But how do you know what LGBT books are worth reading? Well we thought the bestsellers lists would be a good place to start, and so here we bring you the 10 current bestselling gay and lesbian books online:

1. Strings Attached – Nick Nolan

Telling the story of closeted teen Jeremy who is sent away to live with wealthy relatives when his mother goes into rehab, this books sees Jeremy live the dream life then see it fall apart as his great aunt begins to dictate his every move.

Weaving together murder, sexual ambiguity and hidden identities and agendas this book is about a coming of age and coming out in a way that is heartful story guaranteed to engross.

Available for $10.17 at Amazon.

2. Knowing Caleb – Cameron Dane

One of many Cameron Dane books in the bestsellers list, Knowing Caleb definitely falls into the raunchy / erotic novel category coming with a warning that it contains “anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, violence”.

If you don’t mind a bit of that though then this romantic novel that follows the story of two straight men, Caleb Hawkins and widow Jake Chase, as they meet and start to follow in love. Both having pasts that threaten to stand in the way of them truly being together, this story won’t be the deepest thing you’ll ever read but we’re sure you’ll still find it rather enjoyable…

Available for $8.92 at Amazon.

3. Ash – Malinda Lo

Described as being Cinderella with a twist, Ash is a story of a girl called Ash who lives like a servant in the home of an unkind stepmother and stepsisters. Heading off the royal ball in an enchanted dress, thanks to fairy connection, Ash doesn’t however meet a prince, but instead falls for Kaisa, the King’s huntress. Starting off beautifully, it like every relationship doesn’t run smooth and soon Ash must decide whether to live and klove in the real world on her own terms, or instead fall for fairy Sidhean who promises to steal her away from her sadness.

Available for $11.55 at Amazon.

4. The Transgender Child: A Handbook For Families and Professionals

The first non-fiction book to make the list, The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals is a book well worth owning if you have anything to do with the transgender comunity. Filled with knowledge gleamed from extensive research and interviews this book covers gender variance from birth through college and provides answers to all those questions that so many of us have but don’t know where to turn for answers.

Available for £11.53 at Amazon.

5. Adrien English Mysteries 1&2 – Josh Lanyon

Proving gay readers are as much into their racy romantic novels as the heterosexuals, Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English Mysteries 1&2 follow LAPD Detective Jake Riordan and bookseller and mystery author  Adrien English as Riordan tries not only to protect English from being murdered, but also it seems to find a way into his heart. Containing homoerotic sex and violence, this might not be the thing to read on your Kindle on the train but definitely will make bedtime reading a hotter affair..

Available for $8.21 at Amazon.

6. Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times – Jasbir K Puar

Using this book to present the arghument that sexuality, race, gender, nation, class and ethnicity are realigning due to the forces of securitization, counterterrorism, and nationalism, Puar high;ights how liberal politics act to incorporate certain homosexual subjects into the fold of the nation-state. Citing reasons for this to range from overturning of anti-sodomy laws and the proliferation of more mainstream representation, she aims to show that the LGBT community is now beginning to be seen in a more positive way, but to the same degree how there are still many walls of division that need to be broken down.

Available for $20.21 at Amazon.

7. Always My Child: A Parent’s Guide To Understanding your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter – Kevin Jennings

Whilst this book should lose points for having the longest title ever, it’s a very positive thing to see a book aimed at parents dealing with their child coming out in the bestsellers list.

Filled with real life stories, advice and scientific research, this is a book that acts to guide parents on how best to deal with their child’s revelation that they are gay / bisexual / transgender and acts to reinforce the message that it is important to embrace and not reject your child,.

Available for $20.65 at Amazon.

8. Crisis : 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America – Mitchell Gold

Exploring the mental health crisis facing American gay teens forced to face traumatic depression, rejection, isolation and persecution, this book is for anyone who wants to stop the hurt. Featuring 40 stories from diverse Americans, both well known and not, this book gives powerful insights into why these people support gay people being attributed equal right via the US Constitution, and in turn why you should do.

Available for $16.29 at Amazon.

9. Transgender History  Susan Stryker

Covering the transgender history of America from mid-twentieth century through till today, this book takes a chronological approach with each chapter looking at the major movements, writings and events of the time. Exploring issues including transsexual and transvestite communities following WWII, trans radicalism and social change, this book is an engaging and very readable look at often ignored history.

Available for $10.17 at Amazon.

10. Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible

Bringing together the world’s leading rabbis, scholars and writers to interpret the Torah from a gay angle, this book sees commentaries on the fifty four weekly Torah portions and six major Jewish holidays that act to give a whole new angle to these pieces.

Available for $19.77 at Amazon.

It seemed like literacy agent Bill Clegg had it all – he was in charge of a thriving agency, had a long client list of prominent writers and publishing colleagues and even a loving, supportive partner. However there was one thing threatening to destroy it all - a growing addiction to crack cocaine which is central to Clegg’s harrowing, bravely candid, true story that forms his memoir, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man.

Released on June 7, 2010, this may sound like something that has been done time and time again, however Clegg’s memoir is different, standing out not just because of the beauty of its prose, but also the seriousness and honesty of its approach that makes it both a heartbreaking and terrifying cautionary tale.

Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is available to order online now from Amazon.

There are some people on this world that just make the rest of us look bad being far too nice, talented and gorgeous for their own good, with one such woman who undoubtedly falls into that category is Jennifer Beals.

This woman is someone who could make you forgive her for anything with those puppy dog eyes of hers, is an extraordinary actor, and as has become apparent with the soon to be released photographic journal, The L word Book, is incredibly talented behind the camera too.

But why has Jennifer decided to release the book? Has she become short of money? Does she just want to cash in on the L Word era whilst people still remember it?

If it was anyone else we’d probably have said it was something to do with the latter, but then we’re talking about Ms Beals here. The same woman who put herself through the living hell that is the Vancouver Triathlon for charity, so it’s probably going to come as no surprise to you that it’s neither of these reasons. It’s that once more Jennifer wants to use her fame and profile to try and help out the charities that have become such passionate about, and in this case the proceeds from the book, these four charities are the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Mia Kirshner’s I Live Here Projects, a Project of ETINA and The Pablove Foundation,

So what exactly is this photographic journal going to comprise of? Well being a photographic journal, the main thing is of course going to be the never seen before photos taken by Jennifer. However this is much more than just a photo book with cast commentary and a great selection of ephemerea that made up the everyday life of being on the L Word set which includes script excerpts, callsheets and even production memos, all adding to make this a very special and unique journal/

But that’s not all. Jennifer didn’t want the book to just be about everyone involved in the L Word. She wants it to be as much about you and what it meant to you, which has lead to her creating the book in a way that will allow you to add your own photos to hers, meaning when you look at it it’s not just full of memories of what they were doing during the time the L word was on, but also what was happening in your life.

And if that all wasn’t enough, Jennifer also plans to release a number of large format prints and limited edition prints for you to buy too, with the proceeds of course going to charity.

But what made her decide to start this journal all these years ago when the L Word first started? Well there’s no one better to answer that than the woman herself:

During the six years we were shooting The L Word, I kept a photographic journal of the cast and crew, born out of a profound desire to create a bulwark against my rapidly eroding memory. It was an era of my life I was eager to preserve: I wanted to remember the cast, the readthrus, the dinners, the rehearsals — everything. I took pictures and saved my scripts, callsheets, and memos and organized them every year. I used them for reference as the seasons moved on, but frankly I held onto them because I knew I would get a kick out of looking at them as the years passed. Mostly, I wanted to remember the joy, because no matter where the storylines went, we always managed to have fun.
Years ago, I started a tradition of making a photo book, to give as a gift to the cast and crew, after completing projects that were near and dear to my heart. As I started working on my cast-and-crew present for The L Word, I realized this wouldn’t be like the others. The L Word was about the power of storytelling. And it was particularly unique because there were two streams of stories being told. Clearly we were telling your stories, but in some way we were telling our stories — the story of a group of colleagues who became friends while endeavoring to make something worthwhile. Somewhere along the line there was a kind of convergence. Somewhere underneath the plotlines of The L Word ran our own stories of friendship and struggle. These photographs evoke the various bonds and battles we as a cast endured.
The L Word as a series was, at its core, about community and that played out behind the scenes as the cast formed its own community. But the series also was about all of you who made our collective journey possible. That is why I wanted to make the book available to fans of the show.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Beals

You can find out more about the book and it’s release, at The L Word Book website.

Produced by Geoffrey King and, Sunny Angulo with an introduction from San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Such A Bittersweet Day brings together stunning photography with oral histories to provide a powerful look at the marriage equality movement in California.

Telling the stories of a wide range of people from LGBT activists to working people, politicos, people of faith and transgendered leaders and families, the combination of oral histories and photograph allows the book to offer a very powerful and unique way of telling individual storieswhilst not losing focus on the bigger issue of marriage equality.

Having photographed political protests across the United States and Britain, as well as travelling to Iraq, Geoffrey King was the perfect choice for the photography for a book of this kind and he certainly hasn’t disappointed with each of his photos managing to capture the emotions of the subjects which range from defiance to determination and disappointment. And with Sunny Angulo, filmmaker, political organizer, designer and journalist, at his side to bring together the oral histories, there is not only a lot of passion behind behind this project but also a whole lot of experience and talent too.

Available for $44.95, Such A Bittersweet Day: The Marriage Equality Movement In The Wake Of Prop 8 can be ordered online from Blurb with 100% of the net proceeds from the regular edition of this book will go to organizations fighting for civil rights, equality and health.

Author James Jones saw his book, From Here To Eternity, which was based on the his time time serving in Hawaii’s infantry blacklisted when first published because he refused to eliminate a section about soldiers selling sexual favors to older men.

Writing on The Daily Beast website, his daughter Kaylie Jones tells of how this publishers, Scribner, asked him to remove both this and a number of F-words littered through the book, and that whilst he agreed to do the latter he was not to be swayed on the former, a brave moveconsidering only five years previously Edmund Wilson’s novel Memoirs of Hecate Country had seen Doubleday charged and convicted with selling obscene material leading to the removal of it from their bookshelves alongside libraries and other booksellers.

So why was Jones so committed to keeping it in? His daughter attributes it to his desire to write both an honest and truthful story. The times Jones had spent in Hawaii had a huge impact on him, and a big part of that was how close to total depravity these soldiers were, with many penniless and only ending up in the army because they had no where else to go. Often spending all their money on whores, booze and gambling to pass the time soon saw the soldiers struggling financially, and for many it soon became obvious that selling sexual favors to older men was a quick way to make some extra cash.

In his own book, Jones uses Maggio as the central character who carries out such acts, and whilst in tis case it is portrayed as something he just does to be able to afford more whores and not as anything to do with his sexuality, Jones does use another character Bloom to highlight how for some this was not just about money, but also enjoyment and used it to illustrate the impact of a negative perception of homosexuality on those identifying as such with Bloom killing himself due to the shame he felt, something Jones portrayed as a tragedy and unnecessary.

Wonderfully forward thinking in his writings, Jones, unlike many others of his time, saw homosexuality as being as old as mankind and something had no impact on the ability of a solider on the battlefield, a view that still 60 years on, America as a whole is still not able to accept.

You can see excerpts from the original manuscript at The Daily Beast and buy the book at Amazon.

When he was publicist based in New York City, Robert Rave spent his days (and many an evening too) working on public relation campaigns and putting on some of the biggest profile events in the lifestyle, nightlife, entertainment and fashion industries. Now though things are very different from Robert. The publicist title has been neatly packed away and he has a whole new one – full time writer, with 2009 seeing the publication of this first novel, Spin.

Featuring Taylor Green, a young ambitious guy from the Midwest as the dominant character in the book, Spin begins with Green working for a friend of his grandmother, Ethel, in New York City. Then one evening the unbelievable happens – Taylor is offered his dream job – to work for Jennie Weinstein, one of the biggest names in the public relations world.

Definitely at the top of the PR game, Taylor is soon to discover that she’s at the top of the diva game too, with rudeness, obnoxiousness and downright deviousness just some of Jennie’s better qualities, and one’s she expects her employees to have to, that and being at her beck and call whatever the hours of the day.

Working his way up from being the new boy stuck in the broom cupboard, Taylor becomes Jennie’s most trusted assistant and confidant, which causes him to find himself right in the center of both the glamourous side of the PR world, that includes opening, fashion shows and a whole lot of gossiping, and the rather darker side of drugs, sex, fame and greed, all of which seem to have one character at the centre – Jennie Weinstein.

A fast learner, Taylor soon discovers any situation in the PR world can be spun to benefit a client, but that’s not all his time in the PR world reveals. Discovering the perks of free gifts and rubbing shoulders with big name celebrities come at a price – his own sanity, Taylor soon feels his life start to slip out of control, leaving him having to make the difficult decision of whether the rewards of working in such a business really justify the ends he has to go to to get them.

Made up of 352 pages this is a book that sounds like it could keep you going for a while, but I can promise you it won’t. Robert Rave may have taken his publicist hat off but he still manages to make this a book so addictive that once you’ve started, you may as well tell everyone to go out and enjoy themselves for the day because you’re not going to be putting it down.

Definitely not your average first time writer, the quality of the writing of Spin shows that Robert Rave is an author you’re going to want to keep an eye on, with the book taking you on a journey that find you having to keep closing your mouth as it drops open in shock, and apologising to everyone around you as you laugh uncontrollably over some of the scenarios Taylor finds himself in.

A brilliantly balanced piece of writing, Rave doesn’t allow his book to get too wrapped up in the harshness of the PR world or the impact it can have on those involved, but at the same time has written something that’s far from a fluffy story. This is good stuff. Very good stuff, and here’s hoping there’s a whole lot more to come from Mr Rave.

Spin is available to order online from Amazon.

Scholastic, the book fair company, have announced that they will now allow Lauren Myracle’s book Luv Ya Bunches to be sold at their fairs, after previously banning it. Originally rejecting the book, which features a a group of four girls from diverse backgrounds, including one with gay parents, on the grounds it was in opposition to the norms of the communities that host the fairs was a decision that was to see the members of the social networking site, Twitter and Change.org not only shocked, but more than up for a fight, with a petition being launched on the Change.Org site. Four thousands and forty two signatures later and it looks like Change.Org have been able to make Scholastic see the error of their ways, with a the company releasing a statement on their On Our Minds blog reading as follows:

The following is an update on Luv Ya Bunches and Scholastic Book Fairs: Scholastic does not censor books. We review thousands of titles each year for our book clubs and book fairs, and we are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents. In an interview with School Library Journal, Scholastic stated that we are currently carrying Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle in our school book clubs. We also said we were still reviewing the book for possible inclusion in our book fairs. Having completed our review of Luv Ya Bunches, Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the title in our spring fairs for middle school. Scholastic is proud of our long history of providing books that will appeal to the wide range of interests and reading abilities of children in the many diverse cultures and communities we serve. Luv Ya Bunches is just one example.

It is undoubtedly disappointing to see there is no reference to the work of the LGBT community in making Scholastic reverse this decision, however what is important to hold on to about the whole affair is that the right decision has been made, and the youth of America are going to be able to read about same sex parents, something it appears that Scholastic had tried hard to keep out of the book, with Myracle speaking out about how she had received a letter from Scholastic asking her to change the same sex couple to a straight one.