Book ‘Em


Temps dip, leaves fall, pages turn. Just Out’s columnists share their current favorites.

Daniel Borgen, Lady About Town

The Chronology of Water: A Memoir

Lidia Yuknavitch, Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts, $15.95

There are books you read leisurely, consuming handfuls of pages over days and weeks. There are others you gobble up in one sitting, books that stir insatiable questioning and wondering about humanity, truth and, yes, love. Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water falls into the latter camp—and could, in fact, encompass one all its own. In this harrowing memoir, Yuknavitch, lifelong swimmer and one-time Olympic hopeful, accepts a swimming scholarship to escape an alcoholic, suicidal mother and abusive father. Subsequently, Yuknavitch’s own addictions cause her to lose that beloved lifeline—and the self-destruction that ensues is captivating and haunting: sexual experimentation, S&M, drugs—and eventually, fulfillment in writing, marriage and motherhood.

The principal metaphor here—that we all struggle to keep our heads above water, finding what joy we can in life despite endless reasons not to—is certainly universally applicable. That Yuknavitch made it through the fire and survived is reason enough to marvel; that, as a result, she crafted 300 pages of the most beautiful, dazzling, challenging prose I’ve ever laid my eyes on is inspirational. The Chronology of Water is brave, difficult and evocative. This isn’t a book about finding happiness. Readers won’t always love this protagonist and narrator. But, as one absorbs every bit of wisdom, cultural and social insight, and satisfaction, he realizes this was the book Lidia Yuknavitch was meant to write. And our world is a better place because she did.

Kristin Flickinger, Ask a Gay

The Well of Time
Julie Raymond, AuthorHouse, $15.99

The Well of Time is the first installment in an inspired seven-part series (We The Trees) by Julie Raymond. Book One takes us on a journey deep into the past, to a time when female warriors roamed the lands of the east, guarding the divine feminine and all of the ancient wisdom surrounding it.

We follow Alana Bell, an archaeologist, as she embarks on a trek from present day into Amazigh country, traveling inside the body of Issaura, an ancient female warrior. The journey, sparked by a lightning strike that brings the women together across time, takes us into warring lands, secret underground hiding places, and through sacred visions. It’s a time when queens commune with lionesses and falcons, princesses are smuggled to safety through hostile territory, and priestess healers read the signs. For Issaura, these signs are clear. The visions seen through her eyes—which have turned from brown to green—are clear enough for all to read, and the strange language she sometimes speaks points to the presence of another.

Raymond’s book is “woo woo” out there, combining a classic fantasy feel with the spiritual reminder that we all carry with us the memories of those who came before.

Nick Mattos, Remember to Breathe

MetaMaus: A New Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus

Art Spiegelman, Pantheon, $35

MetaMaus, Art Spiegelman’s long-awaited companion to his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir offers readers insight into the Holocaust and its lingering effects while illuminating the creative process of a brilliant and challenging artist.

The publisher aptly describes MetaMaus as a “vast Maus midrash”—a thick homily composed of copious notes and backstories about the people and situations that Maus depicted in animal form. A lengthy Q&A with University of Chicago professor Hillary Chute and interviews with Spiegelman’s family, alongside hundreds of illustrations and photos and a supplemental DVD with enough special features to rival a Hollywood release, thoroughly answer many questions that readers have posed in the two decades since the publication of Maus.

However, MetaMaus transcends the basic queries—Why comics? Why mice? Why the Holocaust?—to present stunning revelations into the artistic and intellectual process of a man who sought to ensure that his family’s experiences were never forgotten, despite his own sense of being haunted by the events that unfolded in the concentration camps. “In a story that is trying to make chronological and coherent the incomprehensible,” Spiegelman reflects upon his use of the comic form, “the juxtaposing of past and present insists that the past and present are always present.” Unsettling and thought-provoking, MetaMaus deepens the impact of a modern classic while standing on its own as a meditation on the creative process, illustrating the ways that we are tethered to our personal and collective history.

LeAnn Locher, The Sassy Gardener

The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir
Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Harper, $24.99

Have you ever thought of up and quitting your job and running away to the country? Set up a farm, grow your own food, tend to a little herd of goats and make soap? I know I have, and my partner and I used to talk about it, asking questions like, “Could we physically do it?” and “What would it be like to be gay and live in a rural area?”

Wonder no more and settle in for a fantastically gay quick read about the dynamic New York City couple Josh and Brent, and their move to an upstate existence. Take in the enormity of their life change with their purchase of an 1802 farmhouse called Beekman Estate—yes, with goats. Throw in the fabulousness that one of them comes from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the other from an advertising agency background, and you have the makings of “The Fabulous Beekman Boys,” complete with a reality show on Discovery’s Planet Green.

But The Bucolic Plague is the pre-story to their Beekman empire of soaps, kitchen goods, cookbook and TV show. It gives an inside look at creating and living a rural, albeit wonderfully gay, farm life. Reading this during a recent cross-country trip made it the shortest flight ever and I couldn’t put it down, even with children kicking the seat behind me.

Homesteading + gay + mindful + relationship realities = Lovely.

Bennie Tan, Panda Say What?!

Jane Bites Back

Michael Thomas Ford, Ballantine Books, $14

Autumn is not my favorite time of year so when I curl up with a book, more likely than not it’s a comedy. I recently finished a fun little read called Jane Bites Back by gay writer Michael Thomas Ford, author of the multiple Lambda Literary Award-winning Trials of My Queer Life series.

In the book, Ford creates a world where Jane Austen didn’t die but was instead “turned” into a vampire by another famous author. I will not divulge his identity and ruin the plot, I’ll simply give you a hint: He was supposedly bisexual and known for his romantic poetry to women but is often described as misogynistic, and extremely disparaging of female writers.

The book was published in late 2009, during the height of the vampire and Jane Austen craze. In the story, Jane is living under a different name and identity as she herself struggles to grasp her sudden resurgence in fame after her supposed death. At the same time, she’s trying to reinvent herself as a 21st-century author. The irony, in spite of her popularity: She can’t get her latest book published, not if her life depended on it. Good thing she’s already dead.

I’ve always enjoyed Ford’s wit and style. With Jane Bites Back, he’s managed to create a satire within a satire—not an easy task.

Mary Mandeville, Petlandia

Recently read:
 Found: A Memoir 
(Jennifer Lauck, Seal Press, $24.95) and
The Chronology of Water
(Lydia Yuknavitch).
Both local authors, both highly recommended.

Currently reading:
Part Wild: One Woman’s Journey with a Creature Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs
(Ceiridwen Terrill, Scribner, $25). A Portland woman details her life with a wolf-dog hybrid. Terrill read at Wordstock; her writing is strong, the topic is intriguing. A few chapters in, I’m still engaged.

Most recommended: Dog Years: A Memoir
(Mark Doty, Harper, $23.95). Many dog memoirs are written but few rise above a simple “my dog (cat, bird, pig) was the best pet ever.” Never resorting to sentimentality, Doty’s story is candid and poetic. While his partner is dying of AIDS, Doty is left to care for the couple’s dog. He adopts a second dog as a companion to the first because “there comes a time when you’re already so crazy, an addition cannot be noticed.” Melancholy but never saccharine, this study in loss takes us through the deaths of his partner and both dogs. Have your tissues ready, but know there is light at the end of the tunnel. Beautiful.

In the queue: How Georgia Became O’Keeffe: Lessons on the Art of Living
(Karen Karbo, skirt!, $21.95).
Smart, witty and insightful. I look forward to reading Karbo’s reflections on this iconic painter and what her life and work mean to us now. Wild
(Cheryl Strayed, coming March 2012, Knopf, $25.95).
I cannot wait to tag along on this 1,100-mile journey “from lost to found” on the Pacific Crest Trail. Honest and soulful, Strayed’s trek is sure to enthrall.

For more reading recommendations and holiday gift ideas, pick up the December 9 issue.

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