Books you've read in 2022

Peekaboo said:
I have recently finished a book that has stayed with me for several days and nights and made me cry and think and hope for a better future and I am doing my bit spreading the word because I really think every gay man should read it.

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It's a brilliant recollection of 30 years of therapy work with gay men by an American psychologist that unpicks many of the aspects of growing up and being gay in a straight world, dissecting traumas and blockers to happiness and a more fulfilling and realised life.

I'm probably not selling it very well but it's split into kind of independent chapters that tackle different aspects of the gay psyche, including shame, trauma, self-realisation, and the ghost of AIDS that still haunts the community. But if nothing else it is worth reading it for the final chapter alone where the author pays a beautiful eulogy to the men in his life and their struggle to find a model of gay lifestyle and family that suited them, free from conventions of heteronormativity. It's incredibly inspiring.
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I'm READING THIS purely on YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS and whereas it's UNDOUBTEDLY INTERESTING I've sent all the MUMBO JUMBO about MASCULINITY FEMININITY AND ANAL SEX straight down to the DEPARTMENT OF HOT TAKES
 
Jocasta Clun said:
I'm READING THIS purely on YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS and whereas it's UNDOUBTEDLY INTERESTING I've sent all the MUMBO JUMBO about MASCULINITY FEMININITY AND ANAL SEX straight down to the DEPARTMENT OF HOT TAKES
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I'm so sorry :D I hope it doesn't put you off the whole book. He's a psychotherapist after all so yeah, he walks into some THEORIES that are a bit beyond me. But I honestly believe that overall he hits the nail on the head way more than he presents outlandish theories. The stuff about GAY SENSIBILITY being developed in the formative years for example was like someone reading into my soul. And the whole chapter on gay relationships I thought was so on the ball.
 
I'm not saying it's easy reading either! Some of the stuff made me actually feel quite uneasy with myself. But that's kind of the point!
 
No it's good once you get past that part. I'm just ALLERGIC to the idea of ROLES be they either GENDERY OR SEXUAL. That's what you get from being RAISED BY OLD HIPPIES I guess.
 
I haven’t been reading anything for almost a week. It feels like I’m skipping school or something.
 
I didn’t enjoy the first ‘Less’, so haven’t bothered since.

I read the latest Graham Norton book this week. I’d give it 3/5. Not a patch on his last one. He knows how to spin a tale, but this one all seemed a bit muddled.
 
Suedey said:
I'm still waiting for Pamuk to arrive at my local Waterstones. Stocking problems!
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I noticed after I wrote about it last that it had a later release in the UK than here which... doesn't make sense but yes, it should be out by now. let's read it together :googlyeyes:
 
Mats said:
I noticed after I wrote about it last that it had a later release in the UK than here which... doesn't make sense but yes, it should be out by now. let's read it together :googlyeyes:
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I've just put a CLICK & COLLECT order through my local Waterstones.
It's disgusting though how many books are on my To ReAd pile at present.
I need to be spanked into discipline and submission.
Daddy! etc.
(Janet Jackson took over my account)
 
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jyxz said:
Did anyone read The whale tattoo?

It’s been on my ‘to read’ pile for ages and has great reviews but I need an extra moopy push.
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I've added it mentally, but honestly I can't my bedside table will collapse
 
I finished My Year of Rest & Relaxation. I feel torn about it.

on the one hand I like the commitment to making the narrator a bitch, so thoroughly dislikable and full of self-loathing. the emptiness of severe depression was rendered interesting. some of the gradual ways Mossfegh slips in details that reveal how fucked up and drug-dependent narrator is feel really clever and catch you by surprise, and for a book about sleep it's not BORING.

on the other, the 9/11 ending felt tacked on even though you saw it coming a mile off. if narrator has found things to live for and really does appreciate her friend now, wouldn't it be more effective ending the diary on September 10th with optimism for the future? or is she still highly depressed and only deluding herself that the sleep diet worked, hence why she finds it "beautiful" to watch Reva plunging to her death from the twin towers?

I tore through so I guess I really enjoyed it despite some of the uncertainties and lingering doubts.

onto The Secret History now :disco: fifty ish pages in and it already feels like a SLAY!
 
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I'm tearing through The Secret History. 300 pages down, 200 to go, not entirely sure where the story is going next... the writing is so good. this is definitely on track to become an all time fave.

I would love the kiss between Francis and Richard to be expanded on but I fear that's about as likely as a happy ending for our bunch of snooty misfits :D
 
I'm on Less Is Lost now. A bit annoyed with the narration style and premise but I'll see it through.
 
Jark said:
I'm tearing through The Secret History. 300 pages down, 200 to go, not entirely sure where the story is going next... the writing is so good. this is definitely on track to become an all time fave.

I would love the kiss between Francis and Richard to be expanded on but I fear that's about as likely as a happy ending for our bunch of snooty misfits :D
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same! it's so incredibly atmospheric, I feel like I am watching an American 90s movie with lots of grainy shots of woodlands in drizzly weather as a narrator recounts the events of that spring semester
 
Suedey said:
I'm on Less Is Lost now. A bit annoyed with the narration style and premise but I'll see it through.
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I'm scared to read it because I love Less so much! but without the "mystery" of who's narrating (and in love with him) I'm not sure the magic will be there. the blurb didn't seem to offer anything new.
 
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I also spend a lot of time reading betterme blog about health, exercises and diets.
Best article I read in the past couple of months about fat - https://betterme.world/articles/how-to-get-rid-of-rib-fat/ is this one.
Sometimes it doesn't actually matter how much you exercises - more how you do and what do you eat before and after the training.
 
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after finishing The Secret History (an instant all timer, I cried when I finished reading) I'm craving a reread of The Rules of Atraction but it's out of print here so I'll get it in the UK at Christmas... but I want it now. I'm in such a mood for American ACADEMIA FICTION right now
 
You must complete Queen Tartt's bibliography as both of her other novels are equally spectacular.

I'd also recommend Queen Of Pop Haniya's A Little Life but that might be a bit much :(
 
As an aside I've nearly finished Less is Lost and it has grown on me. Worth a read for any of you Lessians out there!
 
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