GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

December 8, 2000

Eumper make

room filled with ci

and

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

as if you're in a

ne, white gloves go Sun-Times

Ute Lemper

Saturday, December 9, 8 pm

Michigan Theater Ann Arbor

This German chanteuse performs cabaret standard music of Kurt Weill and selections from her atest CD, Punishing Kiss.

Tickets start at only $16!

aca

Presented with generous support of Ronnie and Sheila Cresswell.

university musical society

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Someone you know loves books: here's what to buy

by Anthony Glassman

There is a certain class of people out there, strange people indeed, who are not completely devoted to their televisions, VCRs, DVDs, and CD players. They like to read books. Lots of books. They're known as bibliophiles, and you might know one or two. One might be sitting next to you right

now.

The most pressing question when dealing with the menace of bibliophiles is: What do you get one for the holidays?

Problem solved. Here is a little list of cool books now available that someone you know might enjoy.

Nonfiction

Coming Out of Cancer

Writings from the

Lesbian Cancer Epidemic

Edited by Victoria A. Brownworth Seal Press, $14.95

The often-used phrase "important book" is an understatement when referring to this

coming

of cancer

collection of writings by 32 very different people. You know the authors represent an eclectic mix when the first two listed are Audre Lorde and Alison Bechdel. Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the Mautner Project, an or-

ganization providing direct assistance to lesbians with cancer and their families.

My Dangerous Desires

by Amber L. Hollibaugh

Duke University Press, $17.95

Hollibaugh has been a left-wing political activist for over 30 years. She has been a prostitute, survived incest, and crusaded all her life. This book collects twenty years of her writings on everything from the connection between activism and desire to the ties between sexuality and class identity. Not necessarily light read-

ing, but it would probably help with your doctoral thesis in sociology.

Margaret Meade Made Me Gay by Esther Newton

Duke University Press, $18.95

Murgare Mom! Bhak Mr C

Newton is a pioneer in the 'field of academic gay and lesbian studies, and one of the leading lights in anthropology in the last fifty years. The collection presents essays from her heady days of sixties feminism to her current works on subjects running the gamut from why men do drag more often than women, to how academia can

be more hospitable to gay men and lesbians. Again, not the lightest of reading, but if we wanted Harlequin romances, we wouldn't be the LGBT community, would we? Tongue in Cheek and Other Places by Kevin Isom

Writer's Club Press, $11.95

TONGUE

CHEEK

Ohio native Isom presents his, obviously, humorous look at being gay. There seem to be a lot of gay men and lesbians with confessional urges, and perSonally, I'm thankful that most of them do their confessing in jest. Of course, humor provides a way for people who aren't famous to write and sell autobiographies, but it's always nice when a book can make you laugh and keep your troubles away for the time it takes you to read it.

Fiction

When Evil Changes Face by Therese Szymanski Bella Books, $11.95

Therese Szymanski tends to do one thing, and do it well: write books set in her native

SZYMANSKI

Detroit starring her favorite lesbian P.I., Brett Higgins. In this potboiler, Brett and her lover enroll in high school disguised as a brother and sister to bust a drug ring. When one of their classmates dies, Brett has to pick up the pace of the investiga-

tion before her girlfriend and the star cheerleader wind up the next victims.

Martin Bauman, or, A Sure Thing by David Leavitt

Houghton Mifflin, $26.00

DAVID LEAVITT

David Leavitt, perhaps best known for his novel The Lost Language of Cranes, is back with his darkly humorous novel of one man's journey through the '80s, from idealistic college student to jaded publishing professional, all the while

looking for love and happiness in the dawning age of AIDS.

Adrenaline

by James Robert Baker Alyson Publications, $11.95

Originally published under the pen name James Dillinger, this is the late Baker's first novel, and is being re-released as complement to his final novel, Test-

adrenaline

osterone. Baker's anger, as well as his punk sensibility, come through in everything he does. He's

a thinking man's Gregg Araki, only he wrote books instead of making movies. Which, ac-

tually, is kind of a shame in today's McDonald's world of fast entertainment.

Kosher Meat

Edited by Lawrence Schimel Sherman Asher Publishing, $14.95

It's gay, it's Jewish; Harvey Fierstein would plotz. What more do we need to say? ABC Book

A Homoerotic Primer by Maurice Vellekoop Green Candy Press, $12.95

Do you remember Little Golden Books? They were those cute little books with bunnies and the Berenstain Bears and all those

ABC BOOK

other adorable children's tales? This isn't one of them, though at first glance, you

could be for-

given for mis-

taking it for one. It's an erotic, gay ABC book, much as the title

implies, and it is absolutely hysterical. Referring to it as "a hoot" would be doing it a disservice. Buy it. Buy multiple copies. Don't tell my editor, but I think I'm keeping the review copy we were sent.