The Robbie Ross Liberation Library currently has about 70 books, 10 videos and a selection of magazines and periodicals. We are currently working on securing funding for accessible materials such as DVDs and Audio CDs. We are steadily working towards creating a database of every item that we have at the moment, but this is taking some time. Please bear with us and check back soon. If you would like to donate any books, DVDs or magazines to the library, please contact ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil#ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil.
Library Books
Title | Author | Category | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | John Berendt | Gay Nonfiction/ crime novel | A nonfiction novel about the murder of a hustler by a respected art dealer. |
++++VHS
Title | Main actors | Category | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Torch Song Trilogy | Harvey Fierstein, Matthew Broderick | Gay Romantic/Drama | Flamboyant artiste Arnold searches for love. |
Maurice | Hugh Grant, James Wilby | Gay Romantic/Classic | Film adaption of EM Forster's gay classic novel. |
My Own Private Idaho | River Pheonix, Keanu Reaves | Gay Drama | Following the lives of two gay hustlers as they struggle to come to terms with thier sexuality. |
Beautiful Thing | Erm… | Gay Comedy/Coming out | Following the lives of two gay teenagers on a housing estate in London. Really good film |
In and Out | Kevin Kline | Gay Comedy | A straight englis teacher gets outed as gay in a small town in Indiana. Hilarity ensues |
Individual members
Several individual members of Bradford MSGI have kindly agreed to offer books from their own personal collections for borrowing. Bradford MSGI accepts no responsibility for the contents or comments contained within the catalogues listed below, including the absurdly long descriptions Jess has put in theirs. The owners are not obliged to lend you any of their books, particularly if they do not know you or suspect you may not return them in good condition. But there's no harm in asking.
Jess's Books
Not formally part of the Robbie Ross Library, but you can borrrow them if you ask Jess nicely, you can contact them on ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|lacitilop#ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|lacitilop
Title | Author | Category | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Eighty-Sixed | David B Feinburg | Gay Male Fiction | This is the story of two key years in the life of B J Rosenthal - 1980 and 1986, dealing with coming out, and AIDS in the 80's. A classic. |
The Folding Star | Alan Hollinghurst | Gay Male Fiction | Dealing with the obssession of a 17-year-old Belgian youth, who, just prior to disappearing, is graphically ravished by his 32-year-old English tutor. |
The Line of Beauty | Alan Hollinghurst | Gay Male Fiction | Nick Guest, is introduced to the fast gay culture of Maggies Farm. First you see him coming to terms with his sexuality, living a party lifestyle, and then see the effects of AIDS on his life. A must read |
The Swimming-Pool Library | Alan Hollinghurst | Gay Male Fiction | A realistic glimpse of the gay lifestyle in pre-AIDS London. |
Maurice | E.M. Forster | Gay Male Fiction | Written in 1913-1914, a story of two men who fall in love. It was published in 1971, after the death of the author. Beautiful, influential book, years ahead of its time. |
A Boy's Own Story | Edmund White | Gay Male Fiction | The original coming out story. Tender and realistic. |
The Man Who was a Woman and Other Queer Tales from Hindu Lore | Dr. Devdutt Pattaniak | Queer Religion | Tales of sexual and gender transformation from Hindu mythology, with commentary. |
Orlando | Virginia Woolf | Lesbian/Trans Fiction | Virginia Woolf's gender-bending lesbian love letter to her lover Vita Sackville-West, in the form of fiction. Great novel. |
The Well of Loneliness | Radclyffe Hall | Lesbian Fiction | The archetypal lesbian-genderfucking tale. It was banned for 'obscenity' when it was first published. A classic. |
Tales from the Dyke Side | Jorjet Harper | Lesbian Fiction | Chicago writer Jorjet Harper uses humour and wry commentary in this exploration of lesbian cultural panorama. Amazing articles, such as 'Dykosaurus', where Harper argues the Loch Ness monster is actually a lesbian mum. |
The Orton Diaries, the diaries of the gay playwright Joe Orton | edited by John Lahr | Memoirs | The diaries of the fabulously witty gay playwright, in the years before his jelous boyfriend killed him and then himself. Incredibly funny. |
The Portrait of a Marriage | Nigel Nicholson | Memoirs | The story of the marriage between Vita Sackville-West (Virginia Woolfs lover) and Harold Nicholson, as they both have affairs with members of the same sex. |
Journals 1889-1949 | Andre Gide | Memoirs | Fascinating journals of the French author and Nobel Prize winner, Andre Gide. Andre Gide met Oscar Wilde in Paris and then embarked on a trip to Tangiers where he explored his homosexuality. |
Same Sex Unions in Premodern Europe | John Boswell | History | The history of same sex unions, many of which have been ignored by conventional historians. Huge implications for the Christian Church. |
Mother Clap's Molly House, the Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830 | Rictor Norton | History | The history of 'Molly-house' culture, the pre-curser to Londons gay scene. Incredibly interesting as this rich history is usually ignored. |
Out of the Past - Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to present | Neil Miller | History | Encompasses the history of homosexuality from 1896 (when the concept of 'homosexuality' first entered the English language) till about 1995, when it was published. Easy to read and informative. |
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit | Jeanette Winterson | Lesbian Fiction | A beautiful novel about a young girl growing up in an obscure conservative Christian sect who discovers she is a lesbian. |
The Silent Sin | Anja Sicking | Gay Male Fiction | A dutch novel. Anna is forced by circumstance to become a maid for the mysterious music publisher, De Malapert, who she falls in love with. He however, is unaware of Anna's attentions, and has a few secrets of his own. Striking novel, and a attack on homophobic behavior. |
Rapture | Carol Ann Duffy | Poetry | Carol Ann Duffy's beautiful love poetry for her girlfriend. |
The Beautiful Room is Empty | Edmund White | Gay Male Fiction | The late adolescence and early adulthood of the unnamed narrator of 'A Boy's Own Story', his sexual and political awakening. |
Regeneration | Pat Barker | Gay Male Fiction/ Historical Fiction | A vivid novel set in the WW1, about a real-life encounter that occured in the psychiatric hospital Craiglockhart in 1917 by Dr Rivers and the gay anti-war poet Siegfried Sassoon. |
Fire From Heaven | Mary Renault | Bi Male Fiction/ Historical Fiction | A brilliant book which tells the story of the boy who would grow up to become Alexander the Great, which chronicles the love between Alexander and his partner Hephaistion |
The Passion of New Eve | Angela Carter | Trans Fiction | New York has become the City of Dreadful Night where a dissolute Leilah performs a dance of chaos for Evelyn. But this young Englishman's fate lies in the arid desert, where a many-breasted fertility goddess will wield her scalpel to transform him into new Eve. BEST BOOK EVER |
The Complete Works of Plato | Plato, edited by John Cooper | Philosophy | The complete works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It includes the Symposium, where Socrates and his mates discuss the nature of love and why love between two men is superior to all other loves. |
The History of Sexuality 1 : The Will to Knowledge | Michel Foucault | Philosophy/Queer | Why has there been such an explosion of discussion about sex in the West since the seventeenth century? This discourse gathered momentum in the Victorian age, which Foucault argues, was not repressive in the way we commonly imagine. This controversial account, by one of the greatest intellectuals of the twentieth century, explores the evolving social, economic and political forces that have shaped our attitudes to sex, how we are in the process of making a science of sex which is devoted to the analysis of desire rather than the increase of pleasure. |
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath | Feminism/Lesbian | Tells the semi-autobiographical tale of Esther Greenwood, who has come to New York to study. She quickly becomes disenfranchised from life, the expectations put upon her due to gender roles and embarks on a mission to commit suicide. Lesbian sub-plot |
The Way Forward? Christian Voices on Homosexuality and the Church | Various… | Religion and LGB | Various people in the church, including Jeffrey John and Rowan Williams comment on Homosexuality and the Church, as a response to The St Andrews Day Statement. Range of different responses. |
Sarah's books.
I live in Manchester, so I'm going to have to trust you pretty well to lend you one of my books. I do want them back! I'm also pretty uptight about the condition of my books as well, so if you're a corner-folder, spine-breaker or live in a mine, you probably won't be allowed to borrow my books again. :) Can be contacted at ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil#ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil.
Title | Author | Category | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times | Tom Horner | Gay Religion | An absolute classic work in the field. And very accessible, too. |
A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexuality | Stephen Bates | Gay Religion | |
Pastor, I am Gay | Howard H. Bess | Gay Religion | A book written by an American Baptist Minister, who developed a special ministry toward homosexuals. |
The Gay Metropolis 1940-1996 | Charles Kaiser | History | A history of the gay underground in New York from Word War II onwards. |
Same Sex Unions in Premodern Europe | John Boswell | History | Gooooood book. Stumped more than a few Christians with stuff I learned from this one. |
Love, Sex and Tragedy: Why Classics Matter | Simon Goldhill | Classics | Technically a book about the important of classical civilisation to modern culture, but a considerable amount of the book is given over to discussion of Greek gay sex. |
Self-Made Man | Norah Vincent | Society | Norah Vincent is a lesbian Republican who spent a year passing as a man. Interestingly, her normally butch mannerisms were considered effeminate when people thought she was male. A fascinating expose of the crisis in masculine identity in America. |
I had to Say Something | Mike Jones | Biography | Ted Haggard, a national evengelical leader in America was brought down when Mike Jones revealed Ted had been paying him for sex monthly for three years. A damn good read. :) |
Graham Norton: Laid Bare | Alison Bowyer | Biography | |
So Me | Graham Norton | Autobiography | |
Moab is My Washpot | Stephen Fry | Biography | READ THIS BOOK. |
My Story | Dale Winton | Biography | |
Against the Law | Peter Wildebloode | Biography | Pete Wildebloode's arrest and subsequent conviction of sodomy in the 1950s was largely what prompted the Wolfenden Report and led to the legalisation of homosexuality in this country. His biography is a fascinating glimpse of a time where people seriously believed one had to set a moral example to the "lower classes". |
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars | Suetonius | Biography | Although a serious biography of the first twelve Roman empererors, only one of whom, Claudius, was heterosexual, Suetonius was a serious gossip whore and loves to add in dirt like Julius Caesar prostituting himself to the King of Bithynia. |
Born on a Blue Day | Daniel Tammet | Biography | One of the highest functioning autistic savants in the world, Daniel Tammet holds the european record for the longest recitation of Pi, at 22,514 places. And he's British! And gay! |
Tipping the Velvet | Sarah Waters | Lesbian Fiction | Good book. |
The Rules of Attraction | Bret Easton Ellis | Bisexual Fiction | |
Latter Days | Adapted from the film by T. Ferris | Gay Fiction | Adapted from the best film in the entire world. Contains several scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. |
Maurice | E.M. Forster | Gay Fiction | I am not terribly surprised, to be honest, that Forster waited until after his death to publish this. It's touching, romantic, and utterly unsuitable for his era. Homosexuals should meet sticky ends, not have a happily ever after. :P |
The Line of Beauty | Alan Hollinghurst | Gay Fiction | |
The Regeneration trilogy | Pat Barker | Historical Fiction | Is mostly about soldiers in WWI, but as my history teacher put it when advising me to avoid the series, "it does rather portray half the British army as buggering the other half". Also noteworthy for one of the only appearences of Robbie Ross in literature. |
Boy Meets Boy | David Levithan | Gay Fiction | Best. Gay. Novel. EVER. |
The Hippopotamus | Stephen Fry | Fiction | It's not technically gay fiction, but it certainly reads that way. And it's Stephen Fry, come on. |
The Liar | Stephen Fry | Gay Fiction | |
The first 7 books of the Vampire Chronicles | Anne Rice | Homoerotic fiction | Whatever people say, these are some of the gayest books I have ever read. |
I also have a large bookcase of books at home I haven't read yet, but will have sent up if anyone really, really wants to borrow them. Not having read them, I cannot assert whether they are worth reading or not.
Title | Author | Category | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Marquis De Sade | Donald Thomas | Biography | |
The Ladies of Llangollen | Elizabeth Mavor | Biography | |
Gay New York | George Chauncey | History | Covers 1890 to 1940. |
A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation | Chandler Burr | Science | |
Sakhiyani: Lesbian Desire in Ancient and Modern India | Giti Thadani | Sociology | |
Oscar Wilde | Richard Ellman | Biography | |
Wilde's Devoted Friend: A Life of Robert Ross 1869 - 1918 | Maureen Borland | Biography | |
Mrs Oscar Wilde | Anne Clark Amor | Biography | Possibly I'm a bit obsessed with the Wildean clan… |