Book picks similar to
My Own Private Idaho by Gus Van Sant
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Girl Walking Backwards
Bett Williams - 1998
She lives in Southern California, though, which is making that difficult. Her mother has fallen victim to the pseudo-New Age culture and insists on dragging her to consciousness-raising workshops and hypnotists. As if this weren't difficult enough, Skye falls in love with Jessica, a troubled gothic punk girl who cuts herself regularly with sharp objects. When she finds her boyfriend having sex with Jessica in a bathroom stall at a rave, her romantic illusions collapse and she has to face the fact that she's been running away from her mother's insanity. Right when things look their worst though, Skye is helped by Mol, a pagan who becomes her true friend, and Lorri, a graceful volelyball player with whom she finds real love. From them she learns how to feel authentic emotions in a culture of poseurs and New Age charlatans. In this anti-coming-of-age novel, where growing up is irrelevant, this is the best gift of all.
Summer Fate
Emma Nichols - 2019
At least she did until a moment of indiscretion threatens to destroy her career. With everything in London at stake and her fate in the Board's hands, she escapes to her Aunt's house in the Lake District - the perfect place to hide from her secrets and to get some much-needed peace and quiet. But Duckton-by-Dale is nothing like she remembered and she certainly didn't expect to be attracted to her new neighbour, Harriet. But then she also didn't expect her world to be turned upside down by the quirky ensemble of villagers who plot to give love a helping hand. What could possibly go wrong? Laugh out loud as you immerse yourself in the antics of the Duckton-by-Dale villagers and watch Harriet & Grace’s romance blossom... Emma Nichols' lesbian romcom is the perfect summer read! Emma Nichols is the author of Summer 2018 No.1 Bestselling Lesbian Romance 'Ariana' and Summer 2017 No.1 Bestselling Lesbian Romance 'Finding You'.
The Last Exit to Normal
Michael Harmon - 2008
But he never thinks he’ll end up yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with his dad and Edward, The Boyfriend. As if it’s not painful enough living in a hick town with spiked hair, a skateboard habit, and two dads, he soon realizes something’s not quite right with Billy, the boy next door. He’s hiding a secret about his family, and Ben is determined to uncover it and set things right. In an authentic, unaffected, and mordantly funny voice, Michael Harmon tells the wrenching story of an uprooted and uncomfortable teenaged guy trying to fix the lives around him–while figuring out his own.From the Hardcover edition.
In Mike We Trust
P.E. Ryan - 2009
He wanted it. He craved it. He could barely remember what it was. When Garth's uncle comes to visit, he's like a breath of very needed fresh air. Mike is laid-back and relaxed—and willing to accept Garth for who he is, without question. For the first time in a long while, Garth feels like he's around someone who understands him. But before long Garth is helping Mike with some pretty mysterious things and finds himself keeping secrets from everyone around him. He's forced to wonder: Is his uncle Mike really who he says he is, and can Garth trust him? More importantly, can Garth trust the person he's becoming? P. E. Ryan has crafted a clever and compelling novel that asks the question: How far will you go for your family, to find yourself?
Loose End
Ivan E. Coyote - 2005
Coyote has developed a reputation as one of North America’s most disarming storytellers; her tales of life as an out dyke on the roads and trails of the North as well as rural America are rich in their plainspoken, honest truths. In Loose End, her third story collection, Ivan focuses her attention on the city: urban life, specifically in the East End of Vancouver, a diverse neighborhood of all types—old, young, gay, straight, white, black, Asian—communing at local coffee bars over hot rods, the art of skinny-dipping, and changes in the weather. Ivan presides over this circus of activities with her cool gaze, whether it’s trying to impress the woman with the hot tub next door, or showing her mother how to use a cordless drill.Ivan’s world is the world of being out and open and unafraid; it’s also a world in which no ghettos—racial, cultural, or defined by sexuality or gender—exist. With the calm, observant eye of a master storyteller, Ivan E. Coyote shows us how to break free of the rigors of authority and be true to ourselves, warts and all.
The Spanish Prisoner & The Winslow Boy
David Mamet - 1999
His dialogue--abrasive, rhythmic--illuminates a modern aesthetic evocative of Samuel Beckett. His plots--surprising, comic, topical--have evoked comparisons to masters from Alfred Hitchcock to Arthur Miller. Here are two screenplays demonstrating the astounding range of Mamet's talents. The Spanish Prisoner, a neo-noir thriller about a research-and-development cog hoodwinked out of his own brilliant discovery, demonstrates Mamet's incomparable use of character in a dizzying tale of twists and mistaken identity. The Winslow Boy, Mamet's revisitation of Terence Rattigan's classic 1946 play, tells of a thirteen-year-old boy accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order and the tug of war for truth that ensues between his middle-class family and the Royal Navy. Crackling with wit, intelligent and surprising, The Spanish Prisoner and The Winslow Boy celebrate Mamet's unique genius and our eternal fascination with the extraordinary predicaments of the common man.
Palimpsest
Gore Vidal - 1995
But now, surprisingly, he has turned his wit and elegant storytelling gifts to a candid memoir of the first forty years of his life. Palimpsest is written from the vantage point of Vidal's library in his villa on the Italian coast. As visitors come and go, his memory ranges back and forth across a rich history. Vidal's childhood was spent in Washington, D.C., in the household of his grandfather, the blind senator from Oklahoma, T. P. Gore, and in the various domestic situations of his complicated and exasperating mother, Nina. Then come schooldays at St. Albans and Exeter; the army; life as a literary wunderkind in New York, London, Rome, and Paris in the forties and fifties; sex in an age of promiscuity; and a campaign for Congress in 1960. Vidal's famous skills as a raconteur, his forthrightness, and his wicked wit are brilliantly at work in these recollections of a difficult family, talented friends, and interesting enemies. The cast includes Tennessee Williams, the Kennedys, Eleanor Roosevelt, Truman Capote, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Christopher Isherwood, Jack Kerouac, Jane and Paul Bowles, Santayana, Anais Nin, Norman Mailer, Leonard Bernstein, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, among others. Beautifully rendered anecdotes are intermixed with meditations on writing, history, acting, and politics. Perhaps most surprising is the leitmotif of a great, lost love. "A memoir is how one remembers one's own life," Vidal says, "while an autobiography is history." Palimpsest is a true story, but also an extraordinary work of literary imagination.
Seven Moves
Carol Anshaw - 1988
Forging a trail that leads into the heart of Morocco, Seven Moves tracks Christine's gradual recognition that no one can ever really know another's soul. Bearing Anshaw's trademark style -funny, hip, and laser-sharp -this is "a tightly told tale that resists the bookmark as well as any thriller" (Chicago Sun-Times). A Reader's Guide is now available.
Just a Dumb Surfer Dude
Chase Connor - 2018
At least that's what everyone else keeps saying, even if he doesn't like it. But that's not his biggest problem. Being gay while attending Dextrus Academy, an all-boys prep school, and only having one other gay friend, life can be...difficult. Cooper wants to stay true to himself, and being a hormonal gay teen makes that difficult at times. So far, he's managed to navigate being a good son, a good student, a best friend, and not lose himself in the process. But when Logan, a hot surfer dude, transfers to Dextrus Academy, is it possible that Cooper will lose himself for a chance at true happiness?
Broken Trails
D. Jordan Redhawk - 2013
Her single-minded focus on the rigors of training allows her to forget the shocking loss of her lover in a tragedy for which she blames herself.The only race Lainey Hughes runs is away from her past and into the bottom of a bottle. After a devastating injury in a war zone, she’s continued her photojournalist career in the natural beauty and warmth of Uganda. A trip to Alaska to cover dog sledding is not what she wants, but the lure of a paying gig proves too tempting.Lainey trusts her camera and Scotch trusts her dogs—and neither cares much what the other thinks…not at first.Love runs hot in the cold Alaskan night in this long-awaited romance from D Jordan Redhawk.
The Price of Dick
Dan Skinner - 2014
The type of guy you can see fully dressed and imagine buck naked in the throes of an orgasm - every six-feet-two, muscular, sexually intoxicating inch of him. He's an ambitious freshman in a prominent brokerage firm who's figured out he can use more than his smarts to get ahead. He's perfected a surefire method to drive home a hard deal. No one can resist him. And he's got one really big secret. But that will cost you. For photographer J.J. Johnstone, the price of Dick just might cost him everything.
Fixer Upper
L.C. Davis - 2020
As an omega who runs his own construction business, I’m used to alphas gawking at me, but I’m never going to sit at home and be some kept omega. Not even when the love of my life gives me an ultimatum: “It’s me or the job.” Now I’m single, slightly bitter, and I’ve sworn off alphas for good. At least until I meet Devon, a successful (and admittedly gorgeous) real estate investor who thinks he can add me to his portfolio. This rich guy’s in for a rude awakening. - Devon I never believed the whole money can’t buy happiness thing, until I met Sawyer. The headstrong omega is rough around the edges and more stubborn than anyone I’ve ever met, alpha or omega. He’s also going to be my mate--he just doesn’t know it yet. I wasn’t planning on investing in a fixer upper, but if it keeps Sawyer around long enough to convince him he belongs in my bed and not just on my payroll, it’s more than worth it. Oh, and did I mention he’s having my baby? With any other omega, that would be a guaranteed in, but not Sawyer. Repairing his broken heart and convincing him I’m the guy he wants to build his life with is going to be my biggest project yet. This is a standalone ~27k-word Mpreg Romance novella. Sweet, fluffy, HEA guaranteed!
Love Drugged
James Klise - 2010
But when a classmate discovers the truth, a terrified Jamie does all he can to change who he is. At first, it's easy. Everyone notices when he starts hanging out with Celia Gamez, the richest and most beautiful girl in school. And when he steals an experimental new drug that's supposed to "cure" his attraction to guys, Jamie thinks he's finally going to have a "normal" life.But as the drug's side effects worsen and his relationship with Celia heats up, Jamie begins to realize that lying and using could shatter the fragile world of deception that he's created-and hurt the people closest to him.Told with equal doses of humor and suspense, Love Drugged explores the consequences of a life constructed almost entirely of lies . . . especially the lies we tell ourselves.
Jock Auction
Alex Pendragon - 2015
When the two are thrown together after a charity slave auction, however, how incredible the sex is turns out to be hard to miss. Problem is, Kyle’s awakened sexuality is on a collision course with his hot teammates, and not everyone in his conservative Midwestern town is quite so open-minded.When Kyle unexpectedly gets up close and personal with another closeted jock, and realizes in the process that there’s more than just teenage hormones between himself and Craig, he’s faced with a choice: walk away, or fight for what until now he didn’t know he wanted. Meanwhile, Craig is learning that there’s more to his appetite for athletic guys than playing the meek submissive, and Kyle’s mea-culpa arrives right on time for him to explore some of the kinks he never knew he had.Hard bodies meet even harder truths as two very different guys discover that, while you can buy someone’s time, you still have to win their heart.