Here are 100 books that A Single Man fans have personally recommended if you like
A Single Man.
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I have a passion for the themes and moods of this list because they explore so many parts of my emotions. They rile me, they work me up into a hot frenzy, they turn me on, they fascinate me, they bruise me, they heal me. I see myself in these books, and I feel that I understand other people. I’ve enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading these books published for free on blogs online, but now I want to write more and read more than I’ve done before. This list is a starting point, and I hope you enjoy them!
I love this book because line after line and paragraph after paragraph floor me.
"People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all—a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named—but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they and the world are not."
It lifts you with perfect prose and then hammers you with something so traumatic and blunt that you need to take a breath. At times, it's too good–like, annoyingly good. Its design, thought process, execution, implementation, weaving, cornering, boundary setting, battling, and emotions are just so well executed. I will never write as well as this, but I will try harder…
When David meets the sensual Giovanni in a bohemian bar, he is swept into a passionate love affair. But his girlfriend's return to Paris destroys everything. Unable to admit to the truth, David pretends the liaison never happened - while Giovanni's life descends into tragedy.
United by the theme of love, the writings in the Great Loves series span over two thousand years and vastly different worlds. Readers will be introduced to love's endlessly fascinating possibilities and extremities: romantic love, platonic love, erotic love, gay love, virginal love, adulterous love, parental love, filial love, nostalgic love, unrequited love, illicit love,…
I have a passion for the themes and moods of this list because they explore so many parts of my emotions. They rile me, they work me up into a hot frenzy, they turn me on, they fascinate me, they bruise me, they heal me. I see myself in these books, and I feel that I understand other people. I’ve enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading these books published for free on blogs online, but now I want to write more and read more than I’ve done before. This list is a starting point, and I hope you enjoy them!
I love this book because it is raw. For those who dismiss erotic writing, because they think there are only a finite number of ways to write about sex and sexuality, I recommend this book. The raw and transformative way it writes about the attraction, longing, and pain of sex is joyous and agonising to read.
I love it because I don’t actually like either of the main characters, and liking the characters can often rescue a book from otherwise poor writing. I loved this book despite disliking the main characters.
“I remember the movement of his hips pressing against the pinball machine. This one sentence had me in its grip until the end. Two young men find each other, always fearing that life itself might be the villain standing in their way. A stunning and heart-gripping tale.” —André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
The critically acclaimed, internationally beloved novel by Philippe Besson—“this year’s Call Me By Your Name” (Vulture) with raves in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal,NPR, Vanity Fair, Vogue, O, The Oprah…
I have a passion for the themes and moods of this list because they explore so many parts of my emotions. They rile me, they work me up into a hot frenzy, they turn me on, they fascinate me, they bruise me, they heal me. I see myself in these books, and I feel that I understand other people. I’ve enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading these books published for free on blogs online, but now I want to write more and read more than I’ve done before. This list is a starting point, and I hope you enjoy them!
LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2021 A Guardian Book of the Year
'The highest talent at work' Sebastian Barry
'Beautiful ... A masterpiece' Attitude
Poland, 1980. Shy, anxious Ludwik has been sent along with the rest of his university class to an agricultural camp. Here he meets Janusz - and together they spend a dreamlike summer falling in love.
But with summer over, the two are sent back to Warsaw. Confronted by the scrutiny, intolerance and corruption of life under the Party, Ludwik and Janusz must decide how they will survive; and in their different choices, find themselves torn apart.…
I have a passion for the themes and moods of this list because they explore so many parts of my emotions. They rile me, they work me up into a hot frenzy, they turn me on, they fascinate me, they bruise me, they heal me. I see myself in these books, and I feel that I understand other people. I’ve enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading these books published for free on blogs online, but now I want to write more and read more than I’ve done before. This list is a starting point, and I hope you enjoy them!
I love this book because it balances the desire to get up close and personal while watching two men find their way to an emotionally strong relationship so well.
It’s kinky, sexy, and British. The dialogue is great, and the descriptions are great. And in places, it is pure smut.
I am a queer author of over thirty novels, most recently The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, and my upcoming novel, Wolfsong. Though I’ve written across many genres, science fiction, and fantasy are where I feel most at home, and my writing reflects that. I love exploring worlds where good people fight for what’s right even when they make mistakes along the way. Humanity is always at the forefront of what I do, and though we can be disappointing, there is nothing quite like us in all the universe—as far as we know.
I was able to be on a couple of panels with Mr. Greer where he discussed this novel and its sequel, Less is Lost. The first book, Less, is a queer novel that won the Pulitzer Prize, a well-deserved accolade for this story about second chances in life—or third or fourth chances, depending upon the situation.
It’s remarkable to see a novel like this win such a major literary prize. Mr. Greer deserves it for his dynamic work.
I’ve been deeply struck by the rise in violence occurring in Mexico because I have seen it evolve before my eyes while living in and out of the Mexican countryside, places where the wealth and power of drug cartels and their collusion with the state and its institutions, can be seen first-hand. I have come to realize that literature has been the most accurate means of capturing this phenomenon, which has become the zeitgeist of the country, an issue that has bicultural and cross-border connotations because the main consumer is the United States of America, while the ravages of violence are felt in Mexico daily
This brave thriller set in Mexico follows a reporter covering the grand schemes of collusion between government officials, government institutions, police and military forces, as well as United States agencies and foreign militias involved in the Mexican drug trade and the various levels of riches it has to offer.
It paints a realistic journalistic picture of the conflict and guides us with the pace of a crime novel into the very real dangers faced by journalists throughout a Mexican social landscape of violence.
'A wild ride' Ian Rankin 'Tough and uncompromising: you'll be glad you read it' Lee Child 'Hilarious, gripping, poetic. I loved it' Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain 'Gripping from beginning to end' Independent 'Intoxicating and chilling' Observer 'Pacy and exciting' Daily Telegraph 'Vivid and lyrical' Guardian 'MacGabhann paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of Mexico, in all its seething, sweltering madness and beauty' Irish Independent
Nobody asked us to look. Every day, every since, I still wish we hadn't. Jaded reporter Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos, are sick of sifting the dregs of…
It’s just my favorite trope, that’s all: the character who isn’t what he seems. I love the deception, I love the complications, I love the clues dropped along the way, I love the big reveal. I love the sensation I get when I, the reader, know just a little bit more than the characters do but still feel surprised and wonder when the whole truth is unveiled. When I sit down to write, I know I want to create that exact sensation in my readers.
Prince Damen of Akielos vows never to reveal his true identity to his captor, Laurent, no matter how he humiliates and degrades him. This is a dark, fascinating, smutty fantasy with serious worldbuilding and loads of intrigue, in which no one is what he seems.
It is the purest example of an enemies-to-lovers romance I know, and such a slow burn that there’s not even a hint of a chance of a love story until the second book. I had no idea where this series was taking me when I began it, but I couldn’t put it down. Great fun.
From global phenomenon C. S. Pacat comes the first novel in her critically acclaimed Captive Prince romance trilogy—includes an exclusive bonus story!
Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and…
I’m a keen follower of Scottish crime fiction, a genre that has really come to the fore in recent years, spawning dedicated book festivals and many TV and film adaptations. The great thing about many of these books is that they don’t always follow the usual narrative of cops and baddies but have varied and diverse storylines, often concentrating on characters in unusual or extreme situations and not involving the police–something I attempted in my own book. My picks on this list hopefully illustrate just how diverse Scottish crime writing can be and encourage more readers to seek it out.
This book, by Louise Welsh, has an air of darkness and gloom that permeates the whole book from the very first page–something I find hugely compelling.
Although set in modern-day Glasgow, this story could be a gothic horror from the nineteenth century. Rilke, a thin, dark figure whose work as an auctioneer tasked with clearing the contents of the house of someone who has recently died, leads him to the discovery of a set of sadomasochistic torture photographs of a young woman that might, in fact, be actual snuff photos. His determination to discover what happened to the woman leads him into the city's dark, seedy underbelly that few of its inhabitants would be aware of.
I found this book to be incredibly unsettling, though the writing is beautifully constructed in a lyrical literary style, which drew me deeper and deeper into a world I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted…
'Unputdownable' Sunday Times 'I was hooked from page one' Guardian
When Rilke, a dissolute auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of violent and highly disturbing photographs, he feels compelled to discover more about the deceased owner who coveted them. Soon he finds himself sucked into an underworld of crime, depravity and secret desire, fighting for his life.
Sylvia Barry is our invention, a solitary witch who writes queer romance from her lighthouse keep. As a pair of co-authors, one of us grew up with the dry humor of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, and the other grew up with fanfiction and romance tropes. We came together to write quirky, queer romances that are playful and ironic but also deal with deeper themes of self-discovery, trauma healing, and community. Rivals-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine are our favorite tropes to write, especially in dual (or more!) POV, because the Yearning is always juicy, and we play off each other’s energy as we write our opposing characters.
It’s Oscar Wilde and the cast of Monty Python having an orgy on the set of Bridgerton–what’s not to love?
Alexis Hall is an auto-buy author for us, and Something Fabulous is one of our favorites. It’s a hysterical romp–sexy and romantic but also deeply irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny. Chock full of shenanigans, relatable and diverse characters, and a fresh reimagining of Regency romance.
We love a grumpy duke. We love a chaotic, wide-eyed ward. We LOVE Sir Horley Comewithers and his questionable cabin in the woods. There’s a scene with a bee that has caused irreparable damage to our lungs and ribs.
From the acclaimed author of Boyfriend Material comes a delightfully witty romance featuring a reserved duke who’s betrothed to one twin and hopelessly enamoured of the other.
Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern, has twin problems: literally.
It was always his father’s hope that Valentine would marry Miss Arabella Tarleton. But, unfortunately, too many novels at an impressionable age have caused her to grow up…romantic. So romantic that a marriage of convenience will not do and after Valentine’s proposal she flees into the night determined never to set eyes on him again.
Arabella’s twin brother, Mr. Bonaventure “Bonny” Tarleton, has…
Growing up, I never saw myself fully represented in fiction. I only glimpsed pieces of my younger self reflected in novels about queer or queer-coded characters, and so I made it my life’s mission to give teenage me exactly what he wanted. As a YA author whose queer male readers are not always young adults, the message I get the most is, “I wish I had this as a teen.” While I often feel this way as well, I still know that reading the five books I recommended (as well as my own) at any age is life-affirming for queer men like myself.
Sass’s first novel, Surrender Your Sons, is a
favorite of mine, so it’s no surprise that this book,
a queer horror novel reminiscent of Scream, is a riot and an absolute page-turner.
It contains all the best elements of slasher movies and
teen comedies alike, and unabashedly gay characters with wit and sharp edges kept
me invested all the way until the story’s climactic ending.
Scream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.
Dearie and Cole are inseparable, unlikeable, and (in bad luck for them) totally unbelievable.
From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at Stone Grove High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, dangerously clever queen bees, and they’re always ready to call out their fellow students. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving senior year,…
Interested in
gay men,
a middle age man,
and
loss?
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gay men,
a middle age man,
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