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LGBT literature


frankie

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Yesterday I was looking for the thread CornflowerBlue had started on LGBT literature (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). After an extensive search for it with cats and dogs, fellow members of BCF and the mods and admin, it was concluded that the thread has somehow gone missing. I wanted to start a new thread on the subject and eventhough I believe CornflowerBlue was focusing more on the YA novels, or at least novels that had young LGBT characters in them, I'd like to broaden the discussion to include any kind of LGBT literature. I would really appreciate it if everyone who contributed to the previous thread would jog their memory and remember the novels they recommended and would post about them again :smile:

The reason why I was searching for the thread yesterday is that when I was doing some book hunting for my own thesis, I came across this new book in the uni library: The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer content, 1969-2004. It's by Michael Cart and Christine A. Jenkins and it seems really interesting and I figured I'd have loads of titles to throw in the mix on the thread. I was planning on browsing through the book yesterday but instead I spent loads of time looking for the actual thread in which to contribute. I'll get back to you when I've had time to look at the book more closely.

My own LGBT recommendations would include Sarah Waters's Fingersmith, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Michael Cunningham's A Home at the End of the World (which is actually on my top 5 novels, ever).

A collected list of authors and books that are recommended/mentioned in this thread:
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Sarah Schulman
The Bar Stories by Nisa Donnelly
Sandra Scoppettone
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson.
Sucking Sherbet Lemons by Michael Carson
Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman
A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
The House of Night series by P.C. + Kristin Cast
Say The Word by Jeannine Garsee
Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
Twelve Long Months by Brian Malloy
Ash by Malinda Lo
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Hero by Perry Moore
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
Pages For You by Sylia Brownrig

Ask the Passengers by A. S. King

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology, and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She Is Today by Kate Bornstein

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

City of Night by John Rechy

Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett

Queer by William S. Burroughs

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Stripping Penguins Bare by Michael Carson

Yanking up the Yoyo by Michael Carson

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

The Crime Writer by Jill Dawson (about Patricia Highsmith)

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams

George by Alex Gino

Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Before Now and After Then by Peter Monn

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

10 Things I Can See From Here by Carrie Mac

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Golden Boy by Abigail Tartellin

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

What Belongs to You  by Garth Greenwell

The Spell by Alan Hollinghurst

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

 

Edited by frankie
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I'd like to add Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson into the mix. It's about a young girl growing up with a very religious mother in a very religious community and her exploration of her sexuality. I really enjoyed it. :)

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How about Sarah Schulman (for those interested in the post-Stonewall, AIDS era New York approach) or a lighter and less political Sandra Scoppettone (alos in New York, but set in detective plots).

There's also one I really enjoyed millions of years ago, it sounded like THE BAR STORIES and I think it was by Donelly (Lisa or Nisa, I don't remember): it's set as a collection of short stories, but as you go along the pages, you realise that each short story is in fact the next chapter in the novel.

 

And finally THE FRONT RUNNER by Patricia Nell Warren, in which the narrator is a gay man.

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A good one that's had a fair bit of controversy lately is The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. Its a YA and a lot of parents are banning it for the teenage lesbian relationships that it centers on (primarily in Florida).

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I read Sucking Sherbet Lemons by Michael Carson when it came about over 20 years ago, and it still sticks with me. It's really funny but honest, and I think it's being reprinted now as a 21 year anniversary print (or some such gimmick). It was the first of three books following a young man called Benson growing up in as a gay man in a Catholic household and community. There were two follow up books, but I didn't like the second book as much, and never bothered with the third.

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A blog I follow recently held a 2 week spotlight on LGBT authors and books, so I went through all of her posts and noted down the books for this thread, you can see her original posts here, there are some interesting posts made by guest bloggers. I think the majority of these books are YA.

 

My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

The House of Night series by P.C. + Kristin Cast

Say The Word by Jeannine Garsee

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

Twelve Long Months by Brian Malloy

Ash by Malinda Lo

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Hero by Perry Moore

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

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  • 5 weeks later...
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I must say that I don't always go for the most...well-liked of things. That being said, I must admit that some of the LGBT novels I read have originally been Japanese manga-novels.

 

My personal favourites would be:

 

Passion ~ Forbidden Lovers~ - written by Shinobu Gotoh and illustrated by Shoko Takaku.

Sleeping with Money - written by Barbara Katagiri and illustrated by Sakuya Fujii.

Dark Walker - written by Hikaru Yura and illustrated by Hirotaka Kisaragi.

 

I'm not sure if self-published e-books count? If they do, I wrote a novella called Despair & Decision.

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I was watching a documentary on Brandon Teena and there was a short clip on Kate Bornstein and her thoughts on the case, and I added her memoirs to my wishlist but forgot to mention the book in this thread.

 

A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology, and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She Is Today by Kate Bornstein

 

The title basically says what the book is about :D I checked it on Amazon and it had received some pretty good ratings, 4,5 out of 5 stars, 31 ratings.

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Hope it's ok to bump this thread, after such a long interval!

 

Here are a few personal favourites, that have variously inspired, delighted, and amused me:

 

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

City of Night by John Rechy

Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett

Queer by William S. Burroughs

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Sucking Sherbet Lemons / Stripping Penguins Bare / Yanking up the Yoyo -- all by Michael Carson

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

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Hope it's ok to bump this thread, after such a long interval!

 

Here are a few personal favourites, that have variously inspired, delighted, and amused me:

 

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

City of Night by John Rechy

Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett

Queer by William S. Burroughs

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Sucking Sherbet Lemons / Stripping Penguins Bare / Yanking up the Yoyo -- all by Michael Carson

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

 

I like Jeanette Winterson's writing so I will look out for The Passion thanks. Is Maurice set pre WW1 by any chance?  

Edited by vodkafan
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Hope it's ok to bump this thread, after such a long interval!

On most forums it's frowned upon, but there's also the rule to usually "don't start a new thread if there is an existing one" (this excludes the monthly and yearly threads we make here on this forum). This thread is not related to news items or any sort of subject related to its date. So by all means it's fine to bump this thread :)!

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Thanks for the clarification!  I saw older threads on other topics elsewhere that had been recently bumped, but just wanted to be sure.   :smile:

 

We should perhaps call you Onion Bumpy...OK that was poor I know....

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