er themselves well-read refuse to read comics
because they think they’re for kids.”
Some of the most well-informed opinions as to
what’s available and worthwhile for summer read
ing come from people in the book-selling business.
Catherine Sameh manages the feminist, non
profit bookstore In O ther Words on Portland’s
Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, and describes
her taste as something that leans toward stories of
women negotiating both race and sexuality.
“I prefer fiction and non-fiction that talks
about sort of what it means to be queer and a
woman of color," explains Sameh. A t present, she’s
reading C ereus B looms at N iqht (Press Gang,
1996) by Shani Mootoo, a native of Trinidad.
Sameh describes the story of a gay male nurse car
ing for an eccentric older lesbian as a story of rela
tionships, race and gender.
Like DeMotier, she recommends SUITS M e for
anyone looking for a good summer book to dive
into; as well as HooD (HarperCollins, 1995) by
Emma Donoghue, a novel about contemporary
IKE LAST time
i K orea dress
imaginings.
W hen she can find time for a little indulgence,
she reads aloud from Miles Morelands MILES TO
Q o : A W alk A cross F rance (Random House
Trade,1993) with her girlfriend. Quietly, she’s read
ing Alison BechdePs T he INDELIBLE B echdel :
C onfessions , C omix and M iscellaneous
D ykes to W atch O ut F or (Firebrand, 1998),
confessing: “I love gay comics.”
Andy Mangels, on the other hand, loves (jAY
C omics , which he’s edited since 1991. T he
Portland author of S tar W ars : T he E ssential
Q uide to C haracters (Ballantine, 1995) and
B eyond M oulder and S cully : T he
M ysterious C haracters of the X -F iles
(Citadel, 1998) definitely has an eye for the visual,
adding that he’s currently reading T he M ale
N ude (Taschen, 1998) by David Leddick. Mostly
photos, Leddick’s book does offer a peek into the
history of the evolution of male nudity as it’s
expressed in art, Mangels insists.
Mangels’ eye also leads him to recommend
W ho ’ s A P retty B oy , T hen ? (Serpent’s Tail,
1997) by James Gardiner, offering text and photos
DAPHNE SCHOLINb'Kl
t f l l H J A N E M E R E D I T H MJ a MT
4
tracing gay life from 1851 to the present. It’s a txx)k
Mangels calls “tremendously fascinating.”
A blanket suggestion from Mangels is simply
that he’d “like people to take a chance at reading
comics more o fte n .... So many people who consid
*
V
______________________________________________
Irish lesbians; and L ast R esort (Henry Holt,
1998), a novel draped with postmodern angst in a
dyke context, by Alison Lurie.
Based on her experiences at In Other Words,
Sameh says demand for mysteries rises in the sum
mer. A popular seller she likes is B lanche C leans
U p (Viking, 1998), a new mystery by Barbara
Neely, whose hero, Blanche, is an African-
American housecleaner. Says Sameh, “She muses
as the protagonist on race and class. ... It’s well
written."
Rick Spencer, who owns Gai-Pied, a largely gay
male-oriented bookstore on Northeast Broadway
in Portland doesn’t offer that his clients are more
likely to choose a specific genre in the summer, but
he does say that where mainstream booksellers
often regard summer as a slow season, his business
stays pretty steady.
His preferred genre, year round, says Spencer, is
non-fiction. In that vein, he suggests Dan Woog’s
J ocks (Alyson, 1998), not only for summer read
ing but also for young people in the coming-out
process. Woog, Spencer explains, "interviewed
several dozen guys" who outed themselves to
coaches and teammates. “Most of the stories are
positive ones,” Spencer says. “It would be a great
read tor young people who have concerns about
coming out."
Robert Bade heads the gay and lesbian section
at Powell’s City of B«xiks on West Burnside in
Portland and readily names titles for queer audi
ences to check out this summer. His list starts with
lesbian comic Kate C lintons D on ’ t Q e t M e
S tarted
(Random House, 1998)— "It’s light
reading; very funny.” T he list includes Kate
Summerscale’s T he Q ueen of W hale C ay
(Viking, 1997),- the biography of Marion “Joe”
Carstairs, a rich, cross-dressing, speed-boat racer
whose adventures spanned the century. QONNA
T ake a H omicidal J ourney (Little Brown,
1998), a mystery from Sandra Scoppettone, rounds
out his recommendations.
For something a bit heavier, though not
queer specific, Bade recommends T HE
Q reek P assion (Simon & Schuster,
1953) by Nico Kazantzakis, which is about
Greek villagers staging a play about the life
of Christ, and a series, T he C airo
T riloqy , by Egyptian writer Naguib
Mahfouz.
Finally, Mark Freidman, an indepen
dent bookseller in Portland, says
C alifornia S creaminq (Sim on &
Schuster, 1998) by Doug Guinan makes a
great summer read. “It’s different,”
Freidman observes. “It’s about a complete
ly different world from Portland, Oregon.
... It sort of mocks that world of beautiful
m en .... It’s a total summer book.”
An autobiography that Freidman does
n ’t endorse
is
I n
the
F lesh
(Barricade, 1998) by former pom star
Gavin G . Dillard. Freidman says that
while reading Geoffrey’s tale, he often
asked himself, “Why am I reading this?
Why did he write this book?’ But the
book’s saving grace, admits Freidman, is
“there’s lots of great gossip ... about
Hollywood people who are very thinly
veiled— if at all.”
And what better season to read trashy gossip
than summer?
■ Bibliographic information was supplied, in large
part, by Powell’s website, ww w .pow ells.com , and In
O ther Words.