Unabridgedbookstore’s Blog

In honor, or Honour as the Brits say, of Gay Pride 2009 and the 40th anniversary of Stonewall here are some delightful newish gay titles that you should be reading. Maybe not this weekend because who has time for reading a book when there are so many other things going on but soon afterward. After the headache goes away.

Here are three that you should keep in mind … among others.

SWISH: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner

Robert had this to say: “Dang, I thought I was pretty darn gay: show tunes, no interest in sports, oh, and a sexual interest in men, but Derfner clearly has me out-ranked, and these hilarious, compulsively-readable essays place him immediately on the shellf with the best of Sedaris, Burroughs, Dan Savage,  and their fab ilk.”

SALVATION ARMY by Abdellah Taia

Ed highly recommends: “Salvation Army is a short, but compelling, autobiographical novel by Moroccan Abdellah Taia, told very powerfully and effectively in the first person. Sensually and sexually evocative vignettes depict an uncertain journey of sexual and cultural self-discovery embodying the complex hopes and fears of a gay Moroccan ex-patriot. “

LIGHT FELL by Evan Fallenberg

Ed loved: “Light Fell takes place at the dangerous intersection of homosexuality and orthodox religion – an Israeli man leaves his family for another man (a rabbi, no less!) and now, 20 years later, is about to reunite with his five grown sons on his 50th birthday. Author Fallenberg does a good job humanizing what I found to be an unlikable main character (and his equally unlikable children) while exploring the family dynamics of “gay”, as well as the many taboos and hypocrises demanded by organized religion, and the consequent self-loathing and narrow-mindedness it engenders.”