The good news is that there are more books with gay and lesbian content and by openly gay writers than ever before. The bad news is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to choose just which titles to mention among the most noteworthy of the year.

THREE of the most popular gay authors of years past topped the year’s offerings again in 2004 with their individual brands of dry, humorous memoirs.

NPR humorist David Sedaris continues to dress down his partner, his family and himself in “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.” Even drier and often delightfully sicker, Augusten Burroughs made a six-figure, multi-book deal with St. Martin’s Press in October that kicked off with the wry and hilarious “Magical Thinking.”

Following up her worldwide phenomenon, “The Vagina Monologues,” Eve Ensler delighted and empowered readers with her humorous memoir “The Good Body,” in which she comes to terms with the physical changes in her post-40 life.

There also were several literary highlights this year about gay and lesbian luminaries. Among the best were Evelyn C. White’s “Alice Walker: A Life,” the story of the Georgia sharecropper’s daughter who became the first black female Pulitzer Prize winner, and “Paul Bowles: A Life,” about the globetrotting novelist, composer and expatriate. Alexis De Veaux contributed “Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde.”

More than 15 years after his death, artist Andy Warhol continues to fascinate readers. Three books about his life and work — “Andy Warhol 365 Takes: The Andy Warhol Museum Collection,” “I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews” and “Pop Trickster Fool: Warhol Performs Naivete” —revealed Warhol as artist and public commentator in all his quirky genius.

AMONG Gay readers, novels remain, by far, the chart-toppers of gay literary bestsellers.

“The Line of Beauty” by Alan Hollinghurst is dense with lyrical writing about a gay man in Margaret Thatcher’s privileged class in England.

Up-and-coming writer Monique Truong’s “The Book of Salt” tells a powerful story about an immigrant servant in the household of lesbian legends Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Equally touching is lesbian author Stacey D’Erasmo’s “A Seahorse Year” with its gut-wrenching tale of a family’s life changes amid a child abuse scandal.

Books for gay youth remain on the rise and this year saw the latest in Virginia author Alex Sanchez’s “Rainbow” series, and a debut novel by Blair Mastbaum that tells a realistic story about two surfer teens who find love and heartbreak in “Clay’s Way.”

Other worthy mentions in fiction include “Half-Life” by Aaron Krach, “Girls with Hammers” by Cynn Chadwick, “The Trouble Boy” by Tom Dolby, “The Deal” by Timothy J. Lambert and “The Tenth Man” by E. William Podjil.

As always, poetry by gay writers left its mark this year. Two of the most inspiring in 2004 are “The School Among the Ruins” by the literary giant Adrienne Rich and “Complaint in the Garden” by Randall Mann.

Ongoing DEVELOPMENTS IN the fight for marriage equality sparked more than 15 new non-fiction works on the political and personal aspects of the battle, led most notably by “Why Marriage Matters” by attorney and activist Evan Wolfson.

The down-low was another hot topic this year, and continued to fuel debates about black men who carry on intimate relationships with women while secretly having sex with other men.

This phenomenon inspired “On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of ‘Straight’ Black Men Who Sleep with Men,” by J.L. King. The popular book created controversy in its depiction of men who can expose women to increased risks of contracting HIV.

“Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America,” a rebuttal to King’s book by gay rights advocate Keith Boykin, hit store shelves this month, in advance of its scheduled February 2005 release date.

In addition to current events, history was also a hot topic in 2004, from the detailed “Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution” by David Carter to “Lavendar Scare” by David K. Johnson, which recounts personal stories of pre-Stonewall gay activism in the 20th Century.

Also in non-fiction, culture vultures sopped up, “How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization” by Cathy Crimmins, Richard Meyer’s “Outlaw Representation: Censorship & Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art (Ideologies of Desire)” and Will Fellows’ “A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture.”

The ongoing “Queer Encyclopedia” series by editor Claude J. Summers saw the release of its first two anthologies about visual art as well as music and dance. An anthology of writings by “Queer Beats” Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and others was also a big seller.

And written more with fun in mind, prolific gay writer Michael Thomas Ford expanded his appeal with “Ultimate Gay Sex” and the release of two novels.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of “The Whole Lesbian Sex Book” by Felice Newman touched on a wide scope of issues geared toward women who love women.

This year also saw the release of two books that capitalize on one of last year’s runaway hit TV series. “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” came out early in the year, followed in the fall by the fashion version, “Off the Cuff” by style guru Carson Kressley.

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