This ethnography on Filipino gay men living in (mostly) NYC was equally fascinating in content and completely readable--a major plus for an academic book. For me, Manalansan's style is to be modeled in my own scholarship.

Read the last 60 pages in a fever pitch late into the night. It's not a thriller, but a slow-burn that picks up near the end. Strong interior examination of motherhood and fidelity--a question of how long civility can stave off primal instinct. Fav line: "Because in the fullness of time she would have recovered" (114).

The prose are gorgeous, a strength in the other Hollinghurst novels I've read. It's not much on plot. It is heavy on gay eroticism, which is fine by me but keeps me from recommending this wholeheartedly. I also noticed the kind of fascist turn often leveled at white gay culture to be present in this book. The Line of Beauty is better, The Stranger's Child worse.

I go to Drabble, a favorite of mine, for smart and often snarky observations about ordinary life. The Garrick Year follows a young wife and mother who dabbles in an extra-marital affair while living in the country for the theater season. Many laughs to be had--would recommend to anyone.