Alternatives to Amazon

I recently learned from a BookMen member that Amazon has removed some LGBTQ stuff from its website and discontinued some benefits for its employees. He suggested that I stop linking to Amazon for the books we are reading and suggest alternatives.

As someone who has seriously considered canceling his own subscription to The Washington Post after 40+ years because of Jeff Bezos’ decision to put his business interests ahead of journalism (and decency), I am very sympathetic to the idea of no longer linking our reading list titles to Amazon. Sadly, however, there just is no other single source for basic info about so many books, so I reluctantly will continue using the site for that purpose.

However, there are many alternative ways to acquire the books we discuss:

— The Montgomery County Public Library system often has multiple copies of the books we discuss. You do not have to be a resident of the county or even the state to borrow them; they’re available, free of charge, to anyone in the DMV with a library card via interlibrary loan. Besides the savings, another advantage of going that route is that the more often LGBTQ titles are borrowed, the stronger the case libraries can make for ordering more. 🌈

— ABE Books is mainly known for selling used books, but it also offers new titles.

— AllStora (formerly known as ShopQueer) pledges that when you buy any book from them—and not just LGBTQ works—the author will earn double what they receive from other booksellers.

— Barnes and Noble

— Bookshop.org now offers e-books.

__ Good Reads (also owned by Amazon, alas)

__ Little District Books, a queer-owned Washington, D.C.-based independent bookstore that celebrates LGBTQ+ authors and stories.

— Of course, there are many other independent bookstores in the DMV, such as Politics and Prose (to name just one of many).

Lavender Con is coming!

Little District Books, Washington, DC's all-queer independent bookstore, will be hosting Lavender Con 2025 on June 14-15; tickets will go on sale on March 1. The festival celebrates LGBTQIA+ authors and stories; I'll update this item when the venue and other details are announced.

From blog to bog

When I came back to this blog after a longer absence than I'd intended, hoping to belatedly share a whole slew of items with you all, I discovered that Blogspot has revamped its format in a way that is stymieing me. For instance, I can no longer separate items in a series by inserting returns, the way I've been doing. Until I can sort all that out, I'll keep my posts brief and as simple as possible. Thanks in advance for your patience!

Some useful links related to "Secret City"

Our friend Mike Mazza shared the following links during our Dec. 18 Zoom discussion of the Eisenhower and Kennedy sections of James Kirchick's Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington: An interesting article that is very relevant to tonight's selection: "‘The Lavender Scare’ Film Review: Doc Explores Government’s Pre-Stonewall Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination"; Another article relevant to tonight's reading selection: "Inside Roy Cohn’s Controversial Career and Influential Friendship with Donald Trump; H. Lynn Womack's 1964-1965 catalogue; "Polari: The Code Language Gay Men Used to Survive." Thanks as always, Mike!

Paul draws Arthur

This New York Times article tells the story of a lost portrait of Arthur Rimbaud drawn by his lover, Paul Verlaine, in 1872. The painting was used as the frontispiece of Rimbaud's Poesies Completes, which was published posthumously in 1895, and has often been reproduced in textbooks since then. But the portrait itself was never exhibited and remained hidden in private collections for 130 years--until this year, when it was located and sold for a record-breaking sum. For more details, check out the article. (Apologies for my inability to insert the image, but Blogspot has apparently revamped its format in a way that frankly baffles me.)

John and Lem

I thank Ted Coltman for sharing this photo, which popped up in his feed on X while he was reading the JFK section of Secret City, which we're discussing tonight.

 

A money quote from Pedro Aldomovar

I was struck by this exchange in a recent Vanity Fair interview of film director Petro Aldomovar, because our group has read both the Colm Toibin books he references (The Master in 2005 and The Magician in 2023, respectively). I'm not familiar with the Moser biography of Susan Sontag that Aldmovar praises, but color me intrigued!

There’s another book by Sigrid Nunez that you could have adapted, Sempre Susan, about Susan Sontag.

It’s true. In fact, I was a friend of Susan’s. I saw her quite often either when she was in Spain or when I went to New York to promote my films. I really liked the biography of her that Benjamin Moser wrote, which won a Pulitzer Prize. It reads like a novel. I’m not a big fan of biographies, except ones where the author has to invent details and they actually end up being truer to their subjects. Or, at least, I enjoy them more. Like the fictionalized books that Colm Tóibín wrote about Henry James and Thomas Mann, which revealed what those two complex writers were hiding behind their prose.