Books Every Young/Newly Realized Gay Man Should Read?

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Vanna Speaks!

Dancer From the Dance by Andrew Holleran

Armistead Maupin's "The Tales of the City" series. Heaps of fun and a great way to learn about some of the gay history of the time.

Barbra Streisand’s memoir

Why R6?

The section of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament about the relationship between David and Jonathan.

Scruples by Judith Krantz

How to sass class

Three by Paul Monette

Borrowed Time / Love Alone / Becoming a Man

I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin

How to deal with depression and loneliness

Another vote for Tales of the City. I like Dancer from the Dance more, but it’s not the most optimistic read.

120 Days of Sodom by the Marquise de Sade.

Best Little Boy in the World -Andrew Tobias

Books on human life stages and how to plan for them.

The only investment you'll ever need by Andrew Tobias

Faggots by Larry Kramer

Depending on the age of the person, there's a YA book called Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe. It's ultimately very very affirming, which is what newly realized gay men need. After the long agony of making peace with his sexual orientation and getting over his internalized feeling of shame about it, the protagonist, kisses his best friend who is now (he finally realizes) his boyfriend, and his thought is, "How could I have ever been ashamed of loving Dante Quintero?"

My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

^Quintana" before someone else corrects me!

"Gay Roots: Twenty Years of Gay Sunshine" I think it came in two volumes by Winston Leyland.

The classic: The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren.

The Ethical Slut

The Queen's English

Bambi

Valley of the Dolls

Sondheim and Co. by Craig Zadan

The Annotated DL: 35 Years of Shame, Sadness and (Lack of) Sex by Anon

City of Night by John Rechy....though it's a tad depressing...maybe wait a few years after coming out, cuz it might scare you back into the closet.

Madonna's Sex book will teach you what NOT to do to be sexy.

This book changed my life.

The Bible. Even FAGS deserve a chance to be delivered from their sins….one time.

The Bible has lots of steamy gay sex.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The End of History by Francis Fukuyama

The Bell Curve by Charles Murray and Richard Hernstein

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Libertarian trash! Don't bother. They don't have anything to say.

R34 wins for worst book selection ever.

Depending upon the age of the gay man when coming out - or newly realized - some men should read 'The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World', by by Alan Downs.

(I'm aware that this dates me because your lives were so easy and being gay was never any big deal and your experiences are so different than the old days. Some might still find the book interesting.)