Next Wednesday, Sept. 2, we'll be discussing Edward Albee's play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In preparation for that, Mike Mazza has compiled several short TV parodies of the play he found on YouTube:
Second City Television
Saturday Night Live
Benny Hill
Mike wonders where there are even more like these online, and says: "I suppose folks could view these either as appetizers (with possible spoiler warnings) before reading the play, or as palate cleansers post-reading!".
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
A Queerty quiz
Queerty, an LGBTQ website that bills itself as "Free of an agenda (except that gay one)," recently published an article asking: "How many of these classic queer books have you actually read?"
Our group has discussed a very respectable six out of 10, and I've read two others. See how you score!
As a bonus, here's a link to another Queerty article on gay literature, "Gay guys share their favorite books by queer men." Many of these will be familiar, but there are some intriguing suggestions in the mix.
Our group has discussed a very respectable six out of 10, and I've read two others. See how you score!
As a bonus, here's a link to another Queerty article on gay literature, "Gay guys share their favorite books by queer men." Many of these will be familiar, but there are some intriguing suggestions in the mix.
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Classic LGBTQ literature
Our friend Bruce Dunne recently shared the following info with me:
"I just came across a list of 21 LGBTQ+ books in the section of the New York Review of Books website where one can look up books by theme. It surprises me how few I am familiar with (other than J.R. Ackerly and Jan Morris), and it occurred to me that some may be of interest to the group. Cheers, Bruce."
Our merry band has read both Ackerly titles in the compilation--We Think the World of You (in 2015) and My Father and Myself (in 2013)--as well as John Horne Burns' The Gallery (in 2015) and a different book by Jean Genet than the one recommended here. As the time for our annual process of nominating books for next year's reading list approaches (stay tuned for details!), I invite you to take a look at this list to see whether any of these titles intrigue you enough to propose them.
"I just came across a list of 21 LGBTQ+ books in the section of the New York Review of Books website where one can look up books by theme. It surprises me how few I am familiar with (other than J.R. Ackerly and Jan Morris), and it occurred to me that some may be of interest to the group. Cheers, Bruce."
Our merry band has read both Ackerly titles in the compilation--We Think the World of You (in 2015) and My Father and Myself (in 2013)--as well as John Horne Burns' The Gallery (in 2015) and a different book by Jean Genet than the one recommended here. As the time for our annual process of nominating books for next year's reading list approaches (stay tuned for details!), I invite you to take a look at this list to see whether any of these titles intrigue you enough to propose them.
Encouragement, not clutter
Writing for The Conversation, a site dedicated to "analysis from scientists and medical doctors," Michelle Spear, an anatomy professor at the University of Bristol, explains "Why you keep buying books you don't read--and why it feels so good."
"Some might call this clutter," she acknowledges. But "the Japanese have a far more elegant word for it: tsundoku. The term describes the habit of acquiring books and allowing them to accumulate unread. It combines the idea of stacking things up (tsunde), leaving something for later (oku) and reading (doku). The result is a concept that captures the quiet optimism of a pile of books."
Prof. Spear elaborates on the phenomenon in her essay, and after reading it, I feel a lot better as a proud practitioner of tsundoku than a mere hoarder. Hopefully, you will, too.
"Some might call this clutter," she acknowledges. But "the Japanese have a far more elegant word for it: tsundoku. The term describes the habit of acquiring books and allowing them to accumulate unread. It combines the idea of stacking things up (tsunde), leaving something for later (oku) and reading (doku). The result is a concept that captures the quiet optimism of a pile of books."
Prof. Spear elaborates on the phenomenon in her essay, and after reading it, I feel a lot better as a proud practitioner of tsundoku than a mere hoarder. Hopefully, you will, too.
Monday, August 10, 2026
Mike M.'s Kiss for the Spider Woman
The 11 of us who attended last week's discussion of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman enjoyed a lively discussion of the novel. That prompted Mike Mazza to look up the review he posted on Amazon 25 years ago of Kiss of the Spider Woman and Two Other Plays.
Spoiler alert: Mike was (and is) a fan of Puig's work. Perhaps it might be worth our taking a look at the other two plays in that volume at some point?
Spoiler alert: Mike was (and is) a fan of Puig's work. Perhaps it might be worth our taking a look at the other two plays in that volume at some point?
TL;DR = DNF?
No, our blog hasn't suddenly become a conduit for mathematicians or cryptographers to pass secret messages! :-)
Many of you are probably already familiar with the term on the left side of the equation, which is shorthand for "too long; didn't read." It's most often applied to online articles and posts, and sometimes carries a whiff of disapproval about an overly indulgent author who expects readers to wade through dense writing that doesn't offer a payoff for the time spent.
Now "TL;DR" has spawned a new term for book lovers: DNF--"did not finish." This New York Times article explores the debate between completists--who insist that if you start a book, you should finish it--and readers who say life is too short to waste time on something you're not enjoying.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll note that I am a completist by nature. But as I grow older, and am increasingly aware of how many books I'll never get to, I'm becoming more and more sympathetic to the DNF perspective.
Many of you are probably already familiar with the term on the left side of the equation, which is shorthand for "too long; didn't read." It's most often applied to online articles and posts, and sometimes carries a whiff of disapproval about an overly indulgent author who expects readers to wade through dense writing that doesn't offer a payoff for the time spent.
Now "TL;DR" has spawned a new term for book lovers: DNF--"did not finish." This New York Times article explores the debate between completists--who insist that if you start a book, you should finish it--and readers who say life is too short to waste time on something you're not enjoying.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll note that I am a completist by nature. But as I grow older, and am increasingly aware of how many books I'll never get to, I'm becoming more and more sympathetic to the DNF perspective.
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