queer as books

This country's mania for book contests remains unabated, as the BBC's "Big Read" (in which the British public voted for its favourite books of all time) is succeeded by "The Big Gay Read," a Manchester-based effort to promote queer literature via a "competition to reveal Britain's favourite gay novel." They've compiled a longlist of sorts, but votes can go to any book, not merely those listed:

The Long Firm Jake Arnott
Around the Houses Amanda Boulter
A Home at the End of the World Michael Cunningham
Crocodile Soup Julia Darling
Calendar Girl Stella Duffy
Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
Rough Music Patrick Gale
Carol Patricia Highsmith
The Line of Beauty Alan Hollingworth
Trumpet Jackie Kay
Tales of the City Armistead Maupin
At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O'Neill
The Monkey's Mask Dorothy Porter
Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx
Desert of the Heart Jane Rule
Funny Boy Shyam Selvadurai
Story of the Night Colm Tobin
Tipping the Velvet Sarah Waters
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeannette Winterson

I've only read five of these (Eugenides, Maupin, Selvadurai, Waters, Winterson) and of them, Middlesex is by far my favourite. But I've been intending to get my hands on The Line of Beauty and Brokeback Mountain for some time now. Additions off the top of my head: Woolf's Orlando (of course!), John Banville's The Untouchable, Winterson's Written on the Body, and Nicola Griffith's The Blue Place. Shyam Selvadurai's other novel, Cinnamon Gardens, is good too, if rather sad.

Also in the Guardian: Adam Mars Jones discusses the curious nature of the "queer fiction" niche, and suggests (despite the recent calls for a 'post-gay' future) that the category may still serve a useful function.