Roof Beam Reader
A Writer and His Reading
Category: LGBT
Thoughts: Felix Ever After
I have said many times that the best kind of book, even those within a genre we often dismissively label “pleasure reading,” is the book that teaches while it entertains. Perhaps not surprisingly, Young Adult novels tend to fall into this category. They make…
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
About the Book: Sofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. Soviet buildings crumble, wind scatters sand from the far south, and political protesters flood the streets with song. In this atmosphere of disquiet, an American teacher navigates…
Angels in America
I just finished my third read of Angels in America. I guess it is one of those rare texts that doesn’t just invite itself for a revisit, but is almost a necessary lifelong companion. Speaking as it does to homosexuality in America, and to…
Notes of a Desolate Man
My first book of 2020 is Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu T’tien-Wen, translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin. In 2019, I made a more-or-less conscious decision to read more works by Asian and Asian-American writers, and I’m continuing that this…
Red, White and Royal Blue
Gay sex! Have I got your attention? Good! That’s about how I felt when I started reading Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue. A little shocked, a little surprised, a little bit, “Oh, what’s this, now?” You see, I didn’t do much background research, over even…
