Giovanni's Room

Frontreaders Reading Group will discuss Patrick Gale’s novel, Rough Music ($14.95 pb).

Jane Velez-Mitchell is the
author of "iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life" (Health Communications, $24.95 hb, less 10% in the store).When Jane Velez-Mitchell got sober 14 years ago, she got in touch with her authentic self, which included getting honest with ... (more)her sexuality. At 51, this investigative journalist , author and host of HLN's "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell," came out as a lesbian on national radio and has continued to keep working on getting honest in all areas of her life. In iWant, Jane shares her personal journey of gradually stripping away her compulsive cravings for 'everything' to lead a more serene and authentic existence--and in doing so, clears a path anyone would be wise to follow. Jane is known for her intense news style and her dedication to animal activism, women's issues and generally shining light on all the self-destructive habits that plague Americans. This event is co-sponsored with the Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia’s LGBT Health Center.

Ellis Avery is the author of The Teahouse Fire (Riverhead, 465 pp., $15 pb).The story of two women whose lives intersect in late nineteenth-century Japan, "The Teahouse Fire" is also a portrait of one of the most fascinating places and times in all of history--Japan as it opens its doors to the West. ... (more)Told through the enchanting and unforgettable voice of Aurelia, an American orphan adopted by proprietors of a tea ceremony school, this is "a magisterial novel that is equal parts love story, imaginative history and bildungsroman, a story as alluring as it is powerful" ("Publishers Weekly," starred review).Ellis Avery studied Japanese tea ceremony for five years in New York and Kyoto, and now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. Her work has appeared in "The Village Voice," "Publishers Weekly," and "Kyoto Journal," among other publications.

Kate Sorensen is a Philadelphia contributor to We Will Be Heard: Voices in the Struggle for Constitutional Rights Past and Present, edited by Bud Schultz and Ruth Schultz (Merrell, 231 pp., $22.95 hb, less 10% in the store).

Erec is the author of the new novel Creamy Nougat (Community Press, 304 pp., $16.99 pb).Ross Mclure, an ambitious and rather cocky graduate student, is given the chance of a lifetime: to conduct an experiment that tests the true liberation of the liberal-minded. After answering an ad ... (more)for a fourth roommate to share space in an alternative living situation, Ross is invited to move in. His roommates are a homosexual, a practitioner of Wicca and a person with cerebral palsy. As part of his experiment, Ross decides to become the resident nudist. His roommates reluctantly accept his lifestyle (lest they be hypocrites), and the experiment continues exactly as planned until Ross meets a homeless man named Maurice. Now the experiment changes.

Leslie Jordan is the author of My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (Simon & Schuster, $21.95 hb).Jordan, the beloved Emmy-winning actor, playwright, and gay icon, offers this rollicking caper filled with comically overwrought childhood agonies, revealing celebrity encounters, and offbeat Hollywood ... (more)observations.You may remember him best as the little lech who would do anything to get into Jack’s knickers and as Ksren's nemisis on Will and Grace.

Author of Hiding in Hip Hop: On the Down Low in the Entertainment Industry--From Music to Hollywood (Atria, $23, less 10% for sales in the store).
Everyone wants to know the truth about their favorite celebrities' heart's desire. Within the masculine culture of Hip Hop and Hollywood, there is a well-known ... (more)gay subculture that industry insiders are keenly aware of but choose to hide. Terrance Dean worked his way up for more than ten years in the entertainment industry from intern to executive, and has lived the life of glitz and bling along with Hollywood and Hip Hop's most glamorous. With a family full of secrets and working in an industry founded on maleness--where one's job, friendships, and reputation all depend on remaining on the down low and in hiding--Dean writes a revealing account of the journey of coming out from hiding.
Full of startling anecdotes and incredible true stories, Hiding in Hip Hop is not a traditional tell-all. A personal and poignant memoir, it is also one of the most provocative and honest looks at stardom and sexuality.

The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart and other books.This adaptation of Mozart’s opera contains all of the classic fairy tale elements. Prince Tamino must save Princess Pamina from her evil mother, the queen. Three beautiful ladies give him a magical flute that will charm both animal and human to help ... (more)him on his quest. With the help of his flute and his jovial friend Papageno, he overcomes the trials of silence, patience, and courage. Will he be able to win Princess Pamina’s hand in marriage?

Kyra Teis began her artistic career while majoring in folklore as an undergraduate. Drawn to symbolic and mythological imagery, she studied folktales and other stories from many different cultures. During this time, she identified that writing and illustrating children's books would be a perfect way for her to combine many of the things she loved. While she went to graduate school, she worked to build a portfolio of artwork and started getting jobs as a professional illustrator.

She learned her distinctive paper collage technique from her father, Dan Teis, who was a contemporary artist. Her father's studio was always open to her, and she had unlimited access to paper, paint, and other art supplies. In high school, Kyra sat in on many of her father's classes that he taught while serving as Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Delaware.

Now, Kyra draws inspiration from her extensive travels, her husband and young daughter. She enjoys designing creative workshops for school visits and speaking to students about making stories and images of their own. Kyra lives near Albany, New York.Book Signing: Tuesday, August 19, 11 am- 12 noon.

Scott Pomfret is the author of Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir (Arcade, $26 hb, less 10% discount in the store).
Want to know what life is like for gay Catholics? Get down on your knees and . . . pray!
Scott Pomfret serves as a lector at St. Anthony Shrine in Boston. He also writes ... (more)gay porn. His boyfriend is a flaming atheist, and his boyfriend’s Protestant grandmother counts Catholicism a sin worse than sodomy. From Pentecost to Pride, from the books of the Bible to the articles of The Advocate, Pomfret’s wry, hysterically funny memoir maps with matchless humor the full spectrum of the gay Catholic experience. Listen in as Pomfret learns a thing or two about love and compassion from Father Bear Daddy, a priest with a hot Gay.com profile, and the Three Hale Marys, and join him as he sets out on a brave quest to convince his arch-nemesis, Cardinal O’Malley, to invite him to serve at a weekly mass.

Federal prosecutor and gay porn writer Scott D. Pomfret takes on the Roman Catholic Church in his funny, irreverent new book, Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir, at Giovanni's Room bookstore, 345 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA. 215/923-2960. 5:30-7PM. Seeking to foster homo-Catholic ... (more)rapprochement and a change of tune on Massachusetts civil marriage, Pomfret pursues the Boston Archbishop from pulpit to Chancery, acquires a hardcore atheist boyfriend, and confronts a pack of motorcycle lesbians, gay priests, flaming friars, Braveheart Womenpriests, would-be Opus Dei homosexual monks, three "Hale" Marys, and the inimical Father McSlutty along the way. More info at www.sincemylastconfession.com.

Join Diesel Bookstore as investigative journalist & author, Nena Baker presents and signs her compelling new book, The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being.

Nena spent a quarter century in the trenches of journalism before writing THE BODY TOXIC. ... (more) She began her career in New York as a copy editor for GQ magazine, later moving on to positions at TV Guide and a jewelry trade magazine, where she exposed the illegal disposal of toxic chemicals by retail jewelers.

She also worked as a reporter and editor on the national financial desk of United Press International in New York before returning to her home state of Oregon, where, as an awrd-winning staff writer for The Oregonian, she was the first U.S. reporter to investigate deplorable conditions at Nike's Indonesian factories.

Her writing has appeared in SELF, Town & Country, Seventeen, and Mademoiselle. A graduate of Lewis & Clark College, Baker currently lives in Portland, OR, where she is a licensed private investigator specializing in interviewing, database, and public-records research.

Adam Raphael's new collection of photographs is Barely Working (powerHouse, $39.95, less 10% discount in the store).Adam Raphael, photographer of the widely praised Room Service, offers a delicious collection of young men in his newest book, Barely Working. Once again documenting a racially diverse group ... (more)of the finest faces and bodies, Raphael has captured his models in various working situations including auto repair, car washing, landscaping, and other similar settings. Of course, work soon gives way to play, and the unique combination of laughter, competition, and youthful energy converge to create a sensual tension that can only be made by a photographer who has the skill and talent to work closely with his models without ever overshadowing or crowding them. To quote Reed Massengill, “Adam Raphael’s photographs are immediately likable and sexy as hell-—a testament to his ability to make his guys comfortable and trusting in front of his camera. Some photographers try twice as hard, but seldom achieve half as much.”

Diesel Bookstore is proud to welcome back Irvine Welsh, the bestselling author of Trainspotting as he presents his newest book, Crime.

As Welsh's very first novel set in the U.S., CRIME is a shocking and gripping story about the corruption and abuse of the human soul, and the possibilities for redemption.

Openly gay sports writer Bill Konigsberg is the author of "Out of the Pocket" (Dutton, $16.99 hb, less 10% in the store).
Star quarterback Bobby Framingham, one of the most talented high school football players in California, knows he’s different from his teammates. They are like brothers, but they ... (more)don’t know one essential thing: Bobby is gay. Can he still be one of the guys and be honest about who he is?When he’s outed against his will by a student reporter, Bobby must find a way to earn back his teammates’ trust and accept that his path to success might be more public, and more difficult, than he'd hoped. An affecting novel about identity that also delivers great sports writing.

Join Diesel Bookstore for a green event with Van Jones, author of Green Collar Economy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van ... (more)is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

He's worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America.

As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors, which include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.

He's also served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change.

In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.

In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities."

In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.

His many media appearances includes the popular Peabody award-winning show, The Colbert Report.

Join Clare Langley-Hawthorne at Diesel Bookstore as she presents the second book in her fantastic new historical mystery series! Featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow, THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION is a thrilling story of scandal and betrayal that's richly detailed and ... (more)action-packed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Clare Langley-Hawthorne was raised in England and Australia. She practiced law in Melbourne until 1995 when she emigrated moved to the United States and began work as a health economist. Clare has since put her pursuit of a PhD on hold to focus on her career as a writer. She lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and twin sons. This is her second novel.

For more information, visit her web site at www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com

Shawn Stewart Ruff is the author of Finlater (Quote, 292 pp., $15.50 pb).
The course of growing up in just-this-side-of-segregation 1970s Cincinnati, Ohio, seems predictable if uninspiring for Cliffy Douglas. That is, until the deadbeat father of this gifted 13 year-old black kid from the Finlater Gardens ... (more)Projects appears out of nowhere. The real fun and trouble begin when Noah, a Jewish boy he meets in junior high school, takes him on a joyride to lust and love.
For a thrilling review, see http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.a...

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting ... (more)that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"--politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example--to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners.

Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

Reviews:
"Sweet Tea is an amazing book. Engaging from the very start, it is well written and thought provoking throughout. There were times I simply could not put it down."--E. Lynn Harris, New York Times bestselling novelist

"A variety of biases, oversights, and material circumstances have conspired to push the narratives of southern black gay lives to the margins. Sweet Tea makes a monumental achievement by getting these stories out into the world. Every subsequent, serious engagement with the topic will have to address Johnson's work. This book is certain to be consulted, referenced, and discussed for many years to come."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History and Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Malibu is excited to welcome legendary surfer and Malibu resident, Laird Hamilton to the store! As one of the most famous big-wave surfers today, Laird is known for his physical and mental toughness when out on the waves, and has achieved worldwide fame for his accomplishments.

He'll ... (more)be joining us to discuss and share from his highly anticipated book, Force of Nature, and open a window into the unique physical regimens, mental strategies, and spiritual beliefs that has allowed him to do what he loves, while being surrounded by family and radiating peak health and fitness.

We'll see you there!

We are pleased to welcome Jerry Stahl to Diesel's Brentwood location where he will discuss and sign Pain Killers. This event is free and all are welcome!

March 1st marks the 15th anniversary of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning open gays from the military. New attention has focused on this explosive culture war issue, as Democrats renew promises to lift the ban, perhaps as soon as this year.
 
With UNFRIENDLY FIRE: How the Gay Ban Undermines ... (more)the Military and Weakens America, Dr. Nathaniel Frank, the mostly widely-recognized expert on gays in the military and the writer who broke the story of the firing of gay Arabic linguists, has written the definitive story of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at a pivotal moment in the debate on gay service.  Dr. Frank, an historian and Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center, has spent ten years explaining the ins and outs of this policy on television, radio, blogs and in print, and now more than ever, his expertise is in demand to help the nation understand this complex, fast-moving issue.
 
Based on hundreds of exclusive interviews, this much-anticipated book reveals behind-the-scenes discussions by the top players responsible for the current policy, and shows how a campaign of misinformation by military officials and the religious right conspired to steamroll the gay ban into place. UNFRIENDLY FIRE also answers pressing questions people are now asking about what lies ahead: How is the current policy really working? How do gay and straight troops currently get along? What happened when other nations lifted their gay bans? What will happen if the U.S. follows suit?  And more.
The new book shows that:
·         Military officials admit they misrepresented the threat posed by gays to unit cohesion, while minimizing the true source of resistance to gay service: religious and cultural opposition to homosexuality.
·         Evidence was repeatedly concealed or suppressed by the military when research concluded there was no rationale for the gay ban.
·         The team of military generals that created “don’t ask, don’t tell” did not even understand what “sexual orientation” meant when they were tasked with formulating the policy. The general who headed that team now opposes the policy and admits in the book that the group “didn’t have any empirical data” about gay service and its position was based on fear, politics and prejudice.
·         The former Navy Judge Advocate General reversed his support for a gay ban and now calls the policy a “moral passing of the buck.”
·         Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated an inflammatory anti-gay video produced by the religious right, and used it to argue that openly gay service would undermine the military.
 
Clearly and lucidly argued, UNFRIENDLY FIRE is a lively and compelling narrative that is sure to play an important role in the debate over this policy.  As a new presidential administration takes office, and our country’s military commitments around the globe continue to expand, the issue of gays serving in the military is certain to be a key topic of debate. Join Dr. Frank at Lambda Rising in DC as he answers your questions and discusses his insightful work on this vital issue. NATHANIEL FRANK is a senior research fellow at the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and teaches history on the adjunct faculty at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.  His publications on gays in the military and other topics have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Slate, the Los Angles Times, The Huffington Post, and other publications.  His research and opinions have been cited on the Congressional floor and in syndicated columns, the blogosphere, the New York Post, The National Review Online, the AP, and other venues.

Staceyann Chin is the
author of The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir (Scribner’s, $24 hb, less 10% in the store).No one knew Staceyann's mother was pregnant until a dangerously small baby was born on the floor of her grandmother's house in Lottery, Jamaica, on Christmas Day. Staceyann's mother did ... (more)not want her, and her father was not present. No one, except her grandmother, thought Staceyann would survive.
It was her grandmother who nurtured and protected and provided for Staceyann and her older brother in the early years. But when the three were separated, Staceyann was thrust, alone, into an unfamiliar and dysfunctional home in Paradise, Jamaica. There, she faced far greater troubles than absent parents. So, armed with a fierce determination and uncommon intelligence, she discovered a way to break out of this harshly unforgiving world.
Staceyann Chin, acclaimed and iconic performance artist, now brings her extraordinary talents to the page in a brave, lyrical, and fiercely candid memoir about growing up in Jamaica. She plumbs tender and unsettling memories as she writes about drifting from one home to the next, coming out as a lesbian, and finding the man she believes to be her father and ultimately her voice. Hers is an unforgettable story told with grace, humor, and courage.This event is sponsored by

We are pleased to welcome Biff Levy to our Malibu store where he will discuss and sign his newest book, Die, Decorator, Die. This event is free and all are welcome!

Jon Ginoli is the
author of Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division (Cleis, 300 pp., $16.95 pb).
The inside story of the first openly queer pop-punk rock band. Jon Ginoli sets off on a journey of self-discovery and musical passion to become the founding member of Pansy Division, the first out and proud ... (more)queer core punk rock band to hit the semi-big time. Set against the changing decades of music, we follow the band from their inception in San Francisco, to their search for a music label and a permanent drummer to their current status as indie rock icons. We see the highs--touring with Green Day--and the lows--homophobic fans--of striving for acceptance and success in the world of rock. Replete with the requisite tales of sex, drugs, groupies, band fights and label battles, this rollicking memoir is also an impassioned account of staying true to the artistic vision of queer rock 'n' roll.

Warren Hoffman is the
author of The Passing Game: Queering Jewish American Culture (Syracuse, 216 pp., $24.95 hb).
Tony Kushner’s award-winning epic play Angels in America was remarkable not only for its sensitive engagement of Jewish- American and gay culture but also for bringing these themes to ... (more)a mainstream audience. While the play represented a watershed in American theater and culture, it belies a hundred years of previous attention to queer Jewish identity in twentieth-century American literature, drama, and film. In The Passing Game, Warren Hoffman sheds light on this long history, taking up both Yiddish and English narratives that explore the tensions among Jewish identity, queer sexuality, performance, and American citizenship. With fresh insight Hoffman examines the 1907 Yiddish play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, the cross-dressing films of Yiddish actress Molly Picon, and several short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. He also analyzes the English-language novels The Rise of David Levinsky (Abraham Cahan), Wasteland (Jo Sinclair), and Portnoy’s Complaint (Phillip Roth). Hoffman highlights the ways in which the characters in these canonical texts attempt to "pass" as white, straight, and American in the early and mid–twentieth century. This pioneering work is a welcome contribution to the study of Jewish American literature and culture. Warren Hoffman teaches literature at Temple University, where he works primarily on Jewish American literature and musical theater. He is the director of Arts and Culture Programming for the Gershman Y in Philadelphia.

FREE and Open to the Public. Reservations are Required to Guarantee Seats. Reserve on-line: http://www.whyy.org/memberexperience/... or call 215-351-0511 A showing of the documentary, Ask Not, which lasts about an hour, followed by a panel discussion. On the panel will be Nathaniel Frank, author of Unfriendly ... (more)Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens the USA (St. Martin’s, $25.95 hb, less 10%). Featured on many television shows, he is the nation’s most widely recognized expert on the policy. With unfailing logic, Frank dissects the patterns of bigotry and fear that have fought to preserve a gay ban in the military and shows that the time to do away with it has come--not just as a moral issue, but also as a practical matter of survival for the military itself.
Ask Not is a rare exploration of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The film exposes the tangled political battles that led to the discriminatory law, and profiles charismatic activists determined to abolish it. As the war rages on, Ask Not reveals personal stories of gay Americans who serve in combat under a veil of secrecy. Film will be followed by Q&A with film subjects Jarrod Chlapowski and Alex Nicholson – gay Army Veterans and Co-Founders of Servicemembers United; and Nathaniel Frank – author of Unfriendly Fire, the definitive story of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Moderated by Tobias Barrington Wolff, Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania This event is a co-presentation with Giovanni’s Room, the City of Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations and Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs WHYY Announces Its First Ever Amateur Video Competition for films about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Submissions accepted from May 1st – June 30th. More Info @ whyy.memberexperience.org Publicity: for Nathaniel Frank, John Karle, John.Karle@stmartins.com

Warren Hoffman is the
author of The Passing Game: Queering Jewish American Culture (Syracuse, 216 pp., $24.95 hb).
Tony Kushner’s award-winning epic play Angels in America was remarkable not only for its sensitive engagement of Jewish- American and gay culture but also for bringing these themes to ... (more)a mainstream audience. While the play represented a watershed in American theater and culture, it belies a hundred years of previous attention to queer Jewish identity in twentieth-century American literature, drama, and film. In The Passing Game, Warren Hoffman sheds light on this long history, taking up both Yiddish and English narratives that explore the tensions among Jewish identity, queer sexuality, performance, and American citizenship. With fresh insight Hoffman examines the 1907 Yiddish play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, the cross-dressing films of Yiddish actress Molly Picon, and several short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. He also analyzes the English-language novels The Rise of David Levinsky (Abraham Cahan), Wasteland (Jo Sinclair), and Portnoy’s Complaint (Phillip Roth). Hoffman highlights the ways in which the characters in these canonical texts attempt to "pass" as white, straight, and American in the early and mid–twentieth century. This pioneering work is a welcome contribution to the study of Jewish American literature and culture. Warren Hoffman teaches literature at Temple University, where he works primarily on Jewish American literature and musical theater. He is the director of Arts and Culture Programming for the Gershman Y in Philadelphia.The reading will be preceded by a short performance by solo theater artist Sara Felder.

Evan Fallenberg
author of Light Fell (Soho, $12 pb).
In Mr. Fallenberg’s first novel twenty years have passed since Joseph left his family and his religious Israeli community when he fell in love with a man, the brilliant rabbi Yoel Rosenzweig. Now, for his fiftieth birthday, Joseph is preparing to ... (more)have his five sons and the daughter-in-law he has never met spend the Sabbath with him in his Tel Aviv penthouse. This will be the first time he and his sons will have all been together in nearly two decades.
Awarded the 2009 Barbara Gittings Prize for Fiction, the first and most enduring award for GLBT books, sponsored by the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table.
Winner of the Publishing Triangle's 2008 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction.

Evan Fallenberg
author of Light Fell (Soho, $12 pb).
In Mr. Fallenberg’s first novel twenty years have passed since Joseph left his family and his religious Israeli community when he fell in love with a man, the brilliant rabbi Yoel Rosenzweig. Now, for his fiftieth birthday, Joseph is preparing to ... (more)have his five sons and the daughter-in-law he has never met spend the Sabbath with him in his Tel Aviv penthouse. This will be the first time he and his sons will have all been together in nearly two decades.
Awarded the 2009 Barbara Gittings Prize for Fiction, the first and most enduring award for GLBT books, sponsored by the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table.
Winner of the Publishing Triangle's 2008 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction.

Michael Montlack is the
editor of My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (U. of Wisconsin, $24.95 hb, less 10% in the store).
From Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Midler, and Diana Ross to Queen Elizabeth I, Julia Child, and Princess Leia, these divas have been sister, alter ego, fairy godmother, ... (more)or model for survival to gay men and the closeted boys they once were. And anyone--straight or gay, young or old, male or female--who ever needed a muse, or found one, will see their own longing mirrored here as well.

Join us in welcoming Elizabeth Marshall Thomas as she signs and discusses her lastest book. “Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has been called America’s best interpreter of animals, and here she is at the height of her powers. The Hidden Life of Deer is a remarkable achievement: It reveals your nearest woodlot ... (more)as a scene of great mystery, intrigue, danger, drama, and passion.” - Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig

Frederick Hertz is the
author of Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnerships, and Civil Unions (Nolo, $29.99 pb).
The ultimate guide to the past, present, and future of same-sex relationship laws in the U.S.
"Making It Legal "is the only book that offers a comprehensive review ... (more)of all the issues that influence the decision to marry, breaks down the complex and ever-changing rules of same-sex relationship laws, and provides practical guidance on one of the most important decisions a couple can make.
Nationally-recognized same-sex relationship law expert Attorney Frederick Hertz and Attorney Emily Doskow have written the ultimate guide to the ultimate decision -- whether to enter into a marriage or other legal relationship with your same-sex partner.

Martha Hall is joining us again with her lastest book of poetry. "In her commanding second full-length collection, Martha Deborah Hall offers readers more of what they have come to love about her poetry: elegant craft, precise detail, concise language and considerable emotion. These poems are concerned ... (more)with the every day, with the acutely experienced moments that make up a full life, replete with joys and grief. Here "red leaves checker lawns," "a snowplow clangs it's iron song," "lipstick's smeared from so-longs," and "a first dahlia beats through the soil." When you visit My Side of the Street arrive hungry because you'll be treated to a feast of "leftover turkey for supper," "pizza-cake," "purple ice cream," and Hall's thoroughly nourishing verse." Lana Hechtman Ayers
Publisher, Concrete Wolf Poetry Chapbook Series

Dr. William C. Harris is the
author of Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture (SUNY, 288 pp., $29.95 pb).
In television shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and movies like Brokeback Mountain, as well as gay young adult novels and other media coverage of queer people--including ... (more)the outing of several prominent Republicans--queer lives are becoming more visible in the media and in U.S. culture more generally. How does the increasing visibility of queer subjects within mainstream culture affect possibilities for radical and transformative queer activism? Provocative and challenging, W. C. Harris argues that rather than simply being a cause for celebration, this "mainstreaming" of queer lives may have as many negative effects as positive ones for contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Harris builds on the work of queer and political theorists such as Eve Sedgwick, David Halperin, Michael Warner, and Wendy Brown to examine the side effects that can be generated when queers assimilate, and argues for a reinvigorated queer essentialism in order to claim a separate and visible political and activist space within U.S. culture.

They'll be discussing Christopher Bram's novel, The Lives of the Circus Animals.Come a few minutes early, before the store closes at 7 pm, so people won't have to race downstairs to let you in.

They'll be discussing "The Others," by Seba Al-Herz.

Alix Dobkin, the ground-breaking lesbian-feminist singer-song writer, tells the origins of her unique contribution to music and social change.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is very excited to welcome Mark Weiss to the shop to discuss and sign the anthology of poetry he edited, The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry.
Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally ... (more)large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolás Guillén, José Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejón, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world - among them Fina García Marruz, José Kozer, Raúl Hernández Novás, and Ángel Escobar-and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Pérez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimón. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets - both on and off the island - have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present David Swanson as he discusses and signs his new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union.
Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and ... (more)as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The Women’s Book Group will discuss Eileen Miles’ travel essays, The Importance of Being Iceland ($17.95 pb). Ms. Miles will read with Sarah Schulman on Monday, December 28 (see below).

Mouth watering treats will be on hand when Gesine visits to sign and discuss her delightful memoir "Confections of a Closet Master Baker". One woman's journey from unhappy Hollywood executive to contented country (VT) baker.