Gays of Goodreads discussion

Hello everyone,

can you recommend gay reads (fiction and non-fiction) that take place in Europe? I would love to read stories set in eg. Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain etc.

Thanks,
Alex

The Twin - Gerbrand Bakker (The Netherlands)
Lie with me - Philippe Besson (France)
The End of Eddy - Édouard Louis (Belgium)
Returning to Reims - Didier Eribon (France)

Enjoy!

Jordi's Day - Barcelona Spain
Beau's Dilemma - Sydney Australia
Tony's Dream - Montréal Québec

Lie With Me by Benson. Short French heartache you want to read again.

The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis. French. And his History of Violence. Eddy sounds autobiographical. History of Violence IS biographical. I had a knot in my stomach reading both of these. (A 'thought-provoking' knot)

What Belongs to You and Cleanness by Greenwell are set in Bulgaria, with great outdoor scenic descriptions (and some indoors too).

The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough is also under the title: Ready When You Are set in Australia. YA, with the feeling of Australia permeating constantly.

The Charioteer by Renault is WWII/British with vernacular that 'takes you back'.

Maurice by Forster is 20th century England. Some gay stories can be too tragic, some too happy - this one is 'just right'.

The Berlin Stories by Isherwood. I need to read this. Setting is Germany.

Guapa by Saleem Haddad. A gay Arab man living in an unnamed Middle Eastern country.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong talks of his Vietnam background. I should count a single reading twice, as I kept re-reading/reflecting passages constantly!

The Song of Achilles by Miller. Homer's Iliad as told from the perspective of Patroclus.

I'll count these 'foreign' ones too...

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers is definitely foreign - outright alien. Comfort read. I file this lgbt/SciFi/Philosophy shelves. Chambers has more, like The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet which is rich with various lgbt characters.

The best ever written . . .Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room"

The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough, set in Australia

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart, set in Scotland

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez, set in UK

Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave, set in Australia

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski, set in Poland

Nights In The Gardens Of Spain by Witi Ihimaera, set in New Zealand

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman, set in Italy

Funny Boy: A Novel in Six Stories by Shyam Selvadurai, set in Sri Lanka

Hope you enjoy finding and reading some of these great novels.

Thanks you guys.

I just finished reading Bolla by Pajtim Statovci and it was set in Kosovo.

Anything by Australian Christos Tslolkas his first novel Loaded is definitely gay themed most of the others have gay characters/themes running through them I hihgly recommend The Slap which O know has been made in to a television series in the US. Not a gay book but ther is a gay character wo has an important role but it's just a fantastic read. Also recommenr Holding the Man which has also been mentioned.

Green fruit by Enrique Serna or the strongest passion by Luis Zapata are set in Mexico City and are both brilliant

Alex wrote: "Hello everyone,

can you recommend gay reads (fiction and non-fiction) that take place in Europe? I would love to read stories set in eg. Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain ..."

Hi Alex! If you read Spanish books, my novels are set in Spain:

Dónuts, barbas y mancuernas

Pueblo chico, infierno grande

Hope you like them! :-)

If England still counts as Europe, then I have a great recommendation. I just finished a book called The Man on the Bridge by Stephen Benatar. Set in 1950s London, it is about a young bisexual man's moral awakening (but is very fun as well as dealing with serious issues). He has an affair with an older wealthy male painter, and the aftermath of the relationship leads him to reevaluate his actions and attitudes. What is best about the book, however, is Benatar's style: his sense of irony is exquisite, and he does dialogue so accurately. The humour and sensitivity is fabulously strong throughout. Benatar has also never really "made it" in mainstream publishing (except for his - also highly reccomended - novel "Wish Her Safe at Home"), so I wanted to give him a shout out because this novel was definitely a 5 star read. If anyone does pick it up, please get in touch after, as I'd love someone to chat to about it :)

Reuben wrote: "If England still counts as Europe, then I have a great recommendation. I just finished a book called The Man on the Bridge by Stephen Benatar. Set in 1950s London, it is about a young bisexual man'..."

Hey, Brexit doesn't mean the British Isles are suddenly their own new continent ;)
Thanks for the suggestion - does sound right down my alley. I did read the e-book excerpt (first 3 chapters, I think, and yes, very dialogue-heavy, which I like) and I might continue, though the protagonist seems quite hard to warm up to.

Glad you're giving it a go, Alex :) the protagonist is certainly a self-seeking sort, but I really liked his wittiness and charisma. He also has quite a journey throughout the novel... let me know if you read the rest of it!

Reuben wrote: "Glad you're giving it a go, Alex :) the protagonist is certainly a self-seeking sort, but I really liked his wittiness and charisma. He also has quite a journey throughout the novel... let me know ..."

Ooof, after the lighthearted start I did not expect what was coming ... this turned out to be way heavier than anticipated.
If you want to chat feel free to get in touch - apparently it's not possible for me to send you a PM.

Hi Alex,

So you got to the twist! Yeah, it really gave me quite a gut-punch too. How far through are you now? I've sent through a friend request too.

Reuben wrote: "Hi Alex,

So you got to the twist! Yeah, it really gave me quite a gut-punch too. How far through are you now? I've sent through a friend request too."

Ha! 'Gut-punched' is exactly how I felt. Followed by a moment of obstinate denial. I finished the book yesterday. I read it pretty much in one go.

Alex wrote: "Hello everyone,

can you recommend gay reads (fiction and non-fiction) that take place in Europe? I would love to read stories set in eg. Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain ..."

Alex wrote: "Hello everyone,

can you recommend gay reads (fiction and non-fiction) that take place in Europe? I would love to read stories set in eg. Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain ..."

Hi Alex.
Here's a recommendation: Black Dust. It's a mystery story set in London and I've just released it. The main character is called Axel :) I hope you like it!
Best regards.

Someone else mentioned it already but Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski was a really great book with a gay male protagonist set in Poland. It is one of my favourite LGBTQ books.

Damian wrote: "Someone else mentioned it already but Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski was a really great book with a gay male protagonist set in Poland. It is one of my favourite LGBTQ books."

omg thank you for this recommendation. this one sounds so interesting I have to read it ASAP

James wrote: "R. wrote: "Alex wrote: "Hello everyone,

can you recommend gay reads (fiction and non-fiction) that take place in Europe? I would love to read stories set in eg. Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, ..."

Thanks for putting Edmund White back on my map. I read 'A Boy's Own Story' several years back and found it quite memorable. I wasn't aware that he lived in Paris for so long. As I can't deal with grief-related storylines right now I'm going to give his 'The Married Man' a try - also set in Paris.

I'm just reading The King is Dead by Benjamin Dean, it's based in the UK and I'm enjoying it for the moment. It's about the first black gay heir to the throne.

Most anything by Alan Hollinghurst , but especially The Swimming-Pool Library.

I'll add Cleanness by Garth Greenwell. Gay cismale American teaching in Bulgaria - a lot about alienation and connection between people from different cultures, and the effects of place on identity and love.

John wrote: "Most anything by Alan Hollinghurst , but especially The Swimming-Pool Library."

Ha, I've read everything by him except Sparsholt Affair and Stranger's Child. That said - I might have a closer look at the former ...

I'll second Marty's recommendation for Cleanness by Garth Greenwell - very well written.

I've just finished another book that would fit well on this thread - Of Men and Angels by Michael Arditti. It's a set of five linked novellas set in various times and locales through history, from Hebrew exiles in Babylon to a film set in the 1980s. What links them all is the biblical story of Sodom - long wrongly interpreted as a homophobic text - and various forms of art and creation. I absolutely loved it: all 5 parts were equally engrossing. If anybody fancies giving it a go, let me know!

Reuben wrote: "I'll second Marty's recommendation for Cleanness by Garth Greenwell - very well written.

I've just finished another book that would fit well on this thread - Of Men and Angels by Michael Arditti...."


This sounds really interesting! I am going to look in to reading this after new years!
Thanks.

Great - keep me updated if you do, Martin!

and don't forget Patrick Gale. My favorite is A Place Called Winter, set in the UK and Canada,

John--I agree with you about A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. I read it two or three years ago; it's an excellent book. You might want to try Take Nothing with You, also by Patrick Gale. The subject is completely different from A Place Called Winter, but both books contain excellent, erudite writing.

Hey there, former bookseller here.

Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas, a favorite memoir.

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada.

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park.

Brickmakers by Selva Almada.

Hugs and Cuddles by João Gilberto Noll.

Mundo Cruel: Stories by Luis Negrón.

My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci.

A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima.

God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories by Arinze Ifeakandu.

On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl has a plot thread where a character journeys to Mexico.

Memorial by Bryan Washington, one of the two protagonists goes back to Japan.

My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel.

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz, a fair portion is set in Puerto Rico.

Hope you find something that resonates.

this one is set in an alternative version of Berlin, Germany :)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Like This Afternoon Forever —- set in Colombia

Swimming in the Dark —- set in Poland

"At Swim, Two Boys" by Jamie o'Niell
"The Heart's Invisible Furies" by John Boyne

Both are set in Ireland (or predominantly in Ireland in Boyne's book).

Everyone should read Invisible Furies. it's a great book.

Fantastic thread .. and some excellent recommendations.

India

The Boyfriend by R. Raj Rao

India

Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar

Saraswati Park by Anjali Joseph

The City of Devi by Manil Suri

My story collection The View from Stalin's Head is set in post-Cold War Prague.