-
Book Review: Beheld, by TaraShea Nesbit
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm
“Beheld: A Novel” by TaraShea Nesbit
c.2020, Bloomsbury $26.00 / $34.99 Canada
275 pagesEither you are a Have… or you are a Have Not.
If you Have, you feel secure, knowing that what you need is close. If you are in the latter category, you may want for much and own very little. It’s not fair, it’s not equitable, and in the new book “Beheld” by TaraShea Nesbit, it gets worse.
-
Book Review: Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health, edited by Adrian Shanker, foreword by Rachel L. Levine, MD, afterword by Kate Kendell
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health,” edited by Adrian Shanker, foreword by Rachel L. Levine, MD, afterword by Kate Kendell
c.2020, PM Press $20.00 / higher in Canada 208 pagesYou woke up this morning feeling pretty good.
That was quite a relief: in these frightening, uncertain times, every day of wellness is a bonus – especially when you consider that healthcare for a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer patient can be different than what straight people require. Too bad healthcare providers don’t always know that. But read “Bodies and Barriers,” edited by Adrian Shanker, and you’ll feel more empowered to tell them.
-
Book Review: Under the Rainbow, by Celia Laskey
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Under the Rainbow” by Celia Laskey
c.2020, Riverhead Books
$27.00 / higher in Canada 288 pagesIt’s worth a try.
You never know what’s going to happen when a new endeavor begins. You only know what it’ll cost: time, money, effort, and a lot of patience for a great unknown. This experiment could end well, or it could end very badly but either way, as in the new novel “Under the Rainbow” by Celia Laskey, it’s worth a try.
It was a scientific fact: Big Burr, Kansas, was the most homophobic place in the U.S.
-
Book Review: Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, by Zora Neale Hurston
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookwormc.2020, Amistad $25.99 / $31.99 Canada 304 pages
Everybody has that place.
You know, that place where everyone knows you, they know what you want, and they get it for you before your coat’s half off. It’s where you can catch up on gossip and good news, where you take shelter and get sympathy. In “Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick” by Zora Neale Hurston, you also get a front seat.
-
Book Review: Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, by Zora Neale Hurston
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookwormc.2020, Amistad $25.99 / $31.99 Canada 304 pages
Everybody has that place.
You know, that place where everyone knows you, they know what you want, and they get it for you before your coat’s half off. It’s where you can catch up on gossip and good news, where you take shelter and get sympathy. In “Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick” by Zora Neale Hurston, you also get a front seat.
-
Book Review: Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes), by Lorna Landvik
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes)” by Lorna Landvik
c.2019, University of Minnesota Press
$25.95 / higher in Canada 306 pagesThey say you can’t take it with you.
The money you’ve amassed, the property you own, jewelry, art, and fancy cars won’t mean a thing once you’re dead and gone. No, you can’t take it with you, but in the new novel “Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes)” by Lorna Landvik, what’s been left behind?
If you asked Haze Evans how old she felt, she’d probably never say the truth (81), but not because of vanity. No, despite creaky knees and her status as the oldest employee at the Granite Creek Gazette, she preferred to focus on staying active, curious, and productive by writing a feature column several days a week.
-
Book Review: When Brooklyn Was Queer, by Hugh Ryan
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“When Brooklyn Was Queer” by Hugh Ryan
c.2019, St. Martin’s Press
$29.99 / $38.99 Canada 308 pagesYour city sure has changed.
Landmarks were destroyed, the skyline is different, and streets are shifted in a way that feels same-not-same. It’s like having dinner with a relative you met once, when you were nine: as in “When Brooklyn Was Queer” by Hugh Ryan, everything and nothing is familiar.
Once upon a time, Brooklyn was little more than farms and fields.
-
Book Review: Whiskey When We’re Dry, by John Larison
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Whiskey When We’re Dry” by John Larison
c.2018, Viking $28.00 / $35.00 CanadaIt was right here a minute ago.
You saw it, but now it’s gone and you have to find it. Beneath a newspaper, atop a shelf, under a blanket, wherever it is, it was just right here – and as in the new book “Whiskey When We’re Dry” by John Larison, you’d search years to have it back.
Jessilyn Harney never knew her mother.
She died in childbirth, leaving Jessilyn’s father to raise Jessilyn and her brother, Noah, who was five years older. Noah took care of Jessilyn when their father drank too much syrup. He was a good brother, making sure she was warm, dressed, and protected – until the year she turned thirteen and, as young men are wont to do, Noah had a fight with his father and he rode away.
-
Book Review: The Royal Art of Poison, by Eleanor Herman
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“The Royal Art of Poison” by Eleanor Herman
c.2018, St. Martin’s Press $27.99 / $36.50 CanadaIt must’ve been the salad.
You had three helpings of Aunt Rudy’s famous family reunion contribution and it sure tasted good. Until later that night and then… not so good for the rest of the weekend and into Monday. It must’ve been the salad because, as in The Royal Art of Poison, by Eleanor Herman, you spent awhile on the throne.
-
Book Review: The Boys of Fairy Town, by Jim Elledge
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“The Boys of Fairy Town” by Jim Elledge
c.2018, Chicago Review Press $29.99 / $39.99 Canada
290 pagesDates, times, and old dead guys.
When you were in school, that’s all history was to you: a list of years and names to memorize and then forget, twenty minutes after Finals Week. So maybe now it’s time to find a history book that’s relevant to you – a book like “The Boys of Fairy Town” by Jim Elledge.
-
Book Review: Tin Man: A Novel, by Sarah Winman
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezTin Man: A Novel, by Sarah Winman
c.2018, Putnam
$23.00 hardcover / $22.95 paperback CanadaThe picture reminds you of a thousand things.
You recall the day it was taken: the smell of the air, the background sounds, food and drink, laughter and the sense that this was forever. You’ve seen that photo many times throughout the years, but it never fails to remind you of the best of times. Or, as in the new book “Tin Man” by Sarah Winman, it may represent the worst.
-
Book Review: Beowulf for Cretins by Ann McMan, Reviewed by Velvet Lounger
The following review first appeared at the Lesbian Reading Room
Beowulf for Cretins, by Ann McMan
Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Bywater Books (June 26, 2018)Take one rather lost and lonely English professor and sit her next to a gorgeous, intellectual and amusing woman on a flight to San Francisco. Bring them back together for a madcap costume party that evening, and make both of them brave enough to step out of their comfort zones and “go there.” That’s the basic plot of Ann McMan’s wonderful short story “Falling from Grace” in her anthology “Sidecar,” which led to the idea of “Beowulf for Cretins.”
Don’t worry if you haven’t read “Sidecar” (although if not, why not?) as the slightly amended story is repeated as chapter one of the full-length version. And once Grace and Abbie go their separate ways the morning after the party, with no contact details, not even last names shared, then surely it will take an act of fate, or possibly an act of God, to make their paths cross a second time.
-
Book Review: Shapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezShapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis
c.2018, Basic Books $27.00 / $35.50 Canada
283 pagesChange, they say, is good.
It’s the opportunity for growth. It’s a chance to take a breath, reassess, reconfigure. It makes the landscape look fresh; it also muddies the waters. And yet, you bounce back and, as you’ll see in “Shapeshifters” by Gavin Francis, so does your body.