Walt Whitman, revered American poet and gay icon, once wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”

Several seminal works deal with hidden love and forbidden desire, commonplaces of the gay sexual journey: Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, the groundbreaking Lesbian romance novel that rebelled against a tragic ending; and James Baldwin’s classic Giovanni’s Room, a searing portrait of exile and shame.

Other writers met the world with wit and flamboyance. Quentin Crisp turns self-invention into an act of quiet defiance in The Naked Civil Servant, while Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City captures the joy and unpredictability of chosen queer family in 1970’s San Francisco — anchored by the unforgettable Anna Madrigal, a transgender woman whose identity is central to the narrative.

We will also explore history, politics, and power, including Thomas Mallon’s Fellow Travelers, a riveting love story set amidst the McCarthy era’s “Lavender Scare” and beyond; Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty, a dazzling portrait of 1980’s Britain that intertwines politics, allure, and the perilous exhilaration of queer desire; and Tony Kushner’s monumental play Angels in America, where the AIDS epidemic collides with theology, camp, and the American dream itself. These works remind us that queer lives are inextricably bound up with larger social issues.

Finally, we come to timeless examinations of memory and longing. Michael Cunningham’s The Hours reimagines Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway to show us how queer lives ripple across generations. And André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name is a piercing portrait of first love and its aftermath, where passion proves at once fleeting and unforgettable.

Our selections, which span many decades of queer writing amidst sweeping societal change, are by turns passionate, defiant, and liberating. They are not merely side notes in history but deserve a central place of relevance. Collectively they reflect these universal words of Henry David Thoreau in Walden, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

The group will meet in the Bound on the first Sunday of the month from 2-3:30pm. The group will meet on the second Sunday in September due to Labor Day.

A syllabus will be provided with a brief narrative commentary on the monthly selections as well as suggested YouTube videos to enhance your reading experience. Expect lively discussions to take place in good company throughout the year!

Sun, September 13 *note the group meets on the second Sunday this month*
The Price of Salt, Patricia Highsmith

Sun, October 4
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin

Sun, November 1
The Naked Civil Servant, Quintin Crisp

Sun, December 6
Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin

Sun, January 3
The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollingsworth

Sun, February 7
Fellow Travelers, Thomas Mallon

Sun, March 7
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes – a play by Tony Kushner

Sun, April 4
The Hours, Michael Cunningham

Sun, May 2
Call Me by Your Name, Andre Aciman

Kip Brott earned his BA and MA degrees in art history from UCLA. He has also taken courses in fashion history at RISD, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Parsons School of Design. Kip serves on the Board at the Athenaeum and has led many well-received reading groups here in past years. He also offers popular fashion history classes at the Lifelong Learning Collaborative and is a Board member at Hamilton House, where he is an occasional guest lecturer.

Kip has curated this reading group with a deep respect for the many ways gay identity is lived and expressed. He feels that the group’s unique spirit is captured, with simple charm, by the words of noble little Piglet from the world of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh: “The things that make me different are the things that make me me.”