Alias Olympia, A Woman's Search for Manet's Notorious Model and Her Own Desire  •  Eunice Lipton BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1999 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES Not just another naked woman in a painting (to quote the author), Victorine Meurent figured in nine of Manet's paintings during the years 1862-1874, bewildering contemporary audiances with her frank gaze. Lipton, an art historian with feminist flair, combines biography, art history and memoir in this intriguing detective story. (FRN220, $17.95)
All About My Mother  •  Pedro Almodovar 1999 •  DVD Pedro Almodovar presents another vivid slice of life in Spain in this marvelous film about women, friendship and loss, this one set mostly in Barcelona. After the death of her son, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) moves from Madrid to her old house in Barcelona, where she lives with a transsexual prostitute, works as an assistant for an actress playing Blanche DuBois in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and befriends a yong nun (Penelope Cruz) who is pregnant. Almodovar dedicated his film to the actresses of the world, a fitting homage for a movie which so touchingly captures the world of women. In Spanish with subtitles. (SPN231, $29.95)
At Swim, Two Boys  •  Jamie O'Neill LITERATURE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 572 PAGES A haunting tale of love set against the huge backdrop of Irish politics and the events leading up to the 1916 Easter uprising. It's a huge book, ten years in the making, noteworthy for its remarkable language, characters and ambition. O'Neill's two 16-year-old heroes, Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle, swim to the island, grow up and fall in love with each other, though not without some absorbing complications that mix fiction with real-life events. O'Neill, a Dubliner, also hauls in some pretty fine references to Ulysses (as well as slinging some mud on the Catholic church). (IRE120, $16.00)
Audrey Hepburn's Neck, A Novel  •  Alan Brown LITERATURE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES This exquisite short novel follows the adventures of 23-year-old Toshi, a young man from the rural north who makes his way to crazy, contemporary Tokyo. Apart from its stunning language, strong images and characters, this prize-winning novel also captures the eclectic, mixed-up society of contemporary Japan. (JPN14, $20.95)
Before Night Falls  •  Reinaldo Arenas  •  Delores Koch BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1994 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES A moving autobiography of a novelist, revolutionary, dissident, and activist, highly critical of the Castro regime. Arenas tells the story of his youth in poor, rural Cuba, his time with Castro's rebels, and his emergence as a writer. Seen as a political dissident both for his political views and his homosexuality, Arenas fled to New York, where he died of AIDS in 1991 (shortly after this book was completed). His memoir chronicles all this with frankness, passion and depth of feeling. Note to the skittish: lots of sex, and a certain amount of violence to boot. (CBA37, $15.00)
Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden, Drought-Resistant Planting Through the Year  •  Steven Wooster  •  Beth Chatto NATURAL HISTORY •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 192 PAGES Turning a former parking lot into a fertile garden sounds like an impossible task but British horticulturist Beth Chatto rises to the challenge. Chatto shows fellow green-thumbs how to get their flowers to bloom in gravelly, sandy soil. Wooster's photographs bring Chatto's practical gardening advice and biography of her garden to life. (GRD01, $35.00)
The Bostonians  •  Henry James LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 480 PAGES Henry James' satirical novel of the battle of the sexes is well worth (re)reading. In it, Basil, a Mississippi lawyer, and Olive, a Boston feminist, compete for the affections of the same woman. Set in 1870s Boston, it treats the questions facing American society at that time, particularly feminism. Originally published in 1886, it was one of the first American novels to deal with lesbianism. (BOS13, $20.00)
C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems  •  C.P. Cavafy LITERATURE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 284 PAGES A collection of poems from C.P. Cavafy, Greek literature's most influential 20th century poet. Not recognized until after his death in 1933, Cavafy candidly confronts themes ranging from sexuality to political history with penetrating language. (GRE87, $19.95)
Call Me by Your Name  •  Andre Aciman LITERATURE •  2007 •  HARD COVER  • 248 PAGES Aciman (Out of Egypt, A Memoir) captures the lazy, languorous days and nights on the Mediterranean in this coming-of-age story set on the Italian Riviera. Marooned with his family for the summer, seventeen-year-old Elio falls for Oliver, a young scholar and houseguest. (ITL828, $23.00)
Cleopatra's Wedding Present, Travels Through Syria  •  Robert Tewdwr Moss BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  HARD COVER A poignant memoir of travels in Syria in the series, Living Out: Gay & Lesbian Autobiographies, published by the University of Wisconsin. Moss writes with lyrical directness of everyday life in modern Syria. The title of his refers to Mark Anthony's gift of Mesopotamia to his queen. (SYR14, $24.95)
The Colossus of Maroussi  •  Henry Miller TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1958 •  PAPER  • 249 PAGES • FAVORITE The soul of Greece circa 1939. Miller captures the spirit and warmth of the resilient Greek people in this tale of a wartime journey from Athens to Crete, Corfu and Delphi with his friend Lawrence Durrell. Miller at his most inspired. (GRE05, $14.95)
The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature  •  Byrne Fone ANTHOLOGY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 912 PAGES A wide-ranging anthology, this book draws on diverse sources and genres to survey mostly Western European gay writing since antiquity -- quite a challenge. It's an admirable selection of male writers, including not just Whitman, White and Baldwin but also Sumarian lore, classical Greek and other lesser-known works. (GEN14, $37.50)
The Complete Claudine  •  Colette LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 560 PAGES A collection of four short novels about coming of age as a woman in turn-of-the-century France. Colette beautifully evokes period and place in this vivid portrait of Victorian Paris. The first novel, Claudine at School, launched the series -- and Colette's writing career. The story continues with Claudine in Paris, Claudine Married, and Claudine and Annie. (FRN125, $20.00)
Complete Works of Oscar Wilde  •  Oscar Wilde LITERATURE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 1216 PAGES A one-volume edition of all the works of Wilde, including stories, plays, poems, and essays. (IRE35, $25.00)
The Condor and the Cows, A South American Travel Diary  •  Christopher Isherwood TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 268 PAGES Isherwood's congenial account of travels through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina in 1947 with photographer (and boyfriend) Bill Caskey. The six-month journey included Machu Pichu and Cuzco. With 40 black-and-white photographs. Admittedley not one of his major works (he had a contract to write a travel book), The Condor and Cows nonetheless displays Isherwood's wonderful prose style and way with the offhand remark. (SAM64, $17.95)
Confessions of a Mask  •  Meredith Weatherby  •  Yukio Mishima LITERATURE •  1988 •  PAPER  • 254 PAGES Inspired by historical events, this powerful book is the story of the monk who burned the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. It's an unsettling portrait of society in Post War Japan. On another level, the book tells of the coming of age of a complex, tragic figure who, among other things, struggles with his homosexuality. Mishimi is also the author of "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea." (JPN18, $12.95)
Cracks in the Iron Closet, Travels in Gay and Lesbian Russia  •  David Tuller TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 344 PAGES A soul-searching reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle out and about in 1990s Russia. Tuller mixes travelogue with history, social analysis, and lots of comentary on his circle of friends and aquaintances (including the lesbian he fell for). It's an intimate, slightly surreal portrait of an emerging gay subculture in modern Russia. (RUS149, $15.00)
Dirty Havana Trilogy  •  Natasha Wimmer  •  Pedro Juan Gutierrez LITERATURE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 392 PAGES A semi-autobiographical novel portraying a decrepitly sensual Havana. In Gutierrez's interconnected stories, the protagonist Pedro Juan, an ex-journalist, scours the lowest rungs of Cuban society to make a living, from prostitution to the black market and drugs. Natasha Wimmer's excellent translation captures the no-nonsense, streetwise language of the Spanish original. (CBA44, $14.95)
The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris  •  Edmund White LITERATURE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 144 PAGES An intimate portrait of Paris and its many pleasures by the gifted novelist. White reveals his favorite haunts in a series of glittering, personal essays. This is the first in a planned series of books on writers and their cities. (FRN259, $12.99)
Flaubert in Egypt  •  Francis Steegmuller  •  Gustave Flaubert TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES Among the many European travelers romanced by Egypt and the Nile, Flaubert, via his letters and journal entries from 1849, stands out. The place inspired him -- and his observations are still delightful reading, augmented by an accompanying narrative by the editor. Ostensibly in Egypt to study antiquities with his friend Maxim du Camp, he was taken in by the sensual pleasures of the place. A year later he wrote "Madame Bovary." (EGY12, $15.00)
Forbidden Friendships, Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence  •  Michael Rocke HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES In this vivid, scholarly study of sex roles, gender and the place of homosexuality in Florentine society of the 15th and 16th centuries, Rocke draws heavily on the records of the Office of the Night, a special force put into place to fight male-male sexuality (and who made an impressive number of arrests). (ITL443, $29.95)
Frank O'Hara, Selected Poems  •  Mark Ford  •  Frank O'Hara LITERATURE •  2008 •  HARD COVER  • 258 PAGES This astute compilation of uproarious, mocking poems, recalling the glamor of 1950s New York City, includes The Day Lady Died, Ave Maria, A Party Full of Friends and Having a Coke with You. (NYC190, $30.00)
Funny Boy  •  Shyam Selvadurai LITERATURE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES Building a complex portrait through detail of family, society and place, this prize-winning novel is a gay coming of age story set in contemporary Sri Lanka. Splendidly written. (SRL01, $14.00)
Gay and Lesbian Studies in Art History  •  Whitney Davis ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1994 •  PAPER  • 225 PAGES The contributors of these essays (originally published in the Journal of Homosexuality) explore diverse aspects of gender, sexuality and the visual arts. Topics range from medieval pilgrimages to Renaissance women, Bloomsbury, Betty Parson and safer sex. With an introduction by editor Whitney Davis. (GEN20, $39.95)
Gay Cuban Nation  •  Emilio Bejel LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 257 PAGES An in-depth, scholarly study of homosexuality -- and homoeroticism -- in Cuban society, both before and after the revolution. Bejel looks at a wide variety of novels, short stories, autobiographies, newspaper articles, and films to demonstrate an underlying homoerotic tension in Cuban culture. The author is a professor of literature in Colorado. (CBA50, $22.00)
Gay Travels in the Muslim World  •  Michael Luongo TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 200 PAGES A volume in the Out in the World Series, this anthology includes contributions by Jeff Key, a gay soldier who had been based in Iraq; Afdhere Jama the editor of Huriyah, a gay Muslim news web site; Parvez Sharma, the director of the film formerly known as In the Name of Allah on homosexuality in the Muslim world, Luongo's various trips to Afghanistan and the experiences of many other writers. Some of the stories are poignant and deeply meaningful, others more playful. (ISL72, $19.95)
Greek Homosexuality  •  Kenneth Dover CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1989 •  PAPER  • 246 PAGES The classic history of homosexuality in ancient Greece, with all the scholarly apparatus including an extensive bibliography and documentary sources. While intended for an academic audience, the interested general reader with some background in classical literature will find it rewarding. (GRE66, $25.50)
Hadrian, The Restless Emperor  •  Anthony Birley BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2000 •  PAPER  • 424 PAGES An up-to-date, scholarly biography of Hadrian, chronicling the emperor's state, cultural and architectural accomplishments, and personal life (including his homosexual relationship with Antinous). (ITL260, $40.95)
Hindoo Holiday, An Indian Journal  •  J.R. Ackerly TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 300 PAGES Ackerly traipses across India in 1923 as the English tutor to the very handsome and wonderfully homosexual Maharajah of Chhatarpur in this famous account. A comic, beautifully turned-out novel masquerading as a travelogue. Ackerly is a terrific writer and guide. (IDA115, $14.00)
Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia  •  Dan Healey CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 376 PAGES This study unearths the legal, medical and political attitudes toward gay men and women before and after 1917. Healey, a lecturer in Russian social history in Wales, reveals the changing homosexual subculture in Moscow and St. Petersburg in this fascinating, scholarly book. (RUS145, $45.00)
The House by the Sea, A Journal  •  May Sarton LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES One of many journals by May Sarton, who moved from New Hampshire to live alone in a house on the seacoast of Maine. Sarton, a member of the Bloomsbury group, writes beautifully on the topics of aging, solitude, nature, gardening, food, relationships, and of course, on life in coastal Maine. (USE61, $14.95)
In the Arms of Africa, The Life of Colin M.Turnbull  •  Roy Richard Drinker BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2001 •  PAPER  • 366 PAGES A provocative, contentious, and romantic figure, Colin Turnbull charged into the limelight in 1961 with his best-selling "The Forest People, " a sympathetic account of the Mbuti pygmies. A younger colleague who had originally dismissed Turnbull, Roy Richard Drinker has written a mesmerizing biography of Turnbull, which captures the closed, homophobic scholarly culture of the day. Drinker dove into Turnbull's papers, discovering a difficult, endearing and original character who maintained a 30-year relationship with Joseph Towles, a younger black man, became a Buddhist, and fought for social justice. (AFR89, $17.00)
Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature  •  Stephen O. Murray CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1997 •  PAPER  • 331 PAGES Broad in its geographic and historical scope, this book is a scholarly overview of homosexuality in cultures throughout the Islamic world. It includes contributions on Islam and homosexuality in medieval Egypt, Ottoman Turkey and throughout the Muslim world. (ARB26, $22.00)
A Journey in Ladakh  •  Andrew Harvey TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 236 PAGES A well told account of a 1981 journey by a young English poet in search of ancient Buddhist traditions in remote Ladakh. It's a heartfelt record of a spiritual journey. With a new afterword, twenty years later. (HML15, $18.95)
Kali's Child, The Mystical and Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna  •  Jeffrey J. Kripal CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1998 •  PAPER  • 386 PAGES A scholarly analysis of the life and thought of a 19th century Bengali mystic, marked by critical acclaim and some controversy surrounding issues of gender and sexuality. Kripal demonstrates through textual analysis and psychoanalytic theory the centrality of desire -- and homesexual desire -- in the thought of this important Tantric mystic. For those with intellectual tendencies, this is good stuff. (IDA112, $32.00)
Keep the River on Your Right  •  Tobias Schneebaum BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1982 •  PAPER  • 184 PAGES This is an amazing book, the strange tale of a young man on a Fulbright fellowship who wandered alone and defenseless into the Peruvian forest in 1955 in search of remote peoples. This is the haunting, lyrical diary of his experiences among the Akarama including -- in its most disturbing section -- a description of a raid on a neighboring tribe by Schneebaum and his warrior friends. He writes "I am a cannibal." Whether or not he really ate human flesh we cannot judge but, regardless, this is an extraordinary book. Schneebaum went on to live four years with the headhunting Asmat of New Guinea. (AMZ11, $12.50)
Kiss of the Spider Woman  •  Manuel Puig LITERATURE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 281 PAGES The psychological story of a friendship between two Argentinean prisoners jailed for their subversive activity: Molina, a transgendered homosexual and Valentin, a socialist revolutionary. The intense exchange of dialogue and Molina's dramatizations of movie scenes in the prison cell build up to a passionate relationship and ironic ending. (ARG28, $13.95)
Land's End, A Walk In Provincetown  •  Michael Cunningham BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 176 PAGES A brief, loving portrait of Provincetown, the town at the very tip of Cape Cod, by part-time resident Michael Cunningham (whose The Hours, Item NYC67, won the Pulitzer Prize). The notion of a walk, really, is just a convenient way for Cunningham to wax eloquent on Provincetown's early history and its development as a home to artists, bohemians, kooks, and, more recently, to a large gay population. He especially focuses on the breathtaking and uncanny beauty of the town's environs. (USE254, $16.95)
The Last Avant-Garde, The Making of the New York School of Poets  •  David Lehman LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 448 PAGES A tremendously entertaining, informative, and anecdotal portrait of the four poets of the New York School: John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch and James Schuyler. A poet himslef, Lehman captures the Bohemian fervor of midcentury New York in this readable, high spirited account of artistic friendship and collaboration in Manhattan. (NYC75, $16.95)
Love in a Different Climate, Men Who Have Sex with Men in India  •  Jeremy Seabrook RELIGION •  1999 •  PAPER  • 184 PAGES Based largely on interviews, Seabrook explores sexual identify and politics in India focusing on middle and working class men and women. Seabrook, who is fluent in Hindi, intimate with India, a gay man and an eloquent critic of western globalization, has produced a powerful record. (IDA113, $25.00)
Machos, Maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality  •  Ian Lumsden CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES A history and analysis of homosexuality in Cuba, issues, attitudes, prejudices and preconceptions. (CBA90, $30.95)
Mama Day  •  Gloria Naylor LITERATURE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 312 PAGES A glorious novel populated by the vibrant inhabitants, especially the women, of Willow Springs -- a fictional barrier island off the Atlantic coast between Georgia and South Carolina. Naylor celebrates the rich culture, language and traditions of the islands. Although the author (who also wrote Brewster Place) tells her tale from Ophelia Day, the book draws on five generations of formidable women, harking back to the days of Sapphira Wade (a healer who may have also been a witch), the great grandmother of the title character. (USS23, $13.95)
Marks of Identity  •  Juan Goytisolo  •  Gregory Rabassa LITERATURE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES This is the story of a Spanish exile's return from Paris to his native Barcelona. The novel's narrator, like Barcelona during the Franco years (and the author) is fractured, conflicted and (he feels) implicated in tragedy. It's the first part in a trilogy by Goytisolo, a Catalan who wrote complex, difficult novels of Spain on the periphery of the Western and Islamic worlds. Originally published in 1969. (SPN25, $15.00)
Marsden Hartley, The Biography of an American Artist  •  Townsend Ludington BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1998 •  PAPER  • 325 PAGES A biography of the troubled modernist American painter from his childhood in Maine, to his life in Germany before World War I, on to his death in 1943. The artist's many homes, his struggles concerning his homosexuality and the progression of his work are all discussed, often using Hartley's own words. (USE185, $22.50)
A Meeting by the River  •  Christopher Isherwood LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES Two brothers meet in India, one a bisexual capitalist and the other a Hindu monk. It's Isherwood's last novel, which brings together sexuality, spirituality and the complicated relations among brothers. (IDA114, $16.95)
Memoirs of Hadrian  •  Marguerite Yourcenar LITERATURE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 347 PAGES A historical novel taking the form of a series of letters from the 2nd-century Roman emperor to his successor, Marcus Aurelius. It's a beautifully written, erotically charged book about a powerful man and his life, including his relationship with Antinous. (GRE133, $15.00)
Oscar Wilde  •  Richard Ellman BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1988 •  PAPER  • 680 PAGES Considered the definitive biography of Wilde, this Pulitzer Prize-winning book has been much celebrated since its original publication in 1988. Elliman paints a vivid picture both of Wilde's flamboyant life and of his tremendous literary accomplishments. (IRE33, $22.00)
Our Caribbean, Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles  •  Thom Glave CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2008 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES (CRB224, $24.95)
Paradiso  •  José Lezama Lima  •  Gregory Rabassa LITERATURE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 478 PAGES A mesmerizingly baroque, wonderfully strange novel. There is no obvious narrative structure although much of this excellent book is set in Cuba, the writer's homeland, where the publication of this book in 1966 caused huge controversy. If your daily experience involves people morphing into talking manatees, then you'll love this brilliant work of realist fiction. Ostensibly a coming-of-age story of Jose Cemi, this challenging book combines memoir, fiction, poetry, and a number of explicit homosexual interludes. Ably translated by Gregory Rabassa (no small feat). (CRB128, $14.50)
Passions of the Cut Sleeve, The Male Homosexual Tradition in China  •  Bret Hinsch LITERATURE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES A well written, scholarly survey of the traditions of same-sex male love across 3,000 years of Chinese literature -- much livlier than the title would indicate. Hinsch draws from dynastic histories, erotic novels, popular Buddhist tracts, love poetry, legal cases, and joke books in this fascinating overview. (CHN167, $21.95)
Pictures and Passions, A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts  •  James M. Saslow ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES Talk about a survey. Saslow offers illuminating text and illustrations, some in color, of homoerotic art from ancient times though classical Greece and Rome all the way to the 1990s. While his focus is on western traditions, he includes representative works from other cultures. Saslow's thoughtful commentary, geared for an academic audience, is well written and accessible. (ART29, $20.00)
The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation  •  James M. Saslow LITERATURE •  1993 •  PAPER  • 559 PAGES A scholarly, richly informative selection of Michelangelo's many sonnets, madrigals and other poems, presented in a bilingual edition. Saslow provides the cultural and social context for the artist. (ART30, $26.00)
Queer in Russia: A Story of Sex, Self, and the Other  •  Laurie Essig CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1999 •  PAPER  • 254 PAGES An engaging, scholarly portrait of post-perestroika gay culture. The author (who appears in male drag in one of many photographs in the book), interviews many men and women for this insightful study, which also takes into account her own observations, and a close look at contemporary books, plays, and music. Despite Yeltsin's de-crimilization of consensual sex between adults of the same sex in 1993, atitudes and behavios have been slow to change. (RUS146, $22.95)
Queer Sites, Gay Urban Histories Since 1600  •  David Higgs HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES A history of the gay subculture in seven major cities from the early modern period to the present. The book focuses on the changing nature of queer experience in London, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Paris, Lisbon and Moscow. The contributors look, in particular, at the transition from the sexual furtiveness of centuries when male homosexual behaviour was criminal, to the open affirmation of gay identities in the 1990s. (WLD32, $36.95)
Roman Sex: 100 BC - AD 250  •  John R. Clarke ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2003 •  HARD COVER  • 244 PAGES An authority on life in ancient Rome John Clarke explores Roman erotic literature, art and attitudes toward sex and sexuality in this frank, fascinating book. With hundreds of color photographs of mosaics, frescoes, vases, sculpture and other art depicting diverse sexual practices. (ITL758, $35.00)
Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe  •  John Boswell HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 464 PAGES A scholarly history of same-sex rituals in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church from ancient times through the Middle Ages, which has generated considerable contoversy. An appendix includes Boswell's translations of ceremony texts and the third-century story, "The Passion of Serge and Bacchus." (EUR51, $16.95)
The Sexual Revolution in Russia, From the Age of the Czars to Today  •  Igor Kon HISTORY •  1995 •  HARD COVER  • 337 PAGES A groundbreaking, fascinating history of sex, sexuality and attitudes in Russia from Tsarist times through the communist period -- and the accompanying repression of the sexual lives of the Russians -- to the post-perestroika transformation. The author, a historian in Russia and its first "sexologist," draws on history, folklore, literature and sociological data derived from the author's surveys and interviews. (RUS147, $25.50)
Singing from the Well  •  Reinaldo Arenas LITERATURE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES The first in a series of five novels, based loosely on the author's own experience coming of age in Cuba just before the revolution. A poignant testimony to imagination, rich in details of rural life. By the author of "Before Night Falls." (CBA51, $15.00)
Strawberry and Chocolate  •  Juan Carlos Tabio  •  Tomas Gutiérrez LITERATURE •  1995 •  NTSC VIDEO The heartwarming story of three neighbors, daily life and intellectual seduction in contemporary Havana. Shot on location, the glimpses of the crumbling glory of Old Havana is among the films many charms. The three principal -- cultured and flamboyantly gay Diego, disillusioned David and off-balance Nancy -- make a great ensemble. Nominated for an Academy Award. (CBA68, $19.99)
Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation, A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties  •  Noel Riley Fitch BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1985 •  PAPER  • 447 PAGES A vivid portrait of life among the literary expatriates of post-WWI Paris, using Sylvia Beach as its central figure. Through anecdotes about Beach whose bookstore Shakespeare and Company would become an intellectual asylum for such figures as Joyce, Hemingway, Williams and Pound Fitch recreates the salons and the wild parties, while communicating the support and camaraderie binding this tight artistic circle. (FRN92, $21.95)
The Vagabond  •  Colette LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS A colorful portrait of life in the music halls of early 20th-century Paris. Poetic and lucid, Colette's written depiction of a French dancer/mime is based on her own experiences. (FRN127, $10.95)
Voices of Modern Greece, Selected Poems  •  Edmund Keeley  •  Philip Sherrard ANTHOLOGY •  1982 •  PAPER  • 203 PAGES A selection of works by five major modern Greek poets: Cavafy, Sikelianos, Seferis, Elytis, Gatsos. The anthology, edited and translated by noted scholars Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard, is an excellent introduction to Greek verse. (GRE97, $23.95)
Where the Spirits Dwell  •  Tobias Schneebaum TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1988 •  PAPER  • 209 PAGES A lyrical account of four years among the headhunters of Asmat, a classic, highly personal portrait of a people. Schneebaum, a Brooklyn-born painter, threw himself into the culture -- and this beautiful, haunting book was the result. (INS23, $12.95)
Women of the Left Bank, Paris 1900-1940  •  Shari Benstock HISTORY •  1987 •  PAPER  • 566 PAGES An insightful look at the critical role of American, English and French women in the Lost Generation. Benstock creates 24 distinct portraits, including Gertrude Stein and Jean Rhys. Simultaneously literary, historical and feminist in her approach, she shows the importance of the feminine sensibility, and especially the lesbian experience, in the formation of the modernist voice. (FRN98, $34.95)
Wonderlands, Good Gay Travel Writing  •  Raphael Kadushin ANTHOLOGY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES A diverse compendium of gay writers, including Colm Toibin and Edmund White, on places, people and travels. Most of the impressionist essays touch on queer themes, a few are overtly sexual and many are not just good but terrific. Edited by Raphael Kadushin, a travel writer and humanities editor at the University of Wisconsin Press. The book was published to benefit the University of Wisconsin Press with the author's donating their royalties. (TVL36, $19.95)