GLBT Book Reviews
New monthly book reviews are featured on the last page of the Valley Gay Press each month and on this web site. They can also be found at Amazon.com on the page dedicated to the book itself.
Reviews are written by VGP Editor Liz Bradbury, unless otherwise noted.
Want to have your GLBT book considered for review by this newspaper? Contact us: 610-432-5449 info@padiversity.org
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Scroll Down for All Reviews
or click on each title to go right
to its review:
** Angel Food and Devil Dogs by Liz Bradbury
** The Guessing Game by Ted Randler
** Displacements by Jean Rubin
** King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
** A Twist of Lime by Claudia McKay
** Rosemary & Thyme (video mystery series)
** The Tiger in the Attic:
Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English by Edith Milton
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** Gayellow Pages edited by Frances Green
** Psycho Kitties by Nicole Hollander
** Count Me Out by Farley Granger
** Is It A Date Or Just Coffee by Mo Brownsey
** Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
** Jayson: Best of the 80s and 90s by Jeff Krell
** I'm the One That I Want by Margaret Cho
** The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C.A. Tripp
** The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse:
A Nancy Clue and Cherry Aimless Mystery by Mabel Maney
** Summer Cruising by Dave Benbow
** Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
** The Complete Saki (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by H. H. Munro
** The Good Parts: Pure Lesbian Erotica by Nicole Foster
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April
2008 Valley Gay Press Book Review
Angel
Food and Devil Dogs
by Liz Bradbury
"ANGEL
FOOD AND DEVIL DOGS” IS
DELICIOUS!!!"
2008,
Boudica Publishing Inc., $14.95
FIVE STARS AND HIGH
PRAISE FOR LIZ BRADBURY’s Debut Lesbian
Mystery/Romance Angel Food and
Devil Dogs -- Read and become a part of this highly
stimulating, brilliantly written novel. You won’t be
disappointed!
When was the last time
you read a tightly plotted mystery...that actually had a
lesbian main character... who is pursuing and being pursued
by another lesbian character...for more than just the vague
mention of a relationship?
While Private Detective Maggie Gale is working on a case
with her younger sister, attorney Sara Martinez, Maggie is
called to Irwin College to investigate the suspicious death
of music professor Carl Rasmus. These two complex mysteries
each strike deep emotional chords in this surprisingly
artistic Private Eye.
As Maggie begins to encounter the cast of quirky,
well-drawn suspects; enter...Dr. Kathryn Anthony.
She’s drop-dead gorgeous, sexy,
smart...entrancing...a Muse-- Kathryn beckons, and Maggie
follows:
“She
faced me for what seemed like an age, but what was probably
a second. She took a breath, then she made a soft demand,
“Undress me.” That's something you'll be
remembering for the rest of your life, flashed through my
mind. I hadn't expected anything so specific. My legs
almost gave way. I reached for the top button of her shirt.
My hands were trembling. I undid two. She put her hand on
the back of my neck and pulled me toward her for a long
passionate kiss. Her lips were deliciously soft. She tasted
wonderful, like everything I'd ever wanted.”
The sexual
tension builds as the mysteries weave dangerously, keeping
you guessing, with Maggie and Kathryn caught right in the
middle.
If you are looking for sex, romance, and intrigue (and who
isn't) then you’ve come to the right place. Author
Liz Bradbury has infused her savvy protagonist, with
strength, humor, passion, intelligence and the awareness
that her life is missing something. The result? Maggie has
become one of my all-time favorite characters. I’m
hoping this series goes on for at least a dozen more
volumes.
-- MaryEllen
Elizabeth, Valley Gay Press Book Review
Want to purchase this book? Click here to go
to the Boudica Publishing Inc. web site. 20% of the net
profit of this book goes to GLBTA not-for-profit
advocacy and support
organizations.
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April 2008 Valley Gay Press Book Review
The Guessing Game
by Ted Randler
"Mystery For The Guys"
2002, Palari Publishing, $16.95
A vicious murder in a gay bar, no witnesses and hate graffiti in the victims blood on the wall gets the mystery started. An intriguing game of chat room seduction plays into the hands of a cyber serial killer. An opportunistic reporter interferes with the police and clashes with the gay community. Ex-copTommy Stone who never seems to finish anything is struggling to deal with the a southern mother, an ex-wife and his gay lover and gets entangled in solving the crime. The game ends with a surprising twist. Lots of bar scenes and cyber chatter. Good reading for the guys in the crowd. - Review by Patricia Sullivan
| Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network. |
March 2008 Valley Gay Press Book Review
Displacements
by Jean Rubin
Boudica Publishing Inc., 138 pages, $14.95
"The collected poems of 20th century woman writer Jean Rubin"
Loss, transfiguration and a sense of the absurd inform Displacements. Jean Rubin’s passionately intelligent poetry juxtaposes an ineffable, metaphysical scale against the small, often poignant details of an everyday world, and examines the paradox implicit in their co-existence with wonder, delight, and a wistful acknowledgment that it is beyond comprehension. An acute observer of city life, the behavior of children, and the steps involved in glazing a ham, Rubin extrapolates cosmic dimensions from triviality and juggles the large and the small with brio. Her voice can adapt from lyrical, to ruminative, to elegiac—but it remains always and brilliantly her own.
Edith Milton -- author of Tiger in the Attic
To purchase this book, click here to go to the Boudica Publishing Inc. web site.
If you purchase this book through this
PDN Link, Boudica Publishing will donate $2.00 to PA
Diversity Network.
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January/February 2008 Valley Gay Press Book Review
King & King
by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
"Open a dialog"
Like many fairytales of yore, this one deals with the current ruling monarch trying to marry off the next generation in order to pass along the thrown. In "King and King," the Queen wants her son the Prince to get married, whether he wants to or not. "Why, by the time I was your age, I'd been married twice already," she exclaims at him in exasperation.
She invites a series of princesses with a variety of diverse talents (opera singing, juggling etc.) to meet her son and commands him to pick one. Instead, he chooses the brother of one of the princesses and it's love at first sight. They marry and "everyone lives happily ever after." The post wedding kiss, is covered by a red heart.
The book is 32 pages, with very few words per page. It's illustrated in a cut-out collage style with bright colors and funny line drawings. According to editorial notes, its written at a 4 to 8-year-old reading level. This story presents a same-sex attraction and union in a sweet and child-like way. Its story line is direct and playful. And the out come is presented in a matter-of-fact way.
Featuring a same-sex relationship is one reason that anti-gay people find this book threatening, but the threat is more complicated than that. In this plot, the mother wants the son to conform to social norms and tradition. The son rebels and chooses love over the pressure of his family. And fairly quickly, the mother (and the rest of the Kingdom) comes around, and they live happily ever after. The fact that the relationship is accepted and people are happy about it is the real threat that far right, narrow-minded people fear.
This is the perfect book for supportive, tolerant families to use to be sure their young children know from the start that they will be accepted if they are gay or lesbian. All a parent has to do is read the book to their kid and then say at the end, "You know, if I were the Queen in this story I'd be happy with any person you wanted to marry, as long as she or he was nice and you loved each other."
We all know stories about people who wait years to tell their families they are gay, only to find out in the end their family already knew and was just waiting for the "confession" to offer their support. Why didn't the family just tell the kid they would support them right from the beginning? Why make a gay kid wonder if he or she will be loved or thrown out of the house (1 in 4 gay and transgender are thrown out by their parents)? Why don't parents make clear their love for their kids is unconditional and not homophobic? Usually because they didn't know how.
This is the perfect story to open a family discussion that ends with both -- "In our family we respect all different kinds of families," and, "I want you to know I'll always love and support you, no matter what." That's why "King & King" should be in every child's home and in every library.
Read more about this book, the local controversy around it and PDN's Library Project that is helping to place this book in area libraries... by clicking HERE.
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December
2007 Valley Gay Press Book
Review
Twist
of Lime: A Lynn Evans Mystery
by Claudia McKay
Where's the rest of it?
I
really wanted to like this book. It had potential - lesbian
mystery, warm sandy beaches, romance, intrigue... But it
didn't pay off. While the descriptions of the landscape in
Belize were fairly lush, the character development and
action seemed stunted and flat.
There's really no mystery for the reader to figure out, no
clues, just the solution revealed at the end. When main
character of the series Lynn Evans meets the sultry Ivette,
there's little tension and their ultimate affair is so
abbreviated it seems as though a prudish editor cut it out
and substituted the words, "They made love." In fact the
whole book seems cut down, maybe it was, at only 188 pages.
At least the characters don't suffer from low self-esteem
and internalized homophobia, like many characters in other
lesbian mystery stories of the last ten years. So good for
Claudia McKay on that point.
McKay has written other novels more recently, (she wrote
this in one 1997). I'd bet she could pull off a better
effort if she had better editorial help and less
restrictions (and if someone would let her use contractions
in her dialog, after all, that's the way people talk!).
Here's hoping.
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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November
2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
Rosemary & Thyme (video mystery series)
Starring Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris
Cozy Mysteries, Wonderful Gardens
I don’t usually review videos in this column, but the Rosemary and Thyme series, seen as an original serial on PBS, feels like the kind of escapist read you get from an English village style mystery.
The main characters, who are just good friends (but occasionally mistaken for more so) are two middle aged women who work together on creating and restoring the most beautifully filmed English and European gardens you could hope to see. Former policewoman, Laura Thyme (played by Pam Ferris) whose husband has just dumped her, and recently laid-off college professor Rosemary Boxer (played by Felicity Kendal) find and solve mysteries at every gardening job they take. The ‘not-too-complex’ plots are enhanced by the strong friendship that develops between the two women. That the women do real work, get dirty and look the way real women, do also adds to the story quality.
Three series of six episodes each are available. That ought to get you through the cold winter nights.
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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October
2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
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Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English
Compelling History
Readers are struck by the sometimes desperate need of the pre-adolescent Edith to “blend in,” especially her efforts to absorb the staid English personae of her adopted family. Milton’s memoir includes her post war journey to America and reunion with her brilliant, complicated mother, whose career as a doctor was not only terminated by anti-semitism in Germany, but cut off for years by the American medical establishment’s paranoid prejudice against trained Europeans.
Throughout, the author’s words draw a rich picture of the life she remembers living, and its fascinating contrast to her adult understanding of what was actually happening. Ultimately this is a story of a young person’s realization of her true self.
Edith Milton has an extraordinary ability to write with clarity about things she admits may be conjured by occasionally faulty memory. The fact that this is a personal account of recent history, makes this book something essential to read. The excellent writing makes it a treat.
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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August - September 2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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July 2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
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“Gayellow Pages”
edited by Frances Green
$16.95
Essential Guidebook To Anywhere You Want To Go
| The Gayellow Pages is
an GLBT information institution. It's been around
for nearly 35 years, giving GLBT people and their
friends ready access to information on what kind of
gay friendly services are available in every US
State and Canada. Easy to follow data is arranged
alphabetically by state and then city. Each
location includes a list of businesses and
organizations arranged alphabetically by type.
There are separate sections especially for women
only, ethnic/multicultural, and Canada. The company
also produces international and regional guides.
Sure, one could always search on-line and probably find even more specific GLBT data, but there's a portability and readability about the Gayellow Pages that makes it essential for any GLBT traveler, even if it's just for a day trip. Moving to a new community? Going away to college? Visiting the relatives for the Holidays? Grab the Gayellow Pages to tell you what's there and what's welcoming. Keep it in your glove compartment for easy access. And on the other side of the coin, any organization can list themselves for free in the Gayellow Pages by contacting the editor and then just filling out a form. 1000s of organizations, businesses and groups are listed. |
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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June
2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
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by Nicole Hollander
Sourcebooks
Paperback: $9.95
Laugh Out Loud
Like a pair of inseparable wily twin felines, Psycho Kitties's diverting collection of deceptively simple drawings is teamed with razor sharp, wickedly witty text.
If you know any cats personally, you'd know these are just the kinds of things they'd say. Example: Cartoon titled "Insincere Apologies of Cats" shows a smart alec kitty knocking off the wedding couple ornament, as he sits on top of the cake, saying, "I'm sorry, were you saving this cake for a special occasion?"
Nicole Hollander's work is definitely 5 star, my only criticism with this book is mechanical. The reproductions of the cartoons are a bit faded looking, as though the printer was running out of toner. Or maybe it's
just that the cartoon images are a little small. Maybe it was just the copy I received.
But there's a laugh on every page of Psycho Kitties, what could be a better recommendation than that? Get it and snicker.
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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“Count Me Out”
by Farley Granger with Robert Calhoun
St. Matin’s Press
Edition: Hardcover $26.95
Deep Dish
Farley Granger’s detailed and well written autobiography chronicles his journey from Hollywood to the New York stage by way of exciting European cities and early TV theatricals, but it’s the people he meets or parties with or sleeps with that make this book fascinating. And the honesty about his same-sex experiences, especially in the first half of the book is refreshing. Perhaps he’s more veiled in the second half because more of the characters are still alive.
Each of the detailed remembrances sets a scene that makes you feel as though you were there, if you know who the people are he’s talking about. Granger dishes on big stars like Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford and Danny Kaye, and flays the foolishness of studio mogul Sam Goldwyn. But when Granger talks about how interesting it was meeting Kay Medford and Maurice Evans when he was in the navy during the war, and when he mentions bumping into Stella Adler and how she was an important influence in his life, though I happen to know who those people are, I couldn’t help but wonder whether those younger than I and with less interest and awareness of the period, would be lost.
Well, so what...this is a book for middle-aged movie queens who live for 1950s Hollywood and New York theater dish. I certainly fit into that category.
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Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at
Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a
donation to PA Diversity Network.
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"Is It A Date Or Just Coffee?"
by Mo Brownsey
Edition: Hardcover
Price: $11.16
A Side Dish of Laughs
A step by step guide to "gay girls" dating, sex and romance. Just broke up or got dumped? You need this book, because good advise is better served with a side dish of laughs.
Mo Brownsey, long time comedian and lesbian studies college professor writes a humor filled book, packed with information lesbian and bisexual women really need. Speaking from vast experience, she starts right out with sage `after-breakup' advice: Take her number off the speed dial! Then deftly covers: baby dykes (yes, they're too young for you), on-line dating (why it frequently doesn't work), the L-word (love), polyamory (not for Mo) and a host of other topics.
Brownsey is the kind of friend who'd not only grab you by the lapels and exclaim, "Snap out of it," but she'd explain how over pizza until you felt better. If don't have a friend like that, get this book.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it or any item at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
March 2007 Valley Gay Press Book Review
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel
Edition: Hardcover
Price: 19.95
"Lesbian Literature at its Best and Most Creative"
Moving story, snort out loud humor, fascinating literary tie-ins, confidential honesty and excellent drawings that sweep you along like a flood swollen river. This amazing autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, well known lesbian cartoonist of "Dykes to watch Out For" fame, is so intensely compelling that you'll have to buy two copies, because you'll want to lend it to friends and they won't want to give it back. Bechdel's "flashback style" recounting of the story of her funeral director/ literate english teacher/ gay/ father's "accidental" death and moments from her past that unfold as she discovers and deciphers their true meanings will appeal to any reader, but will strike a resonate chord with GLBTA people that probably no other novel has ever come close to reaching. Don't miss this wonderful book.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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Jayson: Best of the 80s and 90s
by Jeff Krell
Edition: Paperback
Price: $9.95
"Gay Funnies"
Two cartoon anthologies by Jeff Krell, "Jayson, Best of the 80s" and "Jayson, Best of the 90s," have just come out for Christmas (2005). You may remember the Jayson series which started in the Philidelphia Gay News and was featured in Gay Comix and Meatmen.
Jeff Krell's drawings have the visual gesture of vintage "Archie," with the crispness of "Tin Tin." The stories that follow Jayson and his friends, Arena Stage and Robyn Ricketts through big city adventures in Philly, to Jayson's narrow-mided hometown "Farmville," to a promiscuous outer space stop over, amuse and engage. If you're looking for a "mature audience" stocking stuffer that's both naughty and nice, check out Jeff Krell's Jayson.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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I'm the One That I Want
by Margaret Cho
Edition: Paperback
Price: $11.66
"Deep, Hard, Moving...and Funny"
Margaret Cho's autobiography, a deeply personal and revealing journey through her life and career, draws you in and fascinates you. The book, written in 2001, candidly chronicles some of the most painful events imaginable. Anyone who has ever been discriminated against can relate. Cho, who is (for the most part) straight but remarkly and sincerely supportive and part of the queer community, felt the sting of anti-woman and anti-Asian prejudice from pre-school on and endured astonding "body-type" discrimination as well. She openly presents her pain, and her drug and alcohol abuse reaction to it, in a remarkably direct and frequently funny way. It's one of the few autobiographies ever that doesn't insist at the end that all the problems have been solved (autobiographers usually write that whether it's true or not.) Yet, there is a strength in Maraget Cho's words that makes the reader feel hope. "I'm the One That I Want."
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln
by C.A. Tripp
Edition: Hardcover
Price: $19.71
"Text Book for Queer Theory"
Most art, literature and history is studied from the straight, white, male perspective. If a famous man professed his undying devotion to a woman and slept with her for years, SWM academic theory would presume the couple was sexually involved and use that as proof of heterosexuality. C.A. Tripp simply looks at the facts of Lincoln's intimate life from the position of a queer theory scholar. Interpreting findings from a queer point of view takes this book beyond the genre of biography and helps us understand how all historical theory about any minority has been skewed to fit a mainstream mold, disregarding history as it most probably was.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse:
A Nancy Clue and Cherry Aimless Mystery
by Mabel Maney
Edition: Paperback
Price: $11.66
" Laugh Until You're Gay"
Here's what it would have been like if Carolyn Keene had written Nancy Drew stories set in a 1950's gay and lesbian world, where the all the unattractive people were far right heterosexual bigots and all the heroes were GLBT. Read this series of three hilarious books that match nurse Cherry Aimless with Nancy Clue, discovering mysteries in caves, convents and under the sheets, when you need to escape. The Hardy boys even make a flaming appearance in the third book. Funny, even if you haven't read the old series, but best if you have.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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Summer Cruising
by Dave Benbow
Edition: Paperback
Price: $10.17
"For Boys Only"
A series of hot, shirtless guys with perfect bodies cavort on an all-gay cruise ship touring the Mediterranean, while a serial killer lurks behind the scenes. Soap opera style romance weaves through the cast of characters, punctuated by graphic and often sticky sex scenes.
The simple plot reads like a James Bond thriller that requires little effort to guess the mysterious bad guy. Yet the characters, and there are quite a few of them, are easy to visualize, as are the lush and luxurious settings.
Summer Crusing is a book for gay men to put on their summer escapist reading list, or to read now, when the weather outside is frightful and readers long for a sexy vacation for the imagination.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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Tipping the Velvet
by Sarah Waters
Edition: Paperback
"This Novel Will Spoil You!"
Read Tipping The Velvet and your enjoyment of "straight" novels may be spoiled forever. Sarah Waters' captivating, literate story of a young lesbian's adventures finding love and herself in late Victorian England is fast paced, personal, historically interesting and very gay. This is the book you should have been able to read when you were a teenager. It not only affirms there are and always have been "people like us" but that the discovery and affirmation of our identities is essential. The story is full of fascinating scenes and characters, bawdy and romantic moments, and a storyline that draws you in and hold you to the last word. You may want to read Tipping the Velvet several times, but be careful when lending it to friends, you may never get it back.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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The Complete Saki (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
by H. H. Munro
Edition: Paperback
Price: $11.56
"A Fine Collection"
For a perfect summer read try picking up an old favorite... this collection of the work of Saki (real name: Hector Hugh Munro) includes over 130 short stories, three novels and three plays and sports an introduction by Noel Coward. Though written 100 years ago, this vast body of work is amazingly fresh and contemporary. Many of the stories are under four pages long, but they manage to paint amusing pictures of the privileged class as seen through the eyes of an obviously gay, brilliant and somewhat bored young man who uses a sharp knife to pry up the upper crust and expose what's beneath. Sample the stories - his work is available on line.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.
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The Good Parts: Pure Lesbian Erotica
by Nicole Foster
Edition: Paperback
Price: $11.21
"But...Are They Enough?"
This book of "pure lesbian erotica" (as it says on the cover) is a 250 page collection of 59 very very short story vignettes that just cover the sexual encounters between two (or more) women and nothing more. The idea of cutting out everything but the "good parts" may have seemed like a good plan, (it did to me me at first) but, though the excerpt-like contributions by 59 different authors are well written, most lack the sexual tension and emotional build up an actual story or novel would have. Every character always "gets lucky" within one page. No surprises, no hot dialog, no hints, no chance that the page might end without every character getting laid. This book makes you realize that the actual sex acts aren't what makes a good story really erotic.
Want to buy this book? If you buy it at Amazon through this web site, Amazon will make a donation to PA Diversity Network.