Homosexuality Books

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1269 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.

With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis

Hero

Perry Moore

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

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.

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

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Subjects -> Teens -> Social Issues -> Dating & Intimacy -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It is all in all decent 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

So, Naomi is in love with Ely, but Ely is gay. Then Ely kisses her boyfriend, and everything goes down the tube.

The true is for the writing, but We'll get to that.

So, Each chapter is in a different persons point of view, which gets slightly confusing if you aren't reading carefully. (You'll forget who the heck the characters are.) If you forget, you aren't remided at all. Some of the characters have been mentioned, but never seen in action until their chapter. It makes the book read bumpy, with many transition problems.
Occasionally, the chapters will interconnect, but they usually don't, taking their sweet page count bouncing along.

The writing styles of the two writers is very similar, but that is the problem. All the characters are two dimensional as they've added a few too many characters to have different personalities for.

The Whole setup of the plot is quite unrealistic. Ely kisses bruce the second(as there are two bruces, one you only see mentioned in about 25 pages,) so Naomi cuts all ties with Him. And the fact is, Bruce2 is gay himself, so it wouldn't matter even if he didn't!

The book is decent, but nothing all too special. It could've done without a few characters, such as Robin the male and Bruce the first (many repeated names.)

Editorial Review:

NAOMI AND ELY ARE BEST FRIENDS. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi, but prefers to be in love with boys. So they create their "No Kiss List" of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. And this works fine - until Bruce. Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce even though he is boring. The result: a rift of universal proportions and the potential end of "Naomi and Ely: the institution." Can these best friends come back together again?


From the Hardcover edition.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

Peter Cameron

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

It’s time for eighteen-year-old James Sveck to begin his freshman year at Brown. Instead, he’s surfing the real estate listings, searching for a sanctuary—a nice farmhouse in Kansas, perhaps. Although James lives in twenty-first-century Manhattan, he’s more at home in the faraway worlds of Eric Rohmer or Anthony Trollope—or his favorite writer, the obscure and tragic Denton Welch. James’s sense of dislocation is exacerbated by his willfully self-absorbed parents, a disdainful sister, his Teutonically cryptic shrink, and an increasingly vague, D-list celebrity grandmother. Compounding matters is James’s growing infatuation with a handsome male colleague at the art gallery his mother owns, where James supposedly works at his summer job but where he actually plots his escape to the prairie.

In the tradition of The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Booklist has hailed Cameron as “one of the best writers about middle-class youth since Salinger”), Peter Cameron paints an indelible portrait of a teenage hero holding out for a better grownup world.

Rubyfruit Jungle

Rita Mae Brown

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Rubyfruit Jungle is the first milestone novel in the extraordinary career of one of this country's most distinctive writers. Bawdy and moving, the ultimate word-of-mouth bestseller, Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a lesbian in America – and living happily ever after.

Born a bastard, Molly Bolt is adopted by a dirt-poor Southern couple who want something better for their daughter. Molly plays doctor with the boys, beats up Leroy the tub and loses her virginity to her girlfriend in sixth grade.

As she grows to realize she's different, Molly decides not to apologize for that. In no time she mesmerizes the head cheerleader of Ft. Lauderdale High and captivates a gorgeous bourbon-guzzling heiress.

But the world is not tolerant. Booted out of college for moral turpitude, an unrepentant, penniless Molly takes New York by storm, sending not a few female hearts aflutter with her startling beauty, crackling wit and fierce determination to become the greatest filmmaker that ever lived.

Critically acclaimed when first published, Rubyfruit Jungle has only grown in reputation as it has reached new generations of readers who respond to its feisty and inspiring heroine.

Heather Has Two Mommies: 10th Anniversary Edition (Alyson Wonderland)

Leslea Newman

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This handsome 10-anniversary edition of a minor classic presents the story of Heather, a preschooler with two moms who discovers that some of her friends have very different sorts of families. Juan, for example, has a mommy and a daddy and a big brother named Carlos. Miriam has a mommy and a baby sister. And Joshua has a mommy, a daddy, and a stepdaddy. Their teacher Molly encourages the children to draw pictures of their families, and reassures them that "each family is special" and that "the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other." In the afterword, the author (whose other children's books include Matzo Ball Moon) explains that although she grew up in a Jewish home, in a Jewish neighborhood, there were no families like hers on the television or in picture books. She came to regard her family as somehow "wrong," since there was no Christmas tree in the living room and no Easter egg hunt. Whatever the religious right may wish to think about nontraditional families, there is no denying that any child enrolled in an American school will encounter friends with single parents, gay parents, stepparents, or adoptive parents. This new, revised version of Heather Has Two Mommies offers an enjoyable, upbeat, age-appropriate introduction to the idea of family diversity. The book is essential for children (ages 2 to 6) with gay parents or family members, and a great addition to a Rainbow Curriculum. --Regina Marler

Out of the Pocket

Bill Konigsberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Out of the Pocket 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is an important book. I hope that all high school students have a chance to read and reflect on this moving story of a high school football star coming to terms with his sexuality, the world and his future. This book deserves to be in every high school library, including small towns where students who are struggling with their sexuality so often feel isolated and alone. In addition to being a "good read" this book will provide support and understanding for all students, parents and teachers.

Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D.
President, Center for Social and Emotional Education;
Adjunct Professor in Psychology and Education,
Teachers College, Columbia University.

Editorial Review:

Star quarterback Bobby Framingham, one of the most talented high school football players in California, knows he’s different from his teammates. They’re like brothers, but they 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 sportswriting.

Annie on My Mind

Nancy Garden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 127 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Superb book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book. Nancy Garden really captures the struggles of young gay people, and I think it's timeless and a classic even years after being written. It's one of my favorites. Also recommended: Stop Kiss (a play).

Editorial Review:

This groundbreaking book, first published in 1982, is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings.

Of the author and the book, the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee said, “Nancy Garden has the distinction of being the first author for young adults to create a lesbian love story with a positive ending. Using a fluid, readable style, Garden opens a window through which readers can find courage to be true to themselves.”

The 25th Anniversary Edition features a full-length interview with the author by Kathleen T. Horning, Director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Ms. Garden answers such revealing questions as how she knew she was gay, why she wrote the book, censorship, and the book’s impact on readers – then and now.

Rainbow Boys

Alex Sanchez

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 83 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

loved it 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

i loved this book so much the first time that i picked it up i couldn't put it down i had to read the other 2 books

A good read for young socially conscious teens 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book for my son as a gift. He says they are well written and thinks that it's a good insight into the minds dilemmas and real life situations of queer youth. Thank you Mr Sanchez for writing something thought provoking and caring for these often forgotten group of people! We have now purchased all of these books.

Editorial Review:

Jason Carrillo is a jock with a steady girlfriend, but he can't stop dreaming about sex...with other guys.

Kyle Meeks doesn't look gay, but he is. And he hopes he never has to tell anyone -- especially his parents.

Nelson Glassman is "out" to the entire world, but he can't tell the boy he loves that he wants to be more than just friends.

Three teenage boys, coming of age and out of the closet. In a revealing debut novel that percolates with passion and wit, Alex Sanchez follows these very different high-school seniors as their struggles with sexuality and intolerance draw them into a triangle of love, betrayal, and ultimately, friendship.

Gay America: Struggle for Equality

Linas Alsenas

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Subjects -> Gay & Lesbian -> Nonfiction -> General

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Milestones of gay and lesbian life in the United States are brought together in the first-ever nonfiction book published specifically for teens.

Profusely illustrated with archival images, the groundbreaking Gay America reveals how gay men and women have lived, worked, and loved for the past 125 years. Gays and lesbians play a very prominent role in American life today, whether grabbing headlines over political gains, starring in and being the subject of movies and television shows, or filling the streets of nearly every major city each year to celebrate Gay Pride. However, this was not always the case, and this book charts their journey along with the history of the country.

First touching on colonial times, the book moves on to the Victorian period and beyond, including such historical milestones as the Roaring ’20s, the Kinsey study, the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950s, the Beat generation, Stonewall, disco, AIDS, and present-day battles over gay marriage. Providing a sense of hope mixed with pride, author Linas Alsenas demonstrates how, within one century, gay women and men have gone from being socially invisible to becoming a political force to be reckoned with and proud members of the American public living openly and honestly. The book includes a bibliography and an index.