Reading List

My bedside table usually plays host to a few different books at the same time. Most recently I have been working my way through Truman Capotes short stories. I suppose I should read "In Cold Blood" but haven't gotten around to that one. A hearty congratulations to Phillip Seymour Hoffman on his oscar win for portraying Capote onscreen. My family have always been readers and thankfully my mother passed the love of reading on to my sister and I both. When I was a child I remember my mother sighing as she remarked to someone else "We never should have taught him to read, he was a quiet child until then. He hasn't shut up since he learned to read." Many of my friends probably share this sentiment...

During the evacuation I read several books, among them "Wicked" and a couple Chuck Palahniuk novels (the author of Fight Club.) I recently picked up and re-read a favorite book, "I Have a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore." Published in 1983 it was followed by the sequels "Buddies,"(1984) "Everybody Loves You,"(1988) "Some Men are Lookers," (1994) and finally "How's Your Romance" in 2005.

Ethan Mordden also wrote three other novels as well as a myriad of books about musical theatre, opera and jazz. I have never read any of the theatre books though I have spied them in Jeff's book collection.

I was introduced to these books back when I was in high school. I have a lesbian aunt who thankfully introduced me to a gay and lesbian bookstore (which no longer exists unfortunately) called "Dreams and Swords" and also to the very small gay section at the northside (read: the opposite side of the city from my little hick hometown) Borders bookstore. The first three books in the series had been published before I encountered them so I was able to read all three of them. The books are narrated by "Bud" who tells tales of he and his friends adventures in a post stonewall Manhattan. If you don't know what is meant by stonewall, please stop reading this, google it and come back later. No, seriously. The stories age with the times, the characters growing, falling in and out of relationships and are intermingled with places and styles of gay probably long since forgotten about. Some of the stories take place on Fire Island and the "magic of the pines," while others whip through parties, European travels and day to day mundane lives. Since my return to N.O. I have also re-read the second and third books.

Now these books are far from what one would term great literature. What brings me back to them year after year is representational. When I read these books at a younger age I was mesmerized by them, by the lifestyle to which they subscribed. I wanted to be these people, to have these friends, to live according to these new freedoms of the gay movement. I re-read them and find something new each time. Sometimes I escape into past desires, to places where my life has not gone and other years I have found my life in parallel, adventures in the advanced years of stonewall.

Just the other day I picked up another Chuck Palahniuk book, "Diary." This is one of the best books of his I have read. For those that enjoyed the movie Fight Club, check out these books.

Another book on my bedside table is called "One Dead in Attic." It's a collection of the stories written by Chris Rose, a columnist for the Times Picayune. Previously I have written about how much some of these columns meant to me, reading them on NOLA.com helped tie me back to the city. The book is available at various stores around the city, though not on Amazon.com. The title of the book, one dead in attic, refers to the spray painting on most of the buildings throughout the city. The familiar X with the date, time and agency who performed the search. In the bottom of the x is the number of bodies found. In addition to this there was often a mark from animal rescue groups and various other notations. There was a house that was marked "One Dead in Attic." On the back of the book is the following dedication:

This book is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Coleman.
He was a retired longshoreman, a storyteller, a guy who liked to
spend time with family and friends. A New Orlenian.
He was 80 years old when he died in his attic at 2214 St. Roch Avenue,
in the 8th Ward, on or about August 29th, 2005. He had a can of
juice and a bedspread at his side when the waters rose.
There were more than a thousand like him