With a historic Pride Month to herald the onset of an unmasked summer now behind us, the remaining months can be spent enjoying Cream City’s many outdoor amenities. Of course, one can always opt for a quiet read whilst lolling on Bradford Beach or in the comfort of one’s air-conditioned abode.
For male romance, reach for any of Andrew Grey’s titles (about 100 in all) for traditional tear jerking (and otherwise) stories with happy endings. Try the author’s recent release, Heavy Lifting, in which bodybuilder god-man Jack finds true love with Reg, a geek. Or perhaps, his bestseller Love Means … No Shame, where city savvy, party boy Geoff meets Amish boy Eli– rumspringa and love ensue.
Set for release on August 1 is the seventh of Milwaukee author David Pederson’s Detective Heath Barrington Murder Mystery Series, Death Foretold. Set in the 1940s, Pederson weaves another gripping mystery involving spiritualists, a séance, and a list of suspects “a mile long.”
Of course, Outwords Books’ owner Carl Szatmary, purveyor of fine LGBTQ literature since 1993, offered some fine suggestions across the spectrum of suitable summer reads. I specifically asked about his various book club selections. He mentioned the Men’s Book Club title for June, Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glenn Frankel. Just like it sounds, it’s an insider’s glimpse into the personal stories behind the production of the 1969 landmark gay film. For July, his pick is “the most fun book out,” Leslie Jordan’s How Y’all Doin’, an extension of Jordan’s one man show and a guaranteed good read.
Meanwhile, although the Women’s Club is currently on hiatus, Szatmary recommends lesbian readers should peruse Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop, a wacky coming of age story that has just come out and is getting a lot of positive press (McQuiston authored Red White and Royal Blue, one of last year’s suggestions), and Alice Bechdel’s latest, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, a heartrending memoir about her love affair with exercise, set against the hilarious chronicle of fitness fans of our time.
For Hollywood buffs, Szatmary suggests Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of their Intimate Relationship by Charles Casillo, an exploration of the entwined friendship of two silver screen icons, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift
I asked Szatmary for bisexual themed work and while he acknowledged they’re hard to find, he immediately came up with a title: Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales, adding “it’s a youthful rom-com, light and fluffy. a perfect beach read.”
On a more serious note, he praised Black coming of age memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome, adding “it’s destined to be a classic.”
Powerful, Uplifting
In the realm of gender queerdom, he recommends Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvadore, young adult novel that goodreads.com calls “a powerful, uplifting anthem, a swoony romance, and an affirmation of self-identity that will ignite the activist in all of us.”
Other titles on Szatmary’s list include Michael Nava’s Lies with Man, a suspense novel in which radical queers face radical evangelicals, and Mark Zubro’s Forever, a young adult murder mystery.
If heavier literary lifting is your cuppa, in the spirit of these times of social challenges and racial reckoning, Robert Jones Jr.’s debut novel The Prophets takes the romance genre to its loftiest heights. Set in the antebellum Mississippi, two male slaves pursue love. But be forewarned, stylistically demanding and with frequent bursts of violent content, it’s not an easy read, by any means.
There’s plenty for the LGBTQ historian as well. My own recommended must-reads include Matthew Riemer’s We are Everywhere: Protest, Power and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation and, weighty both in size and content and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Sarah Schulman’s new release, Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York 1987-1993. The work has been praised not only as a significant account of the militant HIV/AIDS activist movement but also as a “tactician’s bible.” In these days of renewed social activism against bigotry, this book offers both historic insights and timely inspiration.
And, by the way, join Szatmary for Outwords Books’ 28th Anniversary Celebration on July 10. He promises the Coffee Bar will be back up and running with a new ice cream menu.
If you’re an avid reader south of the city, check out the LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin’s Queer Book Club. Information may be found on the group’s Facebook page.
