Top Gay Books of the XXI century
As usual some boring basic rules: the list considers only gay themed books released in print after January 1, 2000, so you can consider it a Top 100 List of the XXI century. Books released in electronic format before January 1, 2000, and then in print after that date, I listed it. To enter the list I browsed all the LGBT publishers I found, considered all the specific awards and all the recommendation from friends. I haven't read ALL the books, like you, I am trying to read as much as possible, but the list is impartial, meaning that if I didn't like a book, or I haven't read it yet, I nevertheless included it in the list.
To decide the ranking, again, I tried to be impartial: I chose to consider the owned copies in LibraryThing, a cataloguing website that seems to be "serious" and of common use. For every author I considered only a book, the one with more owned copies, so the list is more a Top Authors than a Top Books.
The actual list will remain frozen for 1 year, and in September 2013 I will reopened it and track the changes. In the meantime, I will continue to feature an author from that list every week, in my In the Spotlight appointment.
First decade (2000-2009)
1 - Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
2 - Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
3 - Three Junes by Julia Glass
4 - The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
5 - Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
6 - Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry
7 - The Master by Colm Toibin
8 - Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
9 - At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
10 - The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin
11 - Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff
12 - Melusine by Sarah Monette
13 - A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
14 - The Vesuvius Club: A Bit of Fluff by Mark Gatiss
15 - The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan
16 - The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
17 - Hero by Perry Moore
18 - The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner
19 - Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
20 - Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
21 - Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
22 - Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman
23 - As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
24 - Shadows Return by Lynn Flewelling
25 - How I Paid for College by Marc Acito
26 - The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
27 - Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite
28 - Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger
29 - The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt
30 - I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
31 - Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
32 - All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann
33 - Dog Years: A Memoir by Mark Doty
34 - Dorian: An Imitation by Will Self
35 - Dramarama by E. Lockhart
36 - The Family Man by Elinor Lipman
37 - Havemercy by Jaida Jones
38 - Totally Joe by James Howe
39 - Bear Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan
40 - The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America by Charles Kaiser
41 - Rough Music by Patrick Gale
42 - The Chosen by Ricardo Pinto
43 - The Married Man by Edmund White
44 - Freak Show by James St. James
45 - Tommy's Tale by Alan Cumming
46 - The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
47 - Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale
48 - The World of Normal Boys by K. M. Soehnlein
49 - The Center of the World by Andreas Steinhofel
50 - Grief by Andrew Holleran
51 - The Secret Fruit of Peter Paddington by Brian Francis
52 - The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure by Storm Constantine
53 - Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
54 - Absolutely Positively Not by Mr. David LaRochelle
55 - Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley
56 - King of the Screwups by K.L. Going
57 - Not a Day Goes By by E. Lynn Harris
58 - The Coming Storm by Paul Russell
59 - The Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon
60 - Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
61 - Looking For It by Michael Thomas Ford
62 - Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates
63 - The Year of Ice by Brian Malloy
64 - My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan
65 - The Tin Star by J. L. Langley
66 - The Back Passage by James Lear
67 - Comfort and Joy by Jim Grimsley
68 - Lust or No Harm Done by Geoff Ryman
69 - A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R. W. Day
70 - The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert Leleux
71 - Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott
72 - Now Is the Hour by Tom Spanbauer
73 - Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde
74 - What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson
75 - Brethren: Raised By Wolves by W. A. Hoffman
76 - The First Verse by Barry McCrea
77 - The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek
78 - Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
79 - The Notorious Dr. August by Christopher Bram
80 - Mordred, Bastard Son (Mordred Trilogy) by Douglas Clegg
81 - The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
82 - We Disappear by Scott Heim
83 - Sprout by Dale Peck
84 - Vintage by Steve Berman
85 - Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir by Edwin John Wintle
86 - The Abomination by Paul Golding
87 - Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg
88 - Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon
89 - Saint Morrissey: A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan by Mark Simpson
90 - When I Knew by Robert Trachtenberg
91 - Dragon's Treasure by Elizabeth A. Lynn
92 - Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby
93 - Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan
94 - Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow
95 - Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai
96 - Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about The Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman
97 - Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka
98 - Posted To Death by Dean James
99 - Vampire Vow by Michael Schiefelbein
100 - A Son Called Gabriel by Damian McNicholl
101 - America's Boy by Wade Rouse
102 - A Secret Edge by Robin Reardon
103 - Oleander House by Ally Blue
104 - Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing
105 - False Colors by Alex Beecroft
106 - Clay's Way by Blair Mastbaum
107 - Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
108 - Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
109 - Bareback by Chris Owen
110 - The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity by Daniel Mendelsohn
111 - The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson
112 - A Bit of Rough by Laura Baumbach
113 - Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany
114 - Saints of Augustine by P.E. Ryan
115 - Standish by Erastes
116 - Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
117 - Queer Street: Rise and Fall of an American Culture, 1947-1985 by James McCourt
118 - 7 Days at the Hot Corner by Terry Trueman
119 - Rag and Bone by Michael Nava
120 - The Practical Heart: Four Novellas by Allan Gurganus
121 - The Phoenix by Ruth Sims
122 - My Side of the Story: A Novel by Will Davies
123 - The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer
124 - Half-Life by Aaron Krach
125 - Ransom by Lee Rowan
126 - Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick
127 - Out of the Closet and Nothing to Wear by Leslea Newman
128 - Men on Men 2000: Best New Gay Fiction by David Bergman & Karl Woelz
129 - Avoidance by Michael Lowenthal
130 - The Price of Temptation by M. J. Pearson
131 - Latter Days by C. Jay Cox
132 - The Trouble Boy by Tom Dolby
133 - Where The Boys Are by William J. Mann
134 - In the Absence of Men by Philippe Besson
135 - A Young Man's Passage by Julian Clary
136 - Bourbon Street Blues by Greg Herren
137 - David Inside Out by Lee Bantle
138 - Love Speaks Its Name: Gay and Lesbian Love Poems by J. D. McClatchy
139 - Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
140 - Metes and Bounds by Jay Quinn
141 - Lawnboy by Paul Lisicky
142 - Man About Town by Mark Merlis
143 - Fortunes Of War by Mel Keegan
144 - Frontiers by Michael Jensen
145 - A Perfect Waiter by Alain Claude Sulzer
146 - Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett
147 - Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball by Billy Bean
148 - Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville
149 - Collision Course by K.A. Mitchell
150 - Crossing Borders by Z.A. Maxfield
151 - Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy
152 - He's The One by Timothy James Beck
153 - Venus as a Boy by Luke Sutherland
154 - Hornito: My Lie Life by Mike Albo
155 - PsyCop: Partners by Jordan Castillo Price
156 - My Best Man by Andy Schell
157 - Band Fags! by Frank Anthony Polito
158 - The Manny Files by Christian Burch
159 - Someone Killed His Boyfriend by David Stukas
160 - Fool's Errand by Louis Bayard
161 - Lake Overturn by Vestal Mcintyre
162 - Shameless by Paul Burston
163 - Jeremy Thrane by Kate Christensen
164 - Flight Dreams by Michael Craft
165 - The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman
166 - Can't Buy Me Love by Chris Kenry
167 - Men Like That: A Southern Queer History by John Howard
168 - Every Man For Himself by Orland Outland
169 - Gay Haiku by Joel Derfner
170 - Mind Fuck by Manna Francis
171 - Letters to Montgomery Clift by Noel Alumit
172 - Fixer Chao by Han Ong
173 - Tricks of the Trade by Ben Tyler
174 - One Dead Drag Queen by Mark Richard Zubro
175 - The Straight Road to Kylie by Nico Medina
176 - Common Sons by Ronald L. Donaghe
177 - Swords of the Rainbow: Gay & Lesbian Fantasy Adventures by Eric Garber
178 - Design Flaws of the Human Condition by Paul Schmidtberger
179 - The Death of a Constant Lover by Lev Raphael
180 - The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood by Jesse Green
181 - Easter by Michael Arditti
182 - Faith for Beginners by Aaron Hamburger
183 - Soul Mates: Bound by Blood by Jourdan Lane
184 - Selfish and Perverse by Bob Smith
185 - Limits of Justice by John Morgan Wilson
186 - No Going Home by T. A. Chase
187 - Tongue Tied by Richard Stevenson
188 - The Summer They Came by William Storandt
189 - Falling by M. L. Rhodes
190 - 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous by Graeme Aitken
191 - The Actor's Guide To Murder by Rick Copp
192 - Bad Case of Loving You by Laney Cairo
193 - Nothing Pink by Mark Hardy
194 - Broadway Nights: A Romp of Life, Love, and Musical Theatre by Seth Rudetsky
195 - My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel
196 - Uncle's Story by Witi Tame Ihimaera
197 - Any Kind Of Luck by William Jack Sibley
198 - The Coming of the Night by John Rechy
199 - The Republic of Vengeance by Paul Waters
200 - Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg
More Books: http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels_2.htm
Second decade (2010-2019)
1 - Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
2 - By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
3 - The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller
4 - In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
5 - It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living by Dan Savage
6 - Closet Case by Robert Rodi
7 - The Absolutist by John Boyne
8 - Strings Attached by Nick Nolan
9 - Sucking Sherbet Lemons by Michael Carson
10 - Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels
11 - Lessons in Love by Charlie Cochrane
12 - A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
13 - Me by Ricky Martin
14 - A Better Place by Mark A. Roeder
15 - Love Drugged by James Klise
16 - Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff
17 - Where's My Wand?: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting by Eric Poole
18 - Probation by Tom Mendicino
19 - Perfect Peace by Daniel Black
20 - Promises by Marie Sexton
21 - The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet: A Novel by Myrlin A. Hermes
22 - Hate: A Romance by Tristan Garcia
23 - Unnatural (Archangel Academy) by Michael Griffo
24 - Will by Maria Boyd
More Books: http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels_2.2.htm