Rainbow Reads :: April 26
"The Miles" (Robert Lennon)
Former Front Runners president Robert Lennon drop his debut novel, "The Miles," an insider look at LGBT running clubs that draws comparisons to Patricia Nell Warren’s "The Front Runner." Lennon’s novel is the compelling story of Liam Walker, a gay New Yorker who joins LGBT running club The Fast Trackers to meet people and get in shape. After beating annoying club member Gene at his first race, Liam gets more involved in the club, and discovers the incestuous web contained therein. Club president Gary is an older man who fawns over Liam and younger runners and is a pillar in a storm, until his rich partner Malcolm commits suicide. Club members like sexy Zane, Marvin, and Ben vie for handsome Liam’s attention, but his cursed good looks and the potential for something better to come along keep him from making a commitment. The book also looks at anorexia among gay men, as seen through the character of Riser, a runner who is a bit too committed to his own personal best. As Liam intensifies his training regimen to compete against the Urban Bobcats and closeted gay Frenchman Didier Vallois, his priorities are challenged. Through it all, Liam must try to keep safe the friendship he has with loyal buddy Monroe, a pudgy fashionista who values afternoons at the "B-Cubed" of Bergdorf, Barneys, and Bloomingdale’s over early morning runs through Central Park. Lennon gives an honest portrayal of the lives and motivations of gay urban men, and peppers "The Miles" with enough references to New York hotspots like Splash, the Townhouse, The Time Warner Center, and the Coney Island Boardwalk to root it in reality. "The Miles" is a perfect read for members of Front Runners, or any gay man searching for his oasis in an urban landscape. (Kensington Publishing)
"The Occupy Handbook" (Edited by Janet Byrne)
The social justice/activism movement got a much-needed shot in the arm last year with the Occupy Wall Street movement. The ragtag bunch of revolutionaries who occupied downtown New York’s Zuccotti Park inspired similar actions throughout the country, and around the world. When the NYPD broke down the encampment last winter, many people hoped it would signal the end of the OWS movement. But, as planned protests on Wall Street indicate, the 99% have more up their sleeves. "The Occupy Handbook" looks at the historical roots of this movement, the links between income inequality and the economic crisis, what the protestors learned through their actions, and the power the movement has to effect real change. The book includes essays by economists Paul Krugman, Robert Shiller, Robert B. Reich, Paul Volcker, and Jeffrey D. Sachs. Editor Janet Byrne commissioned all of the essays for the book in a matter of just a few months. The handbook is broken down into three sections: How we got here, where we are now, and solutions. The book opens with a humorous essay from Michael Lewis, a mock memo from "The Strategy Committee" to those in the 1%, suggesting they quit American society altogether. The book is blessed with a top-notch roster of writers, including Gillian Tett, managing editor of "The Financial Times," John Cassidy of "The New Yorker," and feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich, who writes on "The Making of the 99 Percent and the Collapse of the Middle Class." Nora Lustig, Alejandra Mizala, and G. Eduardo Silva compare the OWS movement to their successful Chilean student movement in "Basta YA! Chilean Students Say ’Enough’." The book is chock full of essays on social justice movements and the Occupy Wall Street phenom, but sometimes reads unevenly. Some pieces are brief and make a single point, while others, such as "Taxing High Earnings" by economists Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez, delve deeper and read like an academic treatise. Overall, "The Occupy Handbook" does a good job of condensing the myriad issues around OWS and presenting them in a handy guide for scholars, activists, and those occupiers who are now just getting their tents out of mothballs in preparation for a long, hot summer. (Hachette Book Group)
