Queereaders discussion

Tell us what you are reading this month.

Just started The Woodcutter and it is pretty compelling, so far!

I re-read The Children of Men by PD James. It appears to be a totally different book since I first read it! Maybe when we hit 50 we should re-read all the books we loved when we were 25.

Just started I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Funny, over the top, tragic and a little bit frightening so far but hard to put down.

Aaron wrote: "Just started I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Funny, over the top, tragic and a little bit frightening so far but hard to put down."

I loved that book, Aaron- so beautiful and the resolution is so inevitable.

Sarah wrote: "I re-read The Children of Men by PD James. It appears to be a totally different book since I first read it! Maybe when we hit 50 we should re-read all the books we loved when we were 25."

I agree Sarah! I'm reading A Prayer for Owen Meany which I remember first trying to read when it was first published and I was 23. I couldn't get through it - not sure what I thought the reason was. But now I think it's one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read! And funny! Wow - what a difference 20 odd years make!

Same thing when I read "Catcher in the Rye" as a precocious 14 year old. I remember thinking it was boring. Read it again about 2 years ago and was blown away by it. It's as my Mother likes to quote: "Youth is wasted on the young."!

I just sat and read David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary from cover to cover. It was amazing. I would definitely recommend picking it up if you are a fan of books with an unusual structure. This one is set up like entries in a dictionary, each contributing to a sense of character and story like incredibly short vignettes. He builds in very few words what many authors take hundreds of pages to create...

Currently (and I'm ashamed to say this), I'm reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict because my mother foisted it on me. It's very "lite." Chick-lit. Not normally my thing, but at least it'll be a quick read.

The last LGBT book I read was last week - 85A by Kyle Thomas Smith. Some flaws, but overall pretty good.

I intend to review it for Amazon this weekend. Anyone else read it?

I am currently reading a modern, "literary" horror: Greg F. Gifune's Gardens of Night. The ride has been intriguing so far.

Then I am going to tackle The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

I hear the line of beauty is good, you have to let me know. I am still in the midst of The Woodcutter. It is long but suspenseful. It is about a man who is in prison for some horrible charges, but you get the feeling he might be innocent, and this psychiatrist who is working with him. He writes his story in segments and gives them to the psychiatrist, so you read those, and then he meets with her. According to the dust jacket, he might eventually go after the person who framed him. It is a long novel (over 500 pages) so it might take me a while.


I am also listening to A Beautiful Place to Die and I like it but it is moving more slowly. it is set in 1952 in South Africa and this police captain has died and there are a lot of political implications. The setting and atmosphere are really good, but there are many characters and it is not a fast moving plot, more of a measured investigation. But also very good.

i'm reading

Doug wrote: "I hear the line of beauty is good, you have to let me know..."

I read the 1st chapter lat night and thought, "this seems familiar." Then I recalled having recently seen the movie, which I liked.

Still reading The Woodcutter and it is still good, but it is over 500 pages long. And it is pretty hot out, so my extended reading time is shortened. I am about halfway through now, though.

I'm reading . Tim McGivney's put me in the mood for zombies.

Sergey wrote: "i'm reading "

How are you liking it so far, Sergey?

Kernos wrote: "I am currently reading a modern, "literary" horror: Greg F. Gifune's Gardens of Night. The ride has been intriguing so far.

Then I am going to tackle The Line of Beauty

I read and enjoyed them both very much.

currently reading . absolutely love it

I loved that book, Wyndslash. A lot of people hated it. It is marketed to teens but I think it's appeal lies more with older gay people who are music geeks.

i'm loving it, doug c:

That's all I needed to hear, Doug. I just added it to my "to read" shelf.

I'm reading Just started but so far....loving it!

Doug wrote: "I hear the line of beauty is good, you have to let me know..."

I am not quite finished and have not reached the denouement, but I am quite enjoying this novel. It is brilliantly written, and I keep thinking of Brideshead Revisited while reading. I think it the prose and the reflective parts as well as living with the British upper class. There are some things that bother me (view spoiler)[The coke addiction for one (hide spoiler)], but otherwise it's like looking in a mirror for me.

I may have to try that one, Kernos. I have this huge pile I am working through, many for a work project, so we shall see how that goes.... maybe by December!

Now I want to read My Most Excellent Year again!!!!

I don't see a new one from him... that one was 2008.

i am currently reading : & I am not very far into the first one yet, but it is really good so far.

I'm currently reading Prime . It's about two gay chefs who open a restaurant in New Orleans. It's not Poppy Z Brite's usual horror at all! Totally different mood than her earlier works. Good so far, and I highly recommend it!

Nancy wrote: "Sergey wrote: "i'm reading "

How are you liking it so far, Sergey?"

I read these types books for suffering, glutton for punishment of remembrance of things past, to find answers perhaps (that is foolishness on my part). I tell myself to stop, they always hit too close to home. It was ironic that in my email this morning a quote by Plato was delivered via goodreads that said: “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle”; it illuminated the boy’s experience.

As I finish this book, reading it rather slowly, indulging in it, wallowing almost in the chasm of darkness, I think how, from the beginning, it is nothing special, just an accepted outcome of the time; then the horrors of concentration life hit him hard. At one point he says that the camp was made for him, it was waiting just for him, for this moment. That is hard for me to reconcile – that acceptance that you deserve this horror because you’re not human, not even an animal, a ‘non-being’. That is the biggest struggle I have with the book thus far.

I'm reading The High Lord at the moment. Just shy of halfway through and it's good.

I started Oryx and Crake last nite and got about 75 pages into it. I am liking this book. It's the 1st Atwood book I've read which means another author to get to know.

You won't want to miss The Handmaid's Tale.

@kim: I've been meaning to read that too but it's a series apparently and i don't know where to start xP

Wyndslash wrote: "@kim: I've been meaning to read that too but it's a series apparently and i don't know where to start xP"

If I'm not mistaken, I think the first one is Liquor. They are great reads!

thanks :D i'll put it on my TBR list~

but i think the author released a book of the two stories that bookend the series

finished Fatelessness this morning; purposely left unrated. started on , which i borrowed from a friend's bookshelf (unbeknownst to her).

I am almost done with the Woodcutter.. almost ... one hundred pages to go....

Nancy wrote: "You won't want to miss The Handmaid's Tale."

There's a sequel to Oryx and then on to Handmaid.

There was a margaret atwood book I liked The Blind Assassin. I know I have read more.. I do like her.

I just started Before I Go to Sleepand all I can say is.. what a beginning!

I recently saw a biographical movie about Isherwood, Christopher & His Kind which was quite good, and am waiting for the novel to arrive. I was reading about those who influenced him, one being John Henry Mackay and am now reading his novel The Hustler (Der Puppenjunge or Puppet Boy, the original title), 1st published in 1926 about the teen hustling scene in pre-Nazi Berlin. It's been quite good.

I just finished reading Jonathan Trigell's Boy A, which kind of chewed up my heart and spit it out. I'm not quite ready to move on to the next book yet.

I just finished reading The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed. Absolutely heart-wrenching...

not in the mood for heavy anything right now; just finished re-reading P.S. Your Cat is Dead by Kirkwood. I remembered the humor and quirkiness as a 20-something, but didn't remember the dialogue being quite as graphic. It must have raised some eyebrows when it came out but is tame by today's standards. I found it totally enjoyable.

HOLY COW was Before I Go to Sleep Good. I read almost all of it in one day. I could not put the thing down until I knew what was going on!

Steven wrote: "not in the mood for heavy anything right now; just finished re-reading P.S. Your Cat is Dead by Kirkwood. I remembered the humor and quirkiness as a 20-something, but didn't remember the dialogue b..."

I was also in my 20's when I read this. Kirkwood was one of my favorite writers at the time, having been introduced to him in my Modern Novel class in high school.

Doug wrote: "HOLY COW was Before I Go to Sleep Good. I read almost all of it in one day. I could not put the thing down until I knew what was going on!"

I'll have to check it out.

I just read Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill which I managed to do in a day, couldn't seem to put it down. Now I'm reading The Passage by Justin Cronin which has taken a while to get going, and I don't usually dig the whole 'vampire' thing but I've been reassured it's not the typical vampire story, and I'm totally sucked in so far!

Yes, Nancy, Kirkwood seems to be all but forgotten now but was one of a handful of writers who you just knew was gay without his being blatant about it. There was the sensibility, something about the voice of his protagonist(s) that you could relate to. I did not even know what the word "gay" meant as a kid in the Midwest, but I sure managed to find books by gay authors, most of whom were more closeted then. Kirkwood wrote "gay" before Stonewall and gay liberation. As a teen, I connected with the writing of John Rechy, Patricia Nell Warren, and Rita Mae Brown, among others. It all spoke to me in an "A-ha, there is is!" way to a kid in such unenlightened, oppressive times for gays. These courageous writers should be honored for writing before the dawn of gay lib. Little did I know I would one day write my own novel, My Strange Little Oasis, influenced by all these brave and ground-breaking writers.

Steve, I agree.. I am not into the vampire thing and I really enjoyed the Passage. It's different.

I am reading Until Thy Wrath Be Pastand also listening to A Death in Summer, both by authors I like... it has been a big mysterious summer.

I am not reading anything that might rip my heart out. Mostly mysterious. Some of them can be rough, but the ones so far have been good. I don't like emotional trauma in this heat!

Doug, it was a friend that said I would enjoy it and when I saw the word vampire I thought eerrgh, here we go... I've just hit over half way thru it and I have to say so far I'm pleasantly surprised! It's another one of those books that seems to have totally engrossed me, I did think it was a little slow to start but figured it would all be relevant somewhere down the line and it's turning out to be the case. Eager to finish it now and see how it ends!

I have to be honest, I feel like I've been a bit ignorant with my reading in the past, mainly stuck to the bigger names of the Horror genre just because it was all I knew of. I don't read horror for the gore side of things, rather the intriguing/mysterious side of things so I'm similar to you in that respect! That's kinda why I ended up stumbling across this site, looking for recommendations and to expand my knowledge a bit. There are only so many Stephen King "oh, it was aliens" endings I can handle before I feel a lil cheated lol