Top 10 Nonfiction Titles

Every year some titles emerge as nonfiction classics for queers -- books that deserve to be read by every new generation. Here's a sampler of shelf-worthy titles for the eternal bibliography.

	"Another Mother Tongue," by Judy Grahn Why purple? Where did the word "fag" come from? Lambda and labyris and lavender -- all these queer words and their roots are defined in this groundbreaking queer reference book, part dictionary, part gay history.
	"Becoming a Man," by Paul Monette The best gay confessional memoir about growing up in the closet, coming out and growing up all over again. The author honed his autobiographical skills with the harrowing AIDS memoir "Borrowed Time."
	"The Best Little Boy in the World," by Andrew Tobias There's a sequel, "The Best Little Boy in the World Grows Up," but the original story of a boy knowing he wants to be a gay man (published under the pseudonym John Reid) remains a fine self-examination of a privileged pre-Stonewall coming out.
	"The Celluloid Closet," by Vito Russo A lot has happened in movies since activist Russo wrote this penetrating and scintillating study of the stereotypical, occasionally subversive portrayals of women and men in Hollywood, from its earliest days to the late 1980s. Bottom line, though: we were (and are) everywhere.
	"Gay Spirit," by Mark Thompson In a pioneering study which grew out of the 1970s Radical Faerie movement, theorist Thompson explores the spiritual dimensions of being gay. Two books followed, "Gay Soul" and "Gay Body."
	"The Kid," by Dan Savage This is more than just a comic riff on the condition of gay parenting. The controversial sex-advice columnist weaves into his own story a wealth of common-sense observations on alternative family politics and practice.
	"The Mayor of Castro Street," by Randy Shilts A brilliant biography of openly gay Stonewall-era San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1980. This is still the only narrative history of pre-AIDS San Francisco.
	"My Lesbian Husband," by Barrie Jean Borich Here's a heartwarming memoir which makes the best possible case for the "rightness" of same-sex partnering, not through political rant but delightfully human, affirmative anecdote.
	"Public Sex," by Pat Califia An essay collection of smart thinking on queer sexual practice, including everything from park and tearoom encounters to age of consent, to the state's intrusion into the bedrooms of the nation. Updated in 2000.
	"Zami: A New Spelling of My Name," by Audre Lorde Poet, polemicist, novelist, memoirist: the late Audre Lorde told many stories, none more moving than this fictional biography ("biomythography") about a young black lesbian's awakening in a New York City, eons before Stonewall.