LGBT Month February 2014
Reading Group Home | Books Home | Book Lists Home
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month takes place every year in February.
It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. Paul
Burston, author and journalist, joined us on Tuesday 18th February at Bedford Central Library.
Why not try one of the books from the list of LGBT interest books, just a taste
of the range we have on offer.
Michael
Cunningham – By Nightfall
44 year-old Peter is prosperous, childless, the owner of a big New York apartment and a player in the NY contemporary art dealing scene. His marriage to Rebecca is sound, in the way marriages are. But when Rebecca's younger brother Mizzy comes to stay, Peter's world is turned upside down. Mizzy is young and beautiful, with a history of drug problems. In his presence, Peter finds himself questioning his marriage, his desires, his career – the entire world he has so carefully constructed for himself.
Click here to find and request copies of "By Nightfall"
Tristan
Garcia – Hate
Paris in the eighties. Four friends. Three men and one woman. Two affairs that destroy a life. Elizabeth Levallois, a cultural journalist, looks back on this decade and on the ravages of the AIDS epidemic in Paris, and drama unfolds - one in which love turns to hate and fidelity turns to betrayal, in both affairs of the heart and politics.
Click here to find and request copies of "Hate"
Madeline
Miller – The Song of Achilles
This is a breathtakingly original rendering of the Trojan War - a devastating
love story and a tale of gods and kings, immortal fame and the human heart.
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus,has been exiled to the court of King
Peleus and his son Achilles. Despite their differences, a bond develops between
Patroclus and Achilles and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of
war and medicine, their bond blossoms into love. When word comes that Helen of
Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfil
his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him,
little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
Click here to find and request copies of "The Song of Achilles"
Rodney
Bolt – The Impossible Life of Mary Benson
'The Impossible Life of Mary Benson' tells the lively and very funny story of Mary Benson and her family, bringing the late Victorian and early Edwardian period vividly to life. She was the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a sparkling society hostess who was the friend of Henry James, Queen Victoria, Tennyson and William Gladstone amongst others. However after the death of her husband, she began a different sort of life, taking her friend Lucy Tait as her lover and setting up home with her and her four extraordinarily gifted children.
Click here to find and request copies of "The Impossible Life of Mary Benson"
Edmund
White – Jack Holmes and his Friend
Jack Holmes is in love. Sadly for him, his feelings are not returned, at least not in the way he would like them to be. It doesn't look as if there will ever be anyone else he falls for: the other men he takes to bed never stay for long. This is a story of love and friendship set in the charged atmosphere of 60’s New York.
Click here to find and request copies of "Jack Holmes and his Friend"
Sandi
Toksvig – Valentine Grey
London 1897 and a young girl, Valentine Grey, arrives in England from India. Her cousin Reggie, and his lover Frank, are happy to show her theatre and gardens - even teaching her how to ride a bicycle. Reggie's father enlists him for Volunteer Regiment when the Boer War breaks out, but it's Valentine who heads off to war.
Click here to find and request copies of "Valentine Grey"
Julie
Anne Peters – She Loves You, She Loves You Not
17-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family, her friends, and most importantly, she had Sarah, her girlfriend, with whom she dreamed about the day they could move away and live out and proud and accepted for themselves, instead of having to hide their relationship. However, disowned by her father and cut off from everyone she loves, she is forced to move hundreds of miles away to live with her mother Carly, whom she hardly knows.
Click here to find and request copies of "She Loves You, She Loves You Not"
Scott
Thorson – Behind the Candelabra
Scott Thorson, a poor boy from a succession of foster homes, met Liberace when he was just 16 years old. Liberace, aged 57, took Scott under his wing as 'the son he'd never had'. By the time Scott was 17, he was also Liberace's lover. This book is a compulsive insight in to Liberace, the man behind the flamboyant performer whose successes provide a bright counterpoint to a darker tale of a man hungry for power, a man given to every excess.
Click here to find and request copies of "Behind the Candelabra"
Page last updated: 24th February 2014