Banana Yoshimoto and the Queer Issue

I'm always lost in bookstores, looking for interesting fiction for the plane, but since I never really read book review I never know what to buy. This time I was browsing in Malpensa airport and I saw this book by Banana Yoshimoto. I thought if somebody is called Banana she MUST be interesting. The book was Hardboiled / Hard Luck, and simply amazing. Of course Banana turned out to be super famous with books translated all over the place. Her blend of metaphysical post xanax romantic bleakness was just perfect for the plane, and I suspect even better for the beach. What i would love to read too is this crop of new gay fiction that according to this article by my all-time favorite writer Edmund White is part of a big gay fiction renaissance.