The Death of Ganymede by Clayton Kinnelon Greiman is surprisingly good. It's almost too good. The author writes so intelligently and has so much to say that I read more slowly than I usually do a book. But I think his ideas, though possibly too controversial for some, are worth taking the time to digest fully.

Steeped in both Greek mythology and Christian religion, his first two tales, especially "The Handmaid's Prophecy," inspired me to find the source material. The famous painting "Sacred and Profane Love" by Giovanni Baglione is featured in the beginning of the book and is key to many of the ideas scattered throughout Greiman's work.

This collection of stories, thoughts and vinaigrettes had me furiously underlining in my Kindle. His sometimes harsh, but hard-to-argue with insights on sex vs. love are far more than entertainment. If I'm understanding him right, Greiman is reminding the gay community (particularly the gay male community) that sex without love is about as low as a person can go, both for their salvation and their soul.

Fidelity is also critical: "Honor Thy Partner. Promiscuity is not to be tolerated. A breach of fidelity is a breach of faith, and a breach of faith is an unpardonable act. Love must not be defamed by debauchery." These are all ideas that anyone who values love and their own self can follow.

With its borderline esoteric approach and Godly advice, The Death of Ganymede may not always be for everyone, but for anyone lost and searching, there is comfort to be found here. I found myself nodding at some points: "Language has fallen. Beauty has become synonymous with Lust and is trampled in the dust."

I cannot believe how wise and helpful this book is at times. It's so much more than I thought it would be and much easier to decipher than it was in the beginning. Maybe it's me just reading into what I want to read, but I also think Greiman is saying love is worth waiting for and being celibate and patient is far better than jumping into something casual and convenient out of nothing more than sheer physical need or loneliness.

He also addresses another universal truth, one regarding society's insistence we all pair off: "It is the great lie we are all told, foremost by our parents, born of the belief we'll be miserable alone. Yet, it's fundamentally untrue." To those of us who choose to be alone or are alone or (even better) do not mind being alone, this is one of the best sentences in the whole book. While Clayton Kinnelon Greiman's writing may need a closer, slower reading than other authors, he is always sincere and passionate and, never, dull.

There are books that skillfully handle sensitive topics and there are mysteries that pull things together and totally surprise the reader in the end; rarely are both of these books the same one as is Marie Drake's wonderful Three Rules.

Right from the start I was pulled in, though I was a bit worried about reading the book because of its subject matter. Marie Drake is an amazing writer and makes Hope Wellman someone the reader truly cares about, sympathizes with, admires, but never pities. The reader probably has more faith in Hope than she does herself. Her horrific past has left Hope with lots of doubts and fears, but she is much more mature and ready to handle them than she gives herself credit for in her life.

Besides being a talented writer who makes every page one to turn quickly, Marie Drake also creates fully fleshed out secondary characters and manages to make a highly suspenseful read remain a believable one. What could have been a big problem (having to wrap up many loose threads at the end without making it seem like everything but the kitchen sink had been thrown in) became something even the most jaded mystery reader would not see coming.

I look forward to more fiction from Marie Drake. Deep, well-thought out page turners are hard to come by these days. Three Rules is not only a very sincere and touching read (I love the deep friendship Joey and Hope share) it is an unforgettable one as well.

Books and music are such a wonderful refuge...

Ghost Trio is simply amazing! It twists and turns and then twists again. One minute you are sure our main character Lee is not quite right in the head, devastated so badly by losing her one true love that she can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. The next you agree with her that Devorah, her partner of fifteen years, IS still alive, being kept prisoner high up in a castle tower, off the Pacific Coast Highway.

Lee's friends become worried when they realize she is perfectly serious about trying to rescue her beloved Devorah from the evil clutches of one singular and very wealthy patron of the arts, Annajean Eggers. Along the way Lee reconnects with an enchanting old friend named Lily who makes her question everything she thought she knew about her own heart. Part of the suspense, a lot of the emotional anxiety you feel as the reader, comes from wondering where this is all going to go, both as a romance and a mystery.

The novel gets its name (and aptly so) from Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Trio (Opus 70, #1), often referred to as The Ghost due to the eerie mood of the second movement, Largo. It's clear that Lillian Q. Irwin (actually two women who have been together for over forty years!) really know their stuff. Their love and devotion to music and each other comes through so well in every page of Ghost Trio.

I loved Ghost Trio for so many reasons: it's loaded with lots of music references that will delight classical and opera fans, it will make you want to read up more on the things that are new to you (I'd never heard of lied singing before and was charmed by all the passion behind the music) and (most importantly) it has _the_ best love story you could ever ask for in a book.

When I finished the last page my heart pretty much broke, at the fact this lovely novel was over and because while this kind of love borders on the fantastical it is not any less pretty or magical for it.

I would probably give The Marriage four stars if I hadn't read Ann Bannon's outstanding Beebo Brinker Chronicles, next to which this book kind of pales.

The most amazing thing about The Marriage is how much you feel for Page and Sunny, how you actually hope they can work out their situation, even though the last thing they should be is together.

Controversial to say the least, Ann Bannon's novel deals with what happens when two people in love (and married) discover they are actually brother and sister.

"We don't have to apologize for it, we have to do _something_ about it," Page yells at Sunny after his father drops the bombshell on them.

Page, once known as "Roger" to his birth parents, cannot deal with knowing his sister is also his wife. Sunny, his other half, wants to try and overcome everything so they can stay together. Complicated doesn't even begin to describe all the emotions, debates and heartache that goes on.

How Bannon manages to keep you reading despite the incest factor, how she keeps everything from becoming too melodramatic testify to her talent as a writer.

It makes me rather uncomfortable that she constantly compares incest to homosexuality, but I have to remember the time in which this novel was written and that Bannon is never less than compassionate in how she handles things.

There is understandable and intense discomfort on the part of those few who discover Page and Sunny are so closely related. But as Page's adoptive mother says to her her outraged husband: "It's your moral duty to mind your own affairs!"

Format: MP3 Music

Maybe it's super silly for a 40something woman to be so excited about the digital release of Shaun Cassidy's first solo album on vinyl, but, boy, am I!! My inner 70s child is thrilled to hear that almost all of the songs sound as good as ever. ("Take Good Care Of My Baby" isn't nearly as sad or deep as I remember it being when I was a girl, but, hey, that's what time does to your mind!:) )

Off and on over time, I have been hoping _Shaun Cassidy_ would be released in MP3 form. I still have the album, but my LP player died a while ago so it's been ages since I heard the wonderful (and awfully sweet and endearing) sounds of "Morning Girl" (very Davy Jones-lie), "It's Too Late" (an 'I told you so' attitude never sounded so polite as it does here) and "Holiday" (very dreamy as only a 70s song can be.)

"I Wanna Be With You" holds up surprisingly well, even kind of seems edgier than when my eight-year-old ears first heard it. "That's Rock 'n' Roll" has long been accessible in digital format, as has "Da Doo Ron Ron," but I'm still going to go on about how great they both are!:)

For anyone who grew up with Shaun instead of David, this is a must buy! It brought pure, nostalgic happiness to my lips and ears tonight and my iPod even seems to glow a little brighter, too!