In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

June 6:

David Remnick's appreciation of Roger Angell is not to be missed.

Also Thomas Mallon on Barbara Pym. I should try to find some of her novels. It might be diverting to read a novel set in some English village where "there are always altars to be decorated, charitable jumble sales to be organized, and improving lectures to be attended." 

And there is Hilton Als on the poet Thom Gunn. I'm not into poetry, but that name rang a vague bell somewhere in the back of my mind. I guess maybe TNY must have run something of his in the 40 years I've been reading the magazine. Possibly I ran across the name somewhere else. It's kind of memorable, with the first name as Thom. But look at the photo on mage 57. Wow, was he hot when he was young, leather jacket, wide leather belt, and all.

I have more to say about him on my blog.

[serious crayons]

When reading the piece about Dickens in the March 7 issue (I have a big stack of them from which I indiscriminately grab when looking for reading material), I realized the only Dickens book I've ever read is A Christmas Carol. (Saw Oliver the movie, which probably doesn't count.) Now I'm semi-tempted to read one -- specifically Bleak House, which the article discusses at length.

[Jeff Wrangler]

When reading the piece about Dickens in the March 7 issue (I have a big stack of them from which I indiscriminately grab when looking for reading material), I realized the only Dickens book I've ever read is A Christmas Carol. (Saw Oliver the movie, which probably doesn't count.) Now I'm semi-tempted to read one -- specifically Bleak House, which the article discusses at length.

I've never read that one, but I recommend David Copperfield.

[Jeff Wrangler]

June 13: Joan Acocella on Pinocchio and Garth Greenwell on Andrew Holleran.

I've read some of Holleran. I find him depressing, but read the article about him and his writing anyway. Greenwell writes, "Even as I value Holleran's candor, and his refusal of triumphalist narratives of queer affirmation--sometimes it doesn't get better, or not for everyone--these moments are painful to read." That reminds me of the ambivalence I felt toward the "It Gets Better" campaign. Grant it, I believe the aim there was to prevent the suicide of gay teens--but sometimes it doesn't get better.

(That said, when it comes time to redo my will, I want to look into the Trevor Project.)

[southendmd]

When reading the piece about Dickens in the March 7 issue (I have a big stack of them from which I indiscriminately grab when looking for reading material), I realized the only Dickens book I've ever read is A Christmas Carol. (Saw Oliver the movie, which probably doesn't count.) Now I'm semi-tempted to read one -- specifically Bleak House, which the article discusses at length.

If you find yourself bogged down by Bleak House, you can look for the excellent BBC version with none other than Gillian Anderson. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm falling very far behind in my magazines again. This weekend when I should be reading TNY, instead I'm using the time to read another gay novel.

[serious crayons]

If you find yourself bogged down by Bleak House, you can look for the excellent BBC version with none other than Gillian Anderson.

Thanks for the tip! I am afraid of getting bogged down in anything Dickens. And sometimes watching a show can help one ease into the reading! I might never have gotten through one of my favorite ever books, Wuthering Heights, in 1970 if I hadn't first seen the movie version with a young Timothy Dalton. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

In the cover art of the July 4 issue, the flower bed in front of the right-hand house includes the sort of petunia my mother used to have, with flowers that are sort-of striped.

[Front-Ranger]

I went looking for that issue and couldn't find it! Hopefully, it will pop up. In the June 6 issue, I read "Shipping News" about shipping containers. Very interesting. Do you think Annie Proulx will sue for stealing the title of her book? I then read the piece about Harvey Weinstein, all the while thinking "Why am I reading yet another piece about him?" It was disgusting.

The June 13 issue had some interesting articles. It was a relief that Elizabeth Kolbert's article on animals' senses was well written. So the previous article that was so jumbled must have been a fluke or her editor was on vacation. The best article I've read in a while was "Pinocchio's Many Lives" by Joan Acocella. The review of Andrew Holleran's novels made me want to read one. Can anyone recommend which one?

In the June 20 issue, the bio of Yoko Ono was very interesting, as was the piece about pornography sites.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The review of Andrew Holleran's novels made me want to read one. Can anyone recommend which one?

That article notwithstanding, I don't recommend any of them. I've read Dancer from the Dance and Nights in Aruba. I found them lyrically written but ultimately depressing. I wouldn't read him.

If you want to read some serious gay fiction that is not depressing, I cannot recommend highly enough a novel I'm just about to finish, Changing Tides, by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books, 2007).

To share just a little bit: The plot revolves around an unfinished manuscript of a novel that is possibly by John Steinbeck that may demonstrate that Steinbeck and his best friend, the pioneering marine biologist Ed Ricketts, were actually lovers. A PhD candidate from Yale travels to Monterey, California (the setting for Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row), to try to prove that the manuscript is genuine and that Steinbeck and Ricketts were, indeed, lovers. In Monterey he meets his own marine biologist, who happens to have a troubled teen-age daughter. The novel includes some discussion of Steinbeck's writing and also a lot of fascinating information about scuba diving and the sea life around Monterey. Ed Ricketts was a real person with a fascinating career. I advise looking him up.