It’s astonishing how good How We Fight For Our Lives is. Though the title implies a polemic, Saeed Jones’s latest book is oh, so much more than that. It is a lyrical memoir: an important book that will be read–and
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Edmund’s White’s The Unpunished Vice is a serendipitous journey through a lifetime of reading. It begins with a lyrical, almost mystical discovery:
I remember toddling into my mother’s room, where she was taking a perfumed bubble bath in the late
Edmund White’s The Unpunished Vice is a Bibliophile’s Delight. Read More »
This queer reader approached How to Survive a Plague hesitantly. Might it just be too difficult to return to that painful time: a time when so many friends were dying of AIDS? Well, perhaps the biggest surprise in David France’s
How to Survive a Plague is a Page-turner. Read More »
Fans of openly gay stand-up comedian, Bob Smith will be delighted with his new book, Treehab. It’s filled with humorous stories and brilliant one-liners. Nevertheless, there is a dark shadow hanging over these dozen essays, because Mr. Smith reveals
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Queer readers have waited a long, long time for the definitive Tennessee Williams biography. Mr. Williams took a stab at it himself with his Memoirs, published in 1975. But Memoirs, while a thoroughly entertaining read, was self-serving and
John Lahr’s Tennessee Williams Biography is Insightful and Disappointing. Read More »
Edmund White’s new book is a delicious read. More than just a memoir of his years living “inside the pearl” that is Paris, it is also a peripatetic journey through France, Britain and Morocco. Along the way, the reader will
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He gave the Beat Movement its name, witnessed its history from beginning to end and was an accomplished author in his own right, but you probably haven’t heard of him. Certainly this queer reader hadn’t heard of Herbert Huncke until
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Some of the finest non-fiction crime writing can be found in David McConnell’s new book, American Honor Killings. At it’s best, Mr. McConnell’s writing compares favorably to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer’s Executioner’s Song. It
David McConnell’s Honor Killings is a Remarkable Literary Achievement. Read More »
There’s a conceit to most biographies. The biographer does the research, interviews the surviving witnesses and from these often disparate accounts, hobbles together a narrative that bears the imprimatur of omniscience. Cynthia Carr’s new David Wojnarowicz biography is different. In
Cynthia Carr’s Ground-Breaking David Wojnarowicz Biography is Superb. Read More »
Let’s get this out of the way first: Christopher Bram’s, Eminent Outlaws is an important book. His well-written, intelligent history of gay (male) authors in America since World War Two is meticulously researched and will probably be referred to for
Christopher Bram’s Eminent Outlaws is Intelligent and Insightful. Read More »