Let's Talk Queer Lit!

[nos4a2no9]

F-list, I need some help. I've been reading a lot of contemporary literary fiction lately, and while I've found a couple of queer lit gems in the bunch, I'd certainly like to read more. I'm looking more for literary fiction more than queer genre romance or gay erotica. I know that's a fine distinction, and it's definitely an arbitrary one, but I

Comments

[pir8fancier]

I couldn't get into Two Boys at Swim. I tried and I tried. It's a distinctive style and either it clicks with you or it doesn't. But I do have another author for you who ROCKS my socks off in the most profound way. Alan Hollinghurst. His The Line of Beauty was a Booker prize nom and it's a stunning book. So beautifully written it will make you cry. Made me cry. The ending is so, well, get out your handkerchiefs.

[nos4a2no9]

Hmmm, fair enough. I did get the feeling that "At Swim" might not click - the Joyce comparison seemed like a good tip-off. I'll keep my hopes up, though: I kinda dig those experimentations with language and voice, but we'll see.

And THANK YOU for the Alan Hollinghurst rec! A friend pointed Line of Beauty to me a few months ago and I'd totally forgotten about it. It sounds like it will be a terrific read. I'm going to pick it up from the library ASAP.

in which I meander a lot before hitting something worth reading

[buzzylittleb]

Uh, I read something famous/influential (as in I knew the title before I found a copy in a bookshop basement) but can't remember the name of it. I am really super extra pretty. Also, I spent a year living down the road from a gay bookshop and never managed to suck up the courage to go in

Re: in which I meander a lot before hitting something worth reading

[buzzylittleb]

Uh, in case you want some identifying detail on the first book; it was set and written pre legalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom. The hero is investigating the suicide of somebody he knew on the scene, as it were, on behalf of the dead man's fiancée. There is some pulpiness and serious over-explanation in places*, it drips with repressed desire

... *finally remembers* It's "The Heart In Exile" by Rodney Garland a much better basement bookstore find...

*rather like the way M*A*S*H (the novel) treated the details of surgery and in M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, heart surgery and the fictionalised history of the "cardia nostra" of 1950s heart surgery and the quest for the heart and lung machine. I might rather like them (and want to track down the rest some time) and at one point wanted to write a fusion between the book version of MASH and SGA... scarily, my brother liked the idea.

Re: in which I meander a lot before hitting something worth reading

[nos4a2no9]

Thanks for the recs, Buzzy! I'm glad you remembered the title of "The Heart in Exile" - I'd heard of it but never located a copy, and it turns out I can buy it used from amazon.ca. It sounds good, too: I like a little noir and melodrama in the midst of repressed desire :-) I'll also try out the Magrs book: I'm not really a fan of sci-fi/fantasy stuff (at least not in the books I read) but I'll give it a shot. Thanks for weighing in!

Re: in which I meander a lot before hitting something worth reading

[buzzylittleb]

That was how I knew to buy it. "I've heard of this one" --> till.

At the very least with Magrs, try Marked for Life. It's almost normal in places. Also my favourite, which counts for a lot.

I think he has written a couple more "normal" books; I know there's one about being a queer and geeky teen out there somewhere.

[bakaknight]

Stephen Fry has written a very... well, I suppose 'odd' would be the word for it, book called The Liar, which you might enjoy.
'Original ideas? That shouldn't be too hard. The library must be full of them.'

[nos4a2no9]

Heh, Stephen Fry and "odd" in the same sentence? What ARE you thinking? *g*

[zabira]

nos, this post is made ENTIRELY OF WIN. i love hearing about folks' favorite queer lit. \o/ also, yay! i'm glad you liked my melodrama rec. i am almost positive you are correct in your assessment of it as a translated fanfic, but have no idea FROM WHAT.

i must add that i love:

maurice by e. m. forster (and the movie is ALSO made of delicious awesome)

swordspoint by ellen kushner (this one is more like slash than anything else, but it's a ton of fun, as are her other riverside novels)

and i must admit a soft spot for b-boy blues by james earl hardy, partially for the rarity factor. it's possibly the only even remotely authentic book (actually at this point it's a series) that i know about which features gay hip-hop boys. that is MADE OF WIN.

ETA: i should add that the last two are most definitely genre fiction, but still good natheless.

[nos4a2no9]

YAY! I don't know WHY I didn't think about asking other fangirls for queer lit recs before. I was spending a lot of time trying to find good ones on amazon.ca (with limited success) and, really? The people on my f-list are EXPERTS!

Also, I will love you forever for recommending a gay hip-hop novel. :-) I'll definitely check them out, since I enjoyed the Shapiro book so much. Thanks, Z!

[leafy22]

Z beat me to it! It's not contemporary but 'Maurice' would have been my rec too!

[j_s_cavalcante]

I have heard Ellen Kushner reading from Swordspoint in person.

There is nothing not to love about that. :)

However, the book of hers that I adore most is Thomas the Rhymer. I would read many passages aloud just to savor the language.

[sansets]

Middlesex is one of my FAVORITE books of all times, hands down. It is actually about being intersexed, and is just one of the most fascinating explorations of gender and sexuality I've ever read. (Although I do have to warn you - the narrator is the product of two generations of incest, and only one of those is accidental. I mean, it isn't anything explicit and I wasn't bothered by it when I read this long before I ever became not squicked by incest, but I do feel that is probably something to be warned for) He is raised as a she and she thinks that she is a lesbian and the whole things is just beautiful and heartwrenching and ends with just the right amount of hope and I really can't recommend this to you highly enough.

zabira beat me to Swordpoint, but I actually liked The Fall of the Kings (which is the sort of sequel, sort of just set in the same universe) better because it was more an academic bent. (The sword fighting was SO much fun. But Nos - they talk about history in The Fall of the Kings! Talk about a gorgeous, well constructed

[nos4a2no9]

Oooh, thanks for reccing "Middlesex" - in grad school we did a unit on the work of a hermaphrodite visionary from the early Renaissance and it was fascinating stuff. I'm not squicked by incest, promise. (Oh, internet. What happened to the LINES?) And since you AND Z have both recced Ellen Kushner I guess I'm duty-bound to check it out.

I hope you enjoy "At Swim"! Let me know what you think, and we can squee together!