SF LGBT Book Club

September 2010 Selection: A German take on Brokeback Mountain, set in the nineteenth-century American Midwest.

July 2010 Selection: An autobiographical coming-of-age novel by the the "only gay man" in Morocco.

May 2010 Selection: Soehnlein's beloved and highly praised debut, The World of Normal Boys, introduced unforgettable teenager Robin MacKenzie. Now, Soehnlein introduces Robin's sister Ruby, in this story of love, loss, and emotional upheaval.

March 2010 Selection: With an autobiographical afterword by the author, The Price of Salt is now recognized as a masterwork, the scandalous novel that anticipated Nabokov's Lolita.

January 2010 Selection: A classic of 20th-century fiction, Berlin Stories inspired the Broadway musical and Oscar-winning film Cabaret. This newly released paperback edition features an introduction by the acclaimed novelist Maupin.

November 2009 Selection: Twenty years have passed since Joseph left his family and his religious Israeli community where he fell in love with a man, the brilliant rabbi Yoel Rosenzweig. Now, for his 50th birthday, Joseph is preparing to 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.

July 2009 Selection: Thom Creed is used to being on his own. Even as a highschool basketball star, he has to keep his distance because of his father. Hal Creed had once been one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of The League--until the Wilson Towers incident. After that Thom's mother disappeared and his proud father became an outcast. The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trail and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join. Even though he knows it would kill his dad, Thom can't resist. When he joins the League, he meets a motely crew of other heroes, including tough-talking Scarlett, who has the power of fire from growing up near a nuclear power plant; Typhoid Larry, who makes everyone sick by touching them, but is actually a really sweet guy; and wise Ruth, who has the power to see the future. Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes. Along the way, Thom falls in love, and discovers the difficult truth about his parents' past. This is a moving, funny, and wonderfully original novel that shows that things are not always what they seem, and love can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

April 2009 Selection: Originally published in 1982 as the first of Edmund White's trilogy of autobiographical novels, "A Boy's Own Story" became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. The book's unnamed narrator, growing up during the 1950s, is beset by aloof parents, a cruel sister, and relentless mocking from his peers, compelling him to seek out works of art and literature as solace and to uncover new relationships in the struggle to embrace his own sexuality. Lyrical and poignant, with powerful evocations of shame and yearning, this is an American literary treasure.

February 2009 Selection: From the bestselling author of "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," a love story full of secrets and astonishments set in 1950s San Francisco "We think we know the ones we love." So Pearlie Cook begins her indirect and devastating exploration of the mystery at the heart of every relationship, how we can ever truly know another person. It is 1953 and Pearlie, a dutiful housewife, finds herself living in the Sunset district of San Francisco, caring not only for her husband's fragile health but also for her son, who is afflicted with polio. Then, one Saturday morning, a stranger appears on her doorstep and everything changes. All the certainties by which Pearlie has lived are thrown into doubt. Does she know her husband at all? And what does the stranger want in return for his offer of $100,000? For six months in 1953, young Pearlie Cook struggles to understand the world around her, most especially her husband, Holland. Pearlie's story is a meditation not only on love but also on the effects of war--with one war just over and another one in Korea coming to a close. Set in a climate of fear and repression--political, sexual, and racial--"The Story of a Marriage "portrays three people trapped by the confines of their era, and the desperate measures they are prepared to take to escape it. Lyrical and surprising, "The Story of a Marriage "looks back at a period that we tend to misremember as one of innocence and simplicity. Like Ford Madox Ford's "The Good Soldier," Andrew Sean Greer's novel is a narrative tour de force that confirms him as "one of the most talented writers around" (Michael Chabon).

November 2008 Selection: "Mississippi Sissy" is destined to become an American classic In a book that echoes the time-honored fiction of Harper Lee and Flannery O'Connor and memoirs by Mary Karr and Augusten Burroughs, Kevin Sessums brings the American South and the experiences of a strange little Mississippi boy to life.