Hello, page slaves!
First off, I can now say that I have (essentially) read every book in my collection -- something that seemed improbable less than a year ago, when finishing them all became something of an obsession. (I always think it's a puerile question when someone sees a big collection of books and asks, "Have you read all of these?" But yes, I have!)
As a result -- and perhaps to the detriment of the publishing industry -- I think my book-buying days are effectively behind me.
Moving forward -- and with thanks to the New York Public Library -- I have been getting nearly all of my titles as e- and audiobooks, which I lay out below. I've also erased the two titles from my DNF column -- aka did not finish.
Here we go:
"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" by Michael Chabon
As mentioned, I bought this debut novel by the Pulitzer-winning author when it came out to much fanfare in 1988, intrigued by its promise of bisexuality. It quickly became the one and only book I started but DNF, in large part to the mob angle that turned me off. But as I set out to clear my bookshelves, I decided to give it another chance and sure enough, it wasn't bad. (Don't take my lack of specifics as a diss. It's been a month or two since I finished -- and I followed it with the much-maligned film adaptation that combines two of the main characters into one -- and I can't remember much about anything I've read in adulthood!)
"Two Boys Kissing" by David Levithan
My literary agent raved about this when it came out in 2013 -- so I purchased it. only for it to gather dust -- and now I can confirm he was 100% right! (How clever to have the lost voices witness this decidedly Gen Z moment.)
"A Long Way, Baby: Behind the Scenes in Women's Pro Tennis" by Grace Lichtenstein
This one's been on my shelves since I was 10 years old, an early purchase by my brother Bill when our family became obsessed with tennis. While I realize it wasn't exactly a best-seller, I was shocked to see that the whole
Billie Jean King-Marilyn Barnett affair -- which wouldn't be "exposed" until a galimony suit in 1981 -- was laid out in black and white in the book's pages. Has anyone else ever mentioned this besides me (right now)?
"Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir of Booze, Sex and My Mother" by Jamie Brickhouse
I met Jamie at Don Weise's memorial earlier this year and his hilarious personality set the stage for finally reading my review copy -- turns out I have two! -- of his 2015 memoir, which was equally delightful.
"Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies" by Michael Ausiello
I've already mentioned that I had to put this down because the cancer ordeal was a little too close to home when I first tried to read it, but I'm so glad I went back. Gay love stories matter, and what a beautiful one to have on the record, anal warts and all.
From here we enter the "I'm allowed to read new books because I don't have a backlog hanging over me" era, most of which I checked out at the New York Public Library:
"After All" by Mary Tyler Moore
This couldn't have been easy for the guarded perfectionist to write, so I give her a lot of credit for opening up.
"A Story Lately Told" by Anjelica Huston
Fascinating to read about growing up the daughter of John Huston in Ireland, London and New York. Add Huston to the list of people who led a kind of life that will never be led again. (Note: Her ability to remember minute details dating back to age 5 -- neighbors' outfits, what was eaten, whose friend from another land was in attendance -- was a little eyebrow raising.)
"Watch Me" by Anjelica Huston
Riding high on the first part of her life, I excitedly picked up its sequel. Surprisingly, I found it far less interesting. I quickly realized "The Grifters" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" were the only films of hers I remember seeing -- she's fantastic in both. (My mafia allergy has kept me from watching "Prizzi's Honor," although I know I should -- and that I didn't recall she was in "The Royal Tenenbaums" probably isn't a compliment.) And hearing about movie sets, a foray into directing and her relationships with two unpleasant-sounding men (Jack Nicholson and Robert Graham, who turns out to be the sculptor behind the iconic
Joe Louis "Fist" monument in my hometown!) was maybe more than I needed to know.
"My Autobiography" by Cloris Leachman
Pure joy. And yet another life we will never see again, with her Kennedy connections (she and her family would be flown on a private plane to the Hyannis Port compound), friendships (picnics with Marlon Brando) and tangled personal life. (Joan Collins was the "other woman" in Leachman's marriage to George Englund, with whom she had five children and remained close until his death in 2017, despite divorcing him in 1979.)
"Finding Renee Richards" by Julie Kliegman
If you're interested in learning more about the trans tennis pioneer, it's best to avoid this new book and instead read
"Second Serve," the subject's fascinating 1983 memoir (with John Ames), from which most of the information here is borrowed -- minus Kliegman's 21st century sanctimony, which the author seems smart enough to recognize as misguided yet cannot stop spewing. (I also cannot abide someone who writes about tennis but doesn't use its terminology correctly. No, Martina Navratilova did not "win 18 tournaments.")
"Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted" by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
This seemed like a no-brainer until I read a bad review. Turns out the writer was an idiot -- another reminder that reviews are just (other people's) opinions -- so I loved lapping up every detail about the history of my favorite sitcom.
"From Here to the Great Unknown" by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
At first I was disappointed that Lisa Marie's daughter had to step in to finish this after her mom died unexpectedly in 2023. But it turned out to be the book's saving grace, because Lisa Marie -- who just sat for recorded interviews rather than actually writing -- hated talking about herself so much that having a less critical and less self-conscious observer flesh things out made for a much richer experience. I had no special connection to Lisa Marie, yet her death bothers me more than any other celebrity death.
"Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin
Now I see why people rave about Baldwin -- his turns of phrase and ability to set a scene are exemplary. But I won't pretend that yet another story about sad-sack homosexuals -- who have twice as much sex with women as they do with men -- feels particularly groundbreaking at this stage in my life.
"American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst" by Jeffrey Toobin
Toobin brilliantly explores every last inch of the bizarre case that fascinated me as a child. (Between "
Sweet Hostage" and the
Oakland County Child Killer, nothing seemed more de rigueur to me in the 1970s than being kidnapped.) Yet he managed to leave a bad taste in my mouth by closing the book with a tirade against his subject that almost negated the previous 480 pages of unbiased reporting.
"Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell
This was on my DNF list, so I decided to revisit. Still wasn't my favorite. But it did give me a deep appreciation for how Darren Star was able to winnow it down to create what became one of the most iconic TV shows of all time.
"Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg: One Comedian's Tour of Not-Quite-the-Biggest Cities in the World" by Todd Barry
Amusing stuff for fans of the drollest of them all.
"When the Band Played On: The Life of Randy Shilts, America's Trailblazing Gay Journalist" by Michael G. Lee
Shilts has long been a divisive figure, so it was interesting to learn in greater detail why. What a shame that he isn't with us anymore.
Currently I'm reading Barry Diller's "Who Knew." The first few chapters about his younger years -- deep in the closet in Beverly Hills -- were fascinating. Now we're getting into his Hollywood career and I'm losing interest. Here's hoping he steps back out of the boardroom and gives us more insight about his struggles with living an authentic life.
And soon I hope to be reading Nige Tassell's Prefab Sprout bandography, "Truly Gifted Kids." Message me if you can hook me up with the e-book or a PDF!
