Bay Area Reporter :: Books News

'My Name is Barbra' — long-awaited Streisand memoir tells all

November 28, 2023 | by David-Elijah Nahmod

At age 81, after more than 60 years in show business, superstar Barbra Streisand's long-awaited memoir is finally out. In interviews, Streisand has said that she worked on the book for the better part of ten years. It was a massive undertaking.

Nancy Spada's biography of musician Thomas Schippers

by Tim Pfaff
Nov 28, 2023

Nancy Spada's new "Beyond the Handsomeness: A Biography of Thomas Schippers" hits a sour note. Spada breezes past one thing people who know little else about Schippers know: his versatile sexuality.

Doubleplus '1984' — Aurora Theatre's stage adaptation of Orwell's classic

by Jim Gladstone
Nov 21, 2023

If you're more interested in holding tight to the things you're thankful for than in cranking up the amperage of your holiday cheer, the Aurora Theatre's production of "1984" may be just the ticket for you.

Book 'em: page-turning gifts

by Gregg Shapiro
Nov 21, 2023

Books really and truly are the gifts that keep on giving. From the reissue of classics to highly anticipated memoir, and even a nostalgic nightclub ephemera picture book, we've got a few fun selections for your gifting that are sweet.

'Chasing Bright Medusas' — Benjamin Taylor's new biography of Willa Cather

by Tim Pfaff
Nov 14, 2023

Benjamin Taylor's "Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather," like his other biography on Marcel Proust, integrates the subject's homosexuality, communicating its centrality in the authors' lives.

Vichet Chum's 'Kween' — playwright's debut novel delights and educates

by Laura Moreno
Nov 14, 2023

"Kween" is the welcome new novel by debut author, playwright and actor Vichet Chum, the Texas-born, Lowell, Massachusetts-bred son of Cambodian immigrants.

Andrew Rannells' 'Uncle of the Year' — hilarious, heartbreaking essays from a funny gay actor

by Brian Bromberger
Nov 7, 2023

In his candid new book of essays "Uncle of the Year," successful actor Andrew Rannells wonders why he still feels like an anxious twenty-year-old climbing his way toward solid ground.

JD Doyle's '1981: My Gay American Road Trip'

by Michael Flanagan
Oct 31, 2023

"1981: My Gay American Road Trip," a journal of music and queer culture historian JD Doyle's cross-country trip to 29 cities in 24 states, shares a bounty of stories from our collective past, including San Francisco's pre-AIDS heyday.

Roz Chast: Graphic novelist's dream come true

by Gregg Shapiro
Oct 24, 2023

Roz Chast's new book, the wonderful "I Must Be Dreaming," is as dreamy as the title suggests. Dedicated "to the Dream District of our brains," Chast shares her own dreams — recurring, lucid, cartoon-idea, and body horror, among others.

Ryan Pfluger's 'Holding Space: Life and Love Through a Queer Lens'

by Mark William Norby
Oct 24, 2023

In Ryan Pfluger's "Holding Space: Life and Love Through a Queer Lens," his series of portraits show how intersectional queer relationships really are and how effective in them we can actually be.

Anne Eekhout's 'Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein'

by Tim Pfaff
Oct 24, 2023

Against the odds, by concentrating on its author, Anne Eekhout's new novel, "Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein" (translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson), makes Mary Shelley's life story more involving than most revisited novels based on classics.

Witch ways: Christine Cunningham Ashworth's 'Scott Cunningham: The Path Taken'

by Jim Piechota
Oct 24, 2023

Written by his younger sister, Christine, this biography of Wiccan trailblazer Scott Cunningham (1956-1993) is a fitting and loving tribute to a queer man who helped usher witchcraft into the mainstream.

Mark Abramson's 'Laughing Matters'

Oct 17, 2023

Mark Abramson's sequel of sorts, 'Laughing Matters: Pandemic Diaries from Castro Street 2021-2022' pushes forward from his previous diary-book when the author roamed the empty Castro district where bars and restaurants were closed by the city.

Alvin Orloff's 'Vulgarian Rhapsody'

by Jim Piechota
Oct 10, 2023

Alvin Orloff knows good books. And he's written one, too, with his fourth novel about a group of queer San Francisco residents who feel the pinch of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

Justin Torres' brilliant new novel, 'Blackouts'

by Tim Pfaff
Oct 8, 2023

Justin Torres deploys fluid, engaging writing throughout his new novel, "Blackouts," that's far from frivolous but not shy of hilarity when warranted. In a way all its own, it's a consistent pleasure to read.

Arts & Culture :: Books