The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
By Junot Díaz
It’s been 11 years since Junot Díaz’s critically acclaimed story collection, Drown, landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. The titular Oscar is a 300-pound-plus “lovesick ghetto nerd” with zero game (except for Dungeons
& Dragons) who cranks out pages of fantasy fiction with the hopes of becoming a Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is also the story of a multi-generational family curse that courses through the book, leaving troubles and tragedy in its wake. This was the most dynamic, entertaining, and achingly heartfelt novel I’ve read in a long [More]
Alexander the Fabulous: The Man Who Brought the World to its Knees by Michael Alvear with Vicky A. Schecter, Advocate Books
Here is a short fun read, giving the essentials on the life of Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian general who conquered the world in ancient times. Alvear and Schecter crack lots of jokes, and in between are careful to tell us all the things that most straight histories leave out, namely, the gay stuff. Books and movies about Alexander might mention his drinking buddy Hephaestion, but they will rarely tell you they were lovers, for instance.
The authors manage to get a fairly major thing wrong, however. They spend a good deal of time explaining the old man - young man love relationships so [More]
Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr
by New York Post TV writer Michael Starr
The longtime partner of Raymond Burr says he has not seen the new book out on the late actor but is planning on writing his own tome about his life with Burr.
Robert Benevides, 78, told the Bay Area Reporter that he is working with a writer to tell the story of his 33-year relationship with the TV legend.
[More]
The New Gay Teenager (Adolescent Lives)
by Ritch C. Savin-Williams
Boidyke. Stem. Down low. Trannyboy. In this lively and broadly researched book, Cornell University psychologist Savin-Williams reveals that the words gay teenagers use to describe their sexual preferences have changed radically over the past 30 years, and so have their attitudes towards same-sex relationships. In fact, many of them are reluctant to define their sexuality at all. “In some respects,” Savin-Williams explains, “these teenagers might relate better to their pre-labeled, pre-identified grandparents than they do with their gay-liberated parents or their gay-resigned older cousins.” “For them ‘gay’ carries too much baggage,” and apparently they get along just fine without it. Much of the volume is devoted to Savin-Williams’s detailed [More]
Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door
by David Kaufman
David Kaufman has now written the long-awaited, definitive biography of Doris Day. By telling Day’s incredible, previously untold story, Kaufman takes the reader to the epicenter of American popular culture- a roller-coaster saga, from the 1940s to the 1980s. While Day symbolized virtuous America to the rest of the world-especially in her heyday, the 1950s and early 1960s-both she and that era are still perceived as being far more innocent and carefree than they really were. Indeed, what makes Day’s story so richly fascinating is the fact that she was in many ways the opposite of her image as “the girl next door.” She was also a real-life Cinderella who regretted having gone to the ball and who found a series of princes who proved far less than charming. [More]
