Hey, what a surprise, I read a lot last week!
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1. ‘The Tuxedo Society’ by Paul Rudnick, comic action novel starring a young NYC actor who’s recruited by a friend to join an undercover ops group of gay men. Very funny, action-packed, coming of age / finding yourself themes plus a whiff or two of romance. Would watch the hell out of a TV series based on this.
2. ‘The Golden Shoes’ by Nick Pollack and Zuraya Hamilton. Australia-set FM. POV character is a 43 yr old wedding videographer, formerly aspiring documentarian, recruited to film her college friend’s Brazilian samba team as they prepare for competition. Her love interest is the studio’s costume designer. LOTS of good stuff about dancing – the experience of it, the effects of it, and why/how people love it. A few style quibbles but mostly loved this, would happily re-read, would watch the hell out of a movie adaptation.
3. another stack of kid books for the local education support org.
4. ‘Broadway Musical Trivia Book’ by Katie Sison; I doubt I’ll retain much of what I didn’t already know and several chapters had format errors misaligning questions with answers, but I can’t regret being reminded of things I’ve loved seeing and things I’d like to see.
5. ‘John Wilder Gets Schooled’ by Sarah Honey & Lisa Henry, one of their Goose Run MMs featuring broke-ass young men in varying degrees of crisis. This one stars a new kindergarten teacher and the parent of one of his students and is mostly about shortages of time and money, plus bi-awakening, plus coping with the discovery that you want more (and may, amazingly, deserve more) despite years of being told you’re worthless. Some deep feels toward the end.
6. ‘Unbound’ by C.G. Macington. While the themes of book 5 are serious, the themes of this one are existential. MM contemporary dealing with politics and religion. The MCs are both “pre-law” students at a midwestern US university. One is out and proud, living in a sort of fraternity house with a clutch of other LGBTQ+ students of all genders; the other is the son of an elder in a homophobic church. This book involves past and present conversion therapy on the torture end of the spectrum, extreme family rejection, constitutional law discussions, and more. High conflict, high risk, forced proximity, impulsive self-outing with severe consequences, rescue, recovery. A very smart and very angry book, recommended but do pay attention to potential triggers.
7. [re-read] my own FM novel ‘Face the Music,’ which was basically my approach to the themes of ‘The Golden Shoes.’ (Hint: there’s a ton of dancing.)
8. ‘Favorite Son’ by Will Freshwater. I did read all of it but it was not the ’35 yr old chief of staff to a Senator flees his falling-apart life to reboot in Provincetown’ story I was hoping for. The thoroughly predictable black moment generated not ‘oh gee how will they fix this’ anxiety but ‘oh for fuck’s sake’ frustration.
9. ‘Colonization and the Wampanoag Story’ by Linda Coombs. Race to the Truth series, another illuminating and infuriating book. Coombs is a Wampanoag elder from Cape Cod and has woven history and commentary into a fictional depiction of a year in the life of the pre-colonial Wampanoag.
10. ‘Last First Kiss’ by Julian Winters. Atlanta-set MM feat. an up-and-coming event planner and his longtime crush. POV guy is struggling with his identity (eventually settles on gay demisexual, which by then the reader knows); his love interest is struggling with independence from rich and hypercritical parents. Their tentative feints at a relationship occur in the context of lead-up to a huge celebrity wedding. Well written and engaging.
11. ‘Death in Captivity’ by Michael Gilbert. A cracking good WWII suspenser drawn from the author’s own experiences existing in and escaping from an Italian POW camp.
12. [re-read] my own FM novel ‘Smooth,’ which also has a ton of dancing and follows the central couple from first meeting to fifth anniversary. I love these two characters and am working on bringing them back to the page via cameo in a new story.