[rating=4]
72 Pages • Kiss and Tell Press • November 21, 2011 [PB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman finds Confessions of a Sex Addict: Part 1 by Michael Wynne to be an honest, philosophical book about a prolific gay male sexual adventurer.

“There is not a shred of reservation or reticence when it comes to minute observations of the sheer physicality of gay male sex – although there may be a tinge of regret, even guilt, about some of his perceived emotional shortcomings or failures of empathy on occasion.”

[rating=4]
121 pages • Profile Books • May 3, 2012 [PB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman does not see a knighthood in the offing for the author of this delightfully wicked book.

“Bennett imagines the Palace as peopled by a cast of eccentrics and grotesques, from the prissy private secretary, Sir Kevin Scatchard, to the niffy nonagenarian, Sir Claude Pollington. It is also rife with politicking and camp bitchery.”

[rating=4]
233 pages • Serpent’s Tail • April 5, 2012 [HB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman is moved by this multi-layered family saga.

“A Stone’s Throw is a work of two distinct halves, deftly stitched together by Shaw into a satisfying whole.”

[rating=5]
Granta • March 1, 2012 [HB] 144 pages • Granta • March 1, 2012 [HB]

The editor is impressed and moved by Justin Torres’ debut We The Animals.

“We The Animals is, in the Granta edition, as beautiful a book physically as it is emotionally.”

[rating=4]
391 pages • Headpress • October, 2011 [PB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman learns more than he ever wanted to know about the underworld of adult vintage paperbacks.

If this book sends you racing straight down to your local secondhand bookshop in search of cheap, lurid treasures from the past, then I’ll feel as if I’ve done my job..

[rating=4]
260 pages • Quartet • June 01, 2011 [PB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman takes pleasure in Death in Bordeaux, which charts the working and personal life of a police detective from the fall of France through the establishment and early days of the Vichy Republic.

Massie doesn’t shrink from the casual homophobia of the times. Even the most sympathetic of his characters find homosexuality impossible to comprehend, if not actually repellant.

[rating=4]
287 pages • Headpress • June 23, 2011 [PB]

Tim Bennett-Goodman finds The Hellhound Sample, a family saga that spans the years 1932-2004, to be an energetic and touching read.

The story of young Calvin’s struggle to overcome the handicap of being a closet bi-sexual in an aggressively (indeed, murderously) homophobic rap world is both fascinating and touching.

[rating=4]
608 pages • Bloomsbury • April 4, 2011 [HB]

In his Epistle to the Reader, AC Grayling sums up his work as “…a text made from all times for all times, its aspiration and aim the good for humanity and the good of the world.” A modest undertaking, then, says, Tim Bennett-Goodman.

The Good Book is a work which, it seems to me, will reward dipping into from time to time – for consolation, meditation or stimulation – just as one would (or would have) the Bible itself, rather than necessarily being read cover-to-cover.

[rating=4]
256 pages • Harry N. Abrams, Inc. • November 2nd, 2009 [HB]

A beautiful book of photographs that charts the life of writer Gore Vidal, with the sardonic commentary one would expect from its author.

The format frees Vidal to bring his comic asides to the fore. It is a romp through a fascinating life. The addition of newspaper articles, original book covers, and letters adds a dimension to the photographs that enliven it.

[rating=3]
144 pages • Dark Horse • September 9th, 2009 [PB]

A collection of issues 21-25 from the Season Eight comic books. But does it translate to the medium, asks Christopher Bryant?

In Predators and Prey there are five stories and five different authors. They range from the dramatic and emotional depths synonymous with the series to the esoteric geek-fest moments that were restrained by the medium of television.