The Hoo Boy Book Club * Spring 2005

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

With all the rain lately, I have been doing a lot of reading, most history about the founding fathers (definitely interesting and informative given the politic tenor of the times we live in) and fiction.

 

I have not really found any interesting NEW fiction, so I went to the city and county libraries and have been doing searches on gay fiction I did not catch or read the first tine around. The best of these has been a booked from Random House that came out in 2002 called The Summer They Came

 

http://www.randomhouse.com/randomhouse/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0-375-75909-3

 

A few years back, several of us on here recommend other books, both fiction and non-fiction, that others on the site might enjoy. Any takers?

 

 

http://www.gaydar.co.uk/francodisantis

http://hometown.aol.com/francodisantis/myhomepage/profile.html

[Bilbo]

If you are into fantasy fiction - yes, I mean swords and sorcery - you really owe it to yourself to read the trilogy by Mercedes Lackey which is referred to, as a group, as The Last Herald Mage.

 

All of my gay books are packed right now. I'm getting ready to paint that bookcase. But I seem to remember that The Year They Came is by the same author as Uncle Max, which is a fun, though slight book along an Auntie Mame theme, sort of.

 

I'm going to actually be having some Book Nights here at the house. The first three we're going to be exploring a gay new age philosophy book called Two Flutes Singing.

[eastbayguy]

And now for something completely different

 

"Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach. Surely Mary Roach is one of the wittiest writers around. She takes a rather, ahem, dead subject and brings quite a bit of verve and fun to it. This book is a rather fast read, and a wealth of information about an aspect of life and death few of us ever confront. The book does not require "intestinal fortitude" to quote Jessica Mitford; There are really no disgusting or gross parts. There is only a modicum of discussion of maggots. Rather, the book summarizes quite a number of research applications involving deceased humans.

 

One of the next books on the EBG reading list is "Cod, A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World" by Mark Kurlansky.

 

--EBG

[OneFinger]

Great thread! I'm looking forward to the suggestions.

 

I'm currently reading Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. You may recall that his hand got caught under a boulder while hiking. He saved his own life by cutting off part of his arm and hiking out.

 

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743492811.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Chris Kenry

 

>But I seem to remember that The Year They

>Came is by the same author as Uncle Max, which is a fun,

>though slight book along an Auntie Mame theme, sort of.

 

Slight, indeed. Uncle Max is by the same author who wrote the recently released Casanova (which was his attempt at a "noir" book) and the book most readers on this site may be familiar with, Can't Buy Me Love, about escorts in Denver. All these books take place in Denver and all of them are among the slight, Harlequiness editions put out by Kensington.

 

The Year They Came was a Random House trade publication by, I believe, a first time author.

[Trixie]

Is this thread only about gay related books? If not, then I heartily recommend the tome I'm in the midst of right now, "Kafka on the Shore", by Haruki Murakami. His books have always been a confusing pleasure to me (I love reading them, but I never am quite sure that I understand what's going on. But then the characters never seem to be sure either, so maybe that's part of the experience,) and this latest novel of his is no exception. It doesn't quite seem as strong as his past masterpieces, "The Wind-up Bird Chronicles", and "Hard-Boiled Wonderland", but then again I'm only half-way through, and ev'ry other chapter seems to send the story in another direction. A great romp for those who like metaphysical funhouses,

but perhaps not for those who prefer a serious, orderly universe.

 

Trix

[Bilbo]

RE: Chris Kenry

 

Oops. But, then, beach reading season is upon us and slight books come into their own at such times. And thanks for reminding me about that one about the escorts, I did enjoy it, too!

Actually, of all the books I mentioned, looking back on it, the Mercedes Lackey is the deepest, I think. Lover dying, despair, recovery and renewal, mastery of one's art, etc. in an overall positive and surprisingly philosophical whole.

[BuckyXTC]

In the nonfiction realm, "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis is worthy of note. He has substantive criticism of both the left and right, and makes a plea for budgets and policies that are truly humane and in accord with the best of the Judeo-Christian tradition.