I have a condition where I want to like Alan Hollinghurst’s writing more than I actually do. The Line of Beauty was fine, but my opinion of it was helped by a BBC adaptation that smoothed out a lot of the areas I found problematic in the book itself–namely that there was something inaccessible about it. … More A Gay Multigenerational Saga: The Sparsholt Affair, by Alan Hollinghurst
Any gay man who recently saw Love, Simon in theaters can tell you how incredible it feels to see a teen romantic comedy with a gay protagonist after all these years, and how the experience is bittersweet because even though it feels like we’ve finally arrived, it’s still sad that these stories weren’t around for us … More Transgender Teen Romance is Here! If I Was Your Girl, by Meredith Russo: Book Review
Hope for the Future If I may get personal for a moment, this book was particularly meaningful for me because my husband and I have recently gotten licensed to be foster parents and we have been working on a placement with a transgender teenager. You can imagine, then, that Sarah McBride’s story of coming out … More Tomorrow Will Be Different: Sarah McBride and Transgender Activism
It’s rare that a book makes me laugh out loud AND cry. The Heart’s Invisible Furies did both. … More Coming of Age (and Coming Out) in a Changing Ireland: The Heart’s Invisible Furies, by John Boyne
“All must pay the debt of nature.” Annie Proulx’s work up to now has been many things, some of them seemingly contradictory: terse, blunt, sharp, distant, poignant, violent, humane, and more. With Barkskins she claims an entirely new term for her collection: sprawling. Clocking in at more than 700 pages, Barkskins begins with the stories of René … More Barkskins, by Annie Proulx: Book Review
“’Do people always fall in love with things they can’t have?’ ‘Always,’ Carol said, smiling, too.” The Price of Salt is alternately billed as a tale of forbidden love and a tale of obsession. Only one of those actually fits the novel. Because while it is true that Therese Belivet allows her life to be completely … More The Price of Salt (or Carol), by Patricia Highsmith: Book Review
When I first picked up Adam, I confess I was simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by its premise. You see, Adam has the audacious idea to take the standard rom-com premise where someone pretends to be someone/something they’re not, and throw in gender norms and sexuality as a twist. It all starts when 17 year-old Adam goes to … More Book Review: Adam, by Ariel Schrag
“A body can’t prosper if a person don’t know who they are.” The Good Lord Bird is devilish entertainment. It’s a heady ride through a tumultuous time in American history that somehow manages the mean trick of making you laugh even as it deals with heavyweight subject matter. Its unique perspective is largely thanks to … More Book Review: The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride
Supposedly Fun 