Top 100 Gay Novel: Dishes by Rich Wallace

Already from the blurb I knew that this wasn’t a gay romance, but you never know. Danny is a 20 years old in search of security; not a good time for the search, at that age nothing is sure. Starting from his family: it’s not that Danny had a bad family experience, it’s only that he hadn’t a normal family; his mother got pregnant at 17 years old, his grandparents took her and the love-child in, and the father was somewhere in the picture, but always on the edge of it, and finally, when Danny was still a teenager, he went to work on the North, at Ogunquit, Maine. Now, years later, Danny dropped out from college, basically since he wasn’t even sure why he was there, and decided to spend the summer with his father, washing dishes in the same place where his father bartend, Dishes, a gay club for the slightly older gay summer crowd.

Ogunquit is strange, it’s not like Provincetown where 99% of the population is gay, but it’s quite near; the difference is that Ogunquit is in the middle of a place where being gay is not so simple, and so it’s like a natural reserve, a place where you can be liberal while everyone else around you judge but don’t touch. Danny has no problem with his sexuality, he is quite sure to like girls, but he has not yet found the right one; even if he doesn’t like so much his father’s behaviour, I think that Danny is not so much different from him, he has not a strong core. Danny is drawn by authoritative figure since he has never had one in his life, and so even now, he prefers a partner that can be the leader in the relationship. And he hasn’t found one in women, so maybe, even if it’s a small maybe, he is wondering if a man, maybe…

And then there is his father, working for year in a gay club. Is he or is he not? And if he is, why not Danny? Right when all these questions are brainstorming inside him, Danny is faced with two different chance at love: Mercy, a very hot girl, to whom Danny is really attracted, but who is not exactly nice; she is quite the judgemental type, and Danny is not sure to like this attitude. On the other side there is Hector, the gay waiter of Dishes; he is handsome and kind, he even helps Danny on his first date with Mercy… now Danny likes a lot Hector’s attitude, but he is not physically attracted by him.

I think that Danny is in the middle and any decision he will take will be the right for him; he can choose to be with Mercy, following the physical lead, and being happy since, in the end, both he and Mercy will balance their characters. Or he can choose to be with Hector, following his brain, arriving to like, and maybe love him, a love that can be as satisfying as a physical inducted one. This is possible since Danny is open to the world, to life and to all type of love.

Dishes is not a long story, and in the end, I don’t even think it’s the final story for Danny; it’s only a moment in his life, a delicate and life-changing moment, but the only one he will face in the future.

Amazon: Dishes

Amazon Kindle: Dishes

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Top 100 Gay Novel: Dishes by Rich Wallace

Already from the blurb I knew that this wasn’t a gay romance, but you never know. Danny is a 20 years old in search of security; not a good time for the search, at that age nothing is sure. Starting from his family: it’s not that Danny had a bad family experience, it’s only that he hadn’t a normal family; his mother got pregnant at 17 years old, his grandparents took her and the love-child in, and the father was somewhere in the picture, but always on the edge of it, and finally, when Danny was still a teenager, he went to work on the North, at Ogunquit, Maine. Now, years later, Danny dropped out from college, basically since he wasn’t even sure why he was there, and decided to spend the summer with his father, washing dishes in the same place where his father bartend, Dishes, a gay club for the slightly older gay summer crowd.

Ogunquit is strange, it’s not like Provincetown where 99% of the population is gay, but it’s quite near; the difference is that Ogunquit is in the middle of a place where being gay is not so simple, and so it’s like a natural reserve, a place where you can be liberal while everyone else around you judge but don’t touch. Danny has no problem with his sexuality, he is quite sure to like girls, but he has not yet found the right one; even if he doesn’t like so much his father’s behaviour, I think that Danny is not so much different from him, he has not a strong core. Danny is drawn by authoritative figure since he has never had one in his life, and so even now, he prefers a partner that can be the leader in the relationship. And he hasn’t found one in women, so maybe, even if it’s a small maybe, he is wondering if a man, maybe…

And then there is his father, working for year in a gay club. Is he or is he not? And if he is, why not Danny? Right when all these questions are brainstorming inside him, Danny is faced with two different chance at love: Mercy, a very hot girl, to whom Danny is really attracted, but who is not exactly nice; she is quite the judgemental type, and Danny is not sure to like this attitude. On the other side there is Hector, the gay waiter of Dishes; he is handsome and kind, he even helps Danny on his first date with Mercy… now Danny likes a lot Hector’s attitude, but he is not physically attracted by him.

I think that Danny is in the middle and any decision he will take will be the right for him; he can choose to be with Mercy, following the physical lead, and being happy since, in the end, both he and Mercy will balance their characters. Or he can choose to be with Hector, following his brain, arriving to like, and maybe love him, a love that can be as satisfying as a physical inducted one. This is possible since Danny is open to the world, to life and to all type of love.

Dishes is not a long story, and in the end, I don’t even think it’s the final story for Danny; it’s only a moment in his life, a delicate and life-changing moment, but the only one he will face in the future.

Amazon: Dishes

Amazon Kindle: Dishes

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

In the Spotlight: Perry Moore

The Book: The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he's been asked to join the League - the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he's gay.

But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League.

To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he'll have to come to terms with his father's past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be.

Amazon: Hero

Amazon Kindle: Hero

The Author: Perry Moore is a best-selling author, film producer, screenwriter, and director, best known as the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Moore grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia and attended Norfolk Academy. He majored in English at the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar, and later served as an intern in the White House for President Bill Clinton before starting his entertainment career in talent and development at MTV and VH1. He then worked as part of the original production team for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. Moore next worked as a creative executive for the late filmmaker Ted Demme and producer Joel Stillerman before joining Walden Media, where he developed and oversaw such film projects as I Am David, the film adaptation of Anne Holm’s acclaimed novel North to Freedom.

A longtime production executive for Walden Media, Moore was instrumental in bringing The Chronicles of Narnia series to the company. After landing the rights to the C. S. Lewis series, he moved into a production deal with the company. The film represents his first as a motion picture executive producer.

He continues his role as executive producer of Prince Caspian, due to be released in 2008, and will continue with the third in the Narnia franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He is such a rabid fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, he hopes to see all seven books in the series adapted into films.

In addition to his work in production and development, The CS Lewis Company appointed Moore to write The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion, a New York Times Bestseller.

A longtime fan of children’s literature and comic books, Moore’s first novel, Hero, the first of a fantasy series about a group of modern-day superheroes, was published by Hyperion August 28, 2007. The young adult novel tells the story of the world’s first gay teen superhero. A big screen adaptation is in the works with Stan Lee.

He is also co-directing a documentary about legendary children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak with partners Hunter Hill and filmmaker Spike Jonze.

Moore is a partner in producer-actress Allison Sarofim and Hunter Hill’s “66 Productions.” Their first movie, written and directed by Moore and Hill, Lake City, is due out next year. The film, inspired by a heartrending childhood memory of Hill’s, tells the story of a mother (Sissy Spacek) and son (Troy Garity, Jane Fonda’s real-life son) who reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them light years apart. The film also stars Rebecca Romijn, Drea De Matteo, Keith Carradine, and Dave Matthews.

Moore will continue to write books, one of his major passions. His next book is a mysterious novel about triplets, two boys and a girl, who inherit both a curse and a gift, and must struggle to make sense of their emerging heritage in order to save the world. Moore promises the novel will re-define the werewolf mythology.

And of course, there are many more stories to tell about Thom Creed and his superhero colleagues in the pages of the sequels to come for Hero.

http://www.perrymoorestories.com/

Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

Hot and Bothered by Cassandra Gold

A sweet and tender love story about two young guys in love. This is basically all the plot and Gil and Dustin are also two representative of the usual crowd of a college dorm, the geek and the jock, and when these two types meet, usually the result is always nice.

The main difference in this story is that, where Gil is obviously shy, also Dustin is not exactly daring, and so they are dancing around each other, both of them trying to draw attention without being too obvious. Then during an hot summer night, Dustin finally has the courage to admit that, if he is always around Gil, asking stupid question and basically trying to steal time with him, it’s since he is interested in him more than as a simple roommate.

This is only a short story, barely a night in their life, and so obviously there is no time to further develop the relationship, but it was nice to read how both Gil and Dustin are shy but tentative in bed, how both of them want to please the other more than themselves. They are so sweet that I felt for them, wondering how two sweet and kind guys like them will survive once they will go out the safe shelter of Gil’s bedroom. But this is probably another story.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/hotbothered.htm

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Hot and Bothered by Cassandra Gold

A sweet and tender love story about two young guys in love. This is basically all the plot and Gil and Dustin are also two representative of the usual crowd of a college dorm, the geek and the jock, and when these two types meet, usually the result is always nice.

The main difference in this story is that, where Gil is obviously shy, also Dustin is not exactly daring, and so they are dancing around each other, both of them trying to draw attention without being too obvious. Then during an hot summer night, Dustin finally has the courage to admit that, if he is always around Gil, asking stupid question and basically trying to steal time with him, it’s since he is interested in him more than as a simple roommate.

This is only a short story, barely a night in their life, and so obviously there is no time to further develop the relationship, but it was nice to read how both Gil and Dustin are shy but tentative in bed, how both of them want to please the other more than themselves. They are so sweet that I felt for them, wondering how two sweet and kind guys like them will survive once they will go out the safe shelter of Gil’s bedroom. But this is probably another story.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/hotbothered.htm

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle