LGBT Friendly Books

[CellarDweller]

The Homo Handbook - So, you're gay, think you're gay, or one of those "I'm just curious" types? Then does Judy Carter have the book for you! This book helps you to explore your inner feelings towards being gay and assists in knocking the door off that closet to open up to your inner homo. Using generous amounts of her gay stand-up humor, Carter makes her book entertaining as well as informing, allowing gays to laugh at themselves as well as the narrow-minded bigots who bash them. She also incorporates numerous workbook-style exercises designed to guide gays in accepting themselves and making the rest of the world accept them, too. This is a must-read for anyone who is gay, thinks he/she might be gay, or even knows someone who is gay.


http://www.amazon.com/Homo-Handbook-Surv...o+handbook

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Homo Domesticus - In this “sweet, funny, true tale of same-sex romance” (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY), David Valdes Greenwood sets the record straight on gay marriage-and reminds us what really matters to any couple. Here he charts the ups and downs of an all-too-human relationship: going on that first “non-date”; learning to share duties (and mince words) in the kitchen; dealing with a wandering eye; and realizing that life as a couple is all about discovering “just how many things you can approach differently without actually killing each other.” When along comes baby, David and his husband find out just how outrageous and maddeningly wonderful the ties of love can be. This is a radiant, whimsical testament to love and commitment by today’s “gay Erma Bombeck”

http://www.amazon.com/Homo-Domesticus-No...domesticus

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Boys Like Us In stunning essays written especially for this collection, twenty-nine noted gay writers recount their true "coming out" stories, intensely personal histories of that primal process by which men come to terms with their desire for other men. Here are accounts of revealing one's sexual identity to parents, siblings, friends, co-workers and, in one notable instance, to a stockbroker. Men tell of their first sexual encounters from their preteens to their thirties, with childhood friends who rejected or tenderly embraced them, with professors, with neighbors, with a Broadway star. These are poignant, sometimes unexpectedly funny tales of romance and heartbreak, repression and liberation, rape and first love defining moments that shaped their authors' lives.


http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Like-Us-Write...ys+like+us


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Queer Gays and lesbians have traveled a long road from persecution to toleration and from fashionable to establishment. Terms of abuse that have long been weapons used to oppress the gay community have now been reclaimed as expressions of liberation and freedom. With wit and panache, Queer explores all avenues of gay life from avant-garde fashion to popular cartoon strips, from radical politics to global persecution. Included is a wide range of topics, magnificent spreads of personalities and icons, entertainment value, and many profoundly touching issues of our time. Queer not only presents the history and contribution of gay men and lesbians, but also takes a look across the spectrum at the advances made by the bisexual, transsexual and transgender communities and all points in between.

http://www.amazon.com/Queer-Simon-Gage/d...simon+cage

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The Front Runner First published in 1974, The Front Runner raced to international acclaim - the first novel about gay love to become popular with mainstream.
In 1975, coach Harlan Brown is hiding from his past at an obscure New York college, after he was fired from Penn State University on suspicion of being gay. A tough, lonely ex-Marine of 39, Harlan has never allowed himself to love another man.

Then Billy Sive, a brilliant young runner, shows up on his doorstep. He and his two comrades, Vince Matti and Jacques LaFont, were just thrown off a major team for admitting they are gay. Harlan knows that, with proper training, Billy could go to the '76 Olympics in Montreal. He agrees to coach the three boys under strict conditions that thwart Billy's growing attraction for his mature but compelling mentor.

http://www.amazon.com/Front-Runner-Patri...ell+warren
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Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece. Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer. Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.

http://www.amazon.com/Brokeback-Mountain...k+mountain

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Zero At The Bone After witnessing a mob hit, surgeon Jack Francisco is put into protective custody to keep him safe until he can testify. A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won't allow him to murder an innocent man. Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies. Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D's cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was. As the day of Jack's testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives... but also fighting for their future. A future together.

http://www.amazon.com/Zero-at-Bone-Jane-...t+the+bone

[ShiftyNJ]

Ethan Mordden's five-book cycle beginning with Buddies shares the lives of a group of friends in New York, from the onset of the AIDS era into the early 2000s. The characters are kind of theatrical, maybe stereotypical in some cases, but it definitely tells the story of a time and place.

[AlohaShannon]

I am so incredibly thankful for the time that many of you have put into responding to my request as well as ALL of the recommendations.

Thank you all SO much; just another of the many reasons I love this forum family!

[princealbertofb]

You are most welcome, [MENTION=20680]AlohaShannon[/MENTION]. It's a pleasure to count you in the family.

[princealbertofb]

I would also suggest the short stories by Edwardian gay writer E.M. Forster, which are quite vivid in their flights of fancy but certainly not overly graphic, which just makes them quite erotic. The Celestial Omnibus and other Short Stories. Some of these were published after his death. as was his novel Maurice, which, incidentally, was made into an award-winning film by gay film maker James Ivory in 1987.

[AlohaShannon]

I downloaded a book from Amazon called "This Book is Gay" by James Dawson. I've read about a fourth of it so far and it is definitely geared towards a younger reader. The type of humor the author uses is a bit annoying at times but this book would certainly appeal to the teen crowd.

[meridannight]

i agree with [MENTION=1766]princealbertofb[/MENTION] -- i also recommend Maurice. it's a very healthy story.

[AlohaShannon]

Does anyone have any recommendations for books about the Stonewall Riots or other such defining moments in the LGBT movement?

[AlohaShannon]

Has anyone read "Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family"?

[Confuzzled4]

Picture of Dorian Gray. I read it when I was much younger and thoroughly enjoyed it, but didn't see any hints of homosexuality in it. After my friend had mentioned it to me, I went back and started reading it yesterday. Great story, though much of it was edited to be less scandalous to the Victorians.