Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Book Award (ALA)
Literature
1989 The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst
Out on the prowl for sexual encounters, Will Beckwith quite unexpectedly finds himself saving the life of elderly Lord Charles Nantwich, who then employs Will to write his biography. As Will embarks on the task, he finds unexpected and fascinating parallels between the life of the old lord and his own. Alan Hollinghurst's first novel was popular in both England and America, praised for its frank treatment of homosexuality and its lyrically erotic writing.
1992 Halfway Home by Paul Monette
Tom and Brian Shaheen, brothers, grew up in a cold, unloving family, with Brian as the homophobic jock, and Tom as the unfavored black sheep. As adults, however, Brian comes to need Tom as a respite from his bitter wife and his son, as his life unravels. Tom, an artist who has AIDS, takes Brian's sudden need as an opportunity to experience the family love he has been missing--aside from the community his gay friends offer--and to finally set things right in his life.
1995 Am I Blue?
Sixteen original short stories about growing up gay or lesbian or with gay or lesbian parents or friends. Covering a broad range of styles and tones, contributors include such prominent young adult authors as Marion Dane Bauer, Lois Lowry, Bruce Coville, M.E. Kerr, William Sleator, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jane Yolen. A portion of the royalties is being donated to the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to support their Respect All Youth program.
1996 Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley
Jim Grimsley has written a novel about the love affair between two adolescent boys in the American South--one of them the son of an abusive father. The affair with the boy next door reawakens buried memories of his painful childhood.
1997 Hood by Emma Donoghue
Pen and Cara meet in a convent school and become friends and then lovers, in a romance that is far from simple. Years later, when Cara dies in an accident, Pen looks back over their 14-year relationship, attempting to make sense of their lives together.
2001 Affinity by Sarah Waters
Recovering after an attempted suicide, Margaret Prior makes charitable visits to the women's ward at Millbank Prison, where she encounters the charismatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Caught up in Selina's spell, Margaret begins attending séances, and eventually allows Selina to persuade her to help her escape. A 2001 nominee for a Lambda Literary Award.
Nonfiction
1971 Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
In the early nineteenth century, in a puritanical New England town, two women fall in love. With no one to guide or support them, Patience and Sarah try to follow their hearts. Defying society and history, they buy a farm and discover they can live together, away from the world that had sought to limit them and their love . . .
1974 Sex Variant Women in Literature by Jeannette Howard Foster
Essential history of lesbian literature. Must reading for the serious collector and researcher.
1977 Familiar Faces, Hidden Lives by Howard Brown
Howard Brown, a former health-services official, writes frankly about what it is like to be gay in America.
1981 Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell
John Boswell's highly acclaimed study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West challenges received opinion and our own preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members, among whom were priests, bishops, and even canonized saints. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted (legal, literary, theological, artistic, and scientific) make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history.
1982 Surpassing the Love of Men by Lillian Faderman
A classic of its kind, this fascinating cultural history draws on everything from private correspondence to pornography to explore five hundred years of friendship and love between women. Surpassing the Love of Men throws a new light on shifting theories of female sexuality and the changing status of women over the centuries.
1984 Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities by John D'Emilio
Discusses the organization, growth, tactics, philosophies, and significance of the reform movement in terms of the freedom of sexual expression, cultural attitudes, and modern society.
1985 Another Mother Tongue by Judy Grahn
Examines the life styles of gay men and women and discusses the role of gay culture in mainstream society.
1986 Sex and Germs by Cindy Patton1987 The Spirit and the Flesh by Walter L. Williams
1988 And the Band Played on by Randy Shilts
This classic of investigative journalism uncovers the early history of the AIDS epidemic. The medical community, the government, and the community at large were, first, unaware, then confused, and then inadequately responsive to the crisis which was eventually acknowledged as a national emergency. AND THE BAND PLAYED ON won many awards, was made into a movie, and ultimately changed people's lives.
1990 In Search of Gay America by Neil Miller1991 Crime Against Nature by Minnie Bruce Pratt
1992 Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
Faderman tells the compelling story of lesbian life in the 20th century, from the early 1900s to today's diverse lifestyles. Using journals, unpublished manuscripts, songs, news accounts, novels, medical literature, and numerous interviews, she relates an often surprising narrative of lesbian life. 16 pages of photos. "Engaging . . . compelling . . . poignant and moving . . ".--The Los Angeles Times Book Review.
1993 Making History by Eric Marcus
An oral history of the battle for gay and lesbian rights in America presents the personal accounts of more than fifty diverse individuals who have challenged the status quo to gain recognition for homosexuals.
1994 Family Values by Phyllis Burke
A woman shares her struggle with the legal establishment to adopt the son of her lesbian partner, describing her entry into motherhood, her growing politicization, and her battle against the forces that would deny lesbians the right to become mothers. Reprint. Tour.
1995 Skin by Dorothy Allison
These essays by the author of BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA and TRASH cover many of the themes that appear in her fiction: child abuse, the pain of loss, love and betrayal, and self-hatred.
1996 Virtual Equality/the Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation by Urvashi Vaid
The director of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force argues that the way in which mainstream America has been accepting gays and lesbians is based on a faulty premise: that of traditional civil-rights principles which assert that homosexuals and heterosexuals are basically the same except for their sexual preference. Vaid contends that this premise does not go far enough, and does not confront stereotypes based on hate and ignorance; he says that rather than accepting gays and lesbians into already existing institutions such as government, family, religion, economy, society should change the institutions themselves.
2000 My Lesbian Husband by Barrie Jean Borich
This memoir records the daily experiences of a long-term relationship, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of a non-traditional lifestyle.
2001 Gaylaw by William N. Eskridge