on opposite sides of a political divide in 1980s Poland in this recent literary debut.
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Maurice by E.M. Forster
Written in 1914 but not published until 1971 — and then adapted for the screen in 1987 — this classic story follows the titular protagonist and his romance with a fellow university student named Clive.
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A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Adapted into a Colin Firth movie in 2009, the “wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad” A Single Man follows an Englishman living in Southern California who adjusts to living life solo after the death of his partner
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
After finding out from Death-Cast that today is their mutual “End Day,” two strangers — Mateo and Rufus — meet up for “one last great adventure — to live a lifetime in a single day” in this YA novel.
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What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
In this YA book that Silvera co-wrote with the author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, two young men cross paths in a “meet-cute” at a New York City post office but “can’t decide if the universe is pushing them together — or pulling them apart.”
Related: Sequel to gay rom-com ‘Love, Simon’ to be released in June
Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and Meby Bill Hayes
In this memoir, Hayes recalls moving to New York City from San Francisco following the death of his partner, then falling in love with his friend and neighbor, famed neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks.
The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
This “enthralling, darkly erotic novel of homosexuality” focuses on the friendship between a young gay man and the elderly aristocrat looking for someone to write his biography. (Note: The same Reddit commenter also recommended Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty.)
Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
The first in a nine (and a half) book series, this mystery novel follows odd-couple special agent team Zane Garrett and Ty Grady as they track a serial killer in New York City and “figure out how to work together before they become two more notches in the murderer’s knife.”
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Less by Andrew Sean Greer
“A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart,” Less centers on a failed novelist who impulsively accepts every literary invitation left discarded on his desk so he has a excuse to not attend his ex-boyfriend’s wedding.
GGhh
Let me recommend “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune. It will leave your soul full or warmth, for sure.
linedrive
Such a sweet book
Goosecurls
I’d recommend the works of Stephen McCauley. They are humorous and serious at the same time.
Out of the ordinary, there is James Purdy’s “Narrow Rooms”.
Also there’s Patricia Nell Warren’s “The Frontrunner”. Sure, it’s not the best written book ever. It’s an easy read. There are moments that are improbable. But, it ends with a punch in the gut.
sflewie
I’d like to recommend “Funny That Way: Adventures in Fabulousness” a collection of humorous stories & essays about being gay and growing up gay by author Joel Perry.
WashDrySpin
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
WashDrySpin
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Thad
I’m reading it now!
linedrive
Yes! Loved it. A fun, funny romp and Trump’s defeat makes it even sweeter.
WashDrySpin
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
hoosier1969
Powerful book! I met her last year when she and Aciman were at an event pt on by Unabridged Bookstore in Boystown. Hard to believe that 12 months ago we could still have events like that…
Wheelerman
Terrific book!
WashDrySpin
Letters to a GAY BLACK BOY by Terry Dyer
WashDrySpin
Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis by Kevin Mumford
Kit McCollum
No gay reading library is complete without Paul Monette’s two award-winning memories: BORROWED TIME and BECOMING A MAN. And they should be read in that order. There is also his canon of gay fiction, some of which–like HALFWAY HOME– is more successful than others, and his collections of essays is also worth a read (particularly the essay, “My Priests” in LAST WATCH OF THE NIGHT.
As for LESS, cited by this article’s author, I have read about 50 or so pages of it and for the life of me cannot understand what all the fuss is about. Finding it a very dry, uninvolving read.
BrendonFehre
Totally agree LESS was a waste of time and didn’t get better. As for CUT & RUN, woeful, terrible, boring, read like it was written by a 12 year old.
geb1966
I got Less for my birthday last year and took it on vacation for a “relaxing distraction” in the evenings, since we couldn’t go out at night. That was June… still haven’t finished it. Glad to know I’m not the only one who couldn’t get into it.
Wheelerman
I tried to read LESS, but foubd it boring. Never finished it.
pavel20
Particularly given the holiday season we’ve entered, I would recommend Comfort & Joy by Jim Grimsley.
geb1966
One of my favorite holiday reads.
Skip
It didn’t make much of a splash when published in hardback (E. P. Dutton, 1997), but Gary Reed’s debut (and only) novel, “Pryor Rendering”, set in rural Oklahoma, is still my favorite book of all time. (I worked in a gay bookstore for decades, so I had lots of new books to choose from.) It was published in trade paperback format a year later and quietly disappeared. Used copies are sometimes available, and I heartily recommend it.
Thad
I snatched the last copy from Amazon! (Not sorry.) Maybe ebay or indie bookstores will have it.
x.plorer
I bought it online recently at Thriftbooks. If anyone is looking for it, Thriftbooks had several more copies available.
Dansktex
How about some more up-to-date books that are award winners and/or getting great reviews:
Memorial by Bryan Washington (Loss by him is also good)
Shuggie Bain by Douglass Stuart (just won the Booker Prize)
Real Life by Brandon Taylor (A Best Book of 2020 according to the BBC)
eeebee333
When I was a teenager in the 1970s, there was no place in literature where a gay or questioning kid could see himself. Now there are so many young adult books with gay teen protagonists. Reading them now is an incredibly enjoyable escape for me. A few good ones:
The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
What if It’s Us? by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra
Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall
johnjernigan
The Gay Road Less Traveled – John Jernigan 🙂
Blue Zoo
City of Night – John Rechy
Dancer from the Dance – Andrew Holleran
And the Band Played On – Randy Shilts
All of these books are old, and each has picked up it’s share of criticism over the years, but I feel like each of these books are singularly important to our body of gay literature and worth the read. Oh, and I really liked Less by Andrew Greer. Seems like no one else ever has anything nice to say about it, but I thought it was a pretty good read.
rockoder10
A few great gay novels I loved recently:
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (One of my all time favorite novels)
The Imperfection of Swans by Brandon Witt
Broken People by Sam Lansky
On the “darker” side of things:
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
Docile by K.M. Sparza
Memior-wise, I loved:
Out East by John Glynn
&
Gilded Razor by Sam Lansky
linedrive
Adam Silvera’s They Both Die At the End is a bit of a gut punch but I definitely recommend it. It absolutely inspires self-examination.
linedrive
The End of Billy Knight by Ty Jacob. I never hear anything about this book but it’s one hell of a ride. It follows the exploits of a half-crazy drag queen and the young man she turns into a porn star. It’s nutty and funny and poignant, and I got such a kick out of it.
x.plorer
Two of my favorite novels are:
At Swim, Two Boys — set in 1915 Ireland; beautiful writing by Jamie O’Neill.
A Home at the End of the World — author is Michael Cunningham. The novel is excellent; the film version that followed was… meh.
Dansktex
I agree about At Swim, Two Boys. I read it when it was first printed. It is a high-quality, well written novel of approximately 650 pages.
Wheelerman
We all have our favorites.
A few of mine are The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley, John Boyne’s The Absolutist and The Hearts Invisible Furies.
David Feinberg’s Eighty-Sixed is a poignant, funny, lovely book. I could go on, but won’t.