Though I know electronic books are a godsend to many readers, I only own a Kindle because two dear friends generously gave me one for my birthday a few years back. And like the little old lady from Pasadena who only drives her car to church, pretty much the only time I use mine is when I'm traveling.
However, I am trying to get with the times, especially since more and more of our Bookmen selections are available in electronic formats. Toward that end I recently joined BookBub, a free email service that alerts readers to free and deeply discounted ebooks which are available for a limited time. It offers more than two dozen genres of books, including LGBT, mystery, romance, literary, historical fiction, nonfiction and more, from which readers select genres they want to receive notifications about.
The site doesn't simply collect every free or bargain e-book on the market, but emphasizes those of sufficient quality that you might well consider buying them at full price. In most cases, the deals can be purchased for any e-reading device, including Kindle, iPad, Nook and Android.
Click
here for further details, and if any of you patronize similar sites, please post an item about them on this blog!
Monday, October 5, 2015
The polls are open for our next reading list!
Greetings, Colleagues—
All Bookmen members should already have received my e-mail listing the books nominated for our next reading list, which will commence in January and run most of next year. Please vote!
I don't believe we've publicized the "ballot" on the blog before, but here it is. Perhaps it will entice prospective Bookmen members to check us out!
Cheers, Steve
All Bookmen members should already have received my e-mail listing the books nominated for our next reading list, which will commence in January and run most of next year. Please vote!
I don't believe we've publicized the "ballot" on the blog before, but here it is. Perhaps it will entice prospective Bookmen members to check us out!
Cheers, Steve
Nominations for Bookmen DC’s 2016 Reading List
This list isn't supposed to tell you everything you might want to know about each book, but rather to give you basic information and a description or quotation to make it easier to remember. Often subtitles suffice. Also, there's a wealth of information on Amazon.com (be sure not to overlook the customers' reviews), Wikipedia and, of course, Google.
The list is constructed as follows:
Title. Author (Editor). Year Originally Published (decreasing within genre), Number of Pages, Publisher, and Price (rounded up—usually at a discount on amazon)
FICTION
The Medici Boy. John L’Heuruex. 2014, 320pp, Astor + Blue Editions, $17
Renaissance Florence: art, homosexuality, and murder (not necessarily in that order).
Renaissance Florence: art, homosexuality, and murder (not necessarily in that order).
The City of Devi. Manil Suri. 2013, 400pp, W.W. Norton, $16
In post-apocalyptic Mumbai, a wife searches for her husband and a male hustler continues looking for his one true love.
In post-apocalyptic Mumbai, a wife searches for her husband and a male hustler continues looking for his one true love.
These Things Happen. Richard Kramer. 2012, 272pp, Unbridled Books, $16
After his best friend comes out, a 15-year-old boy tries to reconnect with his divorced gay father and his father's longtime lover.
After his best friend comes out, a 15-year-old boy tries to reconnect with his divorced gay father and his father's longtime lover.
Was. Geoff Ryman. 1992, 384pp, Small Beer Press, $16
L. Frank Baum, “The Wizard of Oz,” the “real” Dorothy Gael [!], Frances Gumm (who becomes Judy Garland) — and a PWA racing to make sense of it all … and his life.
L. Frank Baum, “The Wizard of Oz,” the “real” Dorothy Gael [!], Frances Gumm (who becomes Judy Garland) — and a PWA racing to make sense of it all … and his life.
NON-FICTION
Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. Robert Beachy. 2014, 352pp, Vintage, $17
The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within US Slave Culture. Vincent Woodard. 2014, 320pp, NYU Press, $27
Gay Artists in Modern American Culture. Michael S. Sherry. 2007, 304 pp, University of North Carolina Press, $32
BIOGRAPHY
Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe. Philip Gefter. 2014, 480pp, Liveright, $20
The Best Kept Boy in the World: The Life and Loves of Denny Fout. Arthur Vanderbilt. 2014, 260pp, Magnus Books, $20
In Bed with Gore Vidal. Tim Teeman. 2013, 296pp, Riverdale Avenue Books, $19
MEMOIR
Bettyville. George Hodgman. 2015, 288pp, Penguin, $17
Gay man returns to mother dying in Missouri and still unreconciled to his sexuality.
Gay man returns to mother dying in Missouri and still unreconciled to his sexuality.
POETRY
Silverchest. Carl Phillips. 2013, 80pp, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $14
The poet connecting to men and the natural world around them. (Sample the poems by clicking on the “Look inside” link.)
The poet connecting to men and the natural world around them. (Sample the poems by clicking on the “Look inside” link.)
DRAMA
Choir Boy. Tarell Alvin McCraney. 2015, 112pp, TCG, $15
Young gay man leads his school’s prestigious gospel choir while negotiating his coming out.
Young gay man leads his school’s prestigious gospel choir while negotiating his coming out.
ANTHOLOGIES
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh. John Lahr. 2014, 784pp, W. W. Norton, $20.
This very long, excellent biography, if chosen, will be read Third Wednesdays (hence its appearance here under “Anthologies”).
This very long, excellent biography, if chosen, will be read Third Wednesdays (hence its appearance here under “Anthologies”).
Blue, Too: More Writing by (for or about) Working-Class Queers. ed. Wendell Ricketts. 2014, 486pp, FourCats Press, $19
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction. ed. R.D. Cochrane & Timothy J. Lambert. 2009, 265pp, Cleis Press, $15
Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles. ed. Thomas Glave. 2008, 416pp, Duke UP, $27
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Lambs and Dogs
Sorry to have missed the discussion of The Carnivorous Lamb. I'd be interested to know if anyone has done a study about what might seem a logical coincidence of anarchy and homosexuality. Emma Goldman and her husband Alexander Berkman come to mind. Others?
Speaking of coincidence, it is amusing that this month's reading, We Think the World of You, should occur just as I've acquired two dogs. As I've said to friends, after batting zero on match.com for the last year, it seemed the simplest path to having someone to share meals. Having now read all four of Ackerley's books and started into the Parker biography it seems Joe Ackerley would would agree: to quote from the appendix to his My Father and Myself, "I was just under fifty when this animal [Tulip] came into my hands, and the fifteen years she lived with me were the happiest of my life." While I expect Koukou and JoJo to supply a share of happiness, I will be sad to miss the Ackerley discussion on their account. — Giogio
Speaking of coincidence, it is amusing that this month's reading, We Think the World of You, should occur just as I've acquired two dogs. As I've said to friends, after batting zero on match.com for the last year, it seemed the simplest path to having someone to share meals. Having now read all four of Ackerley's books and started into the Parker biography it seems Joe Ackerley would would agree: to quote from the appendix to his My Father and Myself, "I was just under fifty when this animal [Tulip] came into my hands, and the fifteen years she lived with me were the happiest of my life." While I expect Koukou and JoJo to supply a share of happiness, I will be sad to miss the Ackerley discussion on their account. — Giogio
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Mr. Write Now!
Just a reminder that this year's Outwrite occurs next weekend at the DC Center, 14th & U. In addition to attending you might want to volunteer (butch things like setting up and breaking down as well as the usual nelly "manning" the desks). As for myself, I will be sure to attend the writing-better-sex-scenes workshop Fade to Hot. (I hope they have live-streaming someplace nearby.)
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Immutable
Regarding the Lawrence and Obergefell decisions, what is most interesting to me is the evolution in attitudes toward gay people—seeing them as a “class of persons”. (In this regard, I’d still like to take a look at the Romer v. Evans case.) The most striking evidence of this evolution, to my mind, is the use of the term “immutable” regarding same-sex orientation. This term was absent in the Lawrence decision, apparently appeared in a letter by Attorney General Eric Holder (2011?) (see Jost’s Trending Toward #Justice, p. 195) when Obama decided not to defend DOMA, and, finally appeared twice in Kennedy’s majority opinion in Obergefell. This is the culmination, perhaps, of the trend from, on the one hand, seeing gay people as heterosexuals behaving badly to, on the other hand, having the APA remove homosexuality from its list of psychological disorders.
However, welcome though such an enlightened view of homosexuality may be, it should not be the basis for decisions regarding the rights of private sexual behavior or the rights of citizens to engage in same-sex marriages. Such behavior and such rights should be based on the concept of “liberty” and not on reasons to “excuse” such (seemingly) exceptional behavior as “immutable”. Perhaps this falls into the realm of micro-bigotry, but doesn’t this represent a paternalistic majority attitude towards people who appear to be “victimized” by their genes? This all reminds me of an editorial I read in the Washington Blade back when Lawrence was hot: the writer said in effect, “Why can’t they see that I can’t help it? That I was born this way? That I don’t have a choice?” I recall being quite disgusted by this victim-oriented approach. My inner libertarian felt (and feels) that private sexual behavior should be a right regardless of one’s genes. Heterosexuals—who lack the “I-can’t-help-it” defense—have as much a right to engage in nominally homosexual behavior as gay people (as we all know, some of them do). And regarding Obergefell, if two heterosexual men or women want to marry, they have a right to do so regardless of their genetic make-up and without a need to identify with a particular class of immutably-programmed persons. —Giogio
However, welcome though such an enlightened view of homosexuality may be, it should not be the basis for decisions regarding the rights of private sexual behavior or the rights of citizens to engage in same-sex marriages. Such behavior and such rights should be based on the concept of “liberty” and not on reasons to “excuse” such (seemingly) exceptional behavior as “immutable”. Perhaps this falls into the realm of micro-bigotry, but doesn’t this represent a paternalistic majority attitude towards people who appear to be “victimized” by their genes? This all reminds me of an editorial I read in the Washington Blade back when Lawrence was hot: the writer said in effect, “Why can’t they see that I can’t help it? That I was born this way? That I don’t have a choice?” I recall being quite disgusted by this victim-oriented approach. My inner libertarian felt (and feels) that private sexual behavior should be a right regardless of one’s genes. Heterosexuals—who lack the “I-can’t-help-it” defense—have as much a right to engage in nominally homosexual behavior as gay people (as we all know, some of them do). And regarding Obergefell, if two heterosexual men or women want to marry, they have a right to do so regardless of their genetic make-up and without a need to identify with a particular class of immutably-programmed persons. —Giogio
Saturday, July 4, 2015
The trouble with the 'dignity' of same-sex marriage
Friday, July 3, 2015
We are All the Same / Different
Afterwards, of course, it became clear to me what I wanted to say.
In Lawrence v. Texas and other gay rights cases there’s a dual track appeal to liberty and to equality. Liberty celebrates, or least permits, Difference. Equality eliminates or ignores it. We are not Other in the respect to which we are all equal. (We wouldn’t be equal in that respect otherwise.) The safer approach for petitioners has been that gay people and straight people are essentially (!?) the same and so it’s unfair for gay people to be treated differently. This has been the preferred approach because it doesn’t “frighten the horses.” It stays far away from "organs and orifices.”
This mainstreaming was perhaps the appropriate approach in Obefgefell v. Hodges, and earlier in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. But it qualifies the celebration we feel for Lawrence v. Texas. In Bowers v. Hardwick a predominantly Liberty (-tarian) approach had been tried and failed. It is certainly better to have won than to have lost, but I applaud the under-sung hero of Flagrant Conduct, Lane Lewis who said:
In Lawrence v. Texas and other gay rights cases there’s a dual track appeal to liberty and to equality. Liberty celebrates, or least permits, Difference. Equality eliminates or ignores it. We are not Other in the respect to which we are all equal. (We wouldn’t be equal in that respect otherwise.) The safer approach for petitioners has been that gay people and straight people are essentially (!?) the same and so it’s unfair for gay people to be treated differently. This has been the preferred approach because it doesn’t “frighten the horses.” It stays far away from "organs and orifices.”
This mainstreaming was perhaps the appropriate approach in Obefgefell v. Hodges, and earlier in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. But it qualifies the celebration we feel for Lawrence v. Texas. In Bowers v. Hardwick a predominantly Liberty (-tarian) approach had been tried and failed. It is certainly better to have won than to have lost, but I applaud the under-sung hero of Flagrant Conduct, Lane Lewis who said:
The Supreme Court never had the right or authority to take away my right to express love or sex through sodomy … Why are we all down on our knees thanking them for giving us something they should never have taken away?
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