The Triangle’s 100 Best

This is one of the 759 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
240 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
167 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
929 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
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
1335 Kiss of the Spider Woman Manuel Puig 1976 Argentinian Spanish
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
1666 Zami Audre Lorde 1982 American English
89 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1067 A Boy's Own Story Edmund White 1982 American English
2289 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
5424 The City And The Pillar Gore Vidal 1948 American English
1536 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown 1973 American English
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
1309 The Member Of The Wedding Carson McCullers 1946 American English
3315 City Of Night John Rechy 1963 American English
1530 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1232 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
395 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
3904 Other Voices, Other Rooms Truman Capote 1948 American English
1034 The Bostonians Henry James 1886 American English
1292 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
722 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
118 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
5704 The Persian Boy Mary Renault 1972 British English
3585 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
1095 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
5627 Olivia Dorothy Bussy 1949 British English
1128 The Price Of Salt Patricia Highsmith 1952 American English
7078 Aquamarine Carol Anshaw 1992 American English
502 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
189 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
157 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1982 American English
227 Women in Love D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
5689 The Friendly Young Ladies Mary Renault 1943 British English
305 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
6872 Eustace Chisholm And The Works James Purdy 1967 American English
7733 The Story Of Harold Terry Andrews 1974 American English
5714 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
7819 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
9619 Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall Neil Bartlett 1990 British English
10521 Father Of Frankenstein Christopher Bram 1995 American English
259 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
2020 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
5742 The Young And Evil Charles Henri Ford, Parker Tyler 1933 American English
1461 Oranges are not the only Fruit Jeanette Winterson 1985 British English
9525 A Visitation Of Spirits Randall Kenan 1989 American English
1155 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
5757 Concerning The Eccentricities Of Cardinal Pirelli Ronald Firbank 1926 British English
10549 Rat Bohemia Sarah Schulman 1995 American English
72 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
213 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
1107 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
7944 Lover Bertha Harris 1976 American English
7 Moby-Dick Herman Melville 1851 American English
6758 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
554 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
226 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
5780 Special Friendships Roger Peyrefitte 1943 French French
3239 The Changelings Jo Sinclair 1955 American English
1832 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
6963 Sheeper Irving Rosenthal 1967 American English
7100 Les Guerilleres Monique Wittig 1969 French French
5806 The Child Manuela Christa Winsloe 1933 German German
11138 An Arrow’s Flight Mark Merlis 1998 American English
6439 The Gaudy Image William Talsman 1958 American English
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
5641 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
6914 Théresè And Isabelle Violette Leduc 1966 French French
2649 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
9324 The Beautiful Room Is Empty Edmund White 1988 American English
11324 The Children’s Crusade Rebecca Brown 2003 Unknown English
10841 The Story Of The Night Colm Toibin 1996 Irish English
449 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
6857 Hell Has No Limits José Donoso 1965 Chilean Spanish
7840 Riverfinger Women Elana Nachman 1974 American English
8346 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
3856 Closer Dennis Cooper 1989 American English
432 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
8687 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
9330 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
7836 Funny Boy Shyam Selvadurai 1994 Sri Lankan English
5860 Wasteland Jo Sinclair 1946 American English
4309 Mrs. Stevens Hears The Mermaids Singing May Sarton 1965 American English
10397 Sea Of Tranquillity Paul Russell 1994 Unknown English
10603 Autobiography Of A Family Photo Jacqueline Woodson 1995 American English
8581 In Thrall Jane DeLynn 1982 Unknown English
8361 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
7989 Sita Kate Millett 1976 American English