Books like Pomp and Circumstance

This book affected me profoundly as a teenager who was questioning his own sexual identity in the early 1970s.

The novel is a study of friendship between two teenage boys at a boarding school after World War II. They’re co-dependent, and the elements of suppression and the threat of violence between the two mirrored my own confusion with close male friends “in real life” at the same time.

This is a book that shaped my early understanding of sexuality, even though the author denied any homoerotic undertones in the story. 

I am long overdue in re-visiting this book, which was first read several years before I understood my sexual identity as a gay man.

It is a love story, a romance between a coach and his star athlete, and at the time I initially read it, it validated for me that two men could fall in love and be unashamed.

I grew up in a time when homosexuality was not even discussed in “polite” company, and this novel aided my journey to self-acceptance.

Thirty-five years after this book was published, I still smile thinking of it and the first time I read it in 1991.

It was/is a laugh-out-loud farce and was an inspiration to me to read gay and straight comic characters written so effortlessly.

Every so often, I check to see if Joe Keenan has another novel in the works, as he has written only three. I’ll be the first in line to buy a copy. 

While I’m not normally a consumer of short stories, I greatly admire authors who have mastered the craft, including the late Ethel Wilson and Alice Munro, two fellow Canadian writers.

My favourite story from Wilson is "A Drink with Adolphus," as it was written using opposite points of view from two characters at the same party.

I love fiction in which I can be immersed, while learning from the writing style of other authors.

This book is probably the single most praised underground gay novel of my generation, and deservedly so. It’s so many things—beautiful writing, an old west setting in all its ugliness and adventure and hope, and a highly original narrative voice in the bisexual native orphan, Shed, who is being raised in a bordello. All the characters are well-drawn and as odd as the narrator, and the erotic journey, if I can call it that, is one of the most original, thought-provoking, and beautiful expressions of the possibilities of queer I’ve ever encountered. Spanbauer has helped me to write more skillfully about class and race and sexuality and how they are everywhere and how they can warp—and sometimes, oftentimes—set people free. 

You might believe that I chose this book solely based on the title.

I can’t deny finding the idea of having the cover out and actively reading it in front of the kind of people wanting to ban LGBTQ+ books is a tantalizing one. That said, the real reason I chose this book is it is a helpful guide to the LGBTQ+ community that uses inclusive language and describes the different ways people identify with copious amounts of humor and quotes from members of the community.

It has important information about a wide variety of topics that I wish were around in an easy-to-read format when I was younger. There are frank sex education discussions in this book, which is vital information to fill in the gaps in sex education in most schools. I have this one saved for when the younger members of my family are ready to start… show more.

Coming out once is difficult, but going back into the closet is a unique sort of challenge. Tanner and Sebastian fall in love when neither of them are exactly ready for it, and their conflicting backgrounds make it difficult for them to reach a happy medium. No spoilers, but this book presented the pain of coming out – or not – better than any other I’ve read.

Guy New York has had a huge influence on my own creative writing, and this book of his is definitely my favorite. A sprawling story set in New York City's East Village of the recent past, this erotic story is raw and raunchy and populated with characters that are absolutely flawed yet totally identifiable.

There are all kinds of sex and intimacy depicted here, but I appreciate how he keeps the focus on the experience of eroticism between all of these characters and genders, no matter how messy or contradictory, as that feels truer to life. Also, for me, it contains some of the most authentic portrayals of male bisexuality I have found in contemporary fiction. Definitely recommend!

If you’re a bi history nerd like me, you’re going to love this insight into some of the early thoughts on bisexuality by sex researcher Havelock Ellis. Already in the late 1800s, Ellis - who was in an open relationship, and whose wife was bisexual - did research with bisexual people. 

His writing shows us that bisexuality isn’t trendy or new, that the stereotypes we battle today were already being criticised over a century ago, and that some people had positive ideas about bisexuality. For example, Ellis attributed the success of great leaders and artists to their bisexuality. He credits this to the “innately democratic attitude” of bisexual people to see beyond social class. Ellis a key figure in bi history who often gets missed, but his work can give a real sense of connectedness with our past. 

His books can be hard to find in print, but Project Gutenberg… show more.

If you’re interested in bisexual activism, and how to mobilise people to fight for Bi+ rights, this book is for you. 

It is a dive into bisexual politics written by one of the world’s most prominent bisexual activists. It is also one of the most mentioned books within the bi community, helping a generation of people to feel empowered to deconstruct monosexuality. Inspiring best-selling authors, journalists, and many of the bisexual researchers I have worked with over the years, this book has become an important part of bi culture.