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Koolaids, by Rabih Alameddine
The Lebanese-born narrator of this vivid metaphorical marvel of a novel
draws fierce parallels between the AIDS in his life and the civil war in
Lebanon. A perspective on the disease that's quite different from the
American norm.
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The Gifts of the Body, by Rebecca Brown
Caregiving is the focus of Brown's slim, unsentimental yet haunting
account of what it was like to be a home health worker, living day
to day while dealing with the ongoing rituals of disease and death.
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Queer & Loathing: Rants & Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone, by David B. Feinberg
Bitter anger laced with bracing humor is the hallmark of this
irreverent, incisive survey of life with AIDS, from the earliest days
through the advent of ACT UP. It's a reminder that rage once made things
happen.
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The Man With Night Sweats, by Thom Gunn
Sex, drugs, and AIDS are the shared theme of acclaimed poet Gunn's 1993
collection of elegiac couplets and horrific free verse contemplations
"In the Time of Plague."
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Geography of the Heart, by Fenton Johnson
One stirring, sad legacy of AIDS is the survivor memoir. Paul Monette
wrote his with fierce heat in the 1980s, but Johnson's
remembrance of his partner's passing, coming a decade later, is suffused
with an amazing spiritual strength, while no less anguished.
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Oasis, by Gregory Maguire
The author of the popular twisted fairy tales for adults (Confessions
of an Ugly Stepsister, Wicked) dealt delicately with AIDS in this
overlooked 1996 young adult novel, in which a troubled 13-year-old deals
with the illness of a beloved uncle.
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Borrowed Time, by Paul Monette
In this era of drug cocktails and long-term survivors, Monette's
harrowing, riveting account of his
lover's decline and death retains the immediacy it had 15 years ago.
This memorial masterpiece will be read in years to come as
a historical marker of the impact of AIDS on gay men.
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Martin and John, by Dale Peck
There is a rare lucidity to this frank novel in which the narrator
reflects on his own life as a mid-'90s queer man and, through journal
entries, recalls his tempestuous years with a recently dead lover.
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Vertical Intercourse, by Paul Reed
From the author of Facing It (1984), arguably the first "AIDS
novel," comes a contemporary celebratory tale of a middle-aged man
who has outlived several generations of lovers and friends. Astonished
at his own survival, he is at last learning to trust
himself to love again.
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Dry Bones Breathe: Gay Men Creating Post-AIDS Identities and Cultures, by Eric Rofes
Thoughtful, sage, provocative (think barebacking), and a bit stern --
that's the tone of this rigorous and readable 1998 exploration of gay
male sexual life in a world no longer defined solely by the ongoing AIDS
crisis.
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