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Terri Schlichenmeyer’s Bookworm Sez: Books for a Pre-Pride Celebration by various authors
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezBooks for a Pre-Pride Celebration by various authors
c.2026, various publishers
$19.99 – $39.95 various page countsYou’re all geared up.
You’ve got your best parade-walking shoes, your coolest tee, your most-comfortable shorts, and a rainbow flag to carry. You’re set for Pride, but before you go, try one of these great new books about LGBTQ life and history…
After the parade, where will you end up? A place to talk your experience over, to re-hash things for the next parade? Then you may need “The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces” by Rachel Karp (Beacon Press, $29.95).
Lesbian bars, says Karp, are more than just places to drink. They’re also places to find community, and to organize. For many, she says, they are “sanctuaries,” as they have been for at least a century, and this book introduces you to some of the people who run the establishments, the things they do to support their patrons, and the hundred-year-plus bravery that it took to own, run, and enter a lesbian bar.
If you had to name a gay icon, there are probably quite a few who come to mind. So read “Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge” by Harvey Brownstone (ECW Press, $21.95) and add another name to your list.
This memoir, written by Canada’s first openly gay judge, takes readers from Brownstone’s childhood to his life as a lawyer, then to his work within the justice system in Ontario, and beyond, to his current career. This is a surprising, informative book that gives you an idea what gay life is like, north of our uppermost borders, then and now.
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Featured Book: Bruce Conord’s ‘Come and Get Her: A Suspense Thriller
I had the pleasure of meeting the author at the Mytery Writers of America-New York chapter holiday party last night in Manhattan. As a big fan of thillers myself, I’m always happy to recommend a new one. Check out Bruce Conord’s ‘Come and Get Her,’ released just in time to make a great holiday gift for yourself or someone you know!
Former Special Forces soldier Jesse Arroyo believes his days of danger are behind him. But a desperate late-night phone call that his teenage daughter is missing drags him back into a world of violence, where he realizes his past may never fully leave him. As he navigates the treacherous Mexican cartel territory to rescue his daughter, he encounters ruthless killers who show little regard for innocent lives, and Arroyo must use all of his skills and instincts to survive and bring his daughter home.
With help from a widowed journalist seeking her own revenge, he races the clock to track down the woman who lured his daughter to Mexico and the evil cartel boss holding her captive. When he digs deeper into their cruel underworld, the lines between hunter and hunted become blurred. Arroyo discovers that this is much more than a kidnapping—it’s a conspiracy far more deadly than he could have ever imagined. If you enjoy books by Don Winslow, Robert Ludlum, Brad Thor, or Lee Child, then you won’t want to miss “Come and Get Her,” a heart-pounding thriller filled with action, suspense, and a father’s unwavering determination to save his child.
