James Baldwin's best books

Although he never won any major literary prizes, James Baldwin (who would be turning 100 on Aug. 2 were he still with us) has become and more influential since his death in 1987. His appearance in the most recent episode of Ryan Murphy's "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" on FX, as portrayed by Chris Chalk, shows us why. If watching that piques your curiosity about his books, check out this New York Times article, "The Best of James Baldwin." As it happens, our merry band has read two of his novels (Giovanni's Room and Just Above My Head), but not the other selections the article recommends. Perhaps that is a gap we can begin to fill in next year's reading list?

Gay love in the 1950s

Lee Levine was kind enough to draw my attention to this review in The Guardian of The Gallopers, a brand-new novel by Jon Ransom. It tells the intertwined stories of three gay men in England from 1953 into the 1980s (roughly the same timespan that the recent TV adaptation of Thomas Mallon's Fellow Travelers depicted). John Self concludes his review thus: "At its best, The Gallopers offers a surprising and quietly devastating account of three men, and their troubled relationship with themselves and the world they live in." I'm sold!

"This Arab Is Queer"

I'm grateful to Octavio Roca for flagging a 2022 book, This Arab Is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers. It certainly sounds like a promising candidate for our next reading list!

Dorian Gray on stage

As we prepare for next week's discussion of Matthew Sturgis' monumental biography of Oscar Wilde,  I found this TheaterMania review of Sarah Snook's performance in a solo show based on The Picture of Dorian Gray timely indeed. With a flock of video screens floating above her, Snook (whom many of us know as Shiv Roy from "Succession") plays every single character in Wilde's text--from Dorian, to his hedonistic mentor Lord Henry Wotton, and tortured artist Basil Hallward. It sounds amazing; here's hoping it transfers from London to this side of the pond! (This just in: The Economist's reviewer is also wildly enthusiastic about the play.)

Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket 
(© Marc Brenner)