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.
Men’s Books 1. “Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media and Society” by Dustin Kidd (Westview, $35 pb, $21.19 eBook). Love it or hate it, popular culture permeates every aspect of contemporary society. In this accessibly written introduction to the sociology of popular culture, Kidd provides the tools to think critically about the cultural soup served daily by film, television, music, print media and the Internet. 2. “The Days of Anna Madrigal” by Armistead Maupin (Harper, $26.99 hb, less 10 percent in the store, $14.99 eBook). The ninth and final novel in Maupin’s classic “Tales of the City” series, “The Days of Anna Madrigal” is the triumphant resolution to a saga of urban family life that has enchanted and enlightened readers around the world since 1976. 3. “Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris” by Edmund White (Bloomsbury, $26 hb, $1.99 eBook). White fell headily in love with Paris and its culture — both intoxicated and intellectually stimulated. He became the definitive biographer of Jean Genet, wrote lives of Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud and became a recipient of the French Order of Arts and Letters. “Inside a Pearl recalls those fertile years for White.” 4. “A Warning in Blood” by Joseph R.G. DeMarco (Lethe, $18 pb, $6.99 eBook). Step into the shadows with the first of a series that blends deduction with suspense … and blood. 5. “The Testament of Mary” by Colm Toibin (Scribner, $13 pb, $9.47 eBook). This woman we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. 6. “Popcorn” by Mioki (Gmuender, $19.99 hb). Do you call a book that tells its story through cartoons a graphic novel? We didn’t used to. This local author is very talented in depicting his handsome heroes.
Women’s and Trans Books 1. “Eating Fire: My Life As a Lesbian Avenger” by Kelly Cogswell (U. of Minnesota, $19.95 pb, $12.39 eBook). When Cogswell plunged into New York’s East Village in 1992, she had just come out. An ex-Southern Baptist born in Kentucky, she was camping in an Avenue B loft, scribbling poems and playing in an underground band, trying to figure out her next move. A couple of months later, she was consumed by the Lesbian Avengers, instigating direct-action campaigns, battling cops on Fifth Avenue, mobilizing 20,000 dykes for a march on Washington, D.C., and eating fire — literally — in front of the White House. 2. “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love and So Much More” by Janet Mock (Atria, $24.95 hb, less 10 percent in the store, $12.99 eBook). Mock offers a bold and inspiring perspective on being young, multicultural, economically challenged and transgender in America. 3. “Blood, Marriage, Wine and Glitter” by S. Bear Bergman (Arsenal Pulp, $18.95 pb, $13.64 eBook). In Bear’s extended family “orchard,” drag sisters, sperm donor’s parents and other relations provide more branches of love, support and sustenance than a simple family tree. Defiantly queer yet full of tenderness and hilarity, “Blood, Marriage, Wine and Glitter” is a beautifully thought-provoking book that redefines the notion of what family is and can be. 3. “Bicycles: Love Poems” by Nikki Giovanni (HarperCollins, $11.99 pb, $7.99 eBook). Giovanni experienced losses both public and private: a mother’s passing, a sister’s too, and a massacre on the campus where she teaches. Yet just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love — what she calls the antidote. 4. “Great Speeches on Gay Rights,” edited by James Daley (Dover, $3.50 pb or eBook). This comprehensive anthology traces the rhetoric of the gay-rights movement from the late-19th century to the present. 5. “Nevada” by Imogen Binnie (Topside, $17.95 pb). “Nevada” is the darkly comedic story of Maria Griffiths, a young transwoman living in New York City and trying to stay true to her punk values while working retail.