Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Gay (and Lesbian?) Book Club Roundup

It occurred to me that, rather than announcing area gay book club events individually, as I have been wont to do, it might make more sense to occasionally round up what's coming up into one, handy-dandy guide. So: below the fold are the current offerings and meeting dates for The Big Gay Book Group; Bookmen DC; and Lavender Book Club. All these groups welcome newcomers with open arms. All meetings last an hour; BGBG may go a bit longer.

If you know of any others in the area that I'm missing here, let me know. And are there any lesbian-centered book clubs around? I've been unaware of any since the wonderful and too-short-lived Reading Between the Lines dissolved. E-mail me with information and I can include them in future roundups: philip@thenewgay.net

The Big Gay Book Group: Wednesday, 10/8. 7 p.m. at Timberlake's Restaurant. If you plan to attend, contact biggaybookgroup@hotmail.com so that the group leader can let the restaurant know how many people to expect.
This Month's Book: Andrew W.M. Beierle, First Person Plural. Beierle, the author of The Winter of Our Discotheque, is a local writer and will be joining the discussion about this novel, the story of Owen and Porter, a pair of conjoined twins, one gay and one straight. A touching and funny book.

Lavender Book Club: Tuesday, 10/28. 7:30 p.m. at Borders (18th and L Street, NW).
This Month's Book: If you can't read it in time for the meeting tomorrow (or just want to talk about it again with a different crew), you get another shot at Andrew W.M. Beierle's First Person Plural. Andrew will also attend this meeting, and he's a great guy, so come on out!

Bookmen DC: Wednesday 10/15. 7:30 p.m. at the Charles Sumner School (1201 17th Street, NW; a sumptuous venue!).
Their Next Book: pp. 117-184 of Men of Mystery: Homoerotic Tales of Intrigue and Suspense, edited by Sean Meriwether and Greg Wharton. More short stories featuring intense and dangerous situations.

3 comments:

JAE said...

I LOVE roundups! All those cowboys, the fabulous footwear, great leather accessories and, oh wait...

This is a pretty helpful post. For those that don't know, Lambda offers a discount to book group members on the current month's selection--if you like your books all new and stuff.

I'm a member of The Big Gay Book Group, it's a pretty easygoing crowd so if you are super shy that's okay you can just listen and no one will look at you funny. I won't be at this meeting (first night of line dancing lessons!), but next month I'll be on the scene, so if anyone from here wants to say howdy please do so.

Greg McElhatton said...

Great idea -- it's fantastic learning about more book clubs.

Lambda Sci-Fi has a book club as part of their activities (and it's open to all, you don't have to be a member); details are at http://www.lambdasf.org/lsf/books/

Philip said...

All three groups listed here are friendly and low-key, and new members are always welcome. They're all also "show up when you have time and want to" groups -- there's no mandatory attendance to be part of the group.

Thanks for the info. about the sci-fi/genre bookclub, Greg. I've also been told by a couple of people about a lesbian book group in the area, so I'll be passing more information along to readers soon.