Clubs Books

Breaking the Girl is a wonderfully romantic read. It is very well written. The sex scenes were a bit scant, but the lead ups and the plot will keep you reading this book.

My eyeballs were burning, cause I could not put this book down. It was so damn good. I'm a freaky gal in bed anyways and when I read this it struck a cord inside me. After I finished this book I sent it to my husband in Iraq and believe me, when he came home on R&R we had some fun. The book has HOT sex, great story, and it just flows. And I love Frank! I dream about that man, he loves her so much. At the end, I was just moved by the love between them. BUY THIS BOOK...NOW!

when i first looked at the book i thought neah this won't be good, but when i started reading it, it blew me away. if your into bondage, and the man taking all control of you, this is a book that will press your buttons. very good, it brought my imagination to life. I read this book over and over again. You'll love the different places. the domination that she doesn't really know is taking place. It is just one of those books that you can't put down when you start to get into it.

Received this book in the mail tonight and truely didn't mean to start reading it. I just started flipping through the pages, fully thinking it would be something I would read for this coming weekend. But no Kim Corum dragged me into this story from the first page and wouldn't let me go. There was only one scene I was truely uncomfortable with and that was the section titled Bad Girl. I feel it really crossed the line. A woman vomiting from a spanking definitely means stop. In fantasy land, fine. But in reality if your girl is doing all this to get away STOP. You could go to jail. Other than that, the rest of the book was riveting and thoroughly entertaining.

But I did! This was my first reading foray into BDSM and I must say that I liked it. I enjoyed it enough to plan to check out the other books by the author.

Definitely a hot read.

I had the privilege of meeting Kim Vogel Sawyer in 2007 at the ACFW conference in Texas. She is a best selling author of both CBA & CBD. As a pre-published novel writer I was a little intimidated. Okay, who am I kidding? I was a lot intimidated. But I found Kim to be a very gracious, non-intimidating author. And I give the credit to the fact that she truly writes for God.

The story has many threads, and the blurb on the back of the book and on Kim's website doesn't mention the thread that struck me the most. What touched me, was the thread about how much we need the love of our earthly father. I followed along with the bittersweet moments as some in the community embrace Marie, but her Father holds back his welcome. And her mother is a Godly wife who follows her husbands lead, even when it breaks her own heart. The conclusion to this thread was very healing for me.

This is a great read from a proven excellent writer. I end each book with a desire for the next book to be ready to read. I did have the pleasure of being able to purchase both Bygones and Beginnings from Amazon at the same time. Then Amazon had a prepurchase deal on the final series, Blessings. I have yet to finish it, but know it will be just as great as the other two. I highly recommend all three books, and all others Kim Vogel Sawyer has written. Thank You

I liked this book.I think she is a very good writer and will enjoy reading more of her books.Nadia Rehmani author of Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword.-my true story

It's been over two decades since Marie Koeppler married Jep Quinn. Jep's world offered the young Mennonite girl an exciting new life - until his death left her a very young widow and a single mother.

Shunned by her Old Order Mennonite family and friends, Marie makes a life for herself and her daughter in the "outside" world. In the twenty-three years since she left Sommerfeld, Kansas, she has all but forgotten her roots. But then her old Mennonite beau shows up with shocking news: A beloved aunt has died, leaving her house and café to Marie's daughter, Beth. The stipulation: Beth must live three months in Sommerfeld in order to claim the inheritance.

When Marie reluctantly accompanies her daughter back to her childhood home, she's unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and memories that await her there. Before long, she's yearning for and finding the faith she lost so long ago, and - much to her daughter's dismay - reclaiming old habits, lifestyles, and maybe even an old love.

But then someone starts stealing from the Mennonites, and suspicion falls at the outsiders' door. Even Henry, who never quite healed from Marie's abandonment of their budding relationship so long ago, turns an accusing eye on her and Beth.

Sommerfeld is a community built on strict biblical principles and rigid tenets. It's populated by good people with preconceived and often misplaced suspicions of outsiders. Marie despairs of proving her innocence, and her sincerity in returning to the Mennonite faith. Can she and Henry overcome the obstacles and rekindle the embers of love? Can they all find a way to let bygones be bygones?

Kim Vogel Sawyer's Bygones is a fascinating look into the Mennonite world, seamlessly woven into a fascinating, completely believable storyline. It's a well-written tale of faith and hope, of forgiveness and love, and of human frailty and strength, all portrayed in characters so real they move and breathe. Definitely a winner!

Marie is a former Mennonite girl who fell in love with a truck driver and left. In the interim, he died shortly, and she gave birth to his little daughter. Excited, Marie took her two week old back home where she was promptly rejected by her father and told to get out of his life, forever.
She did, keeping in touch with only one friend, her dear Aunt.

The aunt passed, leaving her little home and cafe to Marie's daughter with provisions they live there three months. Almost an impossibility, Marie accompanies her 20 yr old daughter Beth back to the Mennonite communtiy where they stand out in a negative way and make no friends.

Henry, who has remained single for 20 years, torn over his lost love, welcomes them to the community and makes things as easy as possible. One sister accepts them, but Marie's mother and father and several siblings do not.

Beth has a hard time living for three months without television, electricity, or modern conveniences, but Marie feels the pull of familiar days and she is happy. She actually turns back to the faith and culture of her youth. It is only when a mystery crime spree spoils her stay that she knows she must return to Wyoming.

The most painful paragraph is when sweet, loyal Henry believes that Marie is the culprit of the crimes. I am ready for book 2

I have briefly looked over some biographies about Marilyn Monroe and have got upset, but this book is the most touching I have read. There is not much truth that is told about the great baseball legend Joe Dimagio and his love for Marilyn. However, it is the Hollywood industry that makes up lies and untruths about her in ruining her image. We need to give credit to the author for being a caring and generous man who deeply respects Marilyn's memory. She would be in approval of this book because it can help her rest in peace. People need to know the truth and should really get to know that she is a good lady.

More than 600 books have been written about Marilyn Monroe since her death in 1962. While most of them have focused on the theories surrounding her apparent suicide at age 36, author Gary Vitacco-Robles focuses his new book on the actress' last home. Cursum Perficio: Marilyn Monroe's Brentwood Hacienda/The Story of Her Final Months reframes and redefines Marilyn through the context of her efforts to establish a secure home following a childhood spent in a succession of foster homes. The author theorizes that the actress was trying to correct her past by putting down roots of her own. While several previous authors depict her final months as tumultuous, Vitacco-Robles provides evidence that suggests Marilyn was trying to pull her life together and give it some personal meaning. During the spring and summer of 1962, Marilyn embraced her newfound domesticity by pulling weeds in her garden, writing recipes in her copy of The Joy of Cooking and actually using the pots and pans in her kitchen. The book contains actual photographs of the house, interspersed with realistic renderings of the home by artist Brandon Heidrick. The author divides the photos and illustrations with floor plans for each room and includes pictures of an architectural model that depicts the entire property as it appeared in 1962. After she purchased the 2,300 square foot house, Monroe began extensively researching authentic Mexican design, landscaping and furnishings in an effort to slowly transform it into the home of her dreams. She arranged for an 11-day trip to Mexico where she painstakingly selected fabrics, tapestries, painted tiles, pottery and art. Monroe met the native artists who had made by hand the objects that she would later display in her home. Vitacco-Robles is donating a portion of the royalties from sales of this book to Hollygrove Children and Family Services, formerly the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, where Marilyn Monroe lived as a child.

There has been some confusion about the second edition of this book and the sales information on this site. According to the publisher, Iuniverse, the hardcover edition offered here is actually a "second edition" released in October 2003, although the release date printed is still listed as 2000. This is because it is a "re-do" under the same title previously released by the publisher. The new second edition cover for the paperback and hardcover depicts Marilyn standing beside the gates of her home and sell respectively for $20.95 and $30.95. The first edition was only published in paperback with a different cover for $11.95. The publisher says that vendors will continue to sell the first edition paperbacks until supplies depleted. The second edition contains new images, new chapters, re-worked chapters and information not included in the first. Having seen this book, the quality of photo reproduction in this new version are far superior than in the first. It also includes professional, "photorealistic-style" illustrations by artist Brandon Heidrick depicting the interior and exterior of Marilyn's home and furnishings. The images serve as a "virtual tour" of Marilyn's last home similar to the author's website.

I've been confused about the second edition of this book and the sales information on this site. Having spoken with the publisher, Iuniverse, I learned that the hardcover edition offered here is actually a "second edition" released in October 2003, although the release date printed is still listed as 2000. This is because it is a "re-do" under the same title previously released by the publisher. The new second edition cover for the paperback and hardcover depicts Marilyn standing beside the gates of her home and sell respectively for $20.95 and $30.95. The first edition was only published in paperback with a different cover for $11.95. I understand that vendors would continue to sell the first edition paperbacks until supplies depleted. I have both the first edition and second. The second edition contains new images, new chapters, re-worked chapters and information not included in the first. The quality of photo and illustration reproduction in this new version are far superior than in the first. All around, it is a better product and a great, new look at a lasting legend!

When I first received my copy of Cursum Perficio: Marilyn's Brentwood Hacienda, I wasn't sure what to expect. Much to my surprise, I was enthralled and fascinated by the details of Marilyn's final months, so eloquently chronicled by Gary Vitacco-Robles. Void of any media hype and speculation about the cause of her death, Vitacco-Robles explores how Marilyn searched and found the perfect place to call home...a respite from the choatic life she led in the media spotlight.
You will journey with her as she went on shopping sprees for furnishings and ornaments in a quest to make the only home she ever owned a reflection of herself.
The book contains a vast collection of actual photographs, as well as impressive photo-recreations of the home's interior as it looked in 1962 and now.
I applaud Vitacco-Robles for a superb testamant to the woman so many longed to know. This book reveals a whole other side of Marilyn that has never been revealed.
A MUST HAVE for any Marilyn enthusiast!

I believe the events in this actually took place!
I would tell everyone to read this eyeopener!
Onec you start reading, you can't put it down!
Good job and best wishes to the author.

I loved this book!!
I couldn't put the dang thing down until I was finished reading it!
I hope there is a follow up to this story.
It sure tells it like it is!!!

Innocence Turned Deadly is a book everyone should read. As the author says, "It's mostly true!." and..thjat is what makes it so frighting!
I have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. O'Finioan on a couple of radio interviews, and he is great to listen to!
I can't wait to read his nect book!!

This is one compelling narrative that I just couldn't put down. Mr.O'Finioan is a natural story teller, and he relates his experiences as a covert agent for law enforcement with the ability to raise the hair on your neck. Readers are given insight into the underbelly of both law enforcement and criminals. You decide whether they are separated by a fine line.
Ginger Corbett

This remarkable first novel of Duncan O'Finioans brings to mind another first published in my lifetime, CATCHER IN THE RYE. INNOCENCE TURNED DEADLY has the same classical input into today's circumstances as CATCHER'S had those years ago. The urgency lies in the factual information such as when he writes about the Gestapo. Believe it. It is the Truth.

My 6 yr old and 4 yr old boys think that this story is HILARIOUS! They love it!

Helen Lester has such a wonderful way of writing for children. The illustrations by Lyn M. Munsinger are so captivating that children want to see them again and again. So do adults!
This book teaches us all to accept ourselves for who we are. Trying to be someone we are not just doesn't work.

I don't have any kids, but this book has actually been around for a long time. I was born in 82, and this book was by far my favorite. The illustrations are great and the message is even better. It's a really witty way to tell children that labels don't matter. The illustrations also make the book even better, my personal favorite as a child being when Fluffy sticks marshmallows all over his quills to make himself more fluffy.

I bought this book because I'm going to school to become a teacher. It teaches kids that it is ok to be your self. Kids will laugh and so will parents.

I bought this for my three year old daughter...again based on reviews on amazon. Other reviewers were right: this book is a hoot. Everytime we get to: "H...H...H...H...H...Hippo" my daughter bursts out laughing. Highly recommended. Great illustrations set off the writing.

I have to give Pearls Before Swine a high rating. No other comic makes me laugh as hard. A true original. The personality profiles of the various characters are amazing. Nor sure what else there is to say or add.

I've been a Pearls Before Swine fan for a while, and I love this book! The comics are funny and realistic (rather), though a bit dark. But it's still worthwhile. I like how Stephan Pastis puts little comments under some comics. It's nice to see some insight from the author. The beginning is good as well, with Pastis telling how he got into the comic business. Overall, I highly recommend this book to Pearls Before Swine fans, and to anyone looking for a funny (but not always happy) comic.

I always start my mornings out with a nice healthy strip of Pearls. This first Pearls treasury is a must for all fans! It contains all the strips from the first two books (BLTs Taste So Darn Good, This Little Piggy Stayed Home), but the Sundays are in color and Pastis even includes some personal comments for select strips. The comments offer a different way to look at the strip, giving insight to what the author was thinking or how the audience reacted to the strip.

This book is fantastic. I am a Pearls reader, but anyone with a dry, sardonic sense of humor will like it. For Pearls fans, it has an introduction and bonus comments by the author, which are illuminating and very interesting. I laughed out loud at least fifty times while reading it, then I bought it for my brother, too. Highest recommendation!

The first Pearls comic I've ever saw was the strip where Pig made Fidel Castro cry and I've been hooked ever since. I've had this collection for about a year and it still makes me laugh. A great gift for friends or yourself, an instant classic.

We purchased this book in addition to another one on the same subject.

Though both books were excellent and similar in content, this particular book had some different perspectives.

In fact, there are first hand accounts of many different scenarios that have happened to people in the "Lifestyle".

The book answers many of those doubts you have about whether this way of life is cut out for you and your spouse...the author pulls no punches and speaks from first hand experiences as well.

I highly recommend this book for those nagging questions in the back of your mind.

Although this book has been around a while, it is still a great book for beginners and those just curious about the Lifestyle. For those who are trying to determine whether they want to take the plunge and test the waters of swinging, it gives information about many of the important things to consider. This book is highly recommended for beginners, along with two more recent offerings, Swinging: Shared Pleasures Between the Covers and Doin One for the Team: Years in the Swinging Lifestyle. These three books will provide newbies with everything they need to know to decide whether swinging is right for them and if so, how to take the right approach that best suits their individual situation.

Learned alot of information on the Lifestyle. I thought I knew alot, but I only knew a small part of it. Even if you aren't thinking about actually getting into the liefstyle, it has a lot of information to open your mind to new things.

Excellent book, well put together and very informative. Covered all aspects of swinging that a beginner would need to make an informaed decision about the lifestyle. I personally enjoyed the personal stories touch. Thanks, Fred

This is a great book if you are considering entering the swinger lifestyle. Answers lots of questions and gives great advice. Gave me and my wife a different outlook. Very easy and quick to read. Very glad we bought.

Fell in love with the characters and the story is one that you don't want to end!!! I read the whole series Uncle Sean, Lance and All Over Him in 2 weeks. Ron Donaghe Did it again with this one. A Must Read

I just don't have the words to describe what a heartfelt, tender, genuine recounting this novel is. This is my first foray into the works of Ronald L. Donaghe. He uses the rather clever stylistic device of a fictional narrator, a "writer" who happens to stumble upon 2 journals and a letter when he is tearing down an old barn. Each of the journals is penned by Will Barnett, the first when he was 14 and the second when he was 17. The letter is addressed to Will from his Uncle Sean. By having the writer "edit" and "polish" the first journal, Donaghe gives himself the liberty of creating a narrative flow that wouldn't be realistic in a real-life journal, yet still maintains the voice of a somewhat naïve 14 year old. The second journal, written after Will has had two more years of education and has applied himself to his writing skills, is said to be simply "transcribed."

The journals begin Christmas of 1968 with 22 year old Uncle Sean, recently released from a mental hospital after a tour in `Nam, coming to live on the farm with the Barnett family. 14 year old Will is smitten with his Uncle and senses that he is broken somehow and yearns to be able to help him.

The New Mexico locations are real and I have no doubt are recalled from Donaghe's real life experiences. The story is emotional and heart-rending yet never becomes overly sentimental or schmaltzy. Will and his Uncle share a secret, and that special bond gives each of them the strength to move forward with their lives. Uncle Sean is a marvelous character. He cares deeply for his nephew, and uses kid gloves to gently let Will down as he heroically tells him they can never be sexually intimate, but someday he will find that special someone.

1969 was a pivotal year in American history - The moon landing, Woodstock, the Stonewall riots - A perfect setting for this story, and the reactions to homosexuality are blisteringly accurate for the time period.

Ronald L. Donaghe has been writing since 1989 and has penned 10 novels. After reading Uncle Sean, I can positively say I plan to read every single one of them.

The reader first meets Will Barnett, the narrator of this short novel, at the age of fourteen, when his Uncle Sean, recently returned from Vietnam, comes to stay with his New Mexico farming family. The first third of Ronald Donaghe's narrative, told by the younger Will, is the best, as the boy gradually makes discoveries both about his handsome uncle and also about himself. Without crossing the line into an incestuous relationship, Uncle Sean leads Will to a sweet and poignant self-realization scene. After this, the older relative is relegated to an offstage role as Will must carry on without him. His subsequent chance encounter with the beaten and abused Lance and their falling in love is told with equal poignance, though one might feel that Will finds his true love just a bit too easily. Still, in an age where homosexuality, the Vietnam war and erotic crushes on same-sex relatives remain dangerous, taboo subjects for novels aimed at young adults, Donaghe's spare, economical prose treads this delicate ground with remarkable verisimilitude, taste, and emotional truth. This novel ought to be in high school libraries all over the nation--it's too bad that conservative machinations will undoubtedly keep it out of many.

This is the first of Ronald Donaghe's Will Barnett Journals. Donaghe is a highly regarded author known for his work in gay 'coming of age' stories.

Here in Uncle Sean, Donaghe introduces 14 year old Will Barnett. Will's Uncle Sean comes home from the war to live with Will's family as he heals from his traumatic frontline experiences and the death of his closest buddy in the military.

Will becomes infatuated with Uncle Sean and starts to realize he has strong emotional and physical feelings for his Uncle. And, being fourteen, Will is terrified and attracted by his confusion about his feelings for Sean.

The story is set in rural New Mexico and Will has few resources or supports to talk over his feelings with. Uncle Sean proves to be his strongest role model as well as the object of Will's affections.

I really appreciate the fact that Donaghe's novels are not sexually graphic. As a result, I feel that Uncle Sean and some of his other books are perfect for a school or local public library.

Boys and Girls today need to be able to privately find out of they are alone in their feelings of being diferent and books are one of the safest places they can do that. While it may seem that many schools have all sorts of Gay and Lesbian student support services, these are mainly in urban areas and there and many kids still suffering through adolescence not knowing where to turn. Donaghe's books are among those I would recommend as a non-threatening and non-graphic resource that I would comfortable recommend to kids in schools, or to their parents.

Beyond its value to kids dealing with coming to terms with being gay, Uncle Sean is just plain good story telling. Highly recommended.

James J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota USA

The first book of a trilogy, this deceptively simple, easy to read book has a way of getting under your skin and remembering all the good things in life. It's about decent people making choices, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but in an environment of love and sustaining values. The book speaks to the heart and celebrates the goodness in people. Not that there aren't people who make bad choices, but, more often than not, the love and support of family has been missing for them.
Once you read 'Uncle Sean', you will want to read 'Lance' and 'All Over Him' so I recommend buying all three books at once, and settling down to enjoy yourself.
Ron Donaghe captures exactly what it meant to be growing up, discovering you are gay in a small town, but his writing speaks to all of us.
Finally, write the author and let him know what you liked (or didn't) and why. He is great about responding.

This book was an instant favorite with me and several friends - its quick, witty prose and dialog was engaging and unique. Craig Seymour works in personal observation, history and commentary to make the memoir more entertaining than any other I've read in recent memory.

Back in the early 1990s, a handsome, young, and affable African American graduate student and teacher found himself nervously attending his first gay strip club to see a live performance by his favorite porn star. Here, customers were allowed to freely fondle the naked dancers. Openly gay but a gay-sex virgin, nervous and slightly apprehensive, Craig Seymour gets his good friend Seth to accompany him.

Excitement soon replaces apprehension and Seymour finds himself falling in love with the clubs as well as his good friend Seth, to whom he ultimately surrenders his virginity. They become live-in lovers.

But as the strip clubs are becoming an ever growing obsession, our hero is able to appease both his lover and his jones by making strip clubs the topic of his master's thesis, with the cautious approval of his school advisor.

Now a club regular, Seymour interviews and gets to know a cast of characters as colorful and crudely affectionate as anything in a Bob Fosse musical.

His first interview subject is dancer Jake the Guess Model, a straight `gay-for-pay' former construction worker who tells his customers he is bi `because [they] like to think there's a chance.'

And then there is Dave, a customer just out of a twenty-one-year monogamous heterosexual marriage and now having the time of his life hanging at the clubs and fondling beautiful young male dancers dangling their eye-level rock hard jewels for his perusal approval.

Dave's favorite dancer is Matt who sports leather chaps publicizing everything usually known as `privates.'

Sassy drag queens, dirty old men, sugar daddies, and dis-effected club owners abound throughout this breezy, affectionate tome.

Author Seymour also learns of and writes about D.C.'s rich gay history, dating back to the 1800s. Then, knowledge of fifty-year-old poet Walt Whitman's love affair with Irish immigrant Peter Doyle, thirty years his junior, was as casual as the then published stories of sexual liaisons between black and white men in Lafayette Square "under the shadows of the White House."

The story of how the gay strip club scene began in the 1960s, where dancers could legally bare all, is beautifully told. The owner of a local bar on O Street, Chesapeake House, offers a pair of sailors $50 each to strip down and dance for his patrons. Soon the club is drawing huge crowds that include the likes of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and Rock Hudson. Other clubs (as well as bath houses) soon open and prosper on O Street, the city's gay red light district.

Although Mr. Seymour's depth and fascinating chronicle of how this charmingly tawdry industry evolves is both interesting and informative, it is his personal transition from thesis writer to booty dancer that makes his memoir a thoroughly entertaining read.

Likable and self-effacing, the author writes thoughtfully, ironically, and humorously about his second job:

"...get on stage, disrobe quickly, try to get a hard-on, and then walk out among the customers, who for a tip--generally a buck--got to stroke, fondle, poke, and prod [your] bod. It was more like sex than dancing, and it had become my job."

He also writes with great care and much soul-searching about maintaining his monogamous relationship with Seth while almost every night allowing strangers and regulars to feel him up.

Seymour's partner is more trusting than most, and it is admirable that the author repays that trust with honesty and a form of fidelity.

However, after six years of being with the only man he's known sexually, the author approaches his partner with a proposition that dooms the romance, if not the friendship.

With the cocaine bust of Mayor Marion Barry, a champion of D.C.'s liberal sexual exhibition laws, restrictions are shortly thereafter imposed on the strip clubs. Customers are no longer allowed to fondle dancers, and dancers aren't allowed to fondle themselves. This, of course, cuts into everyone's income, and author Seymour, now single and sparked on by the success of his thesis, embarks upon a career as an entertainment journalist, which eventually takes him to New York. Thanks to his unique literary gift and ability to ask his celebrity interviewee's frank and probing questions, he quickly ascends the ranks.

His ability to get such stars as Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and Mariah Carey to open up and discuss such things as masturbation, size-queendom, secret babies, cheating boyfriends, and mental depression are shocking, revealing, and often quite poignant. His discussion with TLC's Lisa Lopez regarding her romance with Tupac, his death, her premonition of her own death, is particularly moving. Craig Seymour's keen observations of human behavior, particular with regards to his celebrity subjects, are empathetic and caring, always intelligent, never fawning.

Eventually, Mr. Seymour's busy schedule--writing for The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, the Buffalo News, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to name a few--become all-consuming, making it nearly impossible for him to have a personal life.

He re-thinks academia, and eventually returns to the University of Maryland to finish his Ph.D. While working as a professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, he hears that the old strip clubs on O Street will be torn down. He returns for a bittersweet farewell that brings him full circle. The year is 2006.

Craig Seymour's warm, witty, and honestly rendered self-examination of his seemingly unlikely but totally plausible life as grad student turned gay stripper, turned journalist, turned college professor, is quite the odyssey, and quite a lesson for us all. There is so much life out there for all of us to enjoy. This story reminds me of the famous quote from Auntie Mame: "Life's a banquet but most poor sons-of-bitches starve to death!"

Author Craig Seymour definitely heard the dinner bell.Looker: A Novel

This was a very well written and entertaining book. This was the type of book I couldn't put down once I started to read it.

I feel that Craig is very brave writing this book seeing he teaches at the college level. I get so tired of people writing stories after they retire and have nothing to lose. It is great to see him write this type of autobiography.

I also learned several things I didn't know before so this book was also educational in a way. I never knew about the strip clubs being cracked down on the patrons touching the dancers at the end. I am ashamed to admit this, but I had no idea about Frank Kameny until I read the book and also learned a couple other things about gay history when he mentioned his research.

This is a very good book to read and you might even learn a few more things about gay history like I did:)

I just finished reading "All I Could Bare," and what a great read it was: poignant, smart and informative all at the same time. It's a genuine contribution to cultural studies about the sex industry but also a very moving portrait of what it's like to be in a relationship as a gay man. It' a rich book on so many levels and the run ins with Mariah and Janet don't hurt! You'll love this book.

This was a excellant read. Now, that I've got that out. Let me quickly backtrack. I had the pleasure to sit on a PCA/ACA [popular culture association] panel with the author [Craig] at the annual conference hosted in San Francisco this past spring. Out of all four of us on the panel, his topic, at the time this soon to be released memior, captured everyone's attention in the small but packed room. And, let me just say, Craig is just as engaging in person, as well as his memior reads. If you looking for a memior thats, fun, light-hearted, insightful and filled with witty humor, then look no further. Craig bares it all and then some. Craig, and I only use his first name because I actually met him, introduces you the to the other side of stripping, the one that as a gay man myself, I [we] often forget exist. He puts a real human face to the eye candy filled world of stripping. In baring it all, Craig carefully crafts a memior that is deeply personal,and still scholary in nature. He meticulously devlops everything from his club days in New York, to his stripping in D.C, to his interviews with pop music royalty--working for Vibe Magazine. Lastly, all his experiences nicely merge and congeal to give his journey the most interesting flares. This is a must read for anyone interested in queer studies and enthongraphic research.

It's been a long time since a book for teens has touched me as powerfully as Bad Girls Club, Judy Gregerson's emotionally-raw debut novel for young adults. In it, the author, a childhood victim of abuse and neglect herself, explores the devastating impact of a parent's mental illness. As her mother descends into madness, teenaged Destiny becomes caregiver to both her Mom and her little sister, and fights to keep her family intact. It's a gripping tale, written with the authenticity of experience.

With mental health issues being so prevelant in society I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. Let me tell you that as hard as it was I read it in one sitting - it grabbed hold and would not let go.

All Destiny wants is to get a job and try to have a semblance of a normal life. Instead she is burdened with the responsibilty of taking care of her mentally ill mother and trying to protect her younger sister Cassidy from the violent rages and outbursts that have become more common than not. Destiny's life has never been anything but that of a constant caregiver and mediator...especially since the incident at Crater Lake. She loves her mother, and even though she knows that this is not a normal family life she is willing to do what her father asks and help keep her mother in their home, for better or worse.

As this book unfolds you watch this family go on such a downward spiral that my heart was literally breaking. As much as I hated to turn to the next page for fear of what was going to happen next, I was compelled to do so in hopes that a ray of light would be found and something positive would happen to change some of the bad to good. At first I was unsure if this could really happen - how could both parents let their children go through this living hell? I then thought of my own life, and the lengths I may go to keep my family in tact. Love is a very powerful emotion, and nothing is more powerful than the love between a parent and their children. As Ms. Gregerson points out in her Author's Note, children that come from abusive families are even more loyal to their parents than children who don't. They seem to constantly be searching for a way to gain acceptance and love from the parent(s) who neglects or abuses them.

This book is a true eye opener, although it is fiction we can't turn a blind eye to the fact that there are families like this in every town in America. I am hopeful that this book will give some of these families the strength they need to get the help so desperately needed before it is too late and the children are damaged to a point of no return. It will hopefully also make people think closely about some people they know and maybe will give them the strength to intervene in situations they know are not healthy for the family involved. The author has done a true service by writing about an issue that should not be ignored.

Questions for the author:

What made you decide to write the story from the perspective of the oldest daughter?

Well, it was personal really. I was a parentified child, meaning that I was one of those kids who took care of my mother and my older sister when my family was spiraling out of control. I was the one who felt responsible to hold everything together because no one else would. And I believed that multitudes of people all around the world experience that same thing -- they become the savior of their families because no one else will. I wanted to shine a spotlight on that problem and what it does to a kid. And on another level, this is a cautionary tale: beware what you do to your children. When 5 children a day die in this country because their mother, a family member, or someone who knows their parent kills them, we're in deep trouble. We are allowing the ruin of our children and then we wonder why these kids can't learn in school or why they turn to crime, or why they're depressed. This book tells why, in some cases, our children are lost.

What was your inspiration for the story?

There were several things that inspired me. And in some sense, it was reaching critical mass and feeling that I had to say something about this problem. I tell everyone the story about meeting a man whose mother set their house on fire after locking him and his little brother in. There was Susan Smith and Andrea Yates. I thought they were anomalies, but I found out that they aren't. I started studying this issue and realized that 500 mothers a year kill their children. I started wondering what it would be like to live in a family like that. What if every day, your little sister's life was on the line and you couldn't do anything except be the one who stood between her and your mother? What if you knew your life was on the line and you had to live with one eye open so you could survive? These are the things I thought about, they're the questions that horrified me, as I wrote this book.

Do you have any books currently in the works?

I currently have one book in the works about a girl whose mother deserts her at the local grocery store, leaving the girl with her eccentric extended family and the question, "Why did she leave me?" I'm about a third through that and may get back to it soon. I also have another book finished about a girl in a trailer park who's the underdog and can't seem to find her way.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

Oh, I'm an odd one. I love to research. That is really relaxing to me. I pick a topic and then I search it out. I travel a little. We have a summer place on a beautiful glacier fed lake and I love going there. I hang with my daughters who are almost 18 and 21. They're my greatest joy. I read some, mostly nonfiction. I have a few favorite TV shows like CSI and Ugly Betty. Other than that, I just hang and try to find things to laugh at. The absurdity of life amuses me.

[...]

From the opening pages where Destiny's father tells her that her job is to help her mother, June, to the final pages where Destiny must make a tough decision about her family, we see a girl torn between love for her mother and facing the reality of her mother's illness.

As her mother sinks deeper and deeper into her world of darkness, Destiny attempts to hold the family together. She remembers earlier times, when her mother was kind and gentle and showed her how to paint. But those days have long passed, and now Destiny is the only protector of her younger sister, Cassidy, who has imaginary friends and bruises and bald spots where she's pulled out her hair, and who talks to no one except Destiny. Their dad, Bob, lives in his own world of denial, defending his wife, saying she'll get better. Destiny wants to believe him, so she does.

In bits and pieces throughout the story, Ms. Gregerson reveals what happened that awful day at Crater Lake, the day their mother changed their lives forever. The only person Destiny can confide in is her best friend, Chloe, who urges Destiny to come stay with her family. But Destiny cannot leave: Her mother needs her, Cassidy needs her, even her father needs her. Finally, Destiny's grandmother recognizes the hopelessness of the situation and gives Father an ultimatum: Put June in the hospital or the girls go home with her.

Bad Girls Club portrays a realistic look at a family in crisis and what happens when the truth is denied. Have a box of tissues handy. You may need it.

Listen to the Ghost
Secrets I Have Kept

Like any teen, Destiny just wants a normal life. She'd love to get a summer job, hang out with her best friend, Chloe, and her boyfriend, but she can't. Instead her life is spent caring for her younger sister, Cassidy, and insane mother. The father uses guilt and fear to manipulate Destiny, mentally keeping her a prisoner.

The darkness of this mental illness was so strong in the story that it manifested itself. At first, Destiny thought she was imagining things until the shadows started to follow her mother around, fueling her madness. When she finds her sister taking to an imaginary friend with black wings who flies and plans to cut their mother up into pieces, she realizes this madness is spreading like a disease. Slowly, this darkness tries to take her away too.

As the story unfolds, I begin to wonder why their mother isn't in a mental health facility and then memories of Andrea Yates hit. Do you know that the American Anthropological Association stated in 2005 more than 200 women kill their children in the US every year? These are the cases where a death has occurred and therefore is news worthy. What about those children who aren't killed and have to live through this mess? "Bad Girls Club" is a work of fiction, but it's definitely not a far fetched story.

Kudos to Judy Gregerson for bringing a story like this to the surface where it can be discussed.

Review by J. Kaye at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

The Bad Girls Club is a riveting look at a family ravished by mental illness. The first chapter pulls you into Destiny's crazy world and won't let you go. Gregerson uses flashbacks to the mysterious Crater Lake incident, revealing bits and pieces, and making us ask ourselves--do I really want to know what happened? And when we finally do learn the truth, we don't think it can possibly get any worse. But we're wrong. A heart-wrenching, eye-opening story that you will never forget.