Would it be a good idea if we had a sticky topic in the forum where we could recommend books and movies that might be of interest to gay folks?

Could be- is there any interest in it? There are a couple of past threads that could be merged, in theory....

Probably the best way to test its viability is to do it. It'll die a death if no-one's interested.

Easy to put in a few standards, Alan Hollinghurst, Colm Toibin etc... but what's the chance of people recommending new publications?

Easy to put in a few standards, Alan Hollinghurst, Colm Toibin etc... but what's the chance of people recommending new publications?

There you go - I'd never heard of Colm Toibin till now.

I'll start off with 'Crystal Boys' by Pai Hsien-Yung (translated by Howard Goldblatt). It's a novel about gay life in Taipei in the 1970s. The gay world was called the 'glass community' and the people who inhabited it were the Glass (or Crystal) Boys.

A-Qing gets caught with a supervisor at his high school and gets kicked out of house and home and runs away to join Chief Yang's gang of Crystal Boys.

Taiwan PBS made a 20 episode series for TV which I have copies of. Unfortunately the only subs on it are Chinese!

"There are no days in our kingdom, only nights. As soon as the sun comes up , our kingdom goes into hiding, for it is an unlawful nation; we have no government and no constitution, we are neither respected nor recognised by anyone, our citizenry is little more than rabble."

so sad for the chinese:(

I'll start off with 'Crystal Boys' by Pai Hsien-Yung (translated by Howard Goldblatt). It's a novel about gay life in Taipei in the 1970s. The gay world was called the 'glass community' and the people who inhabited it were the Glass (or Crystal) Boys.

A-Qing gets caught with a supervisor at his high school and gets kicked out of house and home and runs away to join Chief Yang's gang of Crystal Boys.

Taiwan PBS made a 20 episode series for TV which I have copies of. Unfortunately the only subs on it are Chinese!

"There are no days in our kingdom, only nights. As soon as the sun comes up , our kingdom goes into hiding, for it is an unlawful nation; we have no government and no constitution, we are neither respected nor recognised by anyone, our citizenry is little more than rabble."

Wow, that sounds interesting. Gay life in Taipei must have been horrible in the 1970s. I lived there around the turn of the millenium and it was in transition. I hear that Taipei has a quite interesting gay scene now.

I'd be interested in reading a novel based on gay life in Taipei in the 1970s.

The first 'gay' novel I ever read. First published in 1974.

'The Front Runner' by Patricia Nell Warren. A story about a closeted running coach who's lumbered with three new runners who've been kicked out of their previous college for being gay. Supposedly a 'gay classic' - it was pretty brave for the time and quite a good story.

Easy to put in a few standards, Alan Hollinghurst, Colm Toibin etc... but what's the chance of people recommending new publications?

There you go - I'd never heard of Colm Toibin till now.

Colm Toibin, The Blackwater Lightship, 1999. About Declan, dying of AIDS, and the three women in his family.

The Story of the Night, 1996. Gay life in Argentina

Easy to put in a few standards, Alan Hollinghurst, Colm Toibin etc... but what's the chance of people recommending new publications?

There you go - I'd never heard of Colm Toibin till now.

Colm Toibin, The Blackwater Lightship, 1999. About Declan, dying of AIDS, and the three women in his family.

The Story of the Night, 1996. Gay life in Argentina

That's the point I was trying to make. Just because you've read it doesn't mean that I have. That's the reason we need a library.

Agreed, Endure. Until I got those two off the shelf to list them, I didn't realise how recent they were.

Toibin has written, I think, three other novels which, I would guess, have gay content. The Master, however, about James Joyce, is not gay.

Well, if you gents will keep this topic current for at least a week or two, I'll dig through the archives and find some of the other similar topics and smush it all together. With strawberries.

Agreed, Endure. Until I got those two off the shelf to list them, I didn't realise how recent they were.

Toibin has written, I think, three other novels which, I would guess, have gay content. The Master, however, about James Joyce, is not gay.

Sorry, Henry James, not James Joyce. My mistake; couldn't be more different.

Well, if you gents will keep this topic current for at least a week or two, I'll dig through the archives and find some of the other similar topics and smush it all together. With strawberries.

I'm not sure about the strawberries.

But I think I can contribute to that week, if you allow foreign-language books.

I'll start off with 'Crystal Boys' by Pai Hsien-Yung (translated by Howard Goldblatt). It's a novel about gay life in Taipei in the 1970s. The gay world was called the 'glass community' and the people who inhabited it were the Glass (or Crystal) Boys.

A-Qing gets caught with a supervisor at his high school and gets kicked out of house and home and runs away to join Chief Yang's gang of Crystal Boys.

Taiwan PBS made a 20 episode series for TV which I have copies of. Unfortunately the only subs on it are Chinese!

"There are no days in our kingdom, only nights. As soon as the sun comes up , our kingdom goes into hiding, for it is an unlawful nation; we have no government and no constitution, we are neither respected nor recognised by anyone, our citizenry is little more than rabble."

Wow, that sounds interesting. Gay life in Taipei must have been horrible in the 1970s. I lived there around the turn of the millenium and it was in transition. I hear that Taipei has a quite interesting gay scene now.

I'd be interested in reading a novel based on gay life in Taipei in the 1970s.

If you can read Chinese or speak whatever dialect they speak in Taiwan it's worth searching in the usual places for Crystal Boys. I watch episodes quite often and I can't speak any Chinese at all (apart from being able to say 'thank you').

I'll start off with 'Crystal Boys' by Pai Hsien-Yung (translated by Howard Goldblatt). It's a novel about gay life in Taipei in the 1970s. The gay world was called the 'glass community' and the people who inhabited it were the Glass (or Crystal) Boys.

A-Qing gets caught with a supervisor at his high school and gets kicked out of house and home and runs away to join Chief Yang's gang of Crystal Boys.

Taiwan PBS made a 20 episode series for TV which I have copies of. Unfortunately the only subs on it are Chinese!

"There are no days in our kingdom, only nights. As soon as the sun comes up , our kingdom goes into hiding, for it is an unlawful nation; we have no government and no constitution, we are neither respected nor recognised by anyone, our citizenry is little more than rabble."

Wow, that sounds interesting. Gay life in Taipei must have been horrible in the 1970s. I lived there around the turn of the millenium and it was in transition. I hear that Taipei has a quite interesting gay scene now.

I'd be interested in reading a novel based on gay life in Taipei in the 1970s.

Another fun Taiwanese film set in Taipei is Formula 17. DVD available with English subtitles.

I also spent considerable time in Taipei back in the last decade and watched the gay scene evolving rapidly over that time. Haven't been back for three years and I'm curious to re-visit soon.

Posts deleted. Instead of hijacking this thread you could start a new one.

Edmund White, The Farewell Symphony; if you want something really depressing. The period of maximum gay promiscuity, and its inevitable outcome.

Too many gay novels are about AIDS and its effects; can anyone suggest any which are not?

At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

"A truly original - and utterly compulsive - novel, reminiscent of MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN and A SUITABLE BOY for its scope and vitality. Set in Dublin and its near surrounds AT SWIM, TWO BOYS follows the turbulent year to Easter 1916. At its core it tells the love of two boys, Jim, a naive and reticent scholar, the younger son of foolish, aspirant shopkeeper Mr Mack, and Doyler, the dark rough diamond son of Mr Mack's old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, the two boys meet day after day. There they make a pact: that Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of the Muglins rock, to raise the Green and claim it for themselves. As Ireland sets forth towards her uncertain glory there unfolds a love story of the utmost tenderness, carrying the reader through the turbulence of the times like a full blown sail. AT SWIM, TWO BOYS is written with great verve and mastery. It shares those elements that are the marks of all great books - the breadth of its canvas, the skill of its brush, the intensity of its subjects and, above all, the shining light of its humanity. "

Happy Together - a film directed by Wong Kar Wai and starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Lesley Cheung. The story of a doomed love affair. Chinese with English subs.

Edmund White, The Farewell Symphony; if you want something really depressing. The period of maximum gay promiscuity, and its inevitable outcome.

Part of a trilogy. 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'The Beautiful Room is Empty' preceded it.

Anyone else willing to participate? I do have a number of books and movies to contribute but if no-one else is willing to take part then up to you!

Anyone else willing to participate? I do have a number of books and movies to contribute but if no-one else is willing to take part then up to you!

I do, "Endure", this is my favorite topic: good gay books and good gay themed movies.

I'm not at the moment in the right spot to give you the exact name of titles or authors, but I can just recall some that might be of interest:

BOOKS

"Maurice" (1971) by E. M. Forster; A classic novel, writen in 1930 and published years after Forster's death.

"The Front Runner" (1974)by Patricia N Warren. Another classic, not be be missed.

"Reflections of a Rock Lobster" (1981) by Aaron Fricke; Alyson Books. Aaron F. decided to bring his boyfriend as his date to the prom. When the high school informed that he could not, he filed suit in U.S. District court.

"The Celluloid Closet" (1981) by Vito Russo. A description of the best gay scenes from (or off) mainstream movies.

MOVIES

"The Love at Siam" (2007); dir. Chookiat Sakveerakul.

"Beautiful Thing" (1995); dir. Hettie McDonald.

"Get Real" (1998); dir. Simon Shore.

"The Wedding Banquet" (1993); dir. Ang Lee.

"The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert" (1994); dir. Stephan Elliot.

Of course, anyone has his own favourites, but this is a selection of gay books and movies with positive views and endings.

You mention E.M.Forster's Maurice. Anyone expecting something up to the level of his more famous books will be disappointed. Without Forster's name on it, this book would be deservedly forgotten.

"The Charioteer" by Mary Renault. Published in the 1950s - daring for the time. Mary Renault is a weaver of words and a brilliant story-teller. Try and get hold of this if you can.

More blurb:

"After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans’ hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance. Then one day, Ralph Lanyon, a mentor from Laurie’s schoolboy days, suddenly reappears in Laurie’s life, and draws him into a tight-knit social circle of world-weary gay men. Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.

Originally published in the United States in 1959, The Charioteer is a bold, unapologetic portrayal of male homosexuality during World War II that stands with Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar and Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories as a monumental work in gay literature."

Once you mention Mary Renault you've got to mention the 'Alexander Trilogy' her historic novels about the life of Alexander the Great

"Fire from Heaven" - Alexander's early life and his friendship with Hephaistion who was reputed to be his lover. Alexander certainly went bonkers when Hephaistion died of fever. His funeral was reckoned to have cost the equivalent of £150M in today's money.

"The Persian Boy" - The Persian Boy is Bagoas, a eunuch and former catamite of Darius III of Persia who Alexander defeated to take the Persian Empire. In the book Bagoas is given to Alexander as a gift and becomes his lover. It's Bagoas who narrates book 2.

"Funeral Games" - The events following Alexander's death. The break-up of the Empire - Ptolemy moves to Egypt. Bagoas goes with him.

Mary Renault was a truly gifted story-teller and I recommend that you read these books - preferably in the right order. I re-read them on a regular basis and there are passages in them that always make me cry. Well, I'm a poof - I'm allowed to

The Last of the Wine is another book by Mary Renault with a gay theme. It portrays the late teenage years of Alexias, with his lover Lysis, against the background of Athens v. Sparta in the Peloponesian War.

"HIred to Kill" by John Morris.

The ultimate "don't judge a book by its cover" - John Morris was the controller of the BBC Third Programme (and BBC 3) from 1959 to 1971, but before that he took part in two Everest expeditions, including the first one in 1922, and he served in Third Gurkhas (Indian Army) in the Somme (WWI), in Palestine and in the Third Afghan War. In Hired to Kill he writes mainly about his time in the Indian Army and about his homosexuality in an environment where it was both frowned on and tacitly accepted. I have read the book several times over the last 20 years and find something new to appreciate every time. My favourite autobiography (although it only covers part of his life).

You mention E.M.Forster's Maurice. Anyone expecting something up to the level of his more famous books will be disappointed. Without Forster's name on it, this book would be deservedly forgotten.

Of course, we can also add a column (or however it is done on ThaiVisa) for critics and comments. I for one loved Maurice and hadn't even heard Forster's name at the time.