just wanting to connect with other gay guys in this place.

DiscussãoGay Men

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just wanting to connect with other gay guys in this place.

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1gametes69
Set 18, 2007, 2:25 pm

hi, my name is anthony wong. my reading is not influenced by my being gay, because I like to read, period. So hope it is ok for me to join this group as I dont really go out of my way to read books with overtly out gay characters. I mean (oscar wilde)'s plays are gay like anything, but there are no out gay characters and I enjoy his plays irregardless. I am sure that applies too for many of u. Well, if it describes u , I would love to get chatting with u here or if u have read the books in my bookshelf write ur comments and let me read what u think about them. One thing that I know is this, my gay nature influences my reading. In that it colours my choice of books to read. i find that i like books that have male characters. That means i dont really like reading chick lits... frothy novels,like brigitte jones (I know i got the spelling wrong, but i dont care enough about it to go to the trouble to correct it), that has angst- filled women as its central characters. Yet, contrary to what i have just said, i like (georgette heyer)'s regency novels. and she was the chick lit of her day. haha. i like her novels for the arched style of writing, because her plots are the same really, and because her heroines are like men actually, or what i would like my men to be like. Strong minded, resourceful, shrewd, not shrewish, straightforward, no feminine wiles--saying one thing and meaning the other. Like her heroes.

2billsith
Set 27, 2007, 1:00 pm

Hi antony,
I like what your saying about influences on your reading which rings true for me also. I probably read a wee bit more of the fantasy/sf trash than yourself and was surprised to see there is no cross over in our libraries (I don't know why that would be surprising).
Cheers
Bill

3reader36
Editado: Set 28, 2007, 9:56 pm

I agree with your point of view gametes69, as to how being gay does not influence your love of reading. I am actually currently reading my first Gay Novel ever, Call Me by Your Name: A Novel. Although I'm enjoying the book, I find that I enjoy it no more nor less then any other well written book. Although, I have to say I do tend to enjoy a nice description of cute guys. I'm more of a fantasy kinda gut myself as well. I see you too have read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series Billsith. I always enjoyed reading about Perrn. I hope Jordans death does not mean an unfinished end to the series. Well talk to y'all latter,

-Evan

4gametes69
Out 6, 2007, 3:58 pm

hi billsith, reader36, i m so glad u wrote in. tell me, how come both of u dont write about the books u have read? dont u feel the urge to comment about the books, even if it isnothing more than to say u dont like them and why? i wold love to hear people's thoughts and how they feel after reading the books, any books, need not necessarily gay ones. u dont write about the books u have read. why is that?

5rolig
Out 14, 2007, 10:30 am

Hi Anthony, and everyone. Interesting topic: what gay men read. I read pretty widely, and don't limit my self to gay, or gayish, novels, but sometimes I do find it hard to get into some overtly heterosexual fiction (I think I mean books about men trying to figure out how to bed a woman, or vice versa). I haven't read much "chick lit" like Bridget Jones, but sometimes I do enjoy reading novels written from a woman's perspective, which can overlap quite a bit with a gay man's perspective on occasion. For me, one of the best gay novelists writing today is Alan Hollinghurst, whose books are always very "gay" -- written from a clear gay perspective, including some amazing, poetic, and quite graphic depictions of gay sex -- but whose concerns go far beyond the specifically gay experience. I recommend his The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, and The Line of Beauty, which won the Man Booker Prize a couple of years ago.

6gametes69
Out 19, 2007, 9:03 am

hi roliq. In a way I like that this website do not tell us if there is a new post. it makes for a very laid back sort of correspondence. haha. where we come in, read what new messages have been posted, have a peek at the books and reviews in the profile of the new people and write another message if we feel like it or not.
the thought occurred to me that we could simply read as male any female characters in the novel and see if that would make it gayer. For eg, if u change the female character and read them as though they are males, you can see how gay are the plays of Tenessee williams. A Streetcar named desire comes to mind. After all how apt is that last line 'I have always depanded on the kindness of strangers.' to us gay guys. haha.

7gametes69
Out 20, 2007, 9:03 pm

well, have u read the news item about j.k.rowling admitting that dumbledore is gay? haha. in the other post i mentioned it can be fun to just read gay leanings onto the characters, and juxtapose female for male to make it gayer. well looks like that is happening in children's books too. personally i think it spoils it, children's books should not be sexual, it is too early for kids to become so knowing about what adults sexual proclivities. now everyone will be reading gay leanings on the other characters as well. it spoils the story. i know we gays like to put gay interpretations on fictional characters, and it is fun in a book for adults. But leave the kids to their childhood, they can grow up soon enough without us adults our sexual innuendos onto their books.

8rolig
Out 25, 2007, 6:01 pm

I am probably one of the few people on the planet who has never read a Harry Potter book, though I have seen a couple of the movies. But I don't know what particularly makes Dumbledore gay or not in the books. But I don't have a problem with gay characters in books for children; it's wrong to think of children as sexless, and children books (including notably fairy tales) have always taught kids about sex and gender roles, sometimes in very subliminal ways, sometimes quite clearly (e.g. being woken up by the kiss of the handsome prince). Gay and lesbian kids need role models, too. Even as a boy in Sunday school (way back in the 1960s), I especially loved the story of David and Jonathan, though it was years before I really understood why.

9billsith
Out 29, 2007, 11:46 am

The challenge was laid before us....talk about the books we read. Harry Potter- I read the first 4 then I've got bored- surley teenagers, irrespective of their growing magical prowess, are uninteresting. I'm reading 'The Historian' at the moment which is turning out rather well written and engaging (& does have a teenage character who isn't two dimensional). There are moments of doubt I experience now with novels pitched as best selling thrillers just because it could be a 'Da Vinci Code' in a different wrapping (which has to be the worst writing ever published, & I lasted for about 16 pages, and if another person says it was a good story though I'll shriek).
October has been creepy reading month (nerd when I start to theme my reading sucha way) with Iain Banks, Henry James, Joe Hill etc featuring. November is unthemed so far.......

10billsith
Out 29, 2007, 11:49 am

Evan- Jordan has died?!!!!?

11aedinallil
Ago 20, 2008, 12:19 am

OMG!!! I so want to cry. Almost. :P Jordan is like my favorite author EVER!!! I didn't even realize it until I got on here. I'm kinda glad I got on here and heard about it cause i've been looking in Barnes & Noble for the next book for like since the last one came out. And that whole thing about Dumbledore being gay... bullshit. I've read all of the books over and over and over again. There is nothing in there that has even the slightest of sexual innuendos. Atleast not with the proffesors.