A collection of personal stories from gays and lesbians. As the author's mini preface says, the stories fall roughly into the categories of "When I Knew, When My Parents Knew, When Everyone Else Knew, and the occasional (bonus!) coming-out story." None of these stories is long (I think the longest was four pages), and many consist of nothing more than a single sentence. There is much humor in the book, often playing with and subverting stereotypes. But there are also a smattering of stories that just go right to the heart. One, a story of young man coming out to his grandmother, touched me so deeply that I think I will remember it forever. (There was a mention of an incident in one story that left me with an distinctly uncomfortable feeling, but it did not seem to upset the man telling the story.) The book was also loaded with photos. And with illustrations by Tom Bachtell. All the art added a playful feel to the book.
*Locke and Key, Volumes 1-5 by Joe Hill and Grabriel Rodriguez. Talked about them here. Bottom line: Absolutely loved them!
*Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales edited by Deborah Noyes. Talked about it here. Bottom line: Enjoyed greatly.
There was a day when I read every book that came out in this series as soon as it was published. That was in my pre-blogging days...before book blogs opened my eyes to all that I was missing out on by reading in my psychological/crime thriller rut. Several months back, I decided to reread this series and eventually get myself caught back up. So here I am, having finished rereading the second in the series, wondering if I really want to go on with this or not. I can't quite abandon the idea, because I'm enjoying the experience...I find it hard to leave them alone once I start reading one. Compelling. But at the same time, I'm finding many more problems with them than I did all those years ago. I used to love the very flawed hero of these books, Lucas Davenport. I never thought he was perfect, but flawed characters are obviously more believable, and generally more likeable. But this time around...well, his flaws are ever-so-much more glaring to me. His charm simply isn't working its magic on me. There are moments when I nearly despise him. Perhaps I'll just have to reevaluate after book 3.
*****
I didn't knock many books of the TBR pile in September, nor did I knock many miles off walking journey. Yeah, I really let things slide. :( There were a total of five days when I didn't even clip on the old pedometer. I knew it would be a slow month, for various reasons, but I didn't expect it would be this bad--->39.41 miles. Yep, pretty sad. And while I'm not going to beat myself up over it (the fibro has been beating me up enough), I am going to try harder this month. As I still have 122.97 miles to get to Lu's, it's pretty unlikely I'll make by Halloween but hopefully I'll get there before Thanksgiving.
*****
Project progress (for the books without separate posts):
When I Knew: 50x50 (#42-Read 50 memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, etc.)
Shadow Prey: Unofficial-for-me reading challenges--Color-Coded Reading Challenge (Category: Implies a color)
2 comments:
Good on you for not beating yourself up over stuff you didn't get done. It sounds as if you did all the essential things, and that's what counts. Are all the kids and Rich still alive, fed, and dressed? Yeah, that's what counts.
Jean,
Good point. Though I hope no one's judging *how* they're fed and dressed. :P
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