Ages ago (seriously, it was several years ago now) I posted about Shakespeare's Gay Boys. Technically, they're not Shakespeare's of course. They belong to Ancient Greek mythology. I'm talking about Achilles and Patroclus, in case you don't know. I just finished reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and WOW. There are books that come along once a decade or so that are so profoundly beautiful that you, the reader, can't help but be moved/impacted/bettered by reading them. This is one of those books. And with its addition to my personal version of that list, I can still count them on one hand. They are that rare.
The story is told entirely from Patroclus' point of view in the present tense (which if you know anything about this particular mythology will cause you to wonder how the author made that work--but trust me, she does). While the Trojan War is, of course, an inescapable part of the story, Miller begins with the child Patroclus and builds her world through him. Her prose is gorgeous. Everyone you meet in the story, from the heroes of myth, to the most minor players, to the sea goddess Thetis, reads as rich and real. I will be reading this book again and again, when I need something to keep me company and pull me out of our world for a while. When I need somewhere fantastical yet true to escape to.
Do yourself a favor and read The Song of Achilles. You'll only be sorry if you don't.
Showing posts with label Recommended Reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recommended Reads. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Friday, April 15, 2011
Weekend Reading: Ooku
If you did your civic duty early and have already filed your taxes, you might have a little free time this weekend. In which case, I highly recommend you check out Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga, the same manga creator who brought us Gerard and Jacques. Ooku is lush and beautifully drawn, and while its not yaoi/BL per say, the book features plenty of lovely men.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Talkin' about the X-factor...
In the midst of juggling a million-and-a-half things, I have rediscovered something this year: my love for comic books. I'm not talking about my general enthusiasm for the medium--I've been a fangirl since I started reading them in *GASP* 1993 and I've always loved my fave characters. But somewhere along the way, I stopped collecting issues in favor of the occasional wiki recap (HORROR OF HORRORS!) to keep me reasonably up-to-date with the Marvel or DC U. And then...it happened...
A few weeks ago, a long-time friend smacked me upside the head and said, 'What the hell's wrong with you? Do you know what you're missing??' She's a huge X-Factor fan, and with her enthusiastic encouragement, I hit my local comic shop on a personal quest to check this book out. First up, Peter David's writing the series, and if you don't know who he is, that's only because you haven't looked at your shelf of fantasy books and Star Trek novelizations in a while. The dude gets character's *right*, his dialog is tack sharp, and the artist he's paired with on the series is a kick-ass comic book chica. Oh, and did I mention that Shatterstar and Rictor are still very much a hot m/m item? Their relationship is so much fun to read about, and they're a big part of why I am not trolling around the comic shop every 1st Wednesday of the month for the latest issue.
I hiiiiiighly recommend you guys check this book out! There are graphic novels collecting individual issues on Amazon if you're not a mega-nerd like me and need the individual issues. Just sayin'.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Recommended Reads
Since I have absolutely nothing to talk about (have I mentioned how dull my life is right now thanks to the nasty weather?) I thought I would share a couple of recent reads that I enjoyed. One of the three isn't a gay romance, but we all need a little diversity sometimes, right?
After the Gulf Coast is battered by three tremendous hurricanes, a deadly virus breaks out, turning the infected into mindless, blood-thirsty zombies.
Within hours, the plague has spread throughout most of Texas and shows no signs of slowing down.
San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds himself in the middle of the outbreak, along with a few other survivors.
Eddie does his best to fight off the zombie horde and locate his wife and son, who he believes still are safe and haven’t been infected by the virus.
Johnny Rayne has had enough - enough of being at the top of the rock music industry for the last decade, enough of constant touring and recording. He wants something more -- just something very different. Moving to a farm in West Virginia, Johnny meets Sheriff Virgil Grissom on his first morning in the mountains.
The sheriff challenges Johnny in a multitude of ways - with overt machismo, disdain for Johnny's musician past, and all-around know-it-all-ness. The two men clash continually, and Johnny resists succumbing to the sheriff's brash charm until Grissom forces him to admit some very basic truths. One: Johnny's definitely attracted to men. Two: Johnny's definitely attracted to Grissom. And three: Johnny's definitely going to enjoy every moment of it.
Sequel to Vamp Camp
A hundred years after his turning, Mårten Larsson and his lover Oberon have taken the compassion and caring they found in Vamp Camp and created an empire that brings balance to vampire society around the world. Once two giddy young vamps, now they're the most formidable vampire hit squad in history: The Obscurati.
As the “Unseen Death,” the duo enforces vampire law. When a vampire breaks the rules anywhere in the world, or when the local vampire leaders can’t control a situation, that's when The Obscurati show up. Mårten and Oberon turbo-charge the action with the latest in anti-vamp firepower and more, all the while pushing their steamy relationship to the next level.
After the Gulf Coast is battered by three tremendous hurricanes, a deadly virus breaks out, turning the infected into mindless, blood-thirsty zombies.
Within hours, the plague has spread throughout most of Texas and shows no signs of slowing down.
San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds himself in the middle of the outbreak, along with a few other survivors.
Eddie does his best to fight off the zombie horde and locate his wife and son, who he believes still are safe and haven’t been infected by the virus.
Johnny Rayne has had enough - enough of being at the top of the rock music industry for the last decade, enough of constant touring and recording. He wants something more -- just something very different. Moving to a farm in West Virginia, Johnny meets Sheriff Virgil Grissom on his first morning in the mountains.
The sheriff challenges Johnny in a multitude of ways - with overt machismo, disdain for Johnny's musician past, and all-around know-it-all-ness. The two men clash continually, and Johnny resists succumbing to the sheriff's brash charm until Grissom forces him to admit some very basic truths. One: Johnny's definitely attracted to men. Two: Johnny's definitely attracted to Grissom. And three: Johnny's definitely going to enjoy every moment of it.
Sequel to Vamp Camp
A hundred years after his turning, Mårten Larsson and his lover Oberon have taken the compassion and caring they found in Vamp Camp and created an empire that brings balance to vampire society around the world. Once two giddy young vamps, now they're the most formidable vampire hit squad in history: The Obscurati.
As the “Unseen Death,” the duo enforces vampire law. When a vampire breaks the rules anywhere in the world, or when the local vampire leaders can’t control a situation, that's when The Obscurati show up. Mårten and Oberon turbo-charge the action with the latest in anti-vamp firepower and more, all the while pushing their steamy relationship to the next level.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Back to School Assignment
Ahh. Back-to-school time. I’m still catching up on some reading at the beach, but next Wednesday when my students come into my classroom they’ll have a quiz (I’m evil that way) and a form to fill out about their attititudes on reading and writing. One of the questions is about their favorite book. I fill out the form every year right along with them and while my answers about a lot of things change, my favorite book is always the same: The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Some people have a keeper shelf, some have a desert-island-keeper shelf. This book is on a shelf by itself, the throw-it-in-my-coffin-with-me shelf. (I know. It’s kind of Ancient Egyptian.) This is the book I want brought to the hospital if I’m stuck there. This is the book by my bedside so I can read it on those nights when I need a comfort read.
And what’s really funny is that it took me some time to pick it up, despite the recommendations of trusted fellow readers. Because like Marty and Maia were saying in their two previous blogs, there are formulas that just make people turn away. I just couldn’t wrap my head around this setting. Late forties? Circus family? So not for me. But one day I picked up The Catch Trap. Around the second page I became unconscious of the act of reading. The story simply unfolded in my head, and when I finished it a few hours later, I flipped right back to the beginning to start it all over again.
There’s a lot to get past before you pick it up. The back-cover blurb makes it kind of unpalatable. And I was a little concerned about the age difference between the two main characters: Tommy is fourteen and Mario is twenty-three when they meet. You’d think for me to praise a book this highly it would be steamy, but it’s not. The description of the sex is vaguer than an impressionist watercolor that got left in the rain. But the characters dug right into my brain and their hold hasn’t lessened even twenty years later. The story is absolute magic.
So what is it? Historical fiction? Gay fiction? Family drama? I don’t know. It’s a romance and it isn’t. It’s a coming of age story and it isn’t. It isn’t the best book ever written but it’s my favorite over a lifetime of voracious readership. It’s a part of my head now, and probably pieces of my writing are a breadcrumb trail right back to The Catch Trap.
MZB is gone, I’m sorry to say, but she left us more than one gay-positive story to read. I’m pretty sure The Catch Trap is out of print now, but you can find it at Alibris. I’d love to hear what other fans of our genre think of this classic.
Okay now, class. Let’s get to work.
Some people have a keeper shelf, some have a desert-island-keeper shelf. This book is on a shelf by itself, the throw-it-in-my-coffin-with-me shelf. (I know. It’s kind of Ancient Egyptian.) This is the book I want brought to the hospital if I’m stuck there. This is the book by my bedside so I can read it on those nights when I need a comfort read.
And what’s really funny is that it took me some time to pick it up, despite the recommendations of trusted fellow readers. Because like Marty and Maia were saying in their two previous blogs, there are formulas that just make people turn away. I just couldn’t wrap my head around this setting. Late forties? Circus family? So not for me. But one day I picked up The Catch Trap. Around the second page I became unconscious of the act of reading. The story simply unfolded in my head, and when I finished it a few hours later, I flipped right back to the beginning to start it all over again.
There’s a lot to get past before you pick it up. The back-cover blurb makes it kind of unpalatable. And I was a little concerned about the age difference between the two main characters: Tommy is fourteen and Mario is twenty-three when they meet. You’d think for me to praise a book this highly it would be steamy, but it’s not. The description of the sex is vaguer than an impressionist watercolor that got left in the rain. But the characters dug right into my brain and their hold hasn’t lessened even twenty years later. The story is absolute magic.
So what is it? Historical fiction? Gay fiction? Family drama? I don’t know. It’s a romance and it isn’t. It’s a coming of age story and it isn’t. It isn’t the best book ever written but it’s my favorite over a lifetime of voracious readership. It’s a part of my head now, and probably pieces of my writing are a breadcrumb trail right back to The Catch Trap.
MZB is gone, I’m sorry to say, but she left us more than one gay-positive story to read. I’m pretty sure The Catch Trap is out of print now, but you can find it at Alibris. I’d love to hear what other fans of our genre think of this classic.
Okay now, class. Let’s get to work.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Weekend Recs
Hellooooo, weekend! I hope everyone has some nice plans for the next couple of days, which might mean running around town to start looking at Halloween costumes for the kiddies. But don't forget to make some time for R&R, and hopefully that means enjoying a couple of good reads. :D
Does anyone have any good books they'd also like to recommend? :D
 | For yaoi (and yuri!) fans, Silapa Jarun is releasing a free newsletter on the 10th of each month with author interviews, book recs, and all that good stuff: http://1happyturtle.com/YAY/newsletter1.pdf |
 | "No Going Home" is one of my fave TA Chase books, and the print edition I ordered from Amazon got here yesterday. I seriously need some time to unwind this weekend, and I can't wait to curl up with the novel and a mug of hot tea to do just that. |
Does anyone have any good books they'd also like to recommend? :D
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
And One More Thing About Fall
“Maybe he could work around it. Maybe it was just deep-seated admiration. He was one hell of a ballplayer. Did all the little things right. Nobody in baseball made the pivot better on a double play. Whatever the case, there seemed to be only one explanation for what was going on. Randy was falling in love. And it wasn’t with his wife or with some bimbo he’d picked up on the road. It was with his second baseman." Peter Lefcourt
Baseball playoffs start today, which means that it’s time for my annual rereading of one of my favorite books, The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt. It’s apparently out of print, but here’s a link.
It’s a love story. A love story between two men, and a love story about baseball. The fondness the author has for both parts of his story is what makes it work so well for me. Every baseball fan I’ve encouraged (okay, make that “forced by incessant urging”) to read it has loved it. If you’re trying to convert someone to our beloved genre and that person is a baseball fan, here’s the book that could do it. And if the would-be reader is squeamish, you can assure him or her that all gay sex takes place behind closed doors. Best of all Lefcourt has a hurt-your-stomach-laughing-it’s-so-funny voice. There’s more than a little social satire involved here.
In the middle of a pennant race, heretofore heterosexual major league shortstop Randy Dreyfus falls in love with his second baseman. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.
The book was written in the nineties, but I don’t think professional sports have changed in respect to what would happen if a major name came out while he was playing. I might think we are long past ready for that to happen, but I can understand why it hasn’t.
If you love baseball and slash, come talk to me about it. And if you read The Dreyfus Affair, please let me know what you think. Or you could just tell me who you’re pulling for in the playoffs.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Some "Super Duper " reads
Back in July, I had the most awesome experience of attending the San Diego Comic Con for the first time. Anyone who's ever been to one knows it's THE place to celebrate geekdom in all it's glory, and I absolutely loved it. One of the highlights was getting to know some really cool artists and writers, and discovering new comics to fangirl over. Which leads me to two very special finds I learned about at Prism Comics' "Emerging LGBT Voices" panel: Pride High and So Super Duper.
 | Both titles are available in print and e-book through the creators' websites, and I hope some of y'all will check them out. "So Super Duper" is very sweet and funny, and if you're a comic fan like me who's pissed off at Marvel for killing off Northstar (again)--their only openly gay superhero who never once got some lovin'--Brian Anderson's take on relationships in a team of superheroes is a real treat. "Pride High" is also fantastic, with great characters and neat plot twists. The creator is such a good storyteller and his book is so much fun. |
So if you're in the mood for some good comics with an LGBT twist, pick up these books! :D Hmmm. Now I kinda feel like writing and drawing some gay superstuds of my own. Yeah, yeah, I know...like I don't already have enough on my plate. *g*
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Calorie-Free Dining
No, sadly, I did not come up with a way to erase the caloric consumption of the quesadilla I just had at our new Moe’s (where apparently they ordered their entire staff from Central Casting, requesting surly, non-verbal adolescents). What I’m talking about is eating in books.
In The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde--and if you haven’t read him yet, lucky you, you get to enjoy it for the first time, though there is an appalling lack of slash--the bookjumping heroine Thursday Next is spending a year in the Well, hiding out in an unpublished mystery novel. What troubles Thursday in the first chapter are the many strange absences in the fictional world, particularly the absence of breakfast. She comes to the conclusion that the lack is due to the fact that dinners, lunches, and afternoon teas spend more time advancing the plot.
As a non-fictional character, I find skipping breakfast far more unendurable than skipping any of the other more plot-filled meals. Some of my love for breakfast must have spilled over into my fictional world because in Joey and Aaron’s book (and there will be a title soon, I promise) there were a lot of breakfasts. They advanced the plot, whether it was by Joey seducing Aaron with syrup, Aaron using up the rest of Joey’s cereal milk for his coffee or one of the many other conflicts that sprang up over a breakfast plate.
Come to think of it, in my August 12 release Regularly Scheduled Life, there are a few plot-advancing breakfasts to be found. There's even a brunch, or as one of the characters calls it: “Gay Church.” I guess there’s quite a bit of my breakfast-loving soul bleeding into my fiction—-though none of my characters share my passion for Lucky Charms and Twinings Irish Breakfast tea.
Since one of my favorite aspects of reading and writing is the chance at a vicarious thrill (and not always the obvious one), I’m going to pay better attention and enjoy the calorie-free dining in the books I read. Even as a life-long vegetarian I can appreciate when characters chow down on a meat-laden sub or crisp plate of bacon. Details, especially sensory images, draw me into the story. I love a story when the characters appreciate the sensual pleasures of food without me having to actually cook it and then work it off at the gym.
For some people and characters making food is a way of saying “I love you.” Eating is something that everyone does, has to do in order to live, but when you share it, with a lover or a character, it definitely becomes something more.
Mary, the character Thursday is replacing in the unpublished mystery novel is astounded to learn that “Outlanders” actually have to eat to stay alive, and not just when the story calls for it. Thursday tells her “It’s one of the great pleasures in life.” I’d probably rank it behind reading m/m romance, but I have to agree.
For a peek at Sean and Kyle having some issues over breakfast, check out this Regularly Scheduled Life excerpt.
For the next prequel to Regularly Scheduled Life, follow this link.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of Kyle and Sean's romance in Regularly Scheduled Life. They made me cry, the bastards.
In The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde--and if you haven’t read him yet, lucky you, you get to enjoy it for the first time, though there is an appalling lack of slash--the bookjumping heroine Thursday Next is spending a year in the Well, hiding out in an unpublished mystery novel. What troubles Thursday in the first chapter are the many strange absences in the fictional world, particularly the absence of breakfast. She comes to the conclusion that the lack is due to the fact that dinners, lunches, and afternoon teas spend more time advancing the plot.
As a non-fictional character, I find skipping breakfast far more unendurable than skipping any of the other more plot-filled meals. Some of my love for breakfast must have spilled over into my fictional world because in Joey and Aaron’s book (and there will be a title soon, I promise) there were a lot of breakfasts. They advanced the plot, whether it was by Joey seducing Aaron with syrup, Aaron using up the rest of Joey’s cereal milk for his coffee or one of the many other conflicts that sprang up over a breakfast plate.
Come to think of it, in my August 12 release Regularly Scheduled Life, there are a few plot-advancing breakfasts to be found. There's even a brunch, or as one of the characters calls it: “Gay Church.” I guess there’s quite a bit of my breakfast-loving soul bleeding into my fiction—-though none of my characters share my passion for Lucky Charms and Twinings Irish Breakfast tea.
Since one of my favorite aspects of reading and writing is the chance at a vicarious thrill (and not always the obvious one), I’m going to pay better attention and enjoy the calorie-free dining in the books I read. Even as a life-long vegetarian I can appreciate when characters chow down on a meat-laden sub or crisp plate of bacon. Details, especially sensory images, draw me into the story. I love a story when the characters appreciate the sensual pleasures of food without me having to actually cook it and then work it off at the gym.
For some people and characters making food is a way of saying “I love you.” Eating is something that everyone does, has to do in order to live, but when you share it, with a lover or a character, it definitely becomes something more.
Mary, the character Thursday is replacing in the unpublished mystery novel is astounded to learn that “Outlanders” actually have to eat to stay alive, and not just when the story calls for it. Thursday tells her “It’s one of the great pleasures in life.” I’d probably rank it behind reading m/m romance, but I have to agree.
For a peek at Sean and Kyle having some issues over breakfast, check out this Regularly Scheduled Life excerpt.
For the next prequel to Regularly Scheduled Life, follow this link.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of Kyle and Sean's romance in Regularly Scheduled Life. They made me cry, the bastards.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
December's almost here...
So I'm wondering what one MM tale stood out for you this year. Got an ebook or print recommendation? Two or three? I want to hear what got you hot or maybe made you cry. What characters did you meet that you didn't want to part with once the book said The End.
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