Book picks similar to
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A Push and a Shove
Christopher Kelly - 2007
Although Terrence O’Connor, the beautiful boy who was his tormentor, is now a successful writer in Manhattan, he is also a man searching out his own identity. As Ben and Terrence form an unlikely friendship, hidden motives and long-kept secrets bubble to the surface. Does Ben realize he’s fallen in love with Terrence? And can Terrence admit to his own confused feelings? Darkly disturbing and brilliantly written, here is a chilling depiction of the once-victim who unwittingly becomes the bully.
Who Am I This Time? For Romeos and Juliets
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 1987
The story was collected in his anthology Welcome To The Monkey House. The story centers on a character named Harry Nash, who is an extremely shy & characterless small-town man. However, whenever he takes a part in the local, amateur theater production he becomes the character to an overwhelming extent. Soon Helene Shaw, a recent addition to the town, falls in love with Nash--or with his character in the play.
His Name was Harley Manfield
T.A. Webb - 2013
College friends, they bond quickly. Time passes, and each man chooses his own path in life. One goes to Maine, one to New York. Harley stays in Atlanta, keeping their home safe. When tragedy strikes, secrets are revealed and hearts are broken, The glue that held them together is tested, but in the midst of all their pain, Harley's love still binds them together.
Children of the Sun
Max Schaefer - 2010
It’s an environment in which he must hide his sexuality, in which every encounter is potentially deadly.2003: James is a young writer, living with his boyfriend. In search of a subject, he begins looking into the Far Right in Britain and its secret gay membership. He becomes particularly fascinated by Nicky Crane, one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi movement who came out in 1992 before dying a year later of AIDS.The two narrative threads of this extraordinarily assured and ambitious first novel follow Tony through the seventies, eighties, and nineties, as the nationalist movement splinters and weakens; and James through a year in which he becomes dangerously immersed in his research. After risky flirtations with individuals on far right websites, he starts receiving threatening phone calls—the first in a series of unexpected events that ultimately cause the lives of these two very different men to unforgettably intersect.Children of the Sun is a work of great imaginative sympathy and range—a novel of unblinking honesty but also of deep feeling, which illuminates the surprisingly thin line that separates aggression from tenderness.
Trail Magic
Cara Malone - 2018
An unexpected gift bestowed on long-distance hikers. Raven is two years cancer-free on the day she arrives on the Appalachian Trail, ready to prove to the world that she’s more than just a breast cancer survivor. She’s still Raven, and she’s strong enough to tackle the 2,000-mile journey. Kit shows up with nothing but a hastily-packed bag and a new pair of hiking boots. When her boss and her girlfriend dump her on the same day, she decides now is as good a time as any to tick the AT off her bucket list. Trail magic brings Kit and Raven together on the mountain. Raven needs a friend and Kit needs an experienced hiker to guide her. They share meals, fireside stories, old wounds and new dreams… and a one-man tent in the wilderness. But can they bring that magic with them off the mountain?
Becoming Jake
James Lee Hard - 2015
What was supposed to be a calm return to gather himself, turns out to be an intense and complicated journey where Jake has to confront a bigoted father who is constantly degrading him, take care of a sick mother who was never bold enough to speak her mind and deal with the not-so-over relationship. Jake embarks on a journey that brings him the pain from his past, long lost friends and old passions that could be reignited if Jake has the courage to overcome his lingering inner fears. Will Jake defeat his deepest fears in order to become who he truly is? WARNING: This book contains explicit scenes of consensual sex between men as well as some graphic language. It is intended for a mature, adult audience.
The Gifts of the Body
Rebecca Brown - 1994
An emotionally wrenching work of fiction about a health-care worker who tenders compassion and love to victims of AIDS, by an author who "strips her language of convention to lay bare the ferocious rituals of love and need."--New York Times Book Review
When Heaven Strikes
F.E. Feeley Jr. - 2017
The survivor of child abuse disguised as religion, Ted has cut himself off from the world. Then Ted meets Anderson Taylor, and it’s like being struck by lightning. Anderson is a cardiac surgeon whose passion for his work has consumed him. He fears he’ll never find a partner—until he sets eyes on Ted. It’s happening fast, but both men know what they feel is right. Confronted with an angry preacher, a scandal, and an act of God that threatens to destroy everything, their relationship will face its first true test.
The Good Son (Movie-Tie-In)
Todd Strasser - 1993
Here is the chilling story of a young boy sent to live with relatives after the death of his mother, and of his prankish cousin, who is responsible for increasingly dangerous "accidents".
Avalanche of Love
M.E. Tudor - 2019
When her friend, Josie Whittle, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, asks Robin to take a group of writers and photographers out for a week Robin is happy to do it until she finds out that one of the writers going on the trip has never even been camping, let alone gone on a multi-day hike. After getting fired from a business magazine, her life in ruins, and forced to go home to Colorado where her father has her under his thumb, Marianne Jones is lucky to be writing for anyone. Her new boss at Back Lands magazine, Josie, insists Marianne go out on a weeklong hike with some other writers and photographers from the magazine. The only hiking Marianne does is at the mall and she’s never been camping, so she is not happy about this trip. Marianne makes Robin mad before the hike even starts, and Robin assumes Marianne is just another snooty socialite forced to work by her parents. Both women try to ignore the sparks flying between them on the trails in vain. These two women with nothing in common, except broken hearts, are thrown together by fate. Can they find common ground, or will tragedy take away the chance for them to find out what they could have had?
The Book of Frank
C.A. Conrad - 2009
Winner of the 2009 Gil Ott Book Award, this expanded edition of The Book of Frank features additional "Frank" poems and an essay by Eileen Myles.Praised by poet Anne Waldman as a "voyeuresque surreal portrait," The Book of Frank is also, in the words of candid portrayal of human cruelty and its resultant fantasies of escape."
Breakfast with Scot
Michael Downing - 1999
But when eleven-year-old Scot's mother suddenly dies, the couple is determined to make good on a wine-soaked promise made years before. They hang a tire swing in the back yard and call the neighborhood school to arrange enrollment. Scot arrives just in time to start fifth grade—with a pair of lacy white socks in his duffel bag. With wry dialogue, frothy characters, and an offbeat plot, Michael Downing's mastery reaches new heights of brilliance in Breakfast with Scot.About the Author:Michael Downing is the author of the novels Perfect Agreement, Mother of God, and A Narrow Time. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Best Things in Life
Kate Sweeney - 2019
She goes to the best restaurants, lives in a plush apartment in Chicago and has just about all the best things in life. The only thing she’s missing is that special someone. While on assignment as a reporter, Cara meets a woman who makes her question what a good life is. Morgan Gavin, who lives a simple life on Lake Kabetogama, has her own idea of the best things in life, and they aren’t the same as Cara’s. Nevertheless, Morgan and Cara have chemistry that’s about to force them to re-examine just what the best things in life actually are. And where in the hell is Lake Kabetogama? You’re about to find out in Kate Sweeney’s latest romantic comedy.
Gay Love and Other Fairy Tales
Dylan James - 2018
He’s gay. He comes out to his family, then he comes out to everyone, and it goes well. Like, way better than he thought possible. But that’s about where it ends. There aren’t enough out gay kids at school for him to build a queer social life or even consider the possibility of dating. For now, he’s happy to be the gay bestie for his BFF, Hannah. Benjamin Cooper is the captain of the football team and has known Jordan for almost his whole life. And he has a secret. When they won an award at the science fair in grade nine, Jordan hugged him—and that’s when Ben realized he had feelings for Jordan. As he watches Jordan come out and flower into who he is, he can’t help but feel ashamed—ashamed at what a coward he is compared to Jordan. When a broken leg and fair-weather friends leave Ben feeling lonely on Christmas break, he spends New Year’s Eve with Jordan, just hanging out in his basement like they used to years ago. But as the countdown to midnight happens and the ball is about to drop, Ben has something else in mind. At the stroke of midnight, he kisses Jordan. What starts with a surprise kiss leads to a year of shared secrets, hidden love, relationship troubles, and broken hearts. Through it all, one fact holds true—Jordan loves Benjamin and Benjamin loves Jordan. But is that enough to carry them through when Ben wants to stay firmly in the closet, to the very point that this might destroy what hope they have of true love?
Pennsylvania Station
Patrick E. Horrigan - 2018
Frederick Bailey is a quiet, cultured, closeted architect reluctantly drawn into the effort to save Pennsylvania Station from being demolished. But when he meets Curt, a vibrant, immature gay activist more than half his age, he is overtaken by passions he hasn't felt in years, putting everything he cares about--his friends, his family, his career and reputation--at risk. As the elegant old train station is dismantled piece by piece to make way for the crass new Madison Square Garden sports arena, Frederick must undergo a reckoning he has dreaded all his life. Award-winning author Patrick E. Horrigan delves into the fractured psyches of mid-twentieth-century gay men, conjuring a picture of New York City and the nation on the brink of explosive cultural change.