Summer Reading with queereads

An update from the best LGBT bookclub in SLC, queereads.
Here we go...

This month, on 6/17/09 at 6:30pm in the basement of this fine bookselling establishment, we'll be discussing Luna by Julie Anne Peters. Luna is a young-adult novel (which makes it cheap! $7.99 before the 20%off!!!) about Regan and her transgender brother, Liam who is becoming Luna.

In July we'll be straying from the norm, breaking free of barriers, and reading a novel that isn't specifically LGBT. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, with its poetic prose, is a wild, often horrifying, novel about freaks, geeks and other aberrancies of the human condition who travel together (a whole family of them) as a circus. It's a solipsistic funhouse world that makes "normal" people seem bland and pitiful. 7/15/09 6:30pm.

And in August, our favorite lesbian cartoonist, Alison Bechdel with Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, a graphic memoir (think Persepolis) about Bechdel's coming of age as a young woman and a lesbian in a meticulously restored gothic revival house, filled with gilt and lace, with her closeted father who was an English teacher and proprietor of the local funeral parlor. 8/19/09 6:30pm.

Extreme Makeover: Book Club Edition

I've decided that queereads needs a makeover. As it stands, queereads focusses on lgbt specific literature. I'd like to expand our horizons. The word "queer" can mean so many things and I want to branch out into some literature that isn't specifically lgbt. I see it as a new exiting evolution of the club and I hope you will too.

Join us for our next discussion on Wednesday, May 20th at 6:30pm where we will be talking about Audre Lorde's classic "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name".

A Juggling Act

Thanks to an upcoming event, two book clubs, and my own want to read something fun, I am currently trying to read four books. Usually it's a feat for me to finish just one book in a reasonable amount of time, but four? What have I gotten myself into?

First, the event. David Sedaris is coming to Abravanel Hall on October 20th for his newest book, "When You are Engulfed in Flames".

I am part of the little crew from our store working the event, so I am trying to finish that book by then. I'm not complaining, by any means. The man's a comic genius, the book is great.

Next, book club one of two. The newest book club meeting at Sam Wellers is queereads, a book club focusing on LGBT literature. Created and moderated by Adam Streeter, the first book is Sarah Schulman's "Rat Bohemia" to be discussed on Wed. Oct. 22nd.
Adam and I read this together in one night. It's a quick read and a great one. Even though this book was written thirteen years ago, I found myself relating to a character I didn't expect to, and reading about situations I've recently experienced. It was almost startling how familiar some of the emotions were. This book is a true gem written in beautifully simplistic, yet sometimes poetic prose. I'm really looking forward to discussing this at queereads.

Now for book club two of two. Zach's book club, the Hardboiled Book Club, is reading Ryo Murakami's "In the Miso Soup" to be discussed on Tuesday Oct. 28th.

I've only gotten about twenty or so pages into this one as of now, but so far, I like it.

And because I like to torment myself, I'm reading an advanced reading copy of "Fool" the newest novel by Christopher Moore, due out in February of 2009. It's Moore's take on Shakespeare's "King Lear". I'm a little more than halfway through this and all I want to do is lock myself in a room with no distractions and finish it. I'm loving it. I was unable to find a picture of the cover. I'll post a review with a picture closer to the book's release.

So right now, my reading schedule is like a juggling act, or perhaps something a little more scattered and inconsistent, say a really old intoxicated clown's version of a juggling act.