Seven books every queer guy should read

Michael Lyons
Contributor
7 Totally Joe by James Howe
Did you read the Bunnicula series as a child? It may interest you to know that children’s author, James Howe, is gay, and has written a couple of children’s fiction books about young gay characters. Totally Joe is a fictional alpha biography (a biography from A to Z) about Joe Bunch, a 13-year-old gay teenager who deals with friends, family, love and his sexuality in an honest, heartfelt school assignment. This book should be available in every

6 Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
A young American man finds himself caught up in a fiery romance with an Italian bartender in post-Second World War Paris. David finds himself tortured over choosing a life of pre-destined convention with his fiance? or destructive passion with a forbidden lover. Baldwin’s grasp of the devastating power of love and loss make it clear why Giovanni’s Room is a gay classic.

5 Freak Show by James St. James
Billy Bloom moves in with his father in an ultra-conservative southern town. He is sent to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy, home of the Bible Belles, Aberzombies and Football Guerillas. Billy is the definition of queer, and his story is one for the outcasts, the freaks and the underdogs. St. James is an outrageous writer and often had me laughing out loud on the subway. There are narratives of young jocks coming to terms with their sexuality, and then there is the explosively queer and utterly fabulous Billy Bloom taking his world by storm.
4 Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
Not Wanted on the Voyage is a drastic retelling of the Noah’s arc narrative. In this story, God is a genocidal manic-depressive, Noah is a patriarchal tyrant, and a certain angel is a cross-dressing in-law. Findley is incredibly subtle with his inclusion of feminism and queerness within his stories. He masterfully weaves a story full of mysticism for the devout and atheists alike.

3 A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Forget the excellent movie; Isherwood’s novel is a journey completely in its own right. Follow George, a misanthropic, empathetic, precocious, broken man through a day in his life. Isherwood’s dissection of society, of people, of love, of “us” is astounding in its reach. He tackles so much in this book with such heartbreaking precision; the discord between who we really are and our public face, invisible minorities, an altruistic, hopeless love that is both individual and global.

2 Angels in America by Tony Kushner
There were the Greeks, there was Shakespeare and then there was Kusher. Angels is the definition of theatre. It has such theatricality and scope, taking the audience from Manhattan, to Salt Lake City, to heaven. It tackles identity, faith, race, history, sexuality, AIDS and so much more. The characters are incredibly real, each as sympathetic as the next, even the nasty fictional portrayal of McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn. It is the kind of play where that is just as compelling to read as it is to see.
1 Lockpick Pornography by Joey Comeau
I can honestly say that Lockpick Pornography changed me more than any book, movie or music ever has. This is young Canadian author Joey Comeau’s story of a group of queer terrorist who take it on themselves to single handedly bring down the heterosexual paradigm. They are queer in every sense of the word– fiery, aggressive and destructive, everything the modern queer rights movement is not. The book takes a grenade to gender, identity and politics. It is trashy, sexy and incredibly intelligent.