[Jade Rose]

if you're younger, around teen age, Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys, Rainbow High and Rainbow Road are good. I liked em
_________________
=Don't Assume I'm Gay, but Don't Assume I'm Straight=

[grimke]

For a possible biography of the gay writer Harry Hervey, born in Texas ca. 1900, world traveller, most associated with Savannah, GA, I'd be interested in hearing if anyone knows of information about him and his partner Carleton Hildreth, who may still be living.

Many thanks

[Paloma]

Hi Børge
Your name sounds a bit Danish, and if you are you might read Rollespil by Hans Olson. It is a teenage story though. It was the first gay novel I read. If you want some Danish literature you can read Når mænd elsker mænd og kvinder elsker kvinder. But if you are Danish you probably already know that one. It is a collection of short stories and excerpts from novels. And of course there are Drengen med Stjernekaster, Selvbiografi i rødt (which is written by Anne Carson, but I do not know the english title), Brødre, Min bror og hans bror, En særlig sommer. I would also recommend Maurice by E. M. Forster. And Kissing the Witch which is not really a novel, but a collection of fairy tales, but read it.

[bartdoard]

Asking for 10 gay novels to read is like asking someone what is the best flavor of ice cream! ;-) everyone has their favorite, and it is an individual choice. nvrtheless, there are criteria for choosing a 'best in literature,' but again those criteria are themselves not unanimous.

point in case. a few yrs ago, the publshg triangle (which is mentioned by one of the othrs) assigned a grp of well respected and knowledgeable authors and literary experts to come up w/the 'best 100' g/l novels. they did, and the reading public was outraged, so much so that the publshg tri said 'ok, *you* tell us what *you* like.' readers created a 2nd list, and it had little/no overlap w/the 'expert's list.'

I believe that the point is that gays read to learn about themselves and to read about others like themself, and the literary quality of a work has little to do with which works gays prefer. This is not to say that the most popular gay works are of poor literay quality. as an analogy, consider which movies win oscars and which are the biggest box office hits. oscar-winning movies and the biggest box office hits are not necessarily one and the same.

that being said, if you're reading for lit quality, per se, you'll likely select diff works than if you want to read about othrs like yourself (I'm presuming that you are gay).

In my opinion, and I stress 'my opinion,' some of the landmark works include, but not limited to, The Front Runner (Warren), The Catch Trap (Bradley), The Persian Boy (Renault), The Charioteer (Renault), An Occassional Man (Barr/Fugate), Mark (Coleman) Common Sons (Donaghe), Maybe Tomorrow (Little) and works by Merrick and Hanson (early works were under a pseudoname). Some of these are out of print and could be found in a library or the web site ABE.

When we pick 'the best' works in any category/discipline, we tend to overlook recent contributions. So, I have done that. None on my list above are recent. In 10-20 yrs, some of the works published today will be considered landmark work. One writer mentioned At Swim, Two Boys. Personally, if all gay work was like that novel, I'd not read novels in the gay genre. ;-) Some of the up-and-coming young writers today include Mann, Quinn, Yates, Sonhnlein, Herrin....to name but a few. Stephenson, JM Wilson and J Keenan are others who should not be overlooked. Of course, there are names like White, Picano, Bram, and Morrden who'll unlikely go down in history as the fathers of the modern gay novel. And, I've probably unintentionally omitted several outstanding authors..... ;-\

Underscoring the popularity and widespread appeal of the above named works, I have personal info that there have been attempts to option some of these works by movie moguls/actors. In the gay community, the big question is what will be the 'next' BBM? Personally, I'd vote for Common Sons or The Catch Trap.

Hope this helps. As I implied, your unique tastes and what you have in mind (literary or popular) will determine your choices.

T R Bandy, Phd,
Phx, AZ

[bartdoard]

[Octo4poe]

[JayJay]

Have you seen the new film of *A Single Man*? It is one of my favorite novels. I am interested to see how Tom Ford has developed the book into a film. Apparently, he has made some changes, but it sounds wonderful. Not sure when it will be released widely.

[Octo4poe]

[Octo4poe]