Information is courtesy of Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St.; (215) 923-2960; www.queerbooks.com. Ten-percent off most hardcover in-store sales.
BOOKS Trans 1. “Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation,” edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman (Seal, 302 pp., $16.95 pb). Fifteen years after Bornstein’s groundbreaking “Gender Outlaw,” this follow-up collection presents the wide-ranging voices of a new generation of gender radicals. 2. “Speaking Sex to Power: The Politics of Pleasure,” by Patrick Califia-Rice (Cleis, 285 pp., sale price: $4.50). Along with essays on antiporn feminism, the Bush cabinet and repression of S/M, Califia-Rice writes of his decision to undergo a sex change. 3. “Missed Her,” by Ivan E. Coyote (Arsenal Pulp, 142 pp., $16.95 pb). Her beautiful, funny stories about growing up a lesbian butch in the Canadian north have attracted big audiences — gay, straight or otherwise.
Men 1. “Straight from Your Gay Best Friend: The Straight-Up Truth about Relationships, Work and Having a Fabulous Life,” by Terrance Dean (Agate Bolden, 204 pp., $15 pb). This book will help women discover the strength they need for a life of loving relationships and abundant success. And it’s all done from a place of love, coming from their gay best friend. 2. “Advanced Elvis Course,” by CAConrad (Soft Skull, 137 pp., $12.95 pb). Part psychedelic road-trip travelogue, part “Overheard in Graceland,” part mystic-religious devotional, CAConrad’s unabated love for the King puts him on a pilgrimage to Memphis. 3. “The Empty Family: Stories,” by Colm Toibin (Scribner, 275 pp. $24.95 hb, less 10 percent in the store). “This is some of Toibin’s most beautiful and heart-stopping writing. The story ‘The Street’ is one of the great love stories of our time, gay or straight,” said Edmund White. 4. “Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist and Sexual Renegade,” by Justin Spring (Farrar Straus Giroux, 478 pp., $32.50 hb, less 10 percent in the store). Drawn from the secret, never-before-seen diaries, journals and sexual records of the novelist, poet and university professor Samuel M. Steward, this work is a sensational reconstruction of one of the more extraordinary hidden lives of the 20th century. 5. “Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel,” by Armistead Maupin (Harper, 304 pp., $25.99 hb, less 10 percent in the store). Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities have driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, a gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband. 6. “Best Gay Romance 2011,” edited by Richard Labonté (Cleis, 232 pp., $14.95 pb). Covers every romantic possibility with first love, true love, wake-up sex, makeup sex and everything in between. 7. “In a Strange Room,” by Damon Galgut (Europa, 224 pp., $15 pb). A brilliant, stylish novel of anger and compassion, longing and thwarted desire and a hauntingly beautiful evocation of life on the road.
Women 1. “For Frying Out Loud: Rehoboth Beach Diaries,” by Fay Jacobs (A & M, 233 pp., $17 pb). Wise and witty recollections about contemporary life in general and, more specifically, life in Rehoboth Beach. 2. “The Butterfly Moments,” by S. Renee Bess (Regal Crest, 208 pp., $16.95 pb). After a 20-plus-year career as a parole officer in Philadelphia, Alana Blue is ready to leave her job and move on to more rewarding work. 3. “Jukebox: A Love Story,” by Gina Noelle Daggett (Bella, 280 pp., $14.95 pb). Debutantes in love. With each other. 4. “Indelible,” by Jove Bekke (Bold Strokes, 186 pp., $14.95 pb). Luna and Angie enter into a tenuous relationship, one that leaves Luna wanting more and Angie resisting the promise in her eyes. When they are together, though, Angie wants to believe in love, trust and the possibility of forever. 5. “Chasing Love,” by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes, 258 pp., $16.95 pb). From girl bars to shady chat rooms to women’s sporting events, Amy’s prowled them all like the fiercest of hunters. 6. “X,” by J.D. Glass (Bold Strokes, 219 pp., $15.95 pb). Romantic suspense with computer hackers. 7. “Lesbian Sex: 101 Lovemaking Positions,” by Jude Schell (Celestial Arts, 224 pp., $16.99 pb). 8. “Girl Meets Girl: A Dating Survival Guide,” by Diana Cage (Alyson, 180 pp., $14.95 pb).
DVDs Women 1. “Loving Annabelle,” directed by Katherine Brooks (2006, 77 min., $14.95). Rising heartthrob Erin Kelly stars as Annabelle, a precocious senator’s daughter who falls in love with her teacher Simone (gorgeous Diane Gaidry) at a stodgy Catholic girls’ boarding school. 2. “I Can’t Think Straight,” directed by Shamin Sarif (2008, 80 min., $24.95). Although they come from different worlds, the attraction between Tala and Leyla is immediate and Tala must decide whether to stay true to her culture or her heart. 3. “My Normal,” directed by Irving Schwartz (2009, 77 min., $19.95). The story of Natalie, a young lesbian from the Lower East Side, who’s struggling to find a balance between her dreams of becoming a filmmaker and her lifestyle as a dominatrix. 4. “The Kids Are All Right,” directed by Lisa Cholodenko (2010, 104 min., $29.95). Nominated for four Oscars. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play lesbian moms whose teenage kids decide they want to meet their sperm donor. 5. “Stuck,” directed by Steve Balderson (2009, 95 min., $24.95). All the hallmarks of a classic prison movie, complete with a wrongly accused heroine, hard-boiled dames, diabolical alliances, forbidden love, cat-fighting cuties, a sadistic warden and corrupt prison guards.
Men 1. “BearCity,” directed by Doug Langway (2010, 99 min., $19.99). Follows a tight-knit pack of friends experiencing comical mishaps and emotionally sweet yet lusty romantic encounters. 2. “Strapped,” directed by Joseph Graham (2010, 95 min., $19.95). A routine trick at a man’s apartment propels a cynical hustler into a series of strange and life-changing encounters. 3. “David’s Birthday,” directed by Marco Filiberti (2009, 106 min., $19.95). While vacationing in an Italian summer home, happily married Matteo is surprised to find himself attracted to his best friend’s underwear-model son, David. Italian with subtitles. 4. “The Adonis Factor,” directed by Christopher Hines (2010, 70 min., $24.95). Hines takes viewers on an eye-opening journey through circuit parties, gay porn and avant-garde fashion photo shoots, all of which promote their own kinds of idealized physiques. 5. “Howl,” directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein (2010, 90 min., $29.95). It’s San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece, Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” is put on trial.