Customer Reviews (1)

[...]
Love Made Easy is about a shy young guy named Gus who meets a girl he want to et to know better. He gets all sorts of advice from his friends about how to go about wooing her. His Mom is no help at all. The big unknown is that this girl is actually a stripper. It has been made into a movie too. Ralph Gassmann plays Gus the guy and Melanie Winiger plays Natalia the stripper. It is no 'love story' but it does have its moments. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Original
Now originality does not necessarily mean good.There are stories in this collection that are outstanding, some that are adequate, but all of them have a truly original voice.Mark Samuels ("The White Hands and Other Stories") wrote the foreword to this collection commenting on this originality, and he was not wrong.If nothing else, Crisp has found his voice very quickly and with very strong results.In most (not all) of these stories he has found something that touches the reader.

WARNING:MULTIPLE SPOILERS

"The Mermaid"
The protagonist is unnamed (perhaps I did not read closely enough), or at the very least is rarely named.This character was extremely layered, a facet and strength of many of the characters in Crisp's tales.I think when QSC fails it is because he failed to truly develop the character.He does not fail here.The protagonist is a man haunted by purpose.He begins the story in apparent consolation telling the reader that he has found his "story," and thus is now fulfilled.He begins the tale by explaining his two lifelong fascinations:magic and the erotic.By serendipity alone he finds a book about mermaids, and his fascination is peaked.He soon becomes an expert ("or as near as one can be an expert on something that doesn't exist") on mermaids.For example, he discovers everything he can on the hangyojin, the Japanese version of the mermaid with the exception that it is reversed (i.e., the lower half is human and the upper part is fish).He moves to a village by a beach that his studies have indicated were the location of mermaid sightings.He lives there, alone, isolated, waiting, believing in a belief that is not recognized by the world outside his home.
And one day he finds her.Gwendoline.He, in essence, kidnaps this mermaid.He is as honest with Gwendoline as he is to the reader about this.She accepts it.And their relationship starts to build.He can communicate with her, initially, only through a powder Gwendoline possesses in a box the narrator found previously in the story.Eventually, he learns her language and the powder is not critical to their communication.She tells him of her world, and through the powder, he can even experience it.It is in these passages that QSC writes brilliantly and powerfully.The descriptions of her world truly feel like being transported to a completely different reality.Only in Clark Ashton Smith have I seen a totally alien world described so clearly and poetically.
Eventually the subject between a man and a woman turns to sex.And Gwendoline and the narrator are no different.The narrator reminds the audience of his twin fascinations (magic and the erotic) and how they seem to merge into one in Gwendoline.The problem is they cannot consummate the relationship.But . . . Gwendoline tells of a way they can.It is through an ancient book from her people that possess certain rituals.In this book is a ritual to allow a mermaid to have sex with a human.The narrator performs this ritual and that is when the O. Henryesque ending occurs.Because throughout the latter part of the story, one gets the sense that something is not quite right.That there is something Gwendoline is holding back from the narrator, that there was a reason that she so readily acquiesced to her kidnapping, that she needed something from the narrator.At the end of the ritual, she becomes a hangyojin, the Japanese version of the mermaid with the lower half of a human and the upper half of a fish.The tale ends, as does Gwendoline.

"Far-Off Things"
This story concerns a man's reflections of when he was a boy in love with a girl named Leah.He watches her from afar, admiring her, falling in love with her.She learns (and through his eavesdropping, so does he) that she is dying.At this knowledge, she leans out her window, tears dropping on the flower below her and says, "If only I could live as long as one of those, I would be happy."She continues to get better.When the boy picks the flower and gives it to her on Christmas day, she wilts at her doorstep.
This was an interesting concept, but as I mentioned before, when QSC fails in a story it is usually because of inadequate character development.This is an instance of that.

"Cousin X"
This concerns both Sasha and her cousin, Cousin X.It begins when they are children.Cousin X's family comes over for the summer at Sasha's family's house.Cousin X is the black sheep of the family.Sasha begins to see why.He is just plain weird.But the focus is on the word "weird."The whole crux of the story seems to revolve around this exploration of the good side and bad side of the strange, weird, outré, odd, whatever you want to call it.
When Sasha and Cousin X first meet, Sasha faints at the sight of him."Later in life, when she was to learn the meaning of the phrase déjà vu, it was this memory she referred to first."The fainting is not caused by outward fear, shock, or terror.No, there is something else, there is the contact with the truly strange.Their parents react the same way any parents would.Sasha's parents flip out and protect their daughter (both immediately by taking her away from Cousin X's presence after she faints and for the duration of the story by disapproving of her interacting with Cousin X).Cousin X's parents reprimand him.You kind of feel sorry for Cousin X during this reprimand.You get the sense that this is a reoccurring pattern in his life and also that he knows that people think he's strange, but he Just Does Not Know Why he's so strange.
After this incident, Sasha seems to have a strange attraction to Cousin X.This is when Cousin X shares his world with her and this is both a beautiful and tragic piece of prose QSC gives us.In short, Cousin X can see INTO things.He knows magic."Magic shows you how things really are.And people are really naked, but they pretend they're not," he tells Sasha.The best way to summarize what Cousin X's perspective holds is in a short dialogue between him and Sasha at their first non-fainting interaction:
We find Sasha walking up to Cousin X who is dismantling a radio (one of his favorite activities):

"Why are you always taking things apart?"
"I want to know how they work," said Cousin X, as if this were self-evident.
"Why?"
"Because . . ." he began, twisting loose a tiny screw with one of his penknife blades, "because if you know how things work then you can control them.And if you start early you can get ahead of everyone else."

It is after this point that some of the most beautiful prose in all of weird literature (literature in general) is produced.Cousin X proceeds to show Sasha the world as he sees it, the "Unlived World."It is the world we all walk in, but never stop to reflect on.The world as a child, as a saint, as a spirit sees it.All the beauty, all the mystery and majesty that lies before us but we never stop to reflect upon.They share this world together and it is the happiest time of both their lives.But.Something is missing.Cousin X still wants to see how things work ("because is you know how things work, then you can control them").This need betrays him suddenly and violently.One day, as their summer vacation nears its end, Sasha goes to find him, as she does every day.She screams.Their parents run to see what is happening and are horrified.Cousin X is covered in blood.It's not his.Before him lies the body of a dead kitten."I just wanted to see how it works."He says through tears.For the first time he is lost, he does not know his way in this or his world.
The story cuts to many, many years later, when Sasha is in her late(?) thirties at her younger sisters wedding.She's sitting alone at a table reflecting on the emptiness of her life and how it could have passed her by so fast.In her contemplation, she notices a "disheveled" figure walk out of the wedding hall.Something seems familiar about him, so she follows.Eventually she finds him sitting alone in an office of the building.Cousin X knows it's her, and she knows it's him.They begin to catch up.Sasha doesn't have much to tell.Aspirations not met, goals not reached, life not lived as she thought it would have been.Cousin X tells his story.He has, for the majority of his life since last he saw Sasha, been institutionalized.But, he assures her he has worked through his problem and is cured.He shows her some of the things he did to himself as he rolls up his sleeves and shows her his self-inflicted scars, telling her it made him feel alive.He tells her his experiences of knowing he would never be understood and that he is "balanced."("Happiness and balance are two very different things.")He tells us perhaps the saddest thing he could say, "I've been pushed through madness and come out the other side, and in the process the rags of my dreams have been stripped from me, and here I am, utterly naked."
Then she asks him, asks him why he killed the kitten.He is surprised, he always thought she knew."I did it because I didn't want us to be separated.I thought if I could find the link between the body and soul, the most basic mystery of how the world works, then we could be together, truly together, and free, for ever and ever."He wanted them to be together forever and realizes he failed and has lived with that sadness his entire life.She never knew and she realizes it was all for her.Then he says what is perhaps the most chilling line of the story, "But it might work now.I'm sure it would if we try again."He asks her to lock the door.She does.He pulls out a penknife.She's happy, truly happy.As they look at each other, smiles on their faces, Cousin X says, "Trust me."

"A Lake"
This is, without a doubt, my favorite story from this book.To call it Lovecraftian would be both accurate and inadequate.It IS Lovecraftian, but the same way Ligotti is Lovecraftian.It is not an imitation or an "homage" (which is the same thing).It is an original and beautiful piece of horror literature.
The story begins with Stephen, a student studying in Japan, at a lake with his friend, Komakichi.The lake is dead.It is surrounded by life, mountains, trees, etc, but the lake, and all it touches are dead.The smell Stephen has is that of rotting fish carcases.This begins Stephen's infatuation and obsession with the lake.He finds out that it is connected with recent suicides (recent meaning over the past decades) and more distantly, with a type of Japanese suicide cult, the Mamushi cult who worshipped a great black serpent that was said to have lived in the lake.Now, this plot line is good enough to secure it a place as a truly original and brilliant piece of weird fiction.What separates it, and ultimately elevates it to a piece of genius and aesthetic perfection, is the way QSC truly takes us through the process of Stephen's infatuation with the lake and the discovery of its true power.This story is easily QSC's most powerful and gripping tale, and perhaps one of a dozen tales of weird fiction written in the last decade that will still be read fifty years from now.To give a sense of how incredibly good it is, one can take a line from the story, at the point where Stephen realizes the true nature of the lake, "The lake was many things according to perspective.Now Stephen saw once more that it was a dark mirror.The universe was a dead end, ending in a mirror; the universe only existed because it was reflected in that mirror."Beautiful.

"The Two-Timer"
I do not know if this story was intended to follow "A Lake," but I don't think any story could adequately follow the previous one.Either way, it really does not succeed as a good story.The premise of the story is that the protagonist can stop time.It's an interesting premise, but QSC did not seem to know what direction he wanted to go with the story.It is basically a humorous recount of the protagonists' adventures when he can stop time and his realization of how truly vulnerable human beings are when shed of their authority, social conventions, and pretenses.Good idea, but seemed like filler to me.

"The Tattooist"
Now he's back to form.This story was moving on so many levels.The story is told as the manuscript of a tattooist, Shane.The Tattooist, Shane, is not the main character of the story, but merely the Ishmael-like voice of the tale.This is about The Boy (the only name he is ever given).The Boy comes in one day to Shane's tattoo shop and asks for Death to be tattooed on his arm.He has a picture.It's a picture from a comic book, with Death looking like a cute, Goth girl.The Boy gets the tattoo and it is the best work Shane has done.He and his friends take the Boy out for drinks.Everyone seems to like him, even the racist, homophobic, aggressive, over-testosteroned Mark, who gives the Boy his switchblade as a gift.Shane sees the Boy intermittently over the next few months.When he sees the tattoo, it looks more and more real every time he sees it.It looked alive.This is pretty much the last time Shane sees the Boy, in his tattoo shop.The rest, as Shane says, is the "oral fossil of the event left behind."The events boil down to this:Mark and the Boy were having a few beers.Mark got upset, his homophobia taking over, and knifed the Boy.Mark went to jail.There was one inconsistency.The Boy's tattoo was gone, not due to the stabbing, but due to a self-inflicted removal.Years later, Shane is at the Boy's grave.Mark shows up.He gives Shane the knife he used to kill the Boy, except . . . the handle has the tattoo on it, the same flesh under a layer of varnish on the handle.This encounter contains more beauty than I can adequately put into words and it is truly an achievement by QSC; the power and naked vulnerability of the scene.After this, Mark becomes the local pariah, eventually being stomped to death by a gang of teenagers, while Shane begins to have "visions," even accidentally incorporating them into his tattoos.Shane's story ends with his contemplation of words the boy told him, "Sometimes getting what we want is painful."Shane's manuscript ends there, with the unnamed benefactor of the manuscript stating the Shane's body was found dead, covered in the most beautiful tattoos, stories covering his body like a modern day illustrated man.Tattoos done in Shane's inimitable style.

"Ageless"
This story, while terse and initially confusing, is filled with striking beauty.Unfortunately, it does not hit you until the O. Henryesque ending of the story.Which is why, sadly, I cannot relate the story without giving away the entire point of what QSC is trying to do.This may seem a tad bit hypocritical of me, as I've just previously spent seven stories telling you start to finish what happens in each story.However, I cannot emphasize enough that both the beauty of the story and the climax of it are intertwined.On the surface, it is about a man and a woman on a rooftop playing a game.But its deeper level is about love, about a connection, a moment, a perfectly tragic slice of time that can never be reproduced.This story frustrated me initially, as I was trying to understand QSC's "point" with this story, then realized that no point is necessary, only the perfection of the moment, whether that moment be triumph or tragedy, success or failure.Because such a moment is timeless, it will never age.

"Autumn Colours"
This story haunted (still haunts) me in the same way as Etchison's "You Can Go Now."The tale revolves around Andy and Adrienne.It begins when they are together, discussing life, love, and all the things true friends discuss.The discussion turns to betrayal.Adrienne talks about a previous betrayal by a lover, how it was like her fear of a Jack-in-the-box when she was a child.She was afraid of what would pop out of the box, and certain something would.She says true friendship never betrays, but that in the end, "you're the only one who can stay with you all the time, and sometimes that's hard to bear."The story is fast-forwarded to years later, where Andy is a teacher at a college (teaching the same subject as QSC, Higuchi Ichiyou, a Japanese poet).He has just taken a handful of pills.As he says, "time betrayed him," and in essence, life betrayed him.Dreams unfulfilled, life unlived, promises undelivered.Then we go to Adrienne.Receiving a letter, about (not from) Andy."Verdict of suicide" blazes to her eyes, and the Jack-in-the-box pops out.Life continues on.

END OF SPOILERS

All these stories, particularly the last, are of the highest caliber."Autumn Colours" best captures truly moving literature as anything I've seen any contemporary writer do.QSC has just begun his career, and I hope it continues onward, because though there are many imperfections throughout, the beauty far overshadows those missteps.A little like walking into a rose garden that has a few stray weeds among the flowers.I sincerely hope QSC continues his work, because if this is where he is starting, he has made an impressive debut indeed.
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Product Description
Fountain paints his story agaisnt the backdrop of Crisp's colourful and controversial life and sheds some light on the intriguing events leading up to his death. It is a compelling portrait of man who Fountain calls a 'great, glittering contradiction': a man who flaunted his sexuality at a time when the penalty for buggery was gaol, a man whose very name epitomised style and yet lived alone in abject poverty in a room he refused to clean and a man who confidently declared at the height of the AIDS epidemic that he 'didn't believe it existed'. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Poorly written and useless with one exception
Being a huge QC fan I was extremely disappointed with this book.I hoped to learn something new, otherwise, why would he bother writing about Mr Crisp, when Mr Crisp already did so, much more successfully?
Mr Fountain seems to believe he is an expert on Quentin Crisp, having met him only once and having compiled a play about him, using Mr Crisp's own works and an interview.A major part of this book consists of the description of incidents we already know about from Quentin Crisp's books.It is truly unnecessary to repeat these in a much less poetic form.Mr Fountain supplements these stories with his own opinions about what they must have meant in relation to QC's life. These are neither witty nor wise, and I don't see why his opinion should be of any significance for the reader, who can arrive at his own conclusions by reading QC's works.
What infuriated me the most is the carelessness with which this book was written. It's as though Mr Fountain had to submit a college report and didn't have enough time to proof read it.It's full of grammatical errors such as inconsistent and incorrect use of "it's" and "its".In the chapter where Mr Fountain mentions the films Mr Crisp was involved in, he named "Philadelphia" starring "Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman", where in reality it starred Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. He did not even have the decency to get his facts straight! If I were him, I would fire my editor immediately.
The only chapters worth reading are those describing Mr Crisp's death and glorifying his existence. ... Read more

Product Description
The updated biography of the most spectacular fashion and artistic muse of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A Captivating Self-Creation
The Marchesa Casati was a notorious eccentric, who grew up in Milan in fin de siecle decadence. Born Luisa Amman in 1881, second daughter of the Conte and Contessa Amman, was a wealthy heiress, a shy child aware of her sister's more traditional beauty. A withdrawn adolescent, she suffered a tragic blow with the death of both her parents during her teens. She was a debutante at 18 and married the Marchese Camillo Casati at 19. He was an aristocrat and like many of his class at that period of history was fascinated by the macabre and occult. Through him, Luisa developed an enduring obsession with the mystical. Early on in her marriage she met D'Annunzio - Italy's foremost poet and most infamous lover. They began an affair that lasted several decades - ending only in D'Annunzio's death. It was a relationship that liberated her from the constraints of marriage, society and rank and enabled her to explore an exotic and highly individual freedom. Luisa's defiance expressed itself with her outward appearance through repeated experimentation and she bacame the epitome of the decadent ideal - androgynously tall and thin, and had a pale, powdered face, wore long velvet dresses with tightly clinched waists and outlined her eyes with kohl so that they became unnaturally intense. This story of her life and of Europe at the dawning of modernity is fascinating. She is a character who appeals to the contemporary reader because of her courage and self-creation. Her story is captivating.

Better Than Fiction
The life of the Marchesa Casati is better than fiction. This biography is marvelously written: you won't get bored. Ever. First of all this is not one of those biographies where the authors waste 5 chapters to tell us the story of the parents, grandparents and all the relatives of the main character: there are just a couple of pages briefly explaining the history of the family and the political and social situation in Italy at the birth of the Marchesa. After that the book goes straight into the life of the Marchesa, from her wedding with the Marchese Casati to her love affair with D'Annunzio and her decadent life style. It's an entertaining biography that drives the reader right into the life of one of the most charming and eccentric female characters in history. Unfortunately, the selection of photos is not the best (many of the best pictures are missing) but this can be easily compensated by the recently published book, by the same authors, called The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse, a book of over 200 pages of photos and images of the Marchesa (I have both books and I can say that they are both worth their price).

An Excellent Biography of an Amazing Woman!
"I loved 'Infinite Variety' for the way the authors brought the Marchesa Casati vividly to life."--Robert Fulford, author of 'The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture'

Elegance Supreme!
'This book about the Marchesa Casati (1881-1957) is called "The Definitive Edition" about a lady of extravagant leisures. It is an excellent book reviving the roaring twenties in Europe and gives you a fairly good insight of the lifestyle of the truly rich and famous through to the 1940s. Part of this set was the Marchesa Casati, who is a source of inspiration to this very day for fashion designers, artists and wealthy heirs. So if you squander your vast inheritance, at least do it in style!' (review from Elegant Lifestyle)

The Original Goth Girl!
"'Infinite Variety' is a thoroughly unbiased and well-researched biography. The 'Definitive Edition' includes a plethora of new information as well as artwork and photos. Thanks to the efforts of Ryersson and Yaccarino, the story of the Marchesa Casati, with all its splendor, will continue to astonish.--Jonathan Williams, Gothic Beauty Magazine
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Product Description
Taken during New York City's Stonewall 25 and Gay Pride celebration in 1994, a collection of black-and-white photographs of gay and lesbian couples from all walks of life includes their comments about their lives and relationships. UP. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

pure beauty
In an amazing way of intimate inside views you get to know g/l couples by only seeing one picture of them. Therefor it is not important weather this is gay or lesbian, straight or trans couples at all - but here it gives a nice tone to it, some persiflage of normality - I dearly love it and love to dive into portraits of long lasting relationships some where over the ocean.
two thumbs up

A wonderful gift!
i thought this book was one of the best coffee table books i have seen in a long time. a great gift for anybody homo- or heterosexual. great photography and a very good read.

cant wait for the next book by john gettings!

A MUST-VIEW AND MUST-READ FOR EVERYONE!!!
As an active and involved ally of the gay/lesbian/bi/transgender community and a member of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), this book was a wonderful learning experience.The variety of colors (admittedlylacking in asian and black women), mixed couples, all shapes and sizes, allvarieties of people (nerdy looking, leather boys, middle-age yuppies, ithad everything), everything was just a wonderful slice of PEOPLE, not ofgay people.I recommend this more for reading than for the pictures.Theexpressions of love and devotion and pain and support brought tears to myeyes.Most of these couples are true families, and I would welcome them inmy home and family any time.

Missing Gay Persons
Photography is notjust pictures. It is the representation of icons thathelp us understand our world.For older people, a picture of them during their youth represents how they see themselves despite their age.Picturesare a reflection of how we see ourselves.It is rare for a book to position itself as a reflection of the gay community.I was thrilled to see that such a book existed.The pictures are fantastic and thebiographies were very real.What troubled me was that there was not one image of an African-American woman. Asian-Americans were not represented either.I strikes me as strange that not one representative from these groups could be found at Gay Pride in NY.The selection of representative members of the Gay Community smacked only of the element that is present in the mainstream community, racism.It is noble to archive and document this community; it is a disservice to omit some of its members.

A straight look at gays: A photo album of just plain folks.
As reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan , staff writer for:

"The Washington Post," Thursday, February 13, 1997:

Two By Two By Gettings - A photo Album Of Just Plain Folks

There is nothing special about the plain and handsome pictures in "Couples," a book of photographic portraits by John Gettings.Published in November by the University Press of New England, the book is a collection of grainless black-and-white images of people embracing.The subjects are not models or celebrities.Fat and skinny, old and young, they stand against a dark backdrop and look at the camera, or sometimes deep into their lovers' eyes.

What is extraordinary is just how ordinary these portraits of togetherness are.Because for many of the gay men and lesbians in the book, even the smallest public expression of affection has so often been taboo.

Photographer John Gettings grew up in Annandale and now divides his time among New York, Miami, Europe and Washington.He says the idea for the book hit him a few years back while engaged in an activity that most people take for granted."At the time, I was living with my girlfriend in Milan and we had been together seven years.You know how you naturally, almost unconsciously hold hands while crossing the street?Well, my friend Juan Carlos was walking with us that day and it suddenly occurred to me that I had never seen him hold his boyfriend's hand in public.I thought 'Why can't they express themselves with the simplest gesture?'"

A tone of astonishment creeps into his voice as he considers his own cultural myopia."I mean, I'm a fashion photographer and I had never really thought about it."While he acknowledges that there are certain places "like Dupont Circle and the Wet Village whereit's okay to walk down the street and hold hands" he still believes that, for the most part, there are many more places "where a little thinglike that is denied to them."

"I always thought I was pretty sympathetic to gay issues," Gettings says, explaining the gradual evolution of his thinking."It just sort of dawned on me that it wasn't really fair.And I thought I had to do something."

A year later when he had moved to New York he thought to himself, with naïve enthusiasm, "Why not take pictures of the straightest looking people to try and counter the stereotypes?If an article [about gays] comes out in Newsweek they always take pictures of drag queens, but it's not correct."Then a photographer friend pointed out to him how his idea was just as narrow a view asthe biased images he was trying to fight.

"He had been documenting the porn industry and he said to me, `John, do not limit yourself by shooting only one aspect of the gay community.Don't just take pictures of what your idea of a gay person is.'"

In 1995, Gettings got permission from the city to set up a miniature outdoor studio in Central Park during a rally of a half-million people at the annual Gay Pride Week.He then distributed handbills in search of "couples for a book project," sat back and waited.

One hundred twenty four couples showed up."I shot anybody thatcame and stood in front of me from morning until night." Eighty pairs ultimately made it into the book."I had to edit it down for technical reasons,"he explains."Some of them just didn't turn out."

The book, Gettings says is a cross section of"anybody and everybody."The only criterion he insisted on was "that they be a couple, whether they were together for just that weekend or for 27 years.I just said, `Be how you want to be.'And when I thought the moment was right, I clicked."

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Customer Reviews (1)

Another great achievement!
Klaus Gerhart's new hardcover book of male nudes in black & white is magnificent.As in his previous 3 books, he poses his men in outdoor settings as well as indoors.These are men who have beautiful bodies, outof reach to most of us.But Klaus also gets his point across in thesephotos, that these are real men with feelings, jobs, relationships, andproblems like the rest of us.Its wonderful that he lets us share in theirbeauty when they are in such peak condition.Another great book fromKlaus. ... Read more

Product Description
This exciting collection gives a whole new meaning to "beach reading."Paired with some of the most exciting contemporary photographs of the male nude are reflections paying homage to the beauty, sensuality, and raw masculinity of men by celebrated writers including Quentin Crisp, Brad Gooch, Alan Helms, Mary Ellen Hannibal, Paul Roche, and David Leddick.

Hot off the beaches of Miami, the book features fresh photography from some well-known artists as well as exciting newcomers, including Ali, Salvatore Baiano, Andy Devine, and Dianora Niccolini.

Divided thematically into chapters like Men on the Beach, Men in the Surf, Men Cooling Off, and Men in the Shade, this celebration of men sans clothes al fresco is a treasure for those who like to look at some good, fresh flesh. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Hopeless Mess
This little gimmick of book, a small paperback, is totally unorganized, with phony section titles imposed on random photos, so that we have "Men in the Sun," "Men Cooling Off," "Men in theWater," etc. The actual photos in those different sections proveunderwhelming vis-a-vis these grandiose designations. Whoever rushed to getthis book out would have done better just to present the photoscontiguously, but that would have denied the opportunity to use two fillerpages per section. It took me about five minutes to flip through and get asense of all of the photos in this little pamphlet of a book.

The"literary" selections are gratuitous, adding nothing to ourappreciation of the photographs and usually having nothing to do with them.For example, the author has reprinted at length the opening vignette fromBrad Gooch's novel Scary Kisses, which is kind of sexy on its own but whoseonly apparent criteria for inclusion in this volume are its homoeroticismand the coincidence that it takes place -in the sun! So, too, with theother literary paraphernalia. It's filler.

Worst of all, the photosthemselves aren't even erotic or sexy. I know, this is a subjectiveobservation, and I admit that a few of the individual photos are morenuanced, or provocative, or more sophisticated than others. But for themost part, the photos are artless and tacky, as when a jet of water is usedto camouflage the buttocks of a presumably nude man darting out of aswimming pool. That kind of thing belongs on a postcard for Miami Beach. Asfor the men themselves, this little collection presents a broad range frompretty boy models to bald weight lifter types to African Americans and evena baby for good measure. The overall effect is of schizophrenia, notserendipity, and instead of finding something to celebrate in diversity,this book merely finds chaos.

You can do better with your money.

SOME LIKE THEM
Most of male photograph books nowadays are neither sensual nor aesthetical. But some pictures of this book are nice and erotic , especially p.73-77.Some like them. If I could select male nudes photos, Iwould afford better or maybe the best album. ... Read more

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Chapters: Quentin Crisp, Dave Mckean, Neville Brody, Kyle Perry, Peter Saville, Jim Connolly, Tom Eckersley, Simon Henwood, Storm Thorgerson, Raymond Hawkey, Jonathan Barnbrook, Anthony Fitzclarence, 7th Earl of Munster, Abram Games, Jamie Reid, Jon Hicks, Roger Burrows, John L. Walters, Colin Banks, David Storey, Vaughan Oliver, Terry Jones, Dock, Jon Wozencroft, Bill Ward, George Hardie, Kate Moross, Natasha Law, Lee Binding, Marcus Mccallion, Richard Evans, Aubrey Powell, Christopher Sandford. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 123. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt, 25 December 1908) 21 November 1999), was an English writer and raconteur. He became an icon of homosexuality in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, brought to the attention of the general public his defiant exhibitionism and refusal to keep his sexuality private. Denis Charles Pratt was born in Sutton, Surrey, the fourth child of solicitor Spencer Charles Pratt (18711931) and former governess Frances Marion Pratt (née Phillips) (18731960); he changed his name to Quentin Crisp in his third decade after leaving home and cultivating his outlandishly effeminate appearance to a standard that both shocked contemporary Londoners and provoked homophobic attacks. By his own account, Crisp was effeminate in behaviour from an early age and found himself the object of teasing at Kingswood Preparatory School in Epsom, from where he won a scholarship to the independent school Denstone College, near Uttoxeter, in 1922. After leaving school in 1926, Crisp studied journalism at King's College London, but failed to graduate in 1928, going on to take art classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Around this time, Crisp began visiting the cafés of Soho his favourite be...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=91448 ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt, 25 December 1908) 21 November 1999), was an English writer and raconteur. He became an icon of homosexuality in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, brought to the attention of the general public his defiant exhibitionism and refusal to keep his sexuality private. Denis Charles Pratt was born in Sutton, Surrey, the fourth child of solicitor Spencer Charles Pratt (18711931) and former governess Frances Marion Pratt (née Phillips) (18731960); he changed his name to Quentin Crisp in his third decade after leaving home and cultivating his outlandishly effeminate appearance to a standard that both shocked contemporary Londoners and provoked homophobic attacks. By his own account, Crisp was effeminate in behaviour from an early age and found himself the object of teasing at Kingswood Preparatory School in Epsom, from where he won a scholarship to the independent school Denstone College, near Uttoxeter, in 1922. After leaving school in 1926, Crisp studied journalism at King's College London, but failed to graduate in 1928, going on to take art classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Around this time, Crisp began visiting the cafés of Soho his favourite being The Black Cat in Old Compton Street meeting other young homosexual men and rent-boys, and experimenting with make-up and women's clothes. For six months he worked as a male prostitute, looking for love, he said in a 1999 interview, but finding only degradation. Crisp left home to move to the centre of London at the end of 1930 and, after dwelling in a succession of flats, found a bed-sitting room in Denbigh Street, where he held court with London's brightest and roughest characters. His outlandish appearance he wore bright ... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=91448 ... Read more

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Chapters: John Harrison, Barney Bubbles, Norman Foster, William Morris, Quentin Crisp, Jonathan Ive, George Charles Haité, Terence Conran, Kosh, Fredrikson Stallard, Anna Maria Garthwaite, Paul Hatch, Sophie Conran, David Mellor, Nevile Wilkinson, Russell Mills, David Fisher, James Eatock, Kevin Mccloud, Heywood Sumner, Lorna Bailey, Oliver Percy Bernard, Arthur Price, Charles Ricketts, Cameron Sinclair, William de Morgan, Charles Robert Ashbee, Martin Burgess, Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo, Paul Bevoir, Zandra Rhodes, May Morris, Harriet Kelsall, Jack Holt, Stanley Morison, Barbara Hulanicki, John Aldridge, Walter Tracy, A. H. Woodfull, Percy Macquoid, Barberosgerby, Frederick Handley Page, Nelson Dawson, Ian Mackenzie-Kerr, Jake Leith Fcsd, Baillie Scott, Jack Howe, John Coulthart, Margaret Calkin James, Sebastian Conran, Stella Mary Newton, Robert Welch, Sydney Gordon Russell, Jessie Tait, Ali Pretty, Christopher Ironside, Jake Tilson, Jasper Morrison, A. H. Mackmurdo, Dee Robson, Robert Manwaring, Philip Koomen, Robert Anning Bell, John Edwards, Thomas Wyon, Richard Evans, John Pawson, Phil Smee, Dorothy Marion Campbell, Aubrey Powell, Wayne Hemingway, James Irvine, William Gardner. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 307. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: William Morris (24 March 1834 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (18681870), A Dream of John Ball and the utopian News from Nowhere. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism i...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=33277 ... Read more

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Chapters: Vivienne Westwood, Quentin Crisp, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Eugene Ankomah, Michael Jackson, Natascha Engel, Philip Tew, Owen Spencer-Thomas, Charlie Brooker, Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox, Danny Wallace, Mark Gertler, Alex Cartana, Rob Diament, Nick Mason, Terence Patrick O'sullivan, Jon Ronson, Kristian Digby, Mark Finch, Dominic Grieve, Janet Anderson, Jake Nava, Carri Mundane, John Lundberg, Ralph Erskine, Scarlet Page, Siddharth Sanghvi, Edward Skoyles, Luke Busby, David Gascoyne, Samit Basu, Christopher Fraser, Anthony Caro, Manish Sahi, John Ryan, Alfred Bossom, Baron Bossom, Stephen Hesford, Julian Morris, Carrie Gracie, Annie Nightingale, Christopher Bailey, Katalin Bogyay, John Frederick Brill, Stephen Cottrell, Carl Ng, Shiu-Kay Kan, Shayan Italia, Arnis Balcus, Anthony Seldon, Trevor Miller, Mark Mcdonald, Fiona Fox, Alireza Sagharchi, Thomas Bennett, Wilfred Cass, David Lepper, Victor Collins, Baron Stonham, Keith Darvill, Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Countess of Swinton, Flora Twort, Aret Komlosy, Geoff Mulgan, Matt Richards, Jacobine Jones, Bryan Cartledge, Jack Easter, Rae Perlin, Gigi D'amico, Ruth England, Anand Ramlogan, Gitau Wa Njenga, Asma Chaâbi. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 356. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Rickenbacker 4001 Roger Waters (born George Roger Waters, 6 September 1943 in Great Bookham, Surrey) is an English rock musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was the bass player, co-lead vocalist, lyricist, primary songwriter, and one of the founding members of the rock band Pink Floyd. Following his departure from Pink Floyd in 1984 Waters began a solo career, releasing three studio albums The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (1984), Radio K.A.O.S. (1987), and 1992's Amused to Death. In 1990 Waters staged one of the largest rock concerts ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=173825 ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Benjamin Britten, Ivor Novello, Vita Sackville-West, Derek Jarman, Michael Tippett, John Amaechi, Quentin Crisp, Peter Maxwell Davies, Charles Ricketts, Justin Fashanu, Peter Pears, Alfred Bruce Douglas, Radclyffe Hall, Peter Tatchell, Outrage!, Nigel Owens, Jeanette Winterson, Section 28, Dames de Llangollen, John Addington Symonds, Johann Hari, Loi 1533 de Buggery, Nicky Crane. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Benjamin Britten, né le 22 novembre 1913 à Lowestoft dans le Suffolk et mort le 4 décembre 1976 à Aldeburgh, est un compositeur, chef d'orchestre et pianiste britannique, souvent considéré comme le plus grand compositeur britannique de l'après-guerre. Benjamin Britten est envoyé en pension à l'âge de treize ans à la Gresham's School de Norfolk. Il est l'élève de Frank Bridge et étudie au Royal College of Music de Londres. En 1935, il fait la connaissance de W. H. Auden avec qui il travaille sur le cycle musical Our Hunting Fathers, entre autres. Il rencontre le ténor Peter Pears en 1937, son futur compagnon qui aura une grande influence dans sa vie musicale et à qui il dédicacera plusieurs œuvres. La création de ses Variations sur un thème de Frank Bridge, op. 10 en 1937 au Festival de Salzbourg marque son entrée dans le monde musical. Accompagné de Peter Pears, il s'exile aux États-Unis de 1939 à 1942. Après cette date, il retourne au Royaume-Uni où il bénéficie du statut d'objecteur de conscience. En 1948, il crée le festival d'Aldeburgh (Suffolk) auquel il associe pendant les années 1960 l'English Chamber Orchestra, notamment lors de la création de plusieurs œuvres, telle Le Songe d'une nuit d'été, Owen Wingrave ou Curlew River. Britten y invite ses amis, Mstislav Rostropovitch et Svia...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Chapters: Quentin Crisp, Penelope Keith, John Burgoyne, Katie Melua, James Hunt, Peter Ladefoged, Clark Datchler, Neil Sullivan, Robbie Mcintosh, Marcia Anastasia Christoforides, Gary Borrowdale, Joanna Rowsell, Richard Elms, Andrew Stunell, Valerie Davey, Stephen Broad, Stacey Cole, Alice Stevenson, Karen Mayo-Chandler. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 107. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ketevan "Katie" Melua (Georgian: ·), English pronunciation: ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She was born in Georgia, but moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then relocated to England at the age of fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of songwriter Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's biggest-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist. In November 2003, at the age of nineteen, Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release. Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date has gone platinum four times. Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007, which was the last of her albums to be made in collaboration with Mike Batt. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua has a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty. It was reported in 2009 that she had lost almost half of her fortune as a result of the global economic downturn. Ketevan Melua, known as Ketino to her family, was born to Amiran and Tamara Melua in Kutaisi, Georgia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. She spent her first years with he...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=663508 ... Read more