If you're like me, you routinely leave things till the last minute.
Getting Christmas gifts is no exception to the rule. Although a part of you may find it thrilling to rush through voracious "Christmas cunts' (as we affectionately call them in the office), another part of you is questioning your sanity - and hysterical.
But do not worry, there is hope! Thankfully bookstores are relatively easy to navigate. And Amazon, where you can get quality books delivered promptly, has made gift-buying even easier.
So in the spirit of tardiness, here is our gay book wish list.
Butt Book: The Best of the First 5 Years of "Butt" - Adventures in 21st Century Gay Subculture
The underground, indie gay mag Butt has been around for only five years, but this compilation will most likely be a hit with most semi-intellectual gays. It consistently steps outside the spectrum of your average gay glossy, and is quite satisfying in its quirky and ironic appreciation of the anti-clich̩. Also, it cleverly manages to connect fashion, sex, and art in a way that is worldly Рoften unveiling up-and-coming gay talent before it gets noticed by the wider gay media. My personal favourite: a candid, kinky photo shoot of a young Jason Sellards (aka Jake Shears) before the Scissor Scissors took off, accompanied by raunchy testimonials of former tricks.
Wall and Piece, By Banksy
Who is she, you ask? Well you might as well have been living under a rock if you haven't heard of the shenanigans of this controversial pop artist, with work littered all over London (and all over the world) like Easter eggs. Open your eyes: you'll see his work. The graffiti artist from Bristol has been called a prankster – somehow managing to mysteriously keep his identity hidden while creating graffiti/stencilling masterpieces, predictably drawing ire from conservative types who have accused him of vandalism. His public work, featured in Wall and Piece, often political and subversive. Notable imagery includes: gay police officers kissing, monkeys with WMDs, and children digging a hole (on a wall between Israel and Palestine). Provocative and funny, Banksy is a modern sensation.
Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins
Stewart Who, although initially sceptical, has this to say about the lastest gay celebrity bio: "There’s been an impressively consistent trickle of hype surrounding Rupert Everett’s ‘Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins’. For once, it seems the fuss is entirely justified. While the juicy tome took some time to charm this particular reader, by the final page, Everett’s autobiography could only be declared a triumph.‘Red Carpets…’ outshines the competition through the simple fact that Everett’s a decent writer. His authorial voice is exactly what one expects; snotty, careworn, witty and well-educated. Nobody else could write this book, because nobody else has lived anything like this life."
Gay Life and Culture: A World History
For all the history buffs, Editor Robert Aldrich has successfully taken on the ambitious attempt to create a comprehensive and fascinating gay history. From Theocritus' verses to Queer as Folk, from the berdaches of North America to the boy - wives of Aboriginal Australia, this extraordinarily book illustrates both the commonality of love and lust, and the various ways in which such desires have been constructed through the ages
Berlin Gay Mates
For a bit of cheeky fun, there’s Karim Konrad’s buoyant picture book, featuring a bevy of Berlin’s boisterous boys…Karim surrounds his beautiful models with candy, toys, donuts, unafraid to frame his butch men with feminine delights. Reminiscent of La Chappelle's buoyant use of colour and sass, Berlin Gay Mates is fun fun fun.
Free Press: Underground & Alternative Publications, 1965-1975
This new book revisits the underground press’s golden age- pre-gay liberation. The flowering gay press of the time was combined with those burgeoning minority voices - feminists, hippies, punks, avant-garde artists , and black power activists. The result is a vivid window into a seemingly undocumented part of queer history – complete with psychedelic imagery, gritty reporting, newspaper cut-outs encompassing the mood of a restless generation.
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