GLBT-RT

Kluger, Steve. My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park.
New York: Penguin, 2008. 403 p. ISBN 978-0803732278 Hardcover $16.99.

Kluger's second epistolary novel for younger teens features diary entries, emails and online chat transcripts written by its three protagonists: T.C., an amorous athlete recovering from the loss of his mother; Augie, T.C.’s theatrical quasi-brother, closeted only to himself; and Alejandra (Alé), a new student whose father’s career as a diplomat means she’s met all the teen idols her classmates have only seen on TV. During their junior year in high school, T.C. plays matchmaker with his father and his advisor while ardently courting Alé. She, in turn, rebels against her parents’ expectation that she’ll major in foreign relations and follow her father’s footsteps into a government career; she throws herself into the performance arts with a vengeance and becomes close friends with Augie. Augie himself discovers his sexuality and falls in love with cute jock Andy, but tragically, Andy is uncomfortable with Augie’s rather fabulous self-presentation, encouraging him to go out for sports and tone himself down. This tale of coming out into the surprisingly welcoming world of a suburban high school has David Levithan to thank for setting the gay-utopia standard in his instant classic Boy Meets Boy (Knopf, 2003). Kluger lives up to his predecessor, creating memorable characters who keep the reader rooting for them throughout their triumphs, mistakes, and exploits.
Recommended for all libraries with young adult collections; the sexuality doesn’t go beyond kissing, so it would be appropriate for middle-school libraries as well.
Daisy Porter
Senior Librarian
San José Public Library

Berman, Steve. Vintage: A Ghost Story.
Maple Shade: Lethe Press, 2007. 208 p. ISBN: 978-1590211304. Softcover. $18.00.

The seventeen-year-old narrator of Steve Berman’s Vintage is all too familiar with life’s disappointments and cruelties. In his short life, he’s already survived losing his friends, a suicide attempt, and being disowned by his parents. Though he’s found refuge with a loving aunt and new friends, he’s still too shy and insecure for love or romance, until the night he decides to walk home alone on a quiet, haunted highway. What follows in a sensual, but dangerous relationship with a long-dead spirit that he soon realizes must end before he loses everything.
This coming-of-age story presents an honest narrative of the joys and tragedies of growing up. For fans of speculative YA fiction, Vintage has much to recommend it: marginalized teenagers, haunted graveyards, Ouija boards, séances, and spirits who have lost their way to the next world. It also has an extremely likable protagonist who remains unnamed throughout the tale, which highlights his poignant alienation from those he cares about, even the boy who loves him. It would be easy for the characterization of these punk/goth/emo teens to be affected or clichéd, but Berman presents realistic characters who have unexpected depth and intelligence that make them sympathetic and engaging. And when the “macabre things” they’ve invited into their lives “turn against” them, how they choose to respond makes for compelling, pleasurable reading.
Vintage deserved to win the Andre Norton Award, and is highly recommended for all libraries with a young adult section.
Tracy Marie Nectoux
Book Review Editor
Cataloger, Illinois Newspaper Project
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Winterson, Jeanette. The Stone Gods.
Orlando: Harcourt, 2007. 207p. ISBN: 978-0151014910. Hardcover. $22.00.

This latest novel from British writer Jeanette Winterson, part satire, part romance, is the story of a woman, living in a futuristic, dehumanized, environmentally dead planet who is catapulted into the colonization of the distant “Planet Blue”. The main character, Billie Crusoe, works for Enhancement Services, the big brother that runs the planet Orbis. She is disdainful of the world around her and owns one of the last relics of the past “The Farm”, a tiny patch of ground and woods, where trying to live in this “message in a bottle from another time” makes her a terrorism suspect. Among the horrors in Winterson’s future is a citizenry that chooses to be “genetically fixed” to their preferred age (women leaning toward 12, but none over 24, men opting for 33), mindless robots that serve as the police, and the horrors of a futuristic bureaucracy. Interjected into this story is Spike, a robo-sapien, who is evolving to humanness as the humans seem to be de-volving. She is also drop-dead gorgeous and has a thing for Billie.
As we settle in for the tender relationship between Billie and Spike we find ourselves thrown onto Eastern Island in the 18th century. Don’t fear, it all magically fits together, once you give up control and let Winterson take you there. And that is always the delight in reading her. This book should be included in every literature collection (as should ALL of her works).
Reviewed by Morgan Gwenwald
Library Outreach Coordinator
SUNY New Paltz

The Ties That Bind.
Edited by Laura Baumbach. ManLoveRomance Press: Albion, NY, 2008. 244 p. ISBN 978-193453109. Softcover. $16.99.

Love Hurts.
Edited by William Maltese. ManLoveRomancePress: Albion, NY, 2008. 236p. ISBN 978-19345311129. Softcover. $16.99.

Both of these anthologies published by ManLoveRomance Press are collections of male erotic short stories, which explore the world of BDSM in various settings. This basically sums up the plot line in each of the stories in both collections.
These erotic stories are attempts at one handed fiction that will excite, arouse and shock the reader but do not do so, at least not for me.
The back cover blurbs promise more than the books deliver. The writing styles of the various authors are superficial and some of the situations seem a bit contrived even for erotica. The books themselves are not uniform in layout- one book has page numbers in the table of contents while the other only lists the titles in order of appearance in the book without any pagination.
I would not recommend the purchase of these titles for any public or academic library. However, they might be of interest to libraries with special BDSM collections that include examples of this short story genre.
Reviewed by Norman Eriksen
Assistant Division Manager
Languages, Literature & Fiction
Brooklyn Public Library

Sulzer, Alain Claude. A Perfect Waiter.
Trans. John Brownjohn. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008. 211 p. ISBN: 978-1596914117. Hardcover. $19.95.

In 1966, Erneste, a waiter in his early fifties in Switzerland, receives a letter from New York. The letter is from Jakob, whom he has not seen or heard from for thirty years, and includes an unexpected request. Erneste is forced to relive the brief time he knew Jakob and to regret that there was one question that he did not ever ask him.
Erneste was working as a waiter at the Grand Hotel in Giessbach in 1935 when nineteen-year-old Jakob Meier came from Cologne to work at the hotel to avoid draft into the Wehrmacht. When Jakob first shakes Erneste’s hand, Erneste’s placid existence collapses. In a wittily erotic scene, Jakob is measured for his shirts, vests, jackets, and pants under the yearning eyes of Erneste. Handsome and self-assured, Jakob quickly becomes a perfect waiter. He also becomes Erneste’s perfect lover.
Sulzer gives a fascinating picture of life in a luxurious Swiss hotel during the mid-1930s, where well-off visitors, or refugees, from Germany were catered to by young men like Erneste and Jakob. The hotel is put into a stir when Julius Klinger, a famous writer, (modeled on Thomas Mann?) turns up with his wife and children. Soon after Klinger’s arrival, Erneste finds a 5-franc piece under Jacob’s pillow. Then he makes an appalling discovery.
A Perfect Waiter with its themes of time, “unfair, implacable, and incorruptible,” and the past, “like something inside a dark closet,” has been meticulously translated from the German. The story moves back and forth in time, gradually revealing its secrets, one by one. Highly recommended for large public and academic libraries that collect European literature or gay fiction with literary quality.
Reviewed by W. Stephen Breedlove
Reference Librarian/Interlibrary Loan Coordinator
La Salle University Library

Banis, Victor J. Lola Dances.
Albion, NY: ManLoveRomance Press, c2008. 232p. ISBN 978-1934531426. Soft cover. $16.99.

This is a delightful romantic tale of the old West, sort of a 19th century Brokeback Mountain with less angst and a happy ending. There is lots of violence and lots of sex, tastefully described. If your library collects romance novels, then you should consider this for your gay romance collection.
The author is a master storyteller and he should be, having published more than 150 novels. Thomas L. Long, editor of the Harrington Gay Men's Literary Quarterly, has called him "the godfather of modern gay popular fiction" (Banis' Wikipedia entry). Old timers may remember his popular C.A.M.P. series of mystery novels from 1966-1968; the first of what became a major subgenre. He stopped writing after 1980, but luckily for us he has now resumed. His recent novel Longhorns, another Western romance (Carroll & Graf 2007) includes an essay by Michael Bronski charting his decades of literary contributions.
Lola is transgendered, beginning life as a small effeminate boy in the slums of New York's Lower East Side. After he is raped by a high society aristocrat, he and his older brother escape to the mining camps of the West. There he begins to dance as a woman and ends up famous in San Francisco where he stumbles upon his first love from the Lower East Side. For the rest, read the novel!
Reviewed by James D. Anderson
Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science
Rutgers University

Norriss, Gregory L. Q Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Stuff You Didn’t Even Know You Wanted to Know…About Buffy, Angel, the Big Bads, and the Show That Won’t Die. New York: Alyson Books, 2008. 172 p. ISBN: 9781593500528. Softcover. $12.95.

When Buffy was big, I wasn’t watching. Though I had several friends who were devoted fans and the show was the WB’s biggest hit, my partner and I were slogging through several Star Trek series, Queer as Folk, Babylon 5, etc. I had noticed Alyson’s Q Guides to other popular culture topics, such as Designing Women, Amsterdam, NYC Pride, etc. These are quick studies for queer audiences and generally do a good job introducing the subject to the reader.

Q Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer promised the same when I saw it in the bookstore. It delivered on this promise: Though I was at first uncomfortable that the book was organized by topic rather than chronologically by season, continuing subplots were easier to track than in other Buffy/Angel guides (such as Bite Me! or The Watcher’s Guide). The GLBT themes and pairings creator Joss Whedon put in the series are mentioned in Chapter 4 (“Love’s a Bitch”) and the Tara-Willow love story is covered extensively in Chapter 5 (“Coffins and Other Closets”).

This book mainly covers the seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the five seasons of its less popular spinoff, Angel. It also covers more sketchily other aspects of the Buffyverse, like the comic books and two other attempted spinoffs. The book succeeds as a basic introduction to the characters and themes of the two series but patrons looking for more detail would prefer Nikki Stafford’s books Bite Me! The Chosen Edition (for Buffy) and Once Bitten (for Angel). Still, the interviews, character profiles, and quizzes make this a worthwhile purchase. Recommended for public & high school libraries.

Reviewed by John Bradford
Librarian, Leather Archives & Museum
Head, Automation & Technical Services
Villa Park Public Library [IL]

Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey. Omnigender: A Trans-religious Approach.
Revised, expanded edition. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2007. 223p. ISBN: 978-0829817713. Softcover. $22.00.

Readers who devoured Virginia Ramey Mollenkott’s original of this highly readable title in 2001 will find the new edition a thoroughly updated and expanded historical examination of the binary model of gender identity and its social and spiritual impacts on individuals and society. Beginning with a description of the various ways in which mandating precisely two acceptable gender identities has inflicted damage on humans who fit into neither, the discussion then moves to a clear and in-depth exploration of transgender people and their situation. Of particular value for general readers is the outlining of the definitions of each population contained under the “ transgender” label, and the chapters on the ways Christianity and Judaism have written about and considered gender limits. The omni-gendered model is then used to examine the Scriptures and the history of the Christian church, addressing the question, “How can the church that is called to bear God’s message of reconciliation scorn or reject people of any sexual orientation or gender identity?” (p. 142). Mollenkott advocates for the adoption of the full continuum of sexual orientations and gender assignments contained in an omnigender universe and see her book as “about gender justice and challenging the dominant gender construct in the search for such justice.” (p.44). Librarians will find her discussion of the main recent publications on transgender topics and religion (both books and articles) helpful in evaluating their collections in this area. Most useful for public, college, university and seminary libraries.
Reviewed by Robert Ridinger
Professor & Electronic Information Resources Manager
Northern Illinois University Libraries

Martin, Hillias J. and Murdock, James R. Serving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians.
New York: Neal-Schuman, 2007. 267 p. ISBN: 978-1555705664. Hardcover. $55.00.

Opening the pages of this book is like slipping on rainbow-tinted goggles and returning to library school. Murdock and Martin offer suggestions for providing materials and services for LGBTQ, or as the book calls them, "Queer" teens.
This book is divided into two parts. Part one contains information about queer teens' interactions with the library and librarians. The first reviews research about queer patrons and their information and reading needs. The second, delves into reference services to learn about conducting reference interviews with closeted and non-closeted queers as well as teens who are interested in learning about their queer friends and family members. Then, the focus is on the integration of LGBTQ materials into a balanced collection and building a defense against challenges. Finally, there is a section on incorporating LGBTQ themes into any library's programming and services including libraries in conservative and liberal communities and schools.
Part two offers specific examples of materials and programs. The first section is an annotated bibliography of 50 materials including fiction, nonfiction, periodicals, movies and music followed by additional suggestions of good materials for different collections and user needs. The list is primarily fiction titles and could have been enhanced with titles of materials for use in student projects such as information on gay issues. The final chapters include sample book talks and a continuum of 18 LGBTQ-themed programs ready for librarians to include in their services to young adults.
This is a great resource for any librarian working with a young adult population. Although it primarily targets public library services, there is enough information provided for school librarians as well, and would be a great resource for grad students in a Library and Information Studies program.
Reviewed by Sharon Flesher
Library Media Specialist
Nashua South High School [NH]

Heterosexism in Contemporary World Religion: Problem and Prospect. Edited by Marvin M. Ellison and Judith Plaskow. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press. 2007. 232 pages. ISBN:978-0829817706. Hardcover. $60.00.

Comprising eight essays by religion scholars, this collection reviews the foundations of heterosexism in Islam, African American Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism, and identifies within each faith tradition paths toward ending the resulting homophobia.

Readers may well find that they don't know as much about religions not their own as they thought they did. I found the discussion of the historical influences on the development of African American Christianity to be germane to my doing some reworking for myself of media coverage of the recent controversy about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Realistic, but ultimately optimistic about a better future, this book is best suited for academic libraries.

Reviewed by
Dave Combe
Ventura County Library [CA]

A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages.
Edited by Matt Cook with H G Cocks, Robert Mills and Randolph Trumbach. Greenwood World Publishing: Westport CT, 2007. 256 p. ISBN 978-1846450020. Hardcover. $49.95.

Jennings, Rebecca. A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500.
Greenwood World Publishing, 2007. 227 p. ISBN: 978-1846450075. $49.95.

A series of six essays, A Gay History of Britain provides an overview of the way British society has viewed sex between men during the period from 1000 to 2007. Each essay examines the social norms of the period, spells out the language used to describe male sexual behavior, what is and what is not accepted by society, the legal ramifications and the social arrangements of community during that era.
The authors do not try to analyze past sexual behavior with 21st century definitions and are very strict in their use of period terminology to describe how men behaved during the periods that they are writing about. The notes and further reading sections provide the resources needed to find more in depth information.
In the companion volume, A Lesbian History of Britain, Rebecca Jennings looks at the lives and loves of women both ordinary and famous to tell the story of British Lesbianism. She draws on resources from medical records to popular fiction, public records of court cases to private correspondence and diaries to show the development of the community and culture.
This work is arranged chronologically: chapters cover early accounts of several women who passed as men, romantic friendships in the 1700’s & 1800’s, the scene before, between, and after the World Wars, and culminating in today’s political movements and debates.

Reviewed by Norman Eriksen
Assistant Division Manager
Languages, Literature & Fiction
Brooklyn Public Library

Epstein, Jeffrey, and Shapiro, Eddie. Queens in the Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay & Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks.
Updated & Revised Edition. Emeryville, CA : Avalon Travel Publications, 2007. ISBN: 978-598800616. Softcover: $17.95.

Two of America’s favorite tourist destinations are examined in this amusing, easy-to-use guide. From the best places to sneak a same-sex kiss to the tastiest foods to the gay nightlife in the towns around the parks, Epstein and Shapiro tailor this guide to the GLBT community.
In a welcome departure from many guides to the Magic Kingdom, the authors here are not afraid to let you know when an amusement, well, isn’t. They rate all the rides on a five-star scale, from the lowest rating (Cruella De Vil) to the highest (Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious), and are refreshingly honest about how they think the rides or experience could be improved. Expect this guide to save you some pointless line-waiting!
Epstein and Shapiro do full reviews of all the major restaurants in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World—and they also quickly cover the minor eateries in each section of each park, though they do draw the line at listing the snack carts. The restaurant reviews give you an idea on price as well as a subjective but honest impression of the restaurant. Even just knowing what parts of the park have sit-down dining is likely to be a help on those long days.
Each park is handled in a separate section, starting with the original, Disneyland. Equally strong coverage is given Walt Disney World and its satellites. I was impressed that this guide even had brief sections on each of the three international parks, and the Disney Cruise experience, too.
While these ride and food ratings can be helpful to anyone, amusement park experiences can be different for GLBT visitors than for straight ones. Not too long ago, same-sex dancing was forbidden by Uncle Walt, so it’s great to find information on GLBT employee and social groups, Gay Days, and how to schedule your commitment ceremonies in the parks. Knowing which Disney resorts are most conducive to your vacation plans, from sleeping in to sleeping around, is a bonus you won’t find in official Disney literature!
Some other handy features are a guide to doing Disney with children—a good touch, considering the increasing gay-by boom; a handy chart comparing the attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World; and even a bibliography of other guides to Disney.
The guide is not perfect—sometimes the interplay between the authors gets a little too precious and the maps are very basic—but this is a great find, appropriate for all public libraries. Even if your library has the 2003 edition, there are enough changes at Disney to make the new edition worthwhile.
Reviewed by Louis Lang
Technical Consultant
Leather Archives & Museum