I’m a big fan of “East-Meets-West” stories, and very happy to share more recommendations of novels from the Western POV.
My first piece on this topic is “5 Great Novels About ‘East-Meets-West’ — From the Western Perspective”. See my original introduction there for more context. (For recommendations of novels from Asian authors, please see “5 Novels of 20th Century Asia — From the “Eastern” Perspective”)
I prefer old novels to new ones. Why is that, and how am I ever going to get through my TBR list???
I’ve often avoided *huge* novels because I’m a slow reader, and I always read every word. I never skim, and I don’t even want to improve my reading speed. I prefer reading this way.
I tend to read about 25 novels a year, but if I tackle a really large book, finishing it may take me a month or two. If I do finish it, that means it was terrific. There’s no way I’d give one or two stars to a huge novel, because I never would have made it more than 10% of the way before giving up.
In the last few years, I’ve told myself I was missing out by avoiding long novels. So I’ve made it a point to catch up with a few.
Here are the biggest novels I read in 2023, all of which I recommend. . . .
The November-December 2023 issue of Gay & Lesbian Review features an interesting essay by Andrew Holleran on Gordon Merrick, inspired by a 2022 nonfiction book by Joseph M. Ortiz, Gordon Merrick and The Great Gay American Novel, published by Lexington Books.
I’ve not yet read Ortiz’s book, which looks terrific, by the way. But Holleran’s essay sparked my interest in finally reading Merrick’s first gay novel, The Lord Won’t Mind, which has long been sitting among the TBR LGBTQI+ books on my Kindle . . . all these years, and I’d never read him at all. . . .
As a gay man, I’ve always enjoyed reading gay novels. Alas, the way the publishing industry works, this is viewed as its own genre. Book editors believe “gay novels” will or should only be read by gay readers.
These days, a plethora of books across the LGBTQI+ spectrum is helping blur the lines and broaden the interest in all stories of diverse sexual identity, beyond the heterosexual “norm.”
Many authors of considerable literary talent have written great novels about the gay male experience. But their work has often fallen into a so-called “gay ghetto” from which it is hard to escape — with a few notable exceptions, such as Call Me by Your Name (see #3 below).
The literary quality of these novels should make them of potential interest to everyone, regardless of the reader’s own sexual preference(s). In other words, anyone who loves great literature should give these books a try. . . .
I wrote a previous article exploring 5 Great Novels About “East-Meets-West” — From the Western Perspective. I intend to offer more on that topic soon. But as I mentioned there, I’m also a fan of fiction written about Asian cultures — by Asian writers — from the “Eastern” point of view, if you will.
Far too much Asian literature exists to be read in any one reader’s lifetime. Not enough of it has been translated into English, so at least that narrows the field somewhat for English readers like me. . . .
The Lure of the Unknown: Essays on the Strange, a collection of essays and talks by Algernon Blackwood, was far more delightful than I’d expected.
Blackwood’s weird stories are among my favorites. But not all of his tales are “ghost stories” or “weird” or “queer” (in the old-fashioned sense). He also wrote children’s stories, and novels dealing with more spiritual, mystical, and psychic themes. . . .
