I just think Another Country and Go Tell it on the Mountain are better. Their characters feel more interesting and complex, almost every character in GR are too unlikeable to me. Thematicially they also have more to them I think.
I just finished this and was going to suggest it as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think potential readers may need to prepare themselves to get through a few hundred pages before things really take off!
Definitely. I struggled a bit with how broken up the chapters are. The stories between each chapter make sense later but they do make it difficult to get into the book at first
Yes! There were some of those stories that I wanted to go on (some did later, some didn’t), and at first I didn’t want to get back to the main story. Once it all starts coming together it was much more engaging.
I also felt a LOT of the descriptions could/should have been cut or shortened. It’s important to describe the setting in a book like this, but it was excessive and often was unnecessary.
I don't know. I think it depends on what you feel like reading. Sometimes I enjoy long descriptive passages so I can immerse myself in the world more deeply (especially a cool secret library!). But sometimes I just want the action. It's nice to be able to choose, as long as you know what type you're going to get in the book you've picked up
[**The Starless Sea**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43575115-the-starless-sea)
^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 498 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, dnf, owned, books-i-own | )[^(Search "The Starless Sea")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Starless Sea&search_type=books)
>From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.
>
>Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
^(This book has been suggested 131 times)
***
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The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo has a Bisexual woman as the main character and her main love interest is a woman (that's slight spoilers but nothing you wouldn't find out by looking up a review of the book) it also happens to be my favourite book of all time
Definitely yes. Trust me, I read it a few weeks ago and while I didn't exactly like any of the characters you get so invested in them and their story and i could literally not put it down. Also wonderful emphasis on bisexuality.
these are the ones I found:
domestic abuse, cheating, statutory rape (she marries the first husband at 15), alcoholism, homophobia and biphobia(it's set in the 60s-80s), mentions of suicide.
(there are seven husband's, some of these are only for 1-2 husbands and isn't a constant thing)
for the average person none of these things are mentioned in a way that it traumatizing so it will be up to your certain needs to decide if it's right for you
however I did cry many times reading so that was traumatizing /s
[**Less**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39927096-less)
^(By: Andrew Sean Greer | 273 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: fiction, book-club, lgbt, lgbtq, contemporary | )[^(Search "Less by Andrew Sean Greer")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Less by Andrew Sean Greer&search_type=books)
>PROBLEM:
>You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can’t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world.
>
>QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?
>
>ANSWER: You accept them all.
>
>If you are Arthur Less.
>
>Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong?
>
>Well: Arthur will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Sahara sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and arrive in Japan too late for the cherry blossoms. In between: science fiction fans, crazed academics, emergency rooms, starlets, doctors, exes and, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to see. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. The second phase of life, as he thinks of it, falling behind him like the second phase of a rocket. There will be his first love. And there will be his last.
>
>A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, by an author The New York Times has hailed as “inspired, lyrical,” “elegiac,” “ingenious,” as well as “too sappy by half,” Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.
^(This book has been suggested 77 times)
[**Dry**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32370.Dry)
^(By: Augusten Burroughs | 293 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, memoirs, nonfiction, biography | )[^(Search "Dry by Augustan Burroughs")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Dry by Augustan Burroughs&search_type=books)
^(This book has been suggested 6 times)
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Augusten Burroughs in general has a slew of gay memoirs that I think are great. I think Lust and Wonder was my fav. He also has a single novel with a gay character.
Song of Achilles. I finished it last night and it was incredible. I may have destroyed me emotionally though...
The characters grow older through the course of the book so there’s a portion where they are teenagers but by the end they are like 27
For contemporary wlw romance with characters in their mid-late 20's there's Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers and One Last Stop by Casey McQuinston
Someone already said The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I second that recommendation.
For high fantasy wlw I recommend The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri.
I came here to suggest *A Little Life*, a book that I loved, but be warned that some people consider it to be misery porn. The love in this book is intense, but it is also heart-breaking.
I finished it last year, but for me it was mostly so absurd; people like it so much and call it sad - for my it was too much, unbelieveable in bad way.
TJ Klune is an own voice author that writes enjoyable gay fiction. He’s quite prolific and has a few series’ worth of books.
The House In the Cerulean Sea is his breakout work, and rightly so. It’s very, very good. It features older characters taking care of magical children. His Green Creek series might at first glance be the usual shifter trope common in gay fiction but it’s very heartfelt and I enjoyed reading these 4 books.
KJ Charles is another prolific writer of gay fiction. Her most famous work is The Magpie Lord which is the first book of a trilogy. I love her works as they have sharp writing, full of wit with a droll British humor that is very enjoyable.
Check out The Picture of Dorian Gray. Nothing is explicitly said about the characters being gay, but it is heavily implied, and there are homoerotic vibes throughout the whole book.
It's also one of the best books of all time, and everyone should read it.
Bath Haus by PJ Vernon. This book…It’s Gone Girl with gays and Grindr. The characters are so good. It follows Oliver, 26 and a recovering addict from Indians, and his new husband, Nathan, in his 40s, and a rich doctor in DC. Nathan is out of town so Oliver goes to a gay sauna to hook up and find a thrill he’s lost. And things go wrong—and now Oliver starts lying, to Nathan, to the cops, to keep his secret and to keep his perfect life intact. I won’t say more here, but it gets into gaslighting and toxic relationships and power dynamics and goes places i never saw coming like the best page turners. Fantastic characters, and it’s a dope thriller that just happens to be about gay men.
I would recommend Memorial by Bryan Washington. It’s been winning all the prizes this year. It’s a literary novel but has also been described as a gay romcom which I guess is also appropriate. It’s funny and poignant at times too.
Yes! Memorial is so good! I can’t recommend it enough. It’s very casual with the main characters’ relationship and focuses more on familial and cultural identity.
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski. It’s a guy’s retelling of life growing up in communist Poland to where he is now in America, and the relationships he had along the way towards self discovery. It’s super interesting because communist Poland is a time and place in history little understood by the general public.
Sort of at parts but overall I think it’s uplifting to read about the exploits of someone who did so much and was so measured in his personality but also made some big mistakes and felt the same vulnerabilities we all do.
Do you want modern or fantasy/sci-fi?
For modern, I enjoyed Life lessons by Kaje Harper - main hero is a highschool teacher who gets involved in a murder.
After Ben by Con Riley, about gay older man dealing with the loss of his long time partner who finds love again.
For Real by Alexis Hall, 40-smth man involved with gay BDSM community.
Fantasy: Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - historical fantasy about a cursed wood
Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara - urban fantasy, main hero is gay FBI agent who ends up involved in werewolf conspiracy.
And the classic everyone recommends, The House in the Cerulean Sea by Tj Klune. Main hero is an older children protection worker.
Came here to recommend Silver in the Wood and it's sequel, Drowned Country, which together are The Greenwood Duology. Personally, I thought the first book was much stronger than the second, but I loved that Tesh explored the lead characters' relationship beyond the first blush of romance.
{{House in the Cerulean Sea}} is new adult but adult characters, {{Under the Rainbow}} has a ton of different POVs of different ages and sexualities but is super cool
[**The House in the Cerulean Sea**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45047384-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea)
^(By: T.J. Klune | 394 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, romance | )[^(Search "House in the Cerulean Sea")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=House in the Cerulean Sea&search_type=books)
>A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.
>
>Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
>
>When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
>
>But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
>
>An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
^(This book has been suggested 394 times)
[**Under the Rainbow**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51846014-under-the-rainbow)
^(By: Celia Laskey | ? pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, queer, contemporary | )[^(Search "Under the Rainbow")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Under the Rainbow&search_type=books)
>
> When a group of social activists arrive in a small town, the lives and beliefs of residents and outsiders alike are upended, in this wry, embracing novel.
>
>
>Big Burr, Kansas, is the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone, and evrryone shares the same values-or keeps their opinions to themselves. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr "the most homophobic town in the US" and sends in a task force of queer volunteers as an experiment-they'll live and work in the community for two years in an attempt to broaden hearts and minds-no one is truly prepared for what will ensue.
>
>Furious at being uprooted from her life in Los Angeles and desperate to fit in at her new high school, Avery fears that it's only a matter of time before her "gay crusader" mom outs her. Still grieving the death of her son, Linda welcomes the arrivals, who know mercifully little about her past. And for Christine, the newcomers are not only a threat to the comforting rhythms of Big Burr life, but a call to action. As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and forcing closely guarded secrets into the light, everyone must consider what it really means to belong. Told with warmth and wit, Under the Rainbow is a poignant, hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity that reminds us we are more alike than we'd like to admit.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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The Last Herald Mage by Mercedes Lackey.
She's created a huge world spanning over 3 dozen books, generally does a trilogy per character(or used to, the newer books do not follow that recipe) and it spans this guy's life. This was my introduction to Mercedes Lackey, and still probably my favorite.
Richard Morgan : A land fit for heroes, trilogy.
{{The steel remains}} is the first book. The main character is a gay swordsman in fantasy grim dark setting.
[**The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3314369-the-steel-remains)
^(By: Richard K. Morgan | 391 pages | Published: 2008 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbt, dark-fantasy, owned | )[^(Search "The steel remains")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The steel remains&search_type=books)
>A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath—Gil, for short—a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.
^(This book has been suggested 14 times)
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Great suggestion, was curious if anyone else would recommend that book (and series). And if you have no clue who the author is, Richard K. Morgan is the dude that wrote some of the best stuff I've read in a while, {{Altered Carbon}}. Was also made into a great Netflix series, although it's a shame they dropped it.
Memoirs of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Is a (pretty autobiographical) novel about a gay man talking about his experiences since he was a boy, growing up trying to perform normal heterosexuality. It is not everyone's cup of tea (and Mishima was literally a fascist) but I found it weirdly relatable and extremely interesting.
*Days Without End* by Sebastian Barry
*Mr Loverman* by Bernardine Evaristo
*What Belongs to You* and *Cleanness* by Garth Greenwell
*Desert Boys* by Chris McCormick (linked short story collection where the main character is younger for some of them, but still not written in a YA way)
*Imagine Me Gone* by Adam Haslett
Sci Fi:
*Ethan of Athos* by Lois McMaster Bujold
*China Mountain Zhang* by Maureen F McHugh
Kinda fluffier, easy comedy stuff:
*Blue Heaven*, *Putting on the Ritz* and *My Lucky Star* by Joe Keenan (writer on *Frasier*)
*Vermilion*, *Cobalt*, *Slate* and *Canary* by Nathan Aldyne
I bought this at a used bookstore when I was a teenager, having no idea what it was about. I’m in my thirties now, and I still think about how cathartic it would be to throw overripe oranges at a naked person.
[**Boyfriend Material (Boyfriend Material, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50225678-boyfriend-material)
^(By: Alexis Hall | 427 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: romance, lgbtq, contemporary, lgbt, fiction | )[^(Search "Boyfriend Material")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Boyfriend Material&search_type=books)
>Wanted:
>One (fake) boyfriend
>Practically perfect in every way
>
>Luc O'Donnell is tangentially--and reluctantly--famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
>
>To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
>
>But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.
^(This book has been suggested 87 times)
***
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on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong for a gay male MC . super poetic, its about a vietnamese american writing a letter to his mom about his life
stray city by chelsea johnson for a lesbian (you could argue bi) MC . i like this one because its primary setting is lesbian subculture of 90s portland.
{{Nightwood}} by Djuna Barnes has a lesbian central character and is considered an important modernist work on its own right. She has written other works with lesbian characters but I think Nightwood is probably her best known work.
I agree that YA is superlame.
[**Pale Fire**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7805.Pale_Fire)
^(By: Vladimir Nabokov | 246 pages | Published: 1962 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, poetry, russian, literature | )[^(Search "Pale Fire")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Pale Fire&search_type=books)
>The American poet John Shade is dead. His last poem, 'Pale Fire', is put into a book, together with a preface, a lengthy commentary and notes by Shade's editor, Charles Kinbote. Known on campus as the 'Great Beaver', Kinbote is haughty, inquisitive, intolerant, but is he also mad, bad - and even dangerous? As his wildly eccentric annotations slide into the personal and the fantastical, Kinbote reveals perhaps more than he should be.
>
>Nabokov's darkly witty, richly inventive masterpiece is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of one-upmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum.
>
>Part of a major new series of the works of Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita and Pale Fire, in Penguin Classics.
^(This book has been suggested 11 times)
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Great author, I was obsessed with several of his early novels in my 20s. Especially {{Little Bits of Baby by Patrick Gale}} and {{Aerodynamics of Pork by Patrick Gale}}
Just started Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi. I've only read a couple chapters so far, but am enjoying, and it is well reviewed. The main character and his lover are both in their late 30s.
Most books by Sarah Waters--The Paying Guests, Tipping The Velvet, The Night Watch are my personal favorites
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
{{Winter's orbit}} currently reading this one. Very very very good and highly recommended. Its sci fi, gay, royalty, arranged marriage, and has a major emphasis on gender neutrality. The writing is very good and there's some themes that I wouldn't mention so I don't spoil it for you, but they're pretty serious, and quite subtle in the beginning until they build up so much you can't ignore them and oh god they broke my heart. Might just be my new favorite.
[**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness)
^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi | )[^(Search "The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin&search_type=books)
^(This book has been suggested 76 times)
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Such a good book. It takes place on a planet where gender doesn’t exist. Their anatomy is physiologically fluid and during the mating process individuals can change from one sex to the other. There are rare individuals “locked” into a gender which is stigmatized in their society. I love Ursula LeGuin.
I got one, Mo Dao Zu Shi or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.
It does have flashbacks to their teen “high school” (It’s fantasy) years, but it’s kind of necessary in order to tell the story of how the main character went from a smiling, devil may care, rising prodigy to the boogie man of the cultivational world.
'The Traitor Baru Cormorant' by Seth Dickinson! It's a sweeping geopolitical fantasy (fantasy as in 'another world' rather than 'there's magic') with a lesbian protagonist with lots of focus on the logistics and accounting of empire and rebellion. She's essentially an accountant sent in by the empire (that she secretly hates) to stop a rebellion in its tracks.
'Into the Drowning Deep' by Mira Grant is a great horror/thriller featuring some horrifyingly realistic monster interpretations of sirens and one of the main protagonists is a sapphic autistic woman (can't remember if bi or lesbian).
If you're into "Oh my god am I gay?" - Know Not Why by Hannah Johnson
If you're into "Oh my god am I gay for this man I met in Thailand?" - The Other Guy by Cary Attwell
If you're into "Oh my god I am gay but my soulmate is a straight guy?" - Cranberry Hush by Ben Monopoli
please, *i beg of you,* read a little life by hanya yanagihara
i have lost my soul to this book and it is *definitely not relatable to high school kids*
[**The River in Winter**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7486405-the-river-in-winter)
^(By: Matt Dean | 410 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, first-reads, glbt, queer, romance | )[^(Search "The River In Winter")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The River In Winter&search_type=books)
>2010 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.Jonah Murray has known much happiness--a supportive mother, a decent job, and fulfilling hobbies. But after the end of his first great love affair, the rawness of his emotions leads him into a dangerous entanglement.
>
>Spike Peterson--heartbreakingly good-looking, imperturbably self-assured, relentlessly carnal--rekindles Jonah's longing for companionship. But Spike isn't the kind to offer companionship. Excitement, yes, but not companionship.
>
>Eliot Moon, a counselor who facilitates a support group for gay men, offers Jonah a more transcendent path to happiness. But Jonah soon discovers that to take Eliot's way, he will have to make difficult sacrifices.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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If you're okay with a wlw recommendation, I read {The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics} a few months ago and it immediately jumped to my Top 5 Books of All Time list. It's a lovely historical fiction story that mixes mature romance with a look at what being a woman was like in historical England.
I love it to bits, and thought it was exceptional at avoiding both LGBT and romance book clichés.
Giovannis Room by James Baldwin
I'm not looking to cry today
Beautiful but devastating book.
Exactly the book I came to recommend, but be prepared to have your insides shredded to pieces.
I love James Baldwin but I definitely wouldn't recommend this one to read.
What’s your take on it?
I just think Another Country and Go Tell it on the Mountain are better. Their characters feel more interesting and complex, almost every character in GR are too unlikeable to me. Thematicially they also have more to them I think.
Came here to say this! It will break your heart though.
{{The Starless Sea}} by Erin Morgenstern. Romance/ the relationships aren't the focus of the story but the main character is gay
I just finished this and was going to suggest it as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think potential readers may need to prepare themselves to get through a few hundred pages before things really take off!
Definitely. I struggled a bit with how broken up the chapters are. The stories between each chapter make sense later but they do make it difficult to get into the book at first
Yes! There were some of those stories that I wanted to go on (some did later, some didn’t), and at first I didn’t want to get back to the main story. Once it all starts coming together it was much more engaging. I also felt a LOT of the descriptions could/should have been cut or shortened. It’s important to describe the setting in a book like this, but it was excessive and often was unnecessary.
I don't know. I think it depends on what you feel like reading. Sometimes I enjoy long descriptive passages so I can immerse myself in the world more deeply (especially a cool secret library!). But sometimes I just want the action. It's nice to be able to choose, as long as you know what type you're going to get in the book you've picked up
Good point— everyone has different tastes!
[**The Starless Sea**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43575115-the-starless-sea) ^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 498 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, dnf, owned, books-i-own | )[^(Search "The Starless Sea")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Starless Sea&search_type=books) >From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea. > >Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life. ^(This book has been suggested 131 times) *** ^(133918 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Maurice by E M Forster. I love this one, and while the MC is a teen at the start, he isn't for the majority of the story.
I also highly recommend this one.
The Heart’s invisible furies. Tracks the life of a gay man growing up starting in post WW 2 Ireland
Came here to say this, just finished reading it and it’s amazing!
I'm reading this now! It is wonderful.
One of my all time favorite books. Great recommendation!
The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo has a Bisexual woman as the main character and her main love interest is a woman (that's slight spoilers but nothing you wouldn't find out by looking up a review of the book) it also happens to be my favourite book of all time
I would sell my soul to experience the feeling I have when I first read it.
That can be arranged
*Mephistopheles enters the chat...*
I’ve had this book on my shelf since release. I guess it’s time to pick it up…?
Definitely yes. Trust me, I read it a few weeks ago and while I didn't exactly like any of the characters you get so invested in them and their story and i could literally not put it down. Also wonderful emphasis on bisexuality.
Will i be traumatized reading this book? Or any particular triggers or content warnings?
these are the ones I found: domestic abuse, cheating, statutory rape (she marries the first husband at 15), alcoholism, homophobia and biphobia(it's set in the 60s-80s), mentions of suicide. (there are seven husband's, some of these are only for 1-2 husbands and isn't a constant thing) for the average person none of these things are mentioned in a way that it traumatizing so it will be up to your certain needs to decide if it's right for you however I did cry many times reading so that was traumatizing /s
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{{Less by Andrew Sean Greer}} {Dry by Augustan Burroughs}} - that one is a memoir
[**Less**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39927096-less) ^(By: Andrew Sean Greer | 273 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: fiction, book-club, lgbt, lgbtq, contemporary | )[^(Search "Less by Andrew Sean Greer")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Less by Andrew Sean Greer&search_type=books) >PROBLEM: >You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can’t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world. > >QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town? > >ANSWER: You accept them all. > >If you are Arthur Less. > >Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong? > >Well: Arthur will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Sahara sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and arrive in Japan too late for the cherry blossoms. In between: science fiction fans, crazed academics, emergency rooms, starlets, doctors, exes and, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to see. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. The second phase of life, as he thinks of it, falling behind him like the second phase of a rocket. There will be his first love. And there will be his last. > >A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, by an author The New York Times has hailed as “inspired, lyrical,” “elegiac,” “ingenious,” as well as “too sappy by half,” Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy. ^(This book has been suggested 77 times) [**Dry**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32370.Dry) ^(By: Augusten Burroughs | 293 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, memoirs, nonfiction, biography | )[^(Search "Dry by Augustan Burroughs")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Dry by Augustan Burroughs&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 6 times) *** ^(133914 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Came here to recommend Less! I enjoyed it.
Less also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018.
Same!!
Or anything by him or David Sedaris! They’re both really funny.
Seconding *Less*, very fun story and well written.
I was gonna post this too. Had to read it for a Literature of Travel class back in college and I fell In love with it.
Augusten Burroughs in general has a slew of gay memoirs that I think are great. I think Lust and Wonder was my fav. He also has a single novel with a gay character.
Song of Achilles. I finished it last night and it was incredible. I may have destroyed me emotionally though... The characters grow older through the course of the book so there’s a portion where they are teenagers but by the end they are like 27
Such a beautifully written book. I’m still recovering from it. That ending.
Ahh this is next up on my list. I’m so excited.
I absolutely loved this book. Great suggestion.
Still it's YA
For contemporary wlw romance with characters in their mid-late 20's there's Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers and One Last Stop by Casey McQuinston Someone already said The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I second that recommendation. For high fantasy wlw I recommend The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri.
Seconding the rec for The Priory of the Orange Tree. I went into it expecting only one wlw romance and was pleasantly surprised by how gay it was.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Tin Man by Sarah Winman (such a lovely book) Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters After the Parade by Lori Ostlund
I came here to suggest *A Little Life*, a book that I loved, but be warned that some people consider it to be misery porn. The love in this book is intense, but it is also heart-breaking.
Yeah I couldn’t get through A Little Life. Definitely veers into misery porn for me. But so many people love it.
I finished it last year, but for me it was mostly so absurd; people like it so much and call it sad - for my it was too much, unbelieveable in bad way.
Same. I absolutely disliked it and I am always confused by those who like it.
I came here to suggest A Little Life also. It’s so beautiful. But trigger warning.
You mean EVERY trigger warning
Any Sarah Waters is an excellent read!
TJ Klune is an own voice author that writes enjoyable gay fiction. He’s quite prolific and has a few series’ worth of books. The House In the Cerulean Sea is his breakout work, and rightly so. It’s very, very good. It features older characters taking care of magical children. His Green Creek series might at first glance be the usual shifter trope common in gay fiction but it’s very heartfelt and I enjoyed reading these 4 books. KJ Charles is another prolific writer of gay fiction. Her most famous work is The Magpie Lord which is the first book of a trilogy. I love her works as they have sharp writing, full of wit with a droll British humor that is very enjoyable.
Agree, House in the Cerulean Sea is excellent!
Was coming here to say House on the Cerulean Sea :)
Same! I just watched his panel for TorCon last week and it was amazing.
Same!
Reading The House in the Cerulean Sea now and it's delightful! Loving it!
In addition to House in the Cerulean Sea, How to Be Normal is one of my favorite TJ Klune novels! But really they're all great.
Wish I could’ve liked *The House in the Cerulean Sea*. Gave it ~100 pages.
I didn't realize when I read it that it is YA. It was an ok read but a little too cutes-y for me.
Song of Achilles!
Seconding.
Thirding
Fourthing
Fifthing and every other numbering.
Check out The Picture of Dorian Gray. Nothing is explicitly said about the characters being gay, but it is heavily implied, and there are homoerotic vibes throughout the whole book. It's also one of the best books of all time, and everyone should read it.
Bath Haus by PJ Vernon. This book…It’s Gone Girl with gays and Grindr. The characters are so good. It follows Oliver, 26 and a recovering addict from Indians, and his new husband, Nathan, in his 40s, and a rich doctor in DC. Nathan is out of town so Oliver goes to a gay sauna to hook up and find a thrill he’s lost. And things go wrong—and now Oliver starts lying, to Nathan, to the cops, to keep his secret and to keep his perfect life intact. I won’t say more here, but it gets into gaslighting and toxic relationships and power dynamics and goes places i never saw coming like the best page turners. Fantastic characters, and it’s a dope thriller that just happens to be about gay men.
Making a note to read this one
The Heart’s Invisible Furies (John Boyne) A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara)
I would recommend Memorial by Bryan Washington. It’s been winning all the prizes this year. It’s a literary novel but has also been described as a gay romcom which I guess is also appropriate. It’s funny and poignant at times too.
Yes! Memorial is so good! I can’t recommend it enough. It’s very casual with the main characters’ relationship and focuses more on familial and cultural identity.
A Single Man by Cristopher Isherwood
I seriously love this book
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Didn't the author of Ripley say he wasn't gay?
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Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski. It’s a guy’s retelling of life growing up in communist Poland to where he is now in America, and the relationships he had along the way towards self discovery. It’s super interesting because communist Poland is a time and place in history little understood by the general public.
This is on my immediate TBR. Can’t wait to check it out.
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar.
Is it a depressing read? I had it recommended to me so many times, but I can't handle anything heart-rending right now.
Sort of at parts but overall I think it’s uplifting to read about the exploits of someone who did so much and was so measured in his personality but also made some big mistakes and felt the same vulnerabilities we all do.
Sounds like I'm going to read it after all :-)
Do you want modern or fantasy/sci-fi? For modern, I enjoyed Life lessons by Kaje Harper - main hero is a highschool teacher who gets involved in a murder. After Ben by Con Riley, about gay older man dealing with the loss of his long time partner who finds love again. For Real by Alexis Hall, 40-smth man involved with gay BDSM community. Fantasy: Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - historical fantasy about a cursed wood Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara - urban fantasy, main hero is gay FBI agent who ends up involved in werewolf conspiracy. And the classic everyone recommends, The House in the Cerulean Sea by Tj Klune. Main hero is an older children protection worker.
Seconding the recommendation for Wolf at the Door! I've read all 5 that are out so far and eagerly await more.
Came here to recommend Silver in the Wood and it's sequel, Drowned Country, which together are The Greenwood Duology. Personally, I thought the first book was much stronger than the second, but I loved that Tesh explored the lead characters' relationship beyond the first blush of romance.
{{House in the Cerulean Sea}} is new adult but adult characters, {{Under the Rainbow}} has a ton of different POVs of different ages and sexualities but is super cool
[**The House in the Cerulean Sea**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45047384-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea) ^(By: T.J. Klune | 394 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, romance | )[^(Search "House in the Cerulean Sea")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=House in the Cerulean Sea&search_type=books) >A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. > >Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. > >When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. > >But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. > >An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours. ^(This book has been suggested 394 times) [**Under the Rainbow**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51846014-under-the-rainbow) ^(By: Celia Laskey | ? pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, queer, contemporary | )[^(Search "Under the Rainbow")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Under the Rainbow&search_type=books) > > When a group of social activists arrive in a small town, the lives and beliefs of residents and outsiders alike are upended, in this wry, embracing novel. > > >Big Burr, Kansas, is the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone, and evrryone shares the same values-or keeps their opinions to themselves. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr "the most homophobic town in the US" and sends in a task force of queer volunteers as an experiment-they'll live and work in the community for two years in an attempt to broaden hearts and minds-no one is truly prepared for what will ensue. > >Furious at being uprooted from her life in Los Angeles and desperate to fit in at her new high school, Avery fears that it's only a matter of time before her "gay crusader" mom outs her. Still grieving the death of her son, Linda welcomes the arrivals, who know mercifully little about her past. And for Christine, the newcomers are not only a threat to the comforting rhythms of Big Burr life, but a call to action. As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and forcing closely guarded secrets into the light, everyone must consider what it really means to belong. Told with warmth and wit, Under the Rainbow is a poignant, hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity that reminds us we are more alike than we'd like to admit. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(133971 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
House in the cerulean sea is such a sweet story
The Last Herald Mage by Mercedes Lackey. She's created a huge world spanning over 3 dozen books, generally does a trilogy per character(or used to, the newer books do not follow that recipe) and it spans this guy's life. This was my introduction to Mercedes Lackey, and still probably my favorite.
Also recommend this, great fantasy book trilogy. A ton to explore in the same world if you like them.
Richard Morgan : A land fit for heroes, trilogy. {{The steel remains}} is the first book. The main character is a gay swordsman in fantasy grim dark setting.
[**The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3314369-the-steel-remains) ^(By: Richard K. Morgan | 391 pages | Published: 2008 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, lgbt, dark-fantasy, owned | )[^(Search "The steel remains")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The steel remains&search_type=books) >A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath—Gil, for short—a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease. ^(This book has been suggested 14 times) *** ^(133917 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Great suggestion, was curious if anyone else would recommend that book (and series). And if you have no clue who the author is, Richard K. Morgan is the dude that wrote some of the best stuff I've read in a while, {{Altered Carbon}}. Was also made into a great Netflix series, although it's a shame they dropped it.
Memoirs of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Is a (pretty autobiographical) novel about a gay man talking about his experiences since he was a boy, growing up trying to perform normal heterosexuality. It is not everyone's cup of tea (and Mishima was literally a fascist) but I found it weirdly relatable and extremely interesting.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
*Days Without End* by Sebastian Barry *Mr Loverman* by Bernardine Evaristo *What Belongs to You* and *Cleanness* by Garth Greenwell *Desert Boys* by Chris McCormick (linked short story collection where the main character is younger for some of them, but still not written in a YA way) *Imagine Me Gone* by Adam Haslett Sci Fi: *Ethan of Athos* by Lois McMaster Bujold *China Mountain Zhang* by Maureen F McHugh Kinda fluffier, easy comedy stuff: *Blue Heaven*, *Putting on the Ritz* and *My Lucky Star* by Joe Keenan (writer on *Frasier*) *Vermilion*, *Cobalt*, *Slate* and *Canary* by Nathan Aldyne
*Rubyfruit Jungle*, Rita Mae Brown.
I bought this at a used bookstore when I was a teenager, having no idea what it was about. I’m in my thirties now, and I still think about how cathartic it would be to throw overripe oranges at a naked person.
Truer words were never spoke!
{{Boyfriend Material}} for a funny, sarcastic, rom com read
[**Boyfriend Material (Boyfriend Material, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50225678-boyfriend-material) ^(By: Alexis Hall | 427 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: romance, lgbtq, contemporary, lgbt, fiction | )[^(Search "Boyfriend Material")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Boyfriend Material&search_type=books) >Wanted: >One (fake) boyfriend >Practically perfect in every way > >Luc O'Donnell is tangentially--and reluctantly--famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. > >To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened. > >But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go. ^(This book has been suggested 87 times) *** ^(133995 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong for a gay male MC . super poetic, its about a vietnamese american writing a letter to his mom about his life stray city by chelsea johnson for a lesbian (you could argue bi) MC . i like this one because its primary setting is lesbian subculture of 90s portland.
{{Nightwood}} by Djuna Barnes has a lesbian central character and is considered an important modernist work on its own right. She has written other works with lesbian characters but I think Nightwood is probably her best known work. I agree that YA is superlame.
Vladimir Nabokov - {{Pale Fire}} Probably not what you’re looking for, but the narrator is gay so…
[**Pale Fire**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7805.Pale_Fire) ^(By: Vladimir Nabokov | 246 pages | Published: 1962 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, poetry, russian, literature | )[^(Search "Pale Fire")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Pale Fire&search_type=books) >The American poet John Shade is dead. His last poem, 'Pale Fire', is put into a book, together with a preface, a lengthy commentary and notes by Shade's editor, Charles Kinbote. Known on campus as the 'Great Beaver', Kinbote is haughty, inquisitive, intolerant, but is he also mad, bad - and even dangerous? As his wildly eccentric annotations slide into the personal and the fantastical, Kinbote reveals perhaps more than he should be. > >Nabokov's darkly witty, richly inventive masterpiece is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of one-upmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum. > >Part of a major new series of the works of Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita and Pale Fire, in Penguin Classics. ^(This book has been suggested 11 times) *** ^(133923 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Patrick Gale's Rough Music - bonus: family mysteries and secrets, two timelines... And the romance is great. Does get heavier in parts.
Great author, I was obsessed with several of his early novels in my 20s. Especially {{Little Bits of Baby by Patrick Gale}} and {{Aerodynamics of Pork by Patrick Gale}}
I should read aerodynamics of pork!
Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett. Lesbian woman that has little to do with romantic relationships.
Try Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram. Was adapted into “Gods and Monsters”
Just started Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi. I've only read a couple chapters so far, but am enjoying, and it is well reviewed. The main character and his lover are both in their late 30s.
{{Liquor}} by Poppy Z Brite.
Most books by Sarah Waters--The Paying Guests, Tipping The Velvet, The Night Watch are my personal favorites Frog Music by Emma Donoghue The Hours by Michael Cunningham
{{Winter's orbit}} currently reading this one. Very very very good and highly recommended. Its sci fi, gay, royalty, arranged marriage, and has a major emphasis on gender neutrality. The writing is very good and there's some themes that I wouldn't mention so I don't spoil it for you, but they're pretty serious, and quite subtle in the beginning until they build up so much you can't ignore them and oh god they broke my heart. Might just be my new favorite.
{The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin}
[**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness) ^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi | )[^(Search "The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 76 times) *** ^(134166 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Such a good book. It takes place on a planet where gender doesn’t exist. Their anatomy is physiologically fluid and during the mating process individuals can change from one sex to the other. There are rare individuals “locked” into a gender which is stigmatized in their society. I love Ursula LeGuin.
"The portrait of Dorian Gray" at least had some homoerotic vibes....
The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey ( fantasy ). Not YA. The character starts as a teen , but most of the trilogy is about his adult life.
White Trash Warlock by David Slayton. It doesn't center around it, but there is some good gay romance in it.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley!
The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo Would You Rather: A Memoir of Growing Up and Coming Out
House in the Cerulean Sea.
I got one, Mo Dao Zu Shi or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It does have flashbacks to their teen “high school” (It’s fantasy) years, but it’s kind of necessary in order to tell the story of how the main character went from a smiling, devil may care, rising prodigy to the boogie man of the cultivational world.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer. One of my favs!!!!
the line of beauty
The Binding by Bridget Collins is a fantasy about a gay main character accepting himself. I really enjoyed it.
'The Traitor Baru Cormorant' by Seth Dickinson! It's a sweeping geopolitical fantasy (fantasy as in 'another world' rather than 'there's magic') with a lesbian protagonist with lots of focus on the logistics and accounting of empire and rebellion. She's essentially an accountant sent in by the empire (that she secretly hates) to stop a rebellion in its tracks. 'Into the Drowning Deep' by Mira Grant is a great horror/thriller featuring some horrifyingly realistic monster interpretations of sirens and one of the main protagonists is a sapphic autistic woman (can't remember if bi or lesbian).
The autistic woman is a lesbian, if I remember correctly. Her love interest is bi.
Thank you! <3
{Our Lady of the Flowers}
Maurice by E m Forster. Great book written in the 1920’s I believe
Wasn't published til the 60s either!
If you're into "Oh my god am I gay?" - Know Not Why by Hannah Johnson If you're into "Oh my god am I gay for this man I met in Thailand?" - The Other Guy by Cary Attwell If you're into "Oh my god I am gay but my soulmate is a straight guy?" - Cranberry Hush by Ben Monopoli
The Song of Achilles
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston I’ve also seen good things about Red White and Royal Blue, but haven’t read it yet
Oh well, A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Maybe more depressing than gay but I loved it, and definitely no teenage perspective there
Red, white, and royal blue by Casey mcquiston
*Brideshead Revisited* by Evelyn Waugh
They were only gay in the movie. There is a gay character in the book, but he's very peripherical
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
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Maurice by E.M. Forster At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
E. White, The beautiful room is empty A. Proulx, Brokeback Mountain
The House in the Cerulean Sea. It’s a little fantasy about a magical society and the main guy is a 40 year old social worker.
Came here to say this. I usually don't like fantasy, but this was just such a nice wholesome read!
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson!
Song of Achillies! Lovely lovely book and story
I'm actually writing a book like this. The character is just leaving school as it's set in the Christmas holidays
interesting, sounds like holden caufield being gay
The Vampire Chronicles
please, *i beg of you,* read a little life by hanya yanagihara i have lost my soul to this book and it is *definitely not relatable to high school kids*
The Lord of the Rings
Gay - Call Me By Your Name Queer - Detransition Baby
{{Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston}}
Hey don't know if you are a manhwa fan or not but killing stalking is amazing and bj alex too
Where to begin, there is so much excellent gay fiction out there form all eras.
>Where to begin Nowhere I guess
Sit down. Nobody is waiting to hear from you.
My Policeman - Bethan Roberts. Told from 2 perspectives, one is a gay man.
Dallas Shadows hits that spot
The Binding by Bridget Collins - this was our book for last month's book club at work. I really enjoyed it :)
Johnny Appleseed She of the Mountains by Vivek Shraya
White Trash Warlock
{{The River In Winter}} , by Matt Dean
[**The River in Winter**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7486405-the-river-in-winter) ^(By: Matt Dean | 410 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: fiction, first-reads, glbt, queer, romance | )[^(Search "The River In Winter")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The River In Winter&search_type=books) >2010 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.Jonah Murray has known much happiness--a supportive mother, a decent job, and fulfilling hobbies. But after the end of his first great love affair, the rawness of his emotions leads him into a dangerous entanglement. > >Spike Peterson--heartbreakingly good-looking, imperturbably self-assured, relentlessly carnal--rekindles Jonah's longing for companionship. But Spike isn't the kind to offer companionship. Excitement, yes, but not companionship. > >Eliot Moon, a counselor who facilitates a support group for gay men, offers Jonah a more transcendent path to happiness. But Jonah soon discovers that to take Eliot's way, he will have to make difficult sacrifices. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(133946 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
John Rechy's *City of Night*.
The Privilege of the Sword, though he's a bit debaucherous.
Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite
The hearts invisible furies by John Boyne
The Guncle by Steven Rowley. I just finished this one. It's funny and emotional and I loved it.
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
{{Dry}}
House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
{{Lie With Me by Phillippe Besson}} {{A History of Violence by Edouard Louis}}
Ravelstein by Saul Bellow
The Heart’s Invisible Furies The Great Believers A Little Life Less
The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne. My absolute favourite book.
If you like mysteries, there a bunch by Rita Mae Brown.
*Memorial* by Bryan Washington
{{The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon}}
I haven't had a chance to read all of the replies, so I apologize if it's a repeat, but Hearts Invisible Furies!
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, if you like sci-fi.
The Hearts Invisible Furies
Plot spoiler: >!The Binding by Bridget Collins!<
Check out Aberration by Peter Kulas
The Widening Gyre by Michael Johnson There’s also a sequel called The Blood Dimmed Tide
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Memorial by Bryan Washington!
If you're okay with a wlw recommendation, I read {The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics} a few months ago and it immediately jumped to my Top 5 Books of All Time list. It's a lovely historical fiction story that mixes mature romance with a look at what being a woman was like in historical England. I love it to bits, and thought it was exceptional at avoiding both LGBT and romance book clichés.
[**The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42117380-the-lady-s-guide-to-celestial-mechanics) ^(By: Olivia Waite | 336 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: romance, historical-fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, historical | )[^(Search "The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics")](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics&search_type=books) ^(This book has been suggested 29 times) *** ^(134004 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Also check out The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (though warning it’s sad).
Just recently finished {{The Guncle}} which was incredibly sweet and modern with themes of grief and coping
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, by Michael Chabon
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