Book #53 |
Book: The Loves of My Life | Author: Edmond White | |
| Source: Library loan Format: Print |
Pages: 256 | Duration: 07/15/25 – 07/16/25 (2 days) | |
| Rating: ★★★★★ | Genres: nonfiction, memoir, queer, LGBT, gay, biography | ||
| 📕10-word summary: Legendary author unapologetically shares his gay love and sex life. 🖌6-word review: Honest. Irreverent. Witty. Some questionable generalizations. |
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| 💭Favorite quote: “I first discovered my sadism when I was in my mid 20s and tricked with a small guy who kept saying, ‘Don’t touch my hair. I told you, don’t touch my hair.’ Though he was a bottom, he had so many irritating rules; I finally slapped his ass and he came.” | |||
| 🎓Some new-to-me words: outré, wen, unguent, goût exclusif, marmoreal, orreries, velleity, louche | |||
| Description:* In this peerless memoir, the 85-year-old “paterfamilias of queer literature” (New York Times) recounts the sixty-plus years of sexual escapades that have inspired his many masterpieces. He explores the sex he had with other closeted boys in 50s Midwest, with women as a young man trying to be straight, the sex he’s paid for and been paid for, sex during the Stonewall and HIV eras, and in the age of the apps. Through stories of transactional sex, mutual admiration, open relationships, domination, submission, love, and loss, he paints an indelible portrait of queer history in America and abroad in a way only someone who has lived through it can.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis. | |||
| Thoughts: I think a lot of gay men, particularly those of “a certain age,” would appreciate this unabashedly detailed telling of Edmund White’s love and sex life. Details like he had over 1,000 sex partners, and at one point he was masturbating up to 5 times a day. Oh yeah, and he had a little dick. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly crassness of all that — the writing is exquisite and even academic at times. | |||
See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.