The Triangle’s 100 Best

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Publishing Triangle, 100 Books

In the late 1990s, the Publishing Triangle—a nonprofit association dedicated to promoting LGBTQ+ literature—assembled a list of the 100 greatest lesbian and gay novels. This landmark project aimed to broaden the appreciation of queer literature and spark discussion among all readers, regardless of sexual orientation.

The list, known as The Triangle’s 100 Best, was curated by a distinguished panel of writers and critics, including Dorothy Allison, David Bergman, Christopher Bram, Michael Bronski, Samuel Delany, Lillian Faderman, Anthony Heilbut, M.E. Kerr, Jenifer Levin, John Loughery, Jaime Manrique, Mariana Romo-Carmona, Sarah Schulman, and Barbara Smith.

The result is a snapshot of queer literary taste and influence at the close of the 20th century—a time capsule reflecting both canon and community.

This list was originally published in 1999 and was added to this site about 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
247 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
165 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
927 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
95 Orlando Virginia Woolf 1928 British English
754 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
1333 Kiss of the Spider Woman Manuel Puig 1976 Argentinian Spanish
122 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
1665 Zami Audre Lorde 1982 American English
88 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
289 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1065 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
2281 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
1054 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
5414 The City And The Pillar Gore Vidal 1948 American English
1534 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
839 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
1331 The Member Of The Wedding Carson McCullers 1946 American English
3311 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
1528 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1228 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
401 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
3899 Other Voices, Other Rooms Truman Capote 1948 American English
1031 The Bostonians Henry James 1886 American English
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
721 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
117 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
5693 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
3582 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
1093 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
5618 Olivia Dorothy Bussy 1949 British English
1127 The Price Of Salt Patricia Highsmith 1952 American English
7067 Aquamarine Carol Anshaw 1992 American English
501 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
1232 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
188 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
159 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1982 American English
225 Women in Love D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
5678 The Friendly Young Ladies Mary Renault 1943 British English
302 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
6863 Eustace Chisholm And The Works James Purdy 1967 American English
7716 The Story Of Harold Terry Andrews 1974 American English
5703 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
7803 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
9597 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
10493 Father Of Frankenstein Christopher Bram 1995 American English
257 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
2014 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
5730 The Young And Evil Charles Henri Ford, Parker Tyler 1933 American English
1461 Oranges are not the only Fruit Jeanette Winterson 1985 British English
9503 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
1154 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
5745 Concerning The Eccentricities Of Cardinal Pirelli Ronald Firbank 1926 British English
10520 Rat Bohemia Sarah Schulman 1995 American English
71 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
212 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
1104 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
7928 Lover Bertha Harris 1976 American English
7 Moby-Dick Herman Melville 1851 American English
6748 La Bâtarde Violette Leduc 1964 French French
391 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather 1927 American English
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
550 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
227 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
5768 Special Friendships Roger Peyrefitte 1943 French French
3234 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
1831 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
6954 Sheeper Irving Rosenthal 1967 American English
7089 Les Guerilleres Monique Wittig 1969 French French
5794 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
11105 An Arrow’s Flight Mark Merlis 1998 American English
6428 The Gaudy Image William Talsman 1958 American English
6963 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
5632 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
6905 Théresè And Isabelle Violette Leduc 1966 French French
2643 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
9303 The Beautiful Room Is Empty Edmund White 1988 American English
11291 The Children’s Crusade Rebecca Brown 2003 Unknown English
10811 The Story Of The Night Colm Toibin 1996 Irish English
447 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
6848 Hell Has No Limits José Donoso 1965 Chilean Spanish
7824 Riverfinger Women Elana Nachman 1974 American English
8330 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
3851 Closer Dennis Cooper 1989 American English
431 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
8668 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
9309 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
7820 Funny Boy Shyam Selvadurai 1994 Sri Lankan English
5848 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
4302 Mrs. Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing May Sarton 1965 American English
10370 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10574 Autobiography Of A Family Photo Jacqueline Woodson 1995 American English
8563 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8344 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
7974 Sita Kate Millett 1976 American English