After Elton Wants To Know: What Are The Greatest Gay Books? (I Can't Answer That One.)

After Elton, the Logo-owned website for the gays does a Hot 100 list of the one hundred hottest men, chosen by gay and bi-sexual men. It varies a bit from what People lists as their hottest bachelors, but not as much as the difference between lesbian sister-site After Ellen's list and Maxim's list. They recently did a list of the Top 50 Gay Movies (Brokeback Mountain topped the list, obviously) and now they are compiling a similar list of gay books.

Here's the thing. I'm a bad gay. I mean, my taste in music is pretty gay, I love both new school gay faves like Scissor Sisters and Regina Spektor, 80s gay icons like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper and the 'divas' like Cher and Babs. But I've never read "The Boys In The Band" or anything by Trumane Capote, the first Broadway musical I ever saw was just a few months ago and I've never seen Brokeback Mountain or watched Queer As Folk.

So I only have a couple of queer-friendly books under my belt: Christopher Rice's "The Snow Garden" and "A Density Of Souls," which marked the first time I ever fell head-over-heels for a fictional character; and a young adult fiction book called "Thinking Straight" by Robin Reardon, which I just read a month or so ago. It was an interesting look at a "Exodus"-style camp for young people who have drug, crime and sexual problem. I was really intrigued by the topic of gay Christian teens, some finding it easier to reconcile the two than others. I've also read a few gay-friendly celebrity bios, like Barbara Streisand, Dolly Parton and Chelsea Handler. And there was the Star Trek: New Frontier novel spinoff series, which featured a character who was a "s/he" - both male and female. Does that count?

It doesn't really bother me that my sexuality doesn't influence my book selection. But I just noticed both the books I got at the library today could be considered queer-fiction. "Skim" is a graphic novel by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, and discovering ones sexuality in high school is one of the themes of the book. The other is Marc Acito's "Attack Of The Theater People" which is the sequel to the popular "How I Paid For College" I've heard it's pretty funny, all about guys in The Big Apple in 1986. I'm looking forward to reading both.

But I've just scratched the surface on Gay Lit, and I've never read any of the important biographies or novels mentioned in the comments at afterelton.com. I've already written a couple of titles down to check at the library next time I go. I'm especially interested in a novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, whose Arthur books I've enjoyed. Since I am such an avid reader, I'm surprised I haven't read more books about people like me. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments. Also, if you've read more than me be sure to vote at After Elton.