Book picks similar to
A Field Guide to Gay & Lesbian Chicago by Kathie Bergquist
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Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
Evan Wolfson - 2004
It is the work of one of the most influential attorneys in America, who has dedicated his life to the protection of individuals' rights and our Constitution's commitment to equal justice under the law. Above all, it is a clear, straightforward book that brings into sharp focus the very human significance of the right to marry in America—not just for some couples, but for all. Why is the word marriage so important? Will marriage for same-sex couples hurt the "sanctity" of the institution? How can people of different faiths reconcile their beliefs with the idea of marriage for same-sex couples? How will allowing gay couples to marry affect children? In this quietly powerful volume, the most authoritative and fairly articulated book on the subject, Wolfson demonstrates why the right to marry is important—indeed necessary—for all couples and for America's promise of equality.
Cruise Control: Understanding Sex Addiction in Gay Men
Robert Weiss - 2005
A timely and important contribution to the body of recovery literature, Cruise Control provides understanding, empathy and encouragement to gay men seeking healthy sexual expression.
Landing
Emma Donoghue - 2007
Síle is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world. Jude is a twenty-five-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude's and Síle's worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit. This sparkling, lively story explores age-old questions: Does where you live matter more than who you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be a fool to do so?
A Call Away
K.C. Richardson - 2018
She has questions about her grandparents that she hopes to find the answers to while preparing the farm to sell. Abigail Price, a neighbor of Syd’s grandmother, has lived on her grandmother’s farm in Iowa for most of her life, leaving only to promote her latest novel. In helping Syd find the answers she’s looking for, they develop a mutual attraction and deeper feelings for each other.Syd has to return to her life in Chicago, but will Abby stay in Iowa, or will she give the big city, and love, a chance?Cover Artist: Sheri HalalGenres: Contemporary / Romance
Nature's Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire
Jill Liddington - 2003
Betrayed once again by another woman’s marriage plans, she knew her romantic youth was over. So many of her female friends had married and settled. Anne cast around forlornly for the life-companion she had so long sought. She held melancholy spirits at bay by reading new geology and new gardening books in Shibden’s well-stocked library.
Then a chance re-acquaintance with neighbouring heiress Ann Walker changed all that. Anne Lister is best known to us as a lesbian diarist. Nature’s Domain tracks her intense courtship of Ann Walker, vividly and candidly recorded in Anne’s daily journals - and partly written in her own secret code. This influential Anne Lister book also documents how she began redesigning the Shibden landscape and playing a powerful new role in the local political tumult after the passing of the great Reform Bill. This dramatic story, hitherto unknown and never before unpublished, unfolds to New Year’s Eve 1832. It records how Anne Lister’s indomitable will enabled her to mould nature to her own powerful desires. “Nature’s Domain gives a compelling overview of a key time in Anne Lister’s remarkable life. Jill Liddington guides us knowledgeably through the diaries of 1832, offering crucial insight into Anne’s private and candour observations about love, sex, money and politics.” Laura Johansen, Cultural Destinations Manager, Halifax. Jill Liddington is co-author of One Hand Tied Behind Us (1978) which became a suffrage classic. She is author of Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax 1791-1840 (1994) and of Female Fortune: the Anne Lister diaries 1833-36 (1998). She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, and lives in Mytholmroyd near Halifax. Sally Wainwright’s BBC1 drama series, Gentleman Jack was inspired by Female Fortune and Nature’s Domain
There's A Possibility
Lou J. Bard - 2018
The only problem? Penelope is straight. Penelope Bennett has been picking up the pieces of Diana's failed and flawed flings since high school and wants for her best friend to find happiness; but is certain that is not with her. A two-month long overseas work excursion puts twenty-four years of friendship to the test when Diana returns home with more than just a new cultural experience and Penelope must decide once and for all if there's a possibility for more between them.
The Keeper's Daughter
Susan X. Meagher - 2019
Even the best job can slowly drain your battery. When Gillian Lindsay realizes it’s time for a recharge, she impetuously decides to visit Scotland. Knowing nothing about the country, she schedules a tour of Edinburgh Castle for the day she arrives, just to get the lay of the land. After spending the afternoon with Torie Gunn, her very able tour guide, Gillian proposes hiring her for a week-long trip across the country. Torie’s astonished. Gillian has done no research, and has no plans, placidly asking Torie to come up with an itinerary. That seems like the ideal way to create an unsatisfied customer. But Gillian certainly seems like a very easygoing person, and earning a week’s pay merely talking sounds like a dream. Torie jumps in, hoping she can satisfy Gillian’s desires. Over the course of their trip, other, more romantic desires spring to life. Will they be satisfied too?
Texas Blues
Ashley Quinn - 2016
Trying her best to hold it together in Chicago, she is battling both the effects of her mother’s death and the betrayal of her ex-girlfriend. Opting to throw herself into work and the gym, she at first ignores an invitation from her largely absentee father to take some time off at his estate in Texas. He may be the Chairperson of Foster Oil & Gas, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was never part of her life. Besides, she’s up for a big promotion and sees it as the solution away from her one-way track into deep depression. In many ways, Natalie Silva is the complete opposite of London. Where London is pale, Natalie is sun-kissed. In that dark space deep down where London is filled with regrets and bitterness, Natalie radiates warm light. As a Texas native and sort-of Southern belle, Natalie is compassionate, kind and raised with a healthy dose of Southern hospitality. She’s followed her passion for baking throughout her adult life and it’s led her to being a co-owner of Mission Bakery – A popular bakery and food truck she manages with her lesbian aunts and the occasional help from her best friend’s precocious daughter. After a years-old heartbreak, the one lesson she has taken through her life is to never fall for an outsider. You know the type – The mysterious, attractive out-of-towners who offer equal promise of passion and complications. London and Natalie are less than impressed with each other upon their first meeting. But fate and Texas have a very different and much more sensual plan for these two polar opposite women. In the sultry-hot summer heat, they will learn just as much about themselves and their lives as they will about each other…And it might just be everything they want.
Yellow
Lena Nottingham - 2015
Of course, who could blame her? Paisley had been the one who read Shiloh's private texts in front of the whole cafeteria and forced her out of the closet. When Shiloh left for New York with her three best friends, she thought she had escaped Paisley. The only problem is, Paisley is back. Shiloh's sworn enemy shows up on their doorstep. But she's different. Completely different. Not the kind of 'different' you'd expect, either.
Woman in the Making
Rory O'Neill - 2014
In a small town in the west of Ireland, a beautiful baby boy is born. He enjoys an idyllic country childhood: privileged, carefree, surrounded by love - and pet sheep.Eleven years later, the Pope visits Ireland, and things will never be the same again. At the Pontiff's mass in Knock, the little boy has an epiphany that will set him on the road to become the biggest, boldest, and most opinionated drag queen Ireland has ever known.This is the story of Rory O'Neill's journey from the fields to becoming Panti Bliss, the voice of a brave new nation embracing diversity, all the colours of the rainbow and, most of all, a glamorous attitude.It's also the story of a misfit who turned his difference into a triumphant art form; of coming to terms with HIV; of political activism; and of 'Pantigate', and the speech that touched a million lives.Welcome to the world of Panti - adored, fun drunk aunt to the world - and her creator Rory, in their own inimitable words.
Winters Solace
Magnolia Robbins - 2017
A beautiful California beach house. The love of her life. But her world crumbled beneath her feet the moment she found her best friend in bed with her fiancé.Desperate to escape her harsh new realities, Katlynn flees to her Massachusetts hometown of Wellesley, to spend Christmas at her sister's cottage. Finding a new love was the last thing on her agenda, but when Katlynn reconnects with an old friend, everything she thought she knew about herself and her future is called into question.Iris' life changed the minute her mother got sick. With her quiet, cozy world in Wellesley suddenly turned upside-down, there's no room for more complications -- especially not the resurgence of a college crush she thought she'd put out of her mind long ago. But when she finds herself spending the holidays next door to her old classmate Katlynn, Iris can't ignore the chemistry between them.As the two women navigate their separate heartaches, will they crack under the pressures of life around them? Or can their new bond save them both?
A steamy contemporary lesbian romance novella with a satisfying HEA ending you’ll love!
The Perfect Blend
Teresa Purkis - 2021
A heart warming, slow burn, late in life, friends to lovers story.Georgina owns an independent coffeehouse. Her co-owner, ex lover and sometime friend with benefits, has recently died in a car accident. Grieving, and trying to keep the business going, she finds out the half share has been willed to a complete stranger.Catherine has flitted from job to job, always searching for an important missing piece in her life. Dumped by her boyfriend, jobless, single, penniless and soon to be homeless, Catherine receives a letter which could solve all her problems.Georgina has said she would never again date a straight woman. So why is Catherine continually invading her thoughts? Catherine knows she isn’t gay. So why is she feeling something more than friendship towards Georgina? Will Georgina let her past control her future? Will Catherine acknowledge a future different to her past?Set in a coffeehouse on a busy, bustling main thoroughfare into Bristol. The Perfect Blend introduces us to the owners and characters who frequent the establishment.
Beautiful Inez
Bart Schneider - 2005
On the surface, she is a woman with an enviable life. But since the birth of her second child, Inez has been plagued by a depression that’s been deepened by her husband’s philandering. Now, at forty, the violinist is obsessed with thoughts of suicide. Sylvia Bran, a waitress and music store pianist, also has an obsession. Enraptured by the beautiful violinist, Sylvia contrives a way to get to know Inez. At once seductive and solicitous, Sylvia awakens Inez from the suffocating grip of her career, the demands of motherhood, and the tensions of her unhappy marriage. The two women become lovers, embarking on a dance of passion and betrayal that soon spins out of control.A novel of risk, passion, and surrender, Beautiful Inez is alive with the music that draws Inez and Sylvia together. Set against the vivid backdrop of San Francisco in the early 1960s, it is an unexpected journey into the lives of two masterfully drawn, unforgettable women. Includes a new essay and a Q + A with the author.