Facebook Info (to share): 

Thursday, January 19, 2023

8:00-9:30 pm ET (Eastern Time); 5 pm Pacific Time

Please RSVP for the Zoom link.  (Same as last month, if you attended before) 

1. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (1972 originally - many reissues - 184 pages)
ISBN: 

A grandmother and her granddaughter live out a summer of play, talk, love, and exploration on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland.

 2. About Tove Jansson (Author):  

Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tove_Jansson

3. Where to find the book: 

Google Books lets you read 94 pages for free on the web.  It also searches nearby libraries for copies. (You need to tell it your Zip Code).  https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Summer_Book/l9Ir0hHhrAwC

Other sources: your library (including inter-library loan), retailers, Amazon Kindle edition is $3.99 [direct link] or use the free Kindle app on any device; book is available from all booksellers in every format).  

It also may be available to borrow (for free) on WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/1304517630
(Enter your location)

Alas it isn't available at OpenLibrary https://openlibrary.org/  or The Internet Archive https://archive.org/

Used book sellers include

Abe Books 

Thriftbooks

Alibris Books (From $5.54 plus shipping. Join email list for $5 off your 1st order): 

4. *OPTIONAL RESOURCES* for the book and Tove Jansson here:  

One Publisher's page: https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-summer-book?variant=1094932625

Reading Guide: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0726/9203/files/summerbook-rgg.pdf?6362620062055145381

5. Reviews

 Guardian review on 50th anniversary "A Masterpiece. Why Tove Jansson's The Summer Book is as relevant as ever at 50": https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/01/tove-jansson-the-summer-book-50-masterpiece

–> ** INVITE ** ANY YALE ALUMNI to our discussion on January 19: 

NOTE: Our informal group doesn’t have any set “curriculum;” we discuss the books that members nominate and that we all vote for… but ongoing themes, connected to LGBTQ+ experience – sometimes including Yale – do emerge. At discussions, each of us can bring up ANY points we want. We welcome the widest range of opinions, in a lively collegial atmosphere – Boola Boola Redux! 

Yale GALA LGBTQ+ Book Club is a series of lively Zoom discussions of LGBTQ+ contemporary and classic novels, non-fiction, plays, and poetry. All alumni are welcome, of all orientations, genders, races, and points of view. We meet the third Thursday of every month at 8 pm ET via Zoom. 

To register, please email natasha@yalegalaevents.org with the subject line, “Yale GALA LGBTQ+ Book Club: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson -- or simply Book Club

 
More Info: 

SOME BOOKS TO CONSIDER FOR FUTURE DISCUSSIONS

We are NOT limited to the below recommendations but see what you think of these diverse titles. Nominate any LGBTQ+ book that interests you, contemporary or classic, whether a work of FICTION (novel, story collection), NON-FICTION (history, biography, memoir, essay collection), PLAY (or musical), or POETRY; there doesn’t need to be a Yale connection. Mention your choice, at a discussion, and I’ll add it to the following list for future group emails. We periodically, live at the beginning of discussions, take nominations and then vote as a group.

For our UPCOMING OPEN DATES (‘Third Thursdays’) – in the next couple of months, we need to select books for: March , April and May.  If you’re looking for some ideas, here are major LGBTQ+ book ‘best lists’ and award winners (Lambda Literary, Publishing Triangle, Stonewall Awards, more). NEW!  BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) LGBTQ+ literature with links to external BIPOC sites. You’re not limited to those websites. PLEASE NOTE: new titles take a few months to become widely available in libraries. Here are members’ recommendations.

• AMAN recommends: (FICTION) Delicious Foods by James Hannaham;  Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu;  The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.;  The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer.  (NON-FICTION) Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition by P Carl;  Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay and Love, Hait and Click Bait by Liz Bower. 
• ANN recommends: The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village memoir by Samuel R. Delany
• BRUCE recommends: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin;  The Gallery by John Horne Burns (1947); Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns by David Margolick
• CHIP recommends: Poetry of Emily Dickinson (list of Dickinson’s most openly lesbian poems)
• JIM recommends: The Bell by Iris Murdoch;  The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde;  Julian [last ‘pagan’ Roman emperor] by Gore Vidal;  Pictures and Passions: A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts by James M. Saslow (includes hundreds of art photos; winner of two Lambda Literary Awards) – THANKS to Prof. Saslow, Pictures and Passions is briefly FREE to download complete (use the basic “Download PDF” link; 59 MB).
• MARY ANNE recommends: The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
• TASH recommends: Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry. There is also a PBS documentary :) 
• CAROLYN recommends: Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl b Andrea Lawlor and XX by Carolina Robertis
• What would YOU – including new members – like our group to discuss? Nominate ANY LGBTQ+ book that interests you! I’ll add your recommendations here.

BOOKS WE’VE DISCUSSED (Complete List):

• December 2022: Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies:A Memoir of Love, Loss and Other Four-Letter Words by Michael Ausiello (2017). Also a Dec 2022 movie Spoiler
• November 2022: Love, Hate and Click Bait by Liz Bowery (2022)
• October 2022: Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry (Yale '94).  (2018) - 250 pages. PBG movie is Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart
• September 2022: Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, by Andrea Lawlor (2017)
• May and June 2022: Maurice, by EM Forster (1913 - published 1971 with a happy ending)
• April 2022: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong
• March 2022: Ain't I a Woman, by bell hooks
• February 2022 – Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim’s “Musical Thriller”
• January 2022 – Song in a Weary Throat, Pauli Murray’s memoir. (Movie available)
• December 2021 – Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s novel
• November 2021 – Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart’s novel
• October 2021 – Fa**ots, Larry Kramer’s satirical first novel
• September 2021 – The Sparsholt Affair, Alan Hollinghurst’s novel
• August 2021 – The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith’s thriller novel
• July 2021 – Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, Paul Monette’s memoir
• June 2021 – Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s novel
• May 2021 – The Inheritance, Matthew Lopez’s play, inspired by E.M. Forster’s novel Howards End
• April 2021 – The Heart’s Invisible Furies, John Boyne’s novel
• March 2021 – Native Country of the Heart, a Memoir, by Cherríe Moraga
• February 2021 – Leaves of Grass (1855 first version), Walt Whitman’s poetry
• January 2021 – The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s novel
• December 2020 – Call Me by Your Name, André Aciman’s novel [no meetings in October or November]
• September 2020 – The Gods of Tango, Carolina de Robertis’s novel [no meeting in August]
• July 2020 – Under the Udala Trees, Chinelo Okparanta’s novel
• June 2020 (our first discussion) – Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde’s autobiographical novel (“biomythography”)

 More info: http://www.yalegala.org/article.html?aid=721