The Rejectionist's Totally Random Big Gay Reading List
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
So it's (the end of, actually, but whatevs) Gay and Lesbian History Month! Very exciting. In general, the Rejectionist feels pretty cranky about Disenfranchised Persons Months (much in line with this stellar post from the ever-brilliant Ari on Black History Month). Like, we would kind of rather have, say, unrestricted access to safe and legal abortion (and when we say UNRESTRICTED we mean FUCKING UNRESTRICTED, LOUISIANA, YOU FUCKERS) in every county of this fair land every day of the year than, say, a bunch of insipid platitudes about Susan B. Anthony for the entirety of March. But, that caveat aside, we really like telling people what to read. So! in honor of Gay and Lesbian History Month, we present the Rejectionist's super-random Big Gay Reading List, which is basically just a completely arbitrary sampling of books we like that have gay people in them.
1. The Book of Salt, Monique Truong
Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas's life as viewed by Binh, their Vietnamese cook. Beautiful and fascinating and will also make you want to get in a time machine and head straight for 1930s Paris.
2. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
Kind of like if Dickens was slightly more awesome and extremely more gay. Sarah Waters has an amazing knack for turning out steamy and brilliantly plotted Victorian potboilers. Total crack. Also steamy. Did we mention steamy? STEAMY.
3. The Passion, Jeanette Winterson
Genre- and gender-bending story of a doomed love affair from one of the most brilliant writers in the English language.
4. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
Don't even try and argue with us. You'll lose.
5. The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, Frank O'Hara
"Have you forgotten what we were like then/when we were still first rate/and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth/it's no use worrying about Time/but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves/and turned some sharp corners/the whole pasture looked like our meal/we didn't need speedometers/we could manage cocktails out of ice and water/I wouldn't want to be faster/or greener than now if you were with me O you/were the best of all my days"
6. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
There's sci-fi and then there's Samuel R. Delany, who we're pretty sure is from an alternate universe of extreme genius. Probably one of the most influential science-fiction books ever written, and deservedly so.
7. Zami, A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde
Amazing autobiography by an amazing, amazing woman.
8. Hotel de Dream, Edmund White
Creepy and sad story of an obsessive love affair in 1890s New York.
9. The Terrible Girls, Rebecca Brown
Out of all her books this is maybe our favorite. Impossibly sinister, gorgeous, and perfect.
10. In the City of Shy Hunters, Tom Spanbauer
You will never look at New York in the same way again.
11. Edward II, Christopher Marlowe
So wacktacular, disturbing, and brilliant. By the guy who wrote all of Shakespeare's plays HA HA HA HA HA THAT WAS AN ENGLISH MAJOR JOKE, DON'T BLAME US IF IT ISN'T FUNNY
12. Kissing the Witch, Emma Donoghue
Fairy tales! but creepy! and gay! and AWESOME! Not that fairy tales aren't creepy and gay to begin with. MORE creepy and gay.
13. Baby Be-Bop, Francesca Lia Block
California pop-punk fable from the high priestess of cool.
14. Edinburgh, Alexander Chee
Sublimely beautiful coming-of-age story.
15. Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
You will never think the same way about anything, ever again. Guaranteed.
16. Winterlong, Elizabeth Hand
This book is out of print because there is absolutely no justice in the universe, but hunt it down. One of the most original and gorgeous science fiction novels ever written in the entire history of everything.
17. Cool For You, Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles is a lot fucking cooler than any of us. Hilarious and sharp coming-of-age novel.
18. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You, Peter Cameron
More funny and more poignant than anything you will read in this century.
19. Valencia, Michelle Tea
Sex, drugs, rockandroll, San Francisco.
20. Gender Trouble, Judith Butler
OMG JUDITH BUTLER OMG OMG.
NOW YOU TELL US PLEASE, your favorite gay books, in the waning hours of Gay and Lesbian History Month! AND ALSO WE ARE GOING TO READ THESE BOOKS ALL YEAR AND NOT JUST IN JUNE, AREN'T WE, OH YES WE ARE. OKAY? OKAY!
Posts
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED.
Yeah, I said it.
Re: creepy/gay fairy tales, what about "The Goblin Market"? I remember my whole Victorian Genders class side-eyeing that poem freshman year of college.
Also, I just got Edinburgh at a library book sale because I had seen it on your reading list. V. excited to read it.
Ellen Kushner's Big Gay Fantasy Books. (okay, they're actually modestly sized as fantasy goes) Swordspoint, Privilege of the Sword... lots of steaminess, gay and straight and everything in between!
The "Tales from the City" series rocked my world as a young teenager. I don't know if it's still as funny & moving as it was then, but it's worth mentioning. Also: David Sedaris!
Been meaning to read Tipping the Velvet since I loved Fingersmith so much. Also, I love steamy. Sold.
Fiction saved my life - EM Forster's "Maurice" gave me gay characters and a life I could relate to (I went to boarding school) and in college James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" kicked me out of the closet and saved a relationship with the guy I'm now married to.
Thanks for the list, btw. I'm printing it out.
Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley. Southern, a bit gothic. Beautifully written and a tiny bit heart-breaking. I'd still like someone to explain the ending to me.
Is it lame of me to yell "WILL GRAYSON WILL GRAYSONNNN!" in a fangirl scream?
Coming out of lurkdom to suggest...
Sarah Waters's "The Night Watch" about civilian responders in England during WWII. "Affinity" is also very good, more subtle in its lesbian content than TtV or "Night Watch".
"Ammonite" by Nicola Griffith, SF set on a planet populated only by women due to a virus outbreak ages ago.
WIll Grayson Will Grayson. Definitely. Soooooo good. And the Bermudez Triangle, by Maureen Johnson. Love the characters, and I love Maureen. Oh, and Boy Meets Boy. It was the only book I've read in school that I actually liked.
Oh yes, yes, yes, Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson.
The last day of a Disenfranchised Persons Month is the perfect time for a reading list because it automatically implies These Books Are For Always.
Also, regarding Holmes: this and then this.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RED, Anne Carson!
for the win!
Another vote for Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Fun, popcorn-for-the-brain reading.
Ash by Malinda Lo, definitely, definitely! The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson as well. Luna by Julie Anne Peters!
could someone please argue with Le R re Sherlock Holmes? I don't disagree with the assessment, However, when called upon to list reasons, I go, uh, um, because I think so? :)
Anyways, it would be fun and esciting to watch the match and I will be charging for ringside seats.
Anyone up for the challenge? Or, if you agree as weel, anyone who knows how to play a convincing devil's advocate??? LMAO
Besides, I just like to watch Le R in action. **rubs hands together in anticipation.
And could someone wake up my brain? Triple feature of Twilight, result of which was getting home at 330 am has seemed to dull my brain. Honest, I know how to spell...
The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan.
Why yes! We can has big gay sword-swinging, sarcastic anti-heroes!
What? You'd like them in both genders, please? Sure! No problem!!
OMG HOW DID WE FORGET ANN CARSON AND ARMISTEAD MAUPIN THE REJECTIONIST IS TOTALLY FIRED
At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill.
Follows fifteen-year-old Jim Mack as he learns how to swim from his best friend Doyler Doyle in the months leading up to Easter Rising. The writing is gorgeous, the narration switches fluidly between multiple POVs, and the pacing is excellent. I think it's a masterpiece, and it's far and away my favorite book.
Also, Jim and Doyler can be so much like Benvolio and Mercutio at times that it's like reading a missing subplot of Romeo and Juliet.
HUGE yes to Sarah Waters. Her books are exciting and romantic, too.
Loads that have already been mentioned like Maupin, Sarah Waters, Grayson (LOVE him), and EM Forster among others but I want to mention Jane Seville's ZERO AT THE BONE. A hit man falls in love with his mark, then goes all out to protect him from the same folks who wanted the hit. It's awesome.
And Deidre Knight's BUTTERFLY TATOO.
Fool For Love -- short stories, edited by Timothy Lambert and R D Cochrane
And, also, your post made me think of *this* -- http://www.timschraeder.com/2010/06/30/a-different-kind-of-demonstration-at-gay-pride -- which was awesome and I thought maybe you'd appreciate it.
:-)
Oh gosh. I got the Marlowe joke.
I'm going to go wipe my brain now. :P
I recently read The World of Normal Boys by KM Soehnlein and loved it. Absolutely anything by David Levithan also tops my list - his are the only books I will buy as a new releases the day they come out.
My favorite Spanbauer is THE MAN WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MOON.
SILK ROAD is an easy, pulpy, lesbian spin on Lolita.
My most favorite book ever is A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Cunningham owns the keys to my heart. This book addresses the fluidity of sexuality, family, and identity so deftly and sweetly, it makes me want to live inside the world he's created.
FUN HOME is a tremendous graphic novel that can be read in one sitting and is a terrific summer read. Author/Illustrator Alison Bechdel went to Oberlin College, like I did, so it's extra fun for me to spot the backdrops she uses of our alma mater.
See, with Holmes and Watson, I always figured it was an unrequited love. Holmes is totally gay, but Watson keeps running off and getting married to women.
Hey! My word verification, swear to any God or Goddess you like, is BEFORKED!
I totally cackled at the Shakespeare/Marlowe joke.
And how has Oscar Wilde escaped mention this far in?!
Passing for Black by Linda Villarosa - explores being black AND being lesbian.
3. The Passion, Jeanette Winterson <-- YES YES YES. This is one of my favorite books EVER.
But I'm obsessed with Jeanette Winterson.
Also, I second whoever said Autobiography of Red. That was the first novel-in-verse I fell in love with <3
Just read this: WILDTHORN by Jane Eagland. Already out in the UK, coming this fall in the US. It's totally "if Sarah Waters wrote YA." Very entertaining and even a bit lusty.
Frank O'Hara=AWESOME!
I know it's kind of outdated but I adored George in The Object of My Affection. Can I get kicked out of the comments for naming a book that was made into a Jennifer Aniston movie???
You are completely wrong about Sherlock Holmes. I would love to hear your reasons.
Hm. What I've read of these I've liked. When at The Big Gay Bookstore(tm), I've picked up and put down Michelle Tea's book about a million times and should really read it.
Maybe I will consider this my summer reading list, then! That sounds like a fun summer. :D
p.s. Malinda Lo, Ash. Absolutely. It's just done amazingly well in every way. (Where was that huntress when I was 14, oh my.)
A fantastic list, let me add all of them to my own never ending reading list.
My favourites include:
'Regeneration' (and the whole trilogy) - Pat Barker (really excited to see a book called My Queer War being published, more gay men in the first world war)
'As Meat Loves Salt' - Maria McCann
'Empress of the World' and 'The Rules of Hearts' - Sara Ryan
'What They Always Tell Us' - Martin Wilson
'The Folded Leaf' - William Maxwell
An Arrow's Flight by Mark Merlis.
Achilles' son is gay. Hilarious, sexy, poignant, brilliant.
Has nobody else read this? Find it if you can.
I really enjoyed THE MEMOIRS OF A BEAUTIFUL BOY by Robert Leleux.
No one has added the Last Herald Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.
Magic's Pawn
Magic's Pride
Magic's Price.
Jeanette Winterson's FIRST book "Oranges are not the only fruit." (Isn't the title gay enough by itself?)
First time posting! I love the blog.
No, I don't think Sherlock Holmes is gay - and I wrote my dissertation on him! (I can't believe I just said that aloud)
But I'd love to hear your reasoning!
My favorite books, hands down, with a gay theme are the EXCELLENT graphic novels by Terry Moore, Strangers in Paradise.
The Line of Beauty by Alan Holinghurst
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