Boy meets Boy by David Levithan
Newry Library certainly has a better variety of gay interest books nowadays. It is not often that I take a book to bed with me and don’t get the light turned out until the last page is read but this book produced one of those occasions.
It is a really heartwarming tale of finding love in a fleeting moment, wooing that lover to be and all the obstacles that can be put in your way by yourself – ex boyfriends and how you treat them, your own circle of friends et al.
A really true to life heartwarming book of the Beautiful thing genre, I strongly recommend it!

“This book floored me. It is extraordinary.”  Terry Prone

Diary Of A Man by Dermod Moore Aka Bootboy is a wonderful, thought-provoking and ultimately inspiring book.

It is a book about men  about their sexual and emotional lives, their most intimate experiences and their deepest feelings. These are explored in a way that gives the readers  men and women  a sense of how they might deal with similar experiences and feelings in their own lives.

Diary Of A Man offers us a powerful, open, uninhibited and finely written account of one person’s journey through the myriad attractions and pitfalls of being a free agent  and a highly sexed one  in contemporary society. (more…)

A Gay tale from Crossmaglen. Author Jarlath Gregory grew up in Crossmaglen so there is plenty of local flavour. Set at the time of the ceasefires it’s as much about the remnants of the conflict as it is about coping with being Gay in a small town. Oisin Grant isn’t your average South Armagh Teen (or is he?) sending a Valantines card to a guy he fancies with “Disgusting Bits” and all! Jude the target of his desires takes a while to get to grips with the attention and then theres Mike who gets to grips with Jude and Neil who gets to grips with Oisin.There must be something in the water in Cross!

Quite an enjoyable read that flits from inside Oisins head to inside Judes head. Does it have a happy ending – You’ll have to read it to find out!

This is an absolutely wonderful book from the first page to the last! It tells the incredible love story between 39 year old Harlan, a College Track Coach, and 22 year old Billy Sive, a brilliant track runner.

This story of gay love is so intense and the feelings between the two men are so strong, that itís hard to believe this was not written by a man, but a woman. Patricia Nell Warren has a gift for capturing the core of how two gay men can feel about each other.

She brings out the detail of the story and surroundings so well you can easily picture it, which helps in bringing you deep within the story and feeling an undying love for the characters.

If you are not in tears near the end of this book, you must get your emotions checked as the feelings that are brought up in this book are overpowering in many ways.

If you never read any other gay fiction, you must at least read this book.

The sequels, Harlanís Race and Billyís Boy are not to be missed.

Our sympathies to anyone in Kilkeel who may feel a little disturbed by the underlying currents of Andrew O’Hares offering but “what a book”

Set in the hitherto sleepy village of Kilkeel, I for one can never quite look at the town in the same light again. From start to finish this book will require your full attention and in fact you will not want to put it down until it’s finished.

An extremely readable book it is about two gay lads Harry and Shaun brought together by chance (Via Daisy Hill Hospital – I jest not!) with the relatively predictable slant of love across the religious divide in sectarian Ulster. Its a whirlwind book of romance, love, hate and a lot of erotic content to keep you interested so keep it away from the mammy.

Scrogg Road will never be the same again!

Jarlath Gregory’s second book is based in Dublin and makes a pleasant read though I think any Gaelic Football connections are very very nominal. In a way I suppose I was expecting that the whole booked would be based in a GAA world, from the game to the passion to the sexy players and even the gaa/gay clash of cultures but the book is more a slow simmering story of main character Anto’s infatuation with ‘Straight Boy’ Khalid and the will they/won’t they get it together before the last page of the book. Along the way there’s a bit of cruising with a brickie, some very strange text messages and a trip to London. If you want to find out what happens you better get the book!

Apart from all that the book also contains the essential Anto’s guide to hair for beginners which might give you all a few tips for what way to wear whats on your head!

E Lynn Harris tells the story of Ray Tyler’s life in a captivating and explicit manner that catches your attention.
Raymond Tyler Jr. has a perfect life, he has a girlfriend, Sela, his highschool sweetheart, he is a brother in a fraternity, and he has an extremely loving family.
Ray’s life was turned upside down one night at a party when he saw Kelvin. Ray learned much about his sexuality through Kelvin and he learned about the true meaning of an invisible life.
This book tells a story of an average african-american man who discovers and learns to accept himself. He finds that not everyone is willing to accept who he is, including his father. The only person who does accept and understand him is Kyle, his best friend. Ray finds that even the people he has put the most trust into are leading invisible lives as well.

A high-flying executive, apparently a happily married man, goes to extremes of duplicity to hide his homosexuality. This novel explores the overlapping worlds of the Celtic Tiger, the upwardly-mobile career man and the subterranean world of homosexual night-clubs.

Synopsis from Amazon.co.uk

An instant classic upon its original publication, A Boy’s Own Story is the first of Edmund White’s highly acclaimed trilogy of autobiographical novels that brilliantly evoke a young man’s coming of age and document American gay life through the last forty years.The nameless narrator in this deeply affecting work reminisces about growing up in the 1950s with emotionally aloof, divorced parents, an unrelenting sister, and the schoolmates who taunt him. He finds consolation in literature and his fantastic imagination. Eager to cultivate intimate, enduring friendships, he becomes aware of his yearning to be loved by men, and struggles with the guilt and shame of accepting who he is. Written with lyrical delicacy and extraordinary power, A Boy’s Own Story is a triumph.

Here’s a fun book that you can sink your teeth into. TALES OF THE CITY by Armistead Maupin is a story about a group of characters living in San Francisco during the late 1970′s. Vietnam has just ended, disco is king (or queen?) and no one has yet heard of Aids.

The book starts with the introduction of Mary Ann Singleton. She’s just moved to The City from Cleveland, Ohio, to the dismay of her parents. We see the world of San Francisco through her eyes. She first moves in with a good friend of hers. Actually, she hadn’t seen Connie since high school. But she now lives in The City and so Mary Ann looks her up, hoping to find a place to live. They become roommates, but after a few days of Connie, Mary Ann has had enough. She eventually moves out and ends up living in an apartment complex at 28 Barbary Lane.

The landlady is an older woman named Mrs. Madrigal, and she makes sure every one of her tenants feels right at home. Mary Ann’s first day there, she finds a note and a gift taped to her door, a rolled up joint. It took some getting used to but Mary Ann soon feels right at home in her new surroundings. Life in the city was nothing like living in Cleveland!

TALES OF THE CITY covers the story of Mary Ann and her adventures in the City, but also introduces a ton of fun and outrageous characters, including Mouse (Michael) who becomes good friends with Mary Ann. He has his own set of problems, including boy troubles. Mary Ann has to introduce him to her parents on the phone as “Michael is a homosexual” when Mom says, “…a strange man answered your phone.” Beauchamp and Dede are a supposedly happy and successful couple, but upon closer look one sees a different story. Beauchamp works with Mary Ann at her new job in The City, and his father is the big boss. And Dede has her own problems, when she finds out her beloved Beauchamp may be fooling around! And Mrs. Madrigal gets involved with everyone’s affairs, it seems, and is one of the central characters on Barbary Lane. There are too many characters to list here, but all are unique and interesting in their own ways.

Reading TALES OF THE CITY is like jumping through a time warp and reliving an era some people were too young to fully enjoy. TALES OF THE CITY brings all that to life, and much more. There are 6 books in the series.