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Book Review: Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, by Anita Hill
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, by Anita Hill
c.2021, Viking $30.00 / $40.00 Canada 352 pagesThe grab was savage.
You yelped because you weren’t expecting it. Because it shouldn’t have happened. It was rough enough to leave marks on your skin, little round marks like fingertips; for sure, it left marks on your self-confidence but complain, and it’ll all be denied. You know the truth, though, and when you read “Believing” by Anita Hill, you’ll know someone else does, too.
Twenty-five percent of American women today “experience intimate partner violence…” Thirty-three percent say they’ve endured harassment at work. The rate’s higher for women of color, highest in the LGBTQ community. Similar statistics were available in 1991 when Anita Hill testified before Congress about the harassment she’d said she’d experienced from then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, testimony that later contributed to Hill’s becoming one of the country’s leaders in the fight against sexual harassment and gender violence.
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Book Review: How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned About Love and LGBTQ Parenthood, by Trystan Reese
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned About Love and LGBTQ Parenthood, by Trystan Reese
c.2021, The Experiment
$24.95 / $32.95 Canada 216 pagesThere is no picket fence in front of your house.
There’s no singing milkman to bring your breakfast and the next door neighbor doesn’t coffee-klatsch with you every morning after your two-point-five kids go to school. There’s not, in fact, one 1962-normal thing about your home or your family but as in the new memoir, “How We Do Family” by Trystan Reese, what you’ve got is better.
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3 Book Reviews from Sue Katz: The Vanishing Self, Notes on a Scandal, and The Dream Lover
The following is reprinted with permission from Sue Katz: Consenting Adult.
By Sue Katz
3 Book Reviews
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
This recent novel became an instant best-seller and it is a compelling read indeed. Twin sisters grow up in a small Louisiana town predominated by light-skinned Black people. When the sisters strike out on their own to New Orleans, one sister “accidentally” passes for white and marries her white boss and has a blond daughter, while the other weds an abusive dark-skinned man and births a very dark girl. The divergence in their lives, in their fates, deprived of contact with each other, motors this story.
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Book Review: The Guncle, by Steven Rowley
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“The Guncle” by Steven Rowley
c.2021, Putnam $27.00 / $36.00 Canada 326 pagesWhat does a gay man who never wanted kids do when he suddenly has two of them?
The situation you’re facing isn’t one you wanted.
You had no wish for it; in fact, it’s a hundred percent the opposite. Not your circus, not your monkeys, as they say. So usually, you’d follow your instincts and run but this time, you surprise yourself by stepping up and taking ownership. Now it is your problem but, as in the new novel, “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley, that’s more than okay.
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Featured Book: ‘Palm Springs Noir’ Continues Series of Noir Anthologies from Akashic Books
I’m delighted to say my friend and fellow mystery author Michael Craft is among the authors featured in this newest anthology from Akashic Books. (You can listen to my podcast interview with Michael HERE.) Michael is one of the finest writers you’ll encounter, with a skill and delivery that make his name very fitting: a craftsman and a wordsmith whose writing you’ll want to savor. If you’re not familiar with his fiction, you can start now with Palm Springs Noir!
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Book Review: ¡Hola Papi! How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons, by John Paul Brammer
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
¡Hola Papi! How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons, by John Paul Brammer
c.2021, Simon & Schuster $26.00 / $35.00 Canada
224 pagesYour best friend definitely has an opinion.
You need advice and she offers an answer, though it might not be the one you seek. You may get sound counsel but at the wrong time, with sentiments directly opposing what you were thinking. And yet, you have to be grateful. As in the new book ¡Hola Papi!, by John Paul Brammer, the words come from the heart.
Growing up in a small Oklahoma town of Cache, John Paul Brammer knew nothing about being gay. He had little relationship experience, in fact, and he didn’t learn about hookup apps until he was a junior in college.
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Book Review: Two Dog Books for Summer Reading
Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sex“A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron
c.2021, Forge Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 288 pages“Dogwinks” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
c.2020, Howard Books / Atria $19.99 / $26.99 Canada 285 pagesYour pooch is a first-class mess maker.
But what are you gonna do? A clean house won’t love you, play ball, snuggle on the sofa, or take you for a walk. You can’t teach a clean house cool new tricks and it can’t teach you, either. So this summer, ignore the mess, and grab one of these great books about dogs…
If you’ve ever loved a pup who had an unknown past, you know how much she appreciates her new home. When Bella becomes lost in the wilderness and is rescued and adopted by Lucas and Olivia, she’s very relieved and happy. But in “A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog like Bella never forgets her past.
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Book Review: Two Dog Books for Summer Reading
Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sex“A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron
c.2021, Forge Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 288 pages“Dogwinks” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
c.2020, Howard Books / Atria $19.99 / $26.99 Canada 285 pagesYour pooch is a first-class mess maker.
But what are you gonna do? A clean house won’t love you, play ball, snuggle on the sofa, or take you for a walk. You can’t teach a clean house cool new tricks and it can’t teach you, either. So this summer, ignore the mess, and grab one of these great books about dogs…
If you’ve ever loved a pup who had an unknown past, you know how much she appreciates her new home. When Bella becomes lost in the wilderness and is rescued and adopted by Lucas and Olivia, she’s very relieved and happy. But in “A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog like Bella never forgets her past.
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Featured Book: Accidental Desperados, by Lee Lynch (Bold Strokes Books)
Regular readers of LGBTSr will be familiar with Lee Lynch’s monthly Amazon Trail column. Lee is an icon in lesbian literature, an inspiration and a friend. I’m delighted to share her newest book, Accidental Desperados, as our current Featured Book. If you’re new to Lee’s writing, you’re in for a treat. Sit back, get your bookmark ready, and dive in.
Accidental Desperados
By Lee Lynch
Release date: April 1, 2021
Publisher: Bold Strokes BooksMJ Beaudry, an angry, brilliant, abused runaway, is dumped in Rainbow Gap, Florida, and almost immediately discovers an aptitude for crime. The lesbian cop who catches her expects good-hearted lovers Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland to save the kid. Although Jaudon’s business has suffered a killing blow and she’s frantic to make it right, she was once a besieged gay kid herself and reaches out, only to find herself in cahoots with MJ.
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Book Review: Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore, by Patric Richardson with Karin B. Miller
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore” by Patric Richardson with Karin B. Miller
c.2021, Flatiron Books 25.99 / $34.99 Canada 185 pagesTomorrow’s outfit is on a chair over there.
That’s where it’s been since you last washed it. What you wore today came from a basket and off a hanger, the shirt needed ironing, there was a tiny stain on the pants but who noticed? and you just bought new socks, so there’s that. Time to do the wash? Yeah, but get a load of this: “Laundry Love” by Patric Richardson (with Karin B. Miller).
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Book Review: The Son of Mr. Suleman, by Eric Jerome Dickey
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“The Son of Mr. Suleman” by Eric Jerome Dickey
c.2021, Dutton $27.00 / $36.00 Canada 560 pagesThe sins of the father shall be visited upon the son.
That’s what’s said, that a son pay for his father’s misdeeds, but maybe the old man didn’t intend to leave a negative legacy. Maybe he tried his best, but something went wrong. Maybe, as in the new novel “The Son of Mr. Suleman” by Eric Jerome Dickey, Pops meant well.
Adjunct Professor Pi Suleman didn’t want to be at his employer’s event. He had better things to do, better places to be than a room at UAN, but his boss, the white woman who hired him, the wife of a powerful judge, demanded that he be there or else.
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Book Review: Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green
Listen for my upcoming summer book preview with Terri Schlichenmeyer coming in early April on the One Thing or Another Podcast. – Mark
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York” by Elon Green
c.2021, Celadon Books $27.00 / $36.50 Canada
257 pagesThere’s time for one last round.
One for the road, as they say. A tip for the barkeep, a final toast before you go, one more clink before you drink, and, as in the new book “Last Call” by Elon Green, be careful on your way out the door.
The roadside maintenance worker had been around awhile, long enough to know when something was unusual. It was May 1991, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the last trash bag he hefted seemed too heavy. When he poked the final one of eight bags, he saw freckles and called the State Police. He hadn’t touched anything in the bag, but he was ordered to have an AIDS test: the naked man inside was identified as Peter Stickney Anderson of Philadelphia, a banker and father who was gay.
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Book Review: Eleanor, by David Michaelis
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
“Eleanor” by David Michaelis
c.2020, Simon & Schuster
#35.00 / $47.00 Canada 698 pagesLife, as they say, is an open book.
When you’re born, someone else starts writing it for you, but it doesn’t take long for you to be your own author. Through the years, you’ll scribble ideas, compose thoughtfully, add chapters, and crumple pages. Your life’s book might be a series of quick notes, long essays, one-liners or, as in “Eleanor” by David Michaelis, you could build an epic story.
In today’s world, we might call Eleanor Roosevelt’s mother abusive: Anna Hall Roosevelt never had a kind word to say to her daughter, often mockingly calling little Eleanor “Granny.” It’s true that Eleanor wasn’t lithe and beautiful like her mother; she was awkward and stern, a Daddy’s girl for an often-absent, alcoholic father.