Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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I really did not like this book.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

December 29, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

“The trouble with you is you don’t know what you want,” he said. “You say one thing and then another.” I knew he was right, and not just about my relationship with him; always I feel an ambivalence that spurs me first in one direction and then another, a habit that has done much damage. I didn’t deny what he said, I even nodded in agreement, at which his mood only darkened. ― Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You “Though I thought of him often, […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: American abroad, Bulgaria, Classism, cultural divide, did not finish, DNF, fish out of water, Garth Greenwell, gay fiction, poverty, prostitution

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:79 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: American abroad, Bulgaria, Classism, cultural divide, did not finish, DNF, fish out of water, Garth Greenwell, gay fiction, poverty, prostitution ·
· 0 Comments

How much of yourself you have to leave behind in order to look like everyone else

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

October 5, 2023 by carmelpie Leave a Comment

I’m in this state of one-way desire. I feel this desire swarming in my belly and running up my spine. But I have to constantly contain and compress it so that it doesn’t betray me in front of others. Because I’ve already understood that desire is visible. ― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me I’m guessing that there was probably no bolt of lightning, just a warm night full of wine and fluttering moths and the feeling that nothing is really important and everything is possible. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Romance Tagged With: 1980's, AIDS crisis, coming of age novel, first love, forbidden love, France, gay fiction, gay love, gay romance, Longing, Nineteen eighties, Philippe Besson, queer romance, teenage romance

carmelpie's CBR15 Review No:51 · Genres: Fiction, Romance · Tags: 1980's, AIDS crisis, coming of age novel, first love, forbidden love, France, gay fiction, gay love, gay romance, Longing, Nineteen eighties, Philippe Besson, queer romance, teenage romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Spies Alive

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann

January 22, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

The Torqued Man is a very difficult novel to pull off. It has to accurately replicate the atmosphere of Nazi Germany in World War II, introduce two queer heroes enmeshed with each other without the Tragic Homosexual trope, present a novel-within-the-novel that tweaks the story without it losing momentum. become a high wire spy tale in the tradition of Furst and LeCarré, and do all of this in a way that entertains while seamlessly blending multiple genres. And man oh man does Peter Mann do it. […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: Berlin, Espinoage, gay fiction, humor, LGBTQIA, Nazi Germany, Peter Mann, The Torqued Man, WWII

Jake's CBR14 Review No:9 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: Berlin, Espinoage, gay fiction, humor, LGBTQIA, Nazi Germany, Peter Mann, The Torqued Man, WWII ·
· 0 Comments

Community, Queer Romance, Near-Future SF….What More Could One Want?

The Short While by Jeremy Sorese

January 10, 2022 by GentleRain 4 Comments

This was a really nice surprise to read, as I had no real expectations going in besides being a follower of Jeremy Sorese’s illustrative work on Twitter. I knew he dealt with queer themes and I like his art style, so when I saw on Twitter that he’d done a graphic novel, I looked at the excerpt and decided to buy it. Pricey at US$30, but it is 432 pages and a mixture of illustration, comic panel style sections, and text, so you are getting […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: #Science Fiction, community building, gay fiction, Jeremy Sorese, near future, queer love, queer romance, trans character

GentleRain's CBR14 Review No:5 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: #Science Fiction, community building, gay fiction, Jeremy Sorese, near future, queer love, queer romance, trans character ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

Posh Historical English Boys In Love

Maurice by E. M. Forster

January 14, 2021 by Singsonggirl 3 Comments

First review! I hope I’ve figured it all out and this doesn’t look completely terrible. Also, I’m not fully sure yet how I’ll use the rating system, so there might be adjustments in the future. To the book: A friend has recommended this to me, I’ve seen bits of the movie on TV, but I mostly only remember how ridiculously beautiful young Hugh Grant was. I’m definitely planning on seeing the whole film now, because the book is something else. While reading it, I quickly […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: 1910s, E.M. Forster, Fiction, gay fiction, historical, Love Stories, maurice

Singsonggirl's CBR13 Review No:1 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: 1910s, E.M. Forster, Fiction, gay fiction, historical, Love Stories, maurice ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

He was so unknown, he was still all possibility, unopened cupboards and drawers

The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst

March 24, 2019 by Dusty Highway Leave a Comment

I had a discussion with Classic a few weeks ago in the comments section of her review for The Paying Guests, which she said started off very slowly. At the time, I happened to be about 100 pages into Alan Hollinghurst’s The Folding Star, and I’d been worrying about how slowly it was moving until I thought back to the same time last year when I read his most recent novel, The Sparsholt Affair, which didn’t really click for me until the last 50 pages. […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Alan Hollinghurst, Booker shortlist, cbr11, gay author, gay fiction, gay Lolita, lgbt, literary fiction, slow burn, The Folding Star, unreliable narrator

Dusty Highway's CBR11 Review No:17 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Alan Hollinghurst, Booker shortlist, cbr11, gay author, gay fiction, gay Lolita, lgbt, literary fiction, slow burn, The Folding Star, unreliable narrator ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments


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