Koncocoo

Best Gay & Lesbian Poetry

New American Best Friend
One of the most recognizable young poets in America, Olivia Gatwood dazzles with her tribute to contemporary American womanhood in her debut book, New American Best Friend. Author of the chapbook Drunk Sugar and a recent graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Olivia has taught workshops on feminism, poetry and sexual health at foster homes, women's shelters, public schools and community centers nationwide.
Reviews
"This is is one of the best books of poetry I've seen in a very long time."
"The poems evoke emotion as good art should."
"I especially like the poem for the women of Long Island."
"Love the poetry, and dynamics of it all!"
"I can not say enough good things about this book."
"This book is fantastic."
"I loved these poems!"
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Pillow Thoughts
Make a cup of tea and let yourself feel. In October 2016 she released the best-selling Poetry collection Pillow Thoughts .
Reviews
"I read this book in 4 days, i could not stop reading."
"Time doesn’t mean a thing” could just have easily come from "Aleph" by Paulo Coelho, another favorite author."
"Read it in one sitting, could not put it down."
"This book has put so much into perspective for me."
"Hit the nail on the head for every thing I felt."
"Amazing book and came in great shape."
"I think any reader would relate to the thoughts and emotions conveyed here, but I don't understand the high praise for the actual writing."
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Howl and Other Poems (City Lights Pocket Poets, No. 4)
Subsequently seized by U.S. customs and the San Francisco police, it was the subject of a long court trail at which a series of poets and professors persuaded the court that the book was not obscene. To these facts Ginsberg adds: "High school in Paterson till 17, Columbia College, merchant marine, Texas and Denver copyboy, Times Square, amigos in jail, dishwashing, book reviews, Mexico City, market research, Satori in Harlem, Yucatan and Chiapas 1954, West Coast 3 years. Later Arctic Sea trip, Tangier, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, read at Oxford Harvard Columbia Chicago, quit, wrote Kaddish 1959, made tape to leave behind & fade in Orient awhile. Lately, Ginsberg hasn't always been in top form, but "Howl" remains a masterpiece.
Reviews
"If you even use the word trigger warning in your vocabulary. The entire thing is a trigger."
"With that said, I must admit the poem at times is lengthy and has a bit of drag to it. It is a very powerful poem and I feel the Eric Drooker illustration helps convey the essence of Ginsberg's words."
"I will have to say the graphics help pull you through the poem."
"This book breaks it down by the entire process - from the original typewritten version to the crossed-out edited parts, the many revisions, the "final" copies of different versions sent to friends who kept them for over 50 years (and luckily some of them, not all of them, reprinted here for the first time ever), to even letters corresponding back and forth from those same friends about it's then-impact, his subsequent secret agony in having opened up a Supreme Court type firestorm over the readings, and much much more ephemera concerning it. I read this, ad re-read it, I went over the several dozen revisions, read every bit of notes written and typed and edited and scratched out to friends and lovers and editors, and well, I was mentally exhausted - there is a LOT to take in, but it is worth it. The book is broken down into several sections, from the many drafts to the annotations, the many appendixes and correspondences to Kerouac, Carl Solomon, Ezra Pound, accounts of the first reading, the legal battles, and finally tons and tons of pictures and facsimiles of the original poem, the edits, an offhandedly snapped picture of the actual room he wrote it in, pictures of friends and lovers and friends, and much much more. If and when you read this, you will come to know the very essence of Allen's spirit, his thinking process, and finally you will not only be just a reader, but you will be drawn in and become part of something that happened once in a lifetime, a groundbreaking piece of writing has finally been given the proper dissection and criticism with the respect it deserves by not only many in his own circles but but Ginsberg himself."
"came just as described in the amount of time guaranteed during purchase."
"A great book by a great philosopher."
"As part of the beat generation that changed literature, Allen Ginsberg's Howl is a very profound piece of work that stands the test of time."
"The Kindle version of this book is unreadable, with garbled, mashed up letters throughout."
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Best Gay & Lesbian Literature & Fiction

Call Me by Your Name: A Novel
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year • A Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post Best Book of the Year • A New York Magazine "Future Canon" Selection • A Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times (Michael Upchurch's) Favorite Favorite Book of the Year. "The book is incredible.
Reviews
"Set in 1988 and on the Italian Riviera, which adds to the charm and appeal of the novel, Call Me By Your Name is narrated by and tells the story of a seventeen-year-old American-Italian-Jewish youth, Elio Perlman, and his six-week, summer love affair with Oliver Ulliva, a university professor who is seven years older than Elio and who has been selected to live in Elio’s parents’ home as a guest “resident” while finishing a manuscript for publication as part of the parents’ way of aiding budding writers. Much of the first half of Call Me By Your Name has a “stream of consciousness” feeling to it as Elio, a very precocious and intelligent but shy young man, defies his better intuitions and finds himself more and more attracted to Oliver. By time both Elio and the reader are aware of Oliver’s true feelings toward the younger man, a new sense of urgency, an even greater feeling of sensuality and eroticism, and a more intense atmosphere of anxiety and impending doom enters the story—all of it exquisitely captured by Aciman’s exquisitely accomplished writing."
"Call Me By Your Name is a superlative novel that meticulously and comprehensively looks at the human condition from the folly of youth to the introspective later years. Told almost entirely from the stream of consciousness mind of a seventeen year old Elio, who simultaneously possesses intelligence beyond his years whilst embodying the insouciance of youth and trafficking in the same inane fickleness of the average teen in matters of the heart, and in him Aciman’s crafted a character that is quintessentially relatable. Oliver, the doctoral student who came to stay with him and his parents one summer in Italy, left a watermark on Elio’s soul. At seventeen he can’t possibly understand the rarity of his connection with Oliver, so he tells himself there will be another and there are, that it was never intended to last and maybe it wasn't, that is was a summer fling, but who's to say that makes it any less seminal? I’ve no doubt if I reread it in 5 or 10 yrs I’ll have a different interpretation; a change in perspective and the whole thing looks completely different and I feel like the same can be said of Elio. That place that meant so much from the berm to Mafalda and his parents to the bookstore to playing the guitar to paradise to afternoon naps and lazy days and nights spent f***ing each other’s brains out. The romantic in me wants to wallow in the heartbreak and vilify Aciman for countermanding the rules of romancelandia, but to simplify this novel in such a way, to make it solely about loss is a disservice to the narrative. Maybe I missed the point and it is solely a novel of love and loss with the primary objective being bittersweet heartbreak, but I choose to believe (this time) that Aciman deliberately penned a novel to make every reader take stock and cherish what they have, what they have had and what they will have."
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Best British & Irish Poetry

Pillow Thoughts
Make a cup of tea and let yourself feel. In October 2016 she released the best-selling Poetry collection Pillow Thoughts .
Reviews
"I read this book in 4 days, i could not stop reading."
"Time doesn’t mean a thing” could just have easily come from "Aleph" by Paulo Coelho, another favorite author."
"Read it in one sitting, could not put it down."
"This book has put so much into perspective for me."
"I loved the love poems and the sad ones were so beautiful and this book was just amazing."
"Hit the nail on the head for every thing I felt."
"I think any reader would relate to the thoughts and emotions conveyed here, but I don't understand the high praise for the actual writing."
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Best Individual Artist Essays

Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie is the most iconic artist in the history of Star Wars . Brandon Alinger is the chief operations officer of the Los Angeles branch of Prop Store and the author of Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy .
Reviews
"I haven't been as excited about a Star Wars book since Rinzler's THE MAKING OF STAR WARS. Not only does this set include the studies for his paintings, but EVERY version of each painting (with commentary). The only painting that could possibly be missing as far as I can tell is the night time establishing shot of Chewbacca's house in the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, but it's unclear if McQuarrie created that painting. I thought of how STAR WARS changed the way movies were made and seen, how it opened the door for everything that followed from Lucas, how it inspired the lives of so many artists, including my own. In my opinion this is among the most important Star Wars books ever released."
"This huge (and heavy) book set is the ultimate treasure for whoever is a greedy fan of Ralph McQuarrie's work on the classic Star Wars trilogy!"
"If you call yourself a Star Wars Fan, You Better Get this book set above ALL others!"
"Thousands (yes, thousands) of images are beautifully presented here and put in context – concept sketches, preliminary sketches for paintings, color studies, finished production paintings, matte paintings, promotional artwork, and on and on. The written text and captions are also insightful and surprisingly specific with regard to dates and details."
"This isn't just the final paintings, but it has all of McQuarrie's sketches and designs along the way."
"Ralph McQuarrie is one of those icons of the Star Wars saga and always will be."
"The authors have been very thorough in their examination of Ralph McQuarrie's Star Wars artwork."
"The packaging could be a little better, as the box the books come in was packaged in another box only slightly bigger than the box containing the books."
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Best Gay & Lesbian Drama

Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition
A monumental, subversive, altogether remarkable masterwork Details of specific catastrophes may have changed since this Reagan-era AIDS epic won the Pulitzer and the Tony, but the real cosmic and human obsessions—power, religion, sex, responsibility, the future of the world—are as perilous, yet as falling-down funny, as ever.” –Linda Winer, Newsday. It ranks as nothing less than one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century." One of the most honored American plays in history, Angels in America was awarded two Tony Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. ; A Bright Room Called Day ; Homebody/Kabul ; Caroline, or Change , a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures . His books include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present; Brundibar , with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , co-edited with Alisa Solomon. The most ambitious America play of our time: an epic that ranges from earth to heaven; focuses on politics, sex, and religion; transports us to Washington, the Kremlin, the South Bronx, Salt Lake City and Antarctica; deals with Jews, Mormons, WASPs, blacks; switches between realism and fantasy, from the tragedy of AIDS to the camp comedy of drag queens to the death or at least absconding of God Angels in America is the broadest, deepest, most searching American play of our time." But in fact he has been there so often that he seems to have passed right through it Angels , so much a cry in the dark about AIDS when it was written, seems now to be as much about the Earth’s potentially fatal illness as gay men’s.” –Jesse Green, New York.
Reviews
"One of the best things I've ever read."
"Kushner's masterpiece is still very relevant to all aspects of American culture."
"It's character-driven, it's funny despite its heartbreaking subject matter, it handles an historical figure in such a way as to make him larger than life. I've been seeing this more and more recently; authors trying to insert message drama (or fiction or poetry or...) by making the characters who have to put up with it slap the speaker into senselessness. Now that I've spent three hundred words on Louis and Belize's painful, conversation in Act Three, I'll say that the rest of the play is just plain awesome. The characters jump off the page, the pace is fast (despite there being almost no action), the dialogue is, in the main, witty and interesting."
"A wonderful and epic story."
"A modern classic."
"But Tony Kushner did an excellent job with this masterpiece."
"An absolute classic for anyone interested in American theater, gender studies, or just a spectacular play to read."
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Best Gay & Lesbian Erotica

Try (Temptation Series Book 1)
He’s starting fresh and trying to get back on his feet with a new job at an upscale bar in downtown Chicago. Night after night Tate fends off the persistent advances of the undeniably charismatic man, but after an explosive moment in the bar, all bets are off as he finds his body stirring with a different desire than his mind. Ella Frank is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author.
Reviews
"Logan enjoyed sex and it didn't matter to him if it was with a female or male, that was until he spotted the handsome bartender working at the bar near where his office was. I just put the latest book in the Temptation series involving Logan & Tate titled Tease on my pre-order list."
"In turn, Tate is no pushover either and challenges Logan every step of the way, his inner-strength shining through after enduring a marriage breakdown."
"These two men complement each other in more ways than one, Logan was able to help Tate find the strength that he always needed and Tate was able to help Logan find a love that he didn't even knew was missing in his life."
"I literally just finished reading this book and logged in to Amazon to leave this review. This is my third Ella Frank book and I am now in head over heels infatuation with her. She has this ability to suck you into any story she writes and you end the book with a huge hangover. Ella is very articulate and her words take you into the book like you are there, sitting at the bar, witnessing it all go down."
""Try" is the story of how Logan and Tate meet."
"I just fell in love with both Logan Mitchell and Tate Morrison - they were the best characters. Tate is a bartender at After Hours, a bar Logan likes to drink at. The chase is on - will Logan catch his prey or will Tate stand his ground?"
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Best Gay & Lesbian Fiction

Call Me by Your Name: A Novel
Now a Major Motion Picture from Director Luca Guadagnino, Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, and Written by Three Time Academy Award Nominee James Ivory. A USA Today Bestseller. A Los Angeles Times Bestseller. A Vulture Book Club Pick. An Instant Classic and One of the Great Love Stories of Our Time Andre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Elio—17, extremely well-read, sensitive and the son of a prominent expatriate professor—finds himself troublingly attracted to this year's visiting resident scholar, recruited by his father from an American university. Their shared literary interests and Jewishness help impart a sense of intimacy, and when they do consummate their passion in Oliver's room, they call each other by the other's name.
Reviews
"Set in 1988 and on the Italian Riviera, which adds to the charm and appeal of the novel, Call Me By Your Name is narrated by and tells the story of a seventeen-year-old American-Italian-Jewish youth, Elio Perlman, and his six-week, summer love affair with Oliver Ulliva, a university professor who is seven years older than Elio and who has been selected to live in Elio’s parents’ home as a guest “resident” while finishing a manuscript for publication as part of the parents’ way of aiding budding writers. Much of the first half of Call Me By Your Name has a “stream of consciousness” feeling to it as Elio, a very precocious and intelligent but shy young man, defies his better intuitions and finds himself more and more attracted to Oliver. By time both Elio and the reader are aware of Oliver’s true feelings toward the younger man, a new sense of urgency, an even greater feeling of sensuality and eroticism, and a more intense atmosphere of anxiety and impending doom enters the story—all of it exquisitely captured by Aciman’s exquisitely accomplished writing."
"An Achingly Beautiful Prose of Art. Winner of the 20th Lambda Literary Award. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. Is an Ethereal Masterpiece; A Mythical Gem of Queerdom. The Novel exudes the Transformative Power of Words, Language, and Imagery. with Disarming Clarity & Volatile Poignancy. The After Effects of this book is perfectly encapsulated. By the Immortal Words of Elio to Oliver. "All That Remains is Dreammaking and Strange Remembrance" pg199. The Audiobook narration by Armie Hammer is Eargasm Heaven!!"
"You felt like you were 17 again and feeling all those emotions of someone being the most important thing in the world to you."
"Looking forward to the movie."
"A bit slow at parts."
"I wanted to read the book before watching the movie, but somehow it never happened."
"Such a sweet and rewarding story about true love and friendship."
"Easy read!"
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Best Gay & Lesbian Mystery & Thrillers

Bourbon Chase, The San Francisco Mystery Series, Book 1
While working a shift, Jen unwittingly becomes a witness in the investigation when she provides medical care to one of the suspects, defending her actions against criticism from Tommy and Amanda. As their relationship takes on a heightened intensity, Jen's world is thrown deeper into turmoil, forcing Jen and Amanda to make a decision that will change the trajectory of all their lives. 5 Stars, Amazon Customer Review "I enjoyed reading this story and getting to know the characters. 5 Stars, Goodreads - Janelle "As characters Tommy and Amanda worked to solve a murder,there were many intriguing twists and turns, and then there was romance; unexpected, steamy romance. 5 Stars, Goodreads - RJK "A fast-paced mystery with a solid romance sub-plot."
Reviews
"3.5 stars!"
"I have not sat and read a book for years."
"Another awesome read!"
"Great romance, great story, great job Alexi!"
"This book was different..."
"Another awesome book by Alexi Venice."
"Novel was interesting and fast-paced."
"I loved the direction Alexi took in this book."
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Best Gay & Lesbian Literary Criticism

The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition
Wilde famously said that Dorian Gray “contains much of me”: Basil Hallward is “what I think I am,” Lord Henry “what the world thinks me,” and “Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” Wilde’s comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time than his own, which saw Wilde sentenced to two years’ hard labor for gross indecency. Nicholas Frankel has done a great service to Oscar Wilde's readers in preparing this new edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray . ...This Harvard edition of the untouched typescript is thus a necessary acquisition for any serious student of Wilde's work...After this enthralling novel has left you shaken and disturbed, look for deeper understanding in Nicholas Frankel's superb annotated edition. He has skillfully restored Wilde's original version, and in the manner of other great annotated editions, supplied readers with everything anyone would need to know about Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray , and their lives and times...The entire product--novel and critical/biographical material--makes fascinating reading. It is not often that a piece of serious scholarship is accorded such deluxe treatment, and in this case it is a cause for real celebration, for Frankel has provided a wealth of supplemental material and visual matter, as well as a "Textual Introduction" and a series of notes that explain references and cultural context, help the reader understand the editing processes, and point out the passages that were singled out for deletion...This annotated version [is] a treasure for scholars and for anyone with a serious interest in Wilde, the 1890s, and Aestheticism. Splendid...Profusely illustrated and annotated, the edition's most interesting feature will be a comparison of the original hand-emended typescript with the two main published versions, each of which toned down the novel in a vain effort to avoid the notoriety that descended on both the work and its author...Frankel's edition is a major contribution to the studies of Wilde and of late Victorian legal, sexual, and social contexts...Required reading for students and scholars of Wilde and his period.
Reviews
"All these considered by igo and his close companions through conversation, high society, passion, intrigue culminating in a bizarre twist of plot that leave the reader ruminating on igo's thoughts and actions, and comparing their own with consideration."
"If you've been reading modern literature and are due for a break to read a classic, this is one you just can't continue on in life without reading."
"I'd have to say my favorite character is Lord Henry, a callous, opinionated loud mouth who is clueless, but believes he is smarter than everyone he meets."
"The story is definitely a classic, and for the low price of this edition it's worth having in the collection."
"This book has started me on my new literary journey - re-reading the classics."
"She is all he ever wanted until he tells her he loves her and her performance on stage fails."
"I was looking for why Wilde chose that word in the sentence, but could find the connection."
"I feel that is the way with most of the characters in this book."
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