Welcome to Midland

If Midland, Texas, sounds vaguely familiar, it's probably because that's where Baby Jessica was rescued from a well back in 1987--an event that CNN covered around the clock and was the subject of a TV movie. But thanks to Logen Cure, the town now has another claim to fame, albeit one its tourism bureau probably won't be promoting: Welcome to Midland, her new book of poetry about her queer coming of age in West Texas oil country. Here is the Texas Observer's review, which quotes a particularly pungent line: "'They say tomboy like bless her heart'--a Texas insult if ever there was one." 

A strangely de-gayed book review

I was really looking forward to reading the review in today's Washington Post of James Whiteside's Center Center: A Funny, Sexy, Sad Almost-Memoir of a Boy in Ballet. Sadly, while the reviewer (a former ballerina) clearly likes the book, she focuses almost solely on the American Ballet Theater principal dancer's reflections on his profession--to the exclusion of his queer identity. Indeed, apart from a single reference to his drag persona, and a passing allusion to his being "gender-subversive," the casual reader would have no clue that Whiteside is gay at all. 

To rectify that curious sin of omission, here are some articles that give a fuller picture, from Vanity Fair, Bustle and the New York Times.

Maurice 2.0?

One of the first novels our merry band discussed, way back in April 2001 (shortly after I joined), was E.M. Forster's Maurice. Much more recently (July 2020), we had a lively session with Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance, an adaptation of another Forster classic, Howard's End. And now we have William di Canzio's Alec, which New York Times reviewer Manuel Betancourt says "aims to both complete and complement Maurice by picking up Forster's characters and thrusting them into the muck-riddled trenches of the Great War." (My thanks to Octavio Roca for flagging that review for me.) Color me intrigued! 

More from Kaveh Akbar

Back in April, I posted an item about Kaveh Akbar, a gay Iranian-American writer who is currently poetry critic at The Nation. Washington Post critic Ron Charles devoted part of his most recent "Book Club" weekly newsletter (always entertaining, and worth checking out if you're already a Post subscriber), to Akbar's second collection, Pilgrim Bell, which he calls "a series of revelations." Judging by the poem Charles samples from it, "Despite My Efforts Even My Prayers Have Turned into Threats," he's right about that.  

A queer writer gone too soon...

It's just a coincidence, but our recent discussion of John Kennedy Toole (scroll down for that posting), came to mind when I read reviews of the just-published Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So, a Cambodian-American gay writer who died of a drug overdose last year at the age of 28. I've just ordered my copy of the book, but the buzz leads me to surmise that it could make a fine addition to our next reading list. Here are profiles of So and reviews of his books from Vulture, the New York Times, The Atlantic and the Washington Post.

RIP, Roberto Calasso

As longtime BookMen members know, a couple of years ago we agreed to begin discussing a non-LGBTQ selection once a quarter, usually in a third-Wednesday session. Our next one, which we'll discuss on Sept. 15, is The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso, a classicist who died last month at the age of 80. (A tip of the hat to Patrick Flynn for recommending it.) The following obituaries should give you insights into Calasso's life and career, and background on this particular book: The Guardian, the New York Times and the Washington Post. (There are, of course, many other tributes to him out there, but these will get you started.)

Was John Kennedy Toole gay?

This past Wednesday, we discussed I, John Kennedy Toole, by Kent Carroll and Jodee Blanco. While attendees did have some positive things to say about the book, which is billed as a "novelized true story" about Toole, the author of A Confederacy of Dunces, overall we found it disappointing. 

Speaking as the person who nominated the book last fall, I would note that my biggest disappointment was the authors' refusal even to address the perennial question of whether Toole was gay. It is, of course, true that there is no proof that he was, much less that he ever acted on it. But there is also plenty of reason to suspect he might have been a homosexual.

With that in mind, I did an online search and found several articles and reviews that argue in favor of the proposition. I won't list them individually here, but I found the top two results--articles from the Baltimore Sun and The Guardian--the most persuasive. 

OutWrite happens THIS weekend (Aug. 6-8)

For the 11th year--half of BookMen's existence--the DC Center is sponsoring the OutWrite Literary Festival this coming weekend (Aug. 6-8). DC Center has the full schedule (and I do mean full!) for the event, which again will be held entirely online this year. In addition, Metro Weekly and City Paper have published feature articles about the festival.