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Best Books of 2011(ish)

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It’s that time of year when people proclaim the best books of 2011.  I’m not exactly a trusty resource for new releases, since I’m perennially catching up on my reading and researching historical fantasy primarily.

But I do have my opinions, and – not surprisingly – they don’t jibe with the New York Times recent 100 Notable Books of 2011.  (I haven’t read any of them, gulp).

I can also sadly report that my reading productivity plunged terribly this year.  In 2010, I read twenty-six books.  This year, with only about a month to go, I’ve read thirteen.  I blame my iPhone and Twitter, the biggest time-sucks while I’m commuting back and forth to work.

Of the thirteen books I’ve read this year, only two were new releases.  And one of those, Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS, was a ten-year anniversary re-publication.  Eek!

So, here goes what I got around to read that was fairly new, and that I highly recommend.

Annabel Lyon’s THE GOLDEN MEAN

It came out in 2009.  I picked it up in January 2011.  This is my all-time favorite ancient world historical.  It tells the story of Aristotle’s tutoring of young Alexander the Great, and it’s a fascinating portrayal of how the philosopher’s rational and ethical teachings may have influenced the greatest military general of all time.  For the intimidated:  THE GOLDEN MEAN is not all philosophical and heady stuff.  It deals with complex family relationships, the cruelty of childhood, and issues of mental disability and illness – all set within a vivid ancient world.

Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS

Soon to be an HBO mini-series, AMERICAN GODS is a funny, epic, engrossing adventure in which a down-on-his-luck ex-con gets caught up in a battle between old world gods and the idols of modern times (i.e. materialism, the media).  It’s filled with great retold parables with contemporary twists.

 

 

Gabrielle Burton’s IMPATIENT WITH DESIRE

Imagining the diary of Tamsen Donner, Burton illuminates the infamous story of 19th century American pioneering gone horribly wrong.  Tamsen comes to life as an early feminist faced with impossible choices.  This one is really, truly a 2011 release.

 

 

 

Now for a couple excellent books I read in 2011, just a few decades behind the times…

Shyam Selvadurai’s FUNNY BOY

FUNNY BOY (1997) is a semi-autobiographical story about growing up in Sri Lanka amidst the rising ethnic tensions – Sinhalese vs. Tamil — of the 1970’s and early 80’s.  A compelling gay coming-of-age story within a rich cultural setting.

 

 

 

Ursula LeGuin’s LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS (1969)

Setting aside some sexist and heterosexist undertones, forgiveable for the time of its publication, this book fascinated me.  The premise:  a male, human envoy visits a distant world where there is only one gender, that is essentially hermaphroditic.  The book has provocative things to say about sexuality, and politics.

The Queer Matrix Through the Decades

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Hoping not to prove you can have too much of a good thing, I’m continuing my queer ponderings this week, visual arts-style, with new Queer Matrices.

I spent way more time on these than I’d like to admit, but the results are quite a bit more polished than last week’s laughable mock-up.  I guess I was the last to know:  you can’t do diddly in Paint.

Some definitions first…

The X axis is Queer Content, which could include portrayals of same sex love and relationships, homoeroticism, gender bending, trans experiences, drag, or any representation of queer culture, politics and/or community.

No Queer Content is the absence of any of these.

The Y axis is Queer Sensibility.  The way I define it is looking at the world with a queer lens, through which homoeroticism and same sex love are celebrated, transexuality is transcendent, queer oppression is illuminated and indicted, and heteronormativity is challenged, subverted, and asked to please leave the building.

Non Queer Sensibility is the opposite, meaning looking at the world with a non queer lens, through which heteronormativity is centralized, traditionalized and/or assumed, a gender binary is de rigueur, and opposite sex relationships are the default setting.

Now we’ll take a look at Queer Matrices through the decades…

 

 

 

So what’s next?  The Queer Matrix:  Boy Bands?  Disney?  Punk Music Icons?  I’m open to entertaining suggestions.

Best Gay Novels – My Picks

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Since so many of you have asked (ha, ha), I decided this week to post what I consider the best gay novels.  Well, at least the best ones I’ve read. I recently learned that the Publishing Triangle has a list of the 100 best gay and lesbian novels, and I’d only read eight of them.  The list leans toward older and more high brow authors like Thomas Mann and Virginia Woolf so to defend myself (or more likely incriminate myself) I tend to prefer literature that’s more accessible (read: I’m a lazy reader). But I thought the list deserved a response from a semi-educated, gay-on-the-street point of view.  I couldn’t come up with 100 titles. That would be just too pretentious. And I’m not ranking the books either. That would hurt my brain too much.

Cinnamon Gardens by Shyam Selvadurai

The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket by John Weir

Hey Joe! by Ben Neihart

The Burning Plain by Michael Nava

Dancing on the Tisha B’Av by Lev Raphael

Saul’s Book by Paul T. Rogers

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim