Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Literature: A Genre Guide

by Ellen Bosman

Here is a long-overdue genre guide to a previously ignored body of literature. The book aims to provide the reader and readers' advisor with an introduction to 20th-century gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered literature. All popular genres of literature are examined, including fiction, drama, and life stories (biography, autobiography, and memoirs), with the main emphasis on current fiction. More than 1,100 titles are organized according to genres, subgenres, and formats. Annotations provide brief, engaging plot summaries, information about awards, indication of which populations are addressed (e.g., gay, lesbian), and often suggestions for read-alikes. Subject terms or keywords accompany each entry to enhance access to more read-alikes. A brief history of the literature, comments on the genres, and tips for working with readers make this an essential guide and reference resource.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT

440 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2008

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given what it is, it's marvelous. If I'd had access to it back when being Queer was a big part of my identity, I would have explored it thoroughly and read it carefully. Nowadays, it's less relevant to me... maybe to you? I do have to admit that I added several titles to my 'to-read' lists even as I skimmed, though.

[alexander shay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very underwhelmed by this collection considering how thick it is. This edition was published in 2008 and yet most of the titles are from the 1990's. Nothing wrong with that, but there's plenty of more modern literature they could have included too; the modern stuff is more what I'm looking for. I found some older 'classic' titles within the pages, but otherwise the books I came across that I was interested in were already on my to-read shelves. Lots of the descriptions are short though and probably do the books themselves no justice.
This book also bunches up transvestite, transgender, intersex, transexual, and hermaphrodite into the "T" of the LGBT category, which for me was a little offensive. I want to read FTM transgender literature, which so far is very hard to come by. Lots of MTF fiction out there. But most of the "T" books listed in this advisory were drag queens (author's term, not mine), or aliens that could swap gender at will. Nothing truly transgender, hence my offence, since they used the term but didn't include anything actually transgender.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me mad!
Published in 2008 by 3 members of the GLBT literature committee of the ALA, (who may or may not themselves be LGBTQ+), take an almost-hypocritical approach to this genre....
Example: Just with the classics: Oh Moby Dick has homoerotic undertones (i.e. sperm whale, Ishmael sharing his bunk with another guy (they all were)...or Jo in Little Women is probably a lesbian because she's a tom-boy (from the readers' perspective).
I was like, are you kidding me? Some of the other reviews are the same. I don't know if the authors couldn't agree on whether or not they like the subject or just know everything about it or they were not handling it maturely.
The over 420 page book also does not organize the books very well based off theme, time in history when it was written. The very minute detail of positive reinforcement comes from the subject headlines and read-alike's, though every book mentioned was published before 2003.

[H. Givens · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a mere 40 pages of introductory material, the rest of this 400-page book consists of gloriously detailed book lists sorted by genre and accompanied by content tags, subject headings, awards won, even read-alikes! I'm swooning at just how many titles are listed under each genre. A lot of them are familiar, I'm an enthusiast, but even more of them aren't. If you're super into a genre and want a comprehensive list up through about the year 2000, more than you'll ever find in a blog post or library subject heading, this is the place to go.