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2 Big Gay Book Reviews: The Celebrants, by Steven Rowley, and Big Gay Wedding, by Byron Lane
What better way to review two books by married writers Steven Rowley and Byron Lane than together? It’s the start of Pride month, so let’s check out these reviews from husbands Rowley and Lane. – Mark/EditorBy Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
The Celebrants, by Steven Rowley
c.2023, Putnam $28.00 308 pagesEverybody will say nice things about you when you’re lying in a box in front of them.
They’ll say you were everyone’s friend, you were funny and wise, even when you weren’t. You were the greatest person ever, just the best – and don’t you wish they’d say those things now, while you’re alive to hear them? As in the new book “The Celebrants” by Steven Rowley, those sentiments might completely surprise you.
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Book Review: I Have Something to Tell You (For Young Adults), by Chasten Buttigieg
Click to hear audio edition. Narration by WondervoxAI.
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“I Have Something to Tell You (For Young Adults) by Chasten Buttigieg
c.2023, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing $18.99 209 pagesExperience, they say, is the best teacher.
Once you’ve done something, you can say you like it and you’ll do it again or not. The subject comes with a different viewpoint, once you’ve gotten a little experience with it. You’re wiser, more confident. As in the new book “I Have Something to Tell You” by Chasten Buttigieg, you’ll have the chops to offer valid advice.
If you’d have asked 8-year-old Chasten Buttigieg what life was like, he probably would’ve told you about his big brothers and how wild and daring they were. He would’ve said he didn’t have many friends and that he loved his parents. He wouldn’t have told you about being gay, though, because he had no frame of reference, no experience, or role models. He just knew then that he was “different.”
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Book Review: Gentleman Bandit: The True Story of Black Bart, the Old West’s Most Infamous Stagecoach Robber, by John Boessenecker
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezGentleman Bandit: The True Story of Black Bart, the Old West’s Most Infamous Stagecoach Robber, by John Boessenecker
c.2023, Hanover Square Press $32.99 376 pagesHere, take this.
It’s yours. You’ve always wanted it, you’ve always known somehow that you were going to have it and now’s the time. It’s not like you’ve ever passed on a chance to seize what you want, so go ahead – just take it. But as in the new book, “Gentleman Bandit” by John Boessenecker, remember your manners.
On the morning of July 26, 1875, stage coach driver John Shine was stopped on a short route up a mountain by what he thought was a large band of desperadoes with rifles. One of them, a man dressed in white clothing, head masked, his boots wrapped in rags to conceal his footprints, demanded that Shine throw down the coach’s lockboxes and mail bags – which Shine did, with great haste before he was told to “Drive on.”
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Book Review: Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER, by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SexCode Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER, by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D.
c.2023, Simon & Schuster $27.99 256 pagesYou know exactly who’s in charge here.
It’s the person in the white coat, a physician with a stethoscope around their neck and a packed pocketful of paper notes and pens. The white coat instantly gets your attention. It’s meant to quickly convey authority, and it does – so much so that you trust your very life to the person wearing it. In “Code Gray” by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D., that white coat won’t leave you in the dark.
It was only supposed to be a friends-catching-up kind of text thread but for Farzon Nahvi and his colleagues around the country, the flurry of messages they exchanged during the pandemic became a lifeline. For each, it was good to know that their hospital’s reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t the only one lacking.