Bisexual Books of 1993 by M.S. Montgomery Princeton University Library Nonfiction Fritz Klein, _The Bisexual Option_, 2d ed. (Haworth). Klein got it right the 1st time & has simply improved the 1978 ed., e.g., adding info on the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (an augmented Kinsey Scale) & the HIV/AIDS epidemic, & updating bibliography. Still the best popular intro to the subject of bisexuality; very highly recommended. Sue George, _Women and Bisexuality_ (Scarlet). Interesting, careful analysis of a survey of 142 bisexual English women in which are explored issues of bi theory, feminism, lifestyle & politics. Recommended. Maurice Lever, _Sade: A Biography_ (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Documents that the bisexuality in the Marquis's works was informed by personal experience (& that his dad the Comte was also bi!). Marcia Ian, _Remembering the Phallic Mother: Psychoanalysis, Modernism, and the Fetish_ (Cornell UP). Examines Wilde, Eliot, Joyce, Lawrence, Genet & others from perspectives of feminism & Freud's theory of bisexuality. For specialists. Viktoria Schweitzer, _Tsvetaeva_ (HarperCollins). Biography of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) includes her marriage to Sergey Efron & her affairs with Sofia Parnak, Osip Mandelstam & others. Julian Green, _The Green Paradise_ (Martin Boyars). Trans. of _Partir avant le jour_, vol. 1 (1900-16) of American-French writer's autobiography, describes his conversion to Catholicism & his adolescent loves for Frederic & Jeanne. Homophobic. Maria Riva, _Marlene Dietrich_ (Knopf). In this biography of her mother, Riva, a partisan of her father, Rudi Sieber, & of MD's lover Brian Aherne, has nothing good to say about MD's lover Mercedes de Acosta. Noel Riley Fitch, _Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin_ (Little, Brown). It's hard to know just what this pathological liar really did, but she apparently had an affair with June Miller as well as with Henry & dozens of other people (e.g., husband Hugo Guiler, John Erskine, Antonin Artaud, Otto Rank, Edmund Wilson). Brad Gooch, _City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara_ (Knopf). Carefully details NYC poet's homosexual affairs & refers only in passing to heterosexual ones; flagrantly homosexist. Lambda Book Award finalist. Charles Higham, _Howard Hughes: The Secret Life_ (Putnam's). The index of this aircraft/hotel/film magnate's bio lists 2 wives, 7 "homosexual lovers" (notably Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, Randolph Scott) & 23 "mistresses" (including Linda Darnell, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Hutton, Carole Lombard, Ida Lupino, Ginger Rogers, Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Fay Wray). Jean-Claude Baker and Chris Chase, _Josephine: The Hungry Heart_ (Random House). Bio of Josephine Baker, African-American entertainer who became a Parisian sex symbol in the '20s-'30s, had 5 husbands & numerous female & male lovers; co-authored by her ambivalent foster son. Margaret Forster, _Daphne du Maurier_ (Chatto & Windus). Includes the English author's marriage to "Boy" Browning & her relationships with Carol Reed, Henry Puxley, Ellen Doubleday & Gertrude Lawrence. Brett C. Millier, _Elizabeth Bishop: Life and the Memory of It_ (U of Calif. Press). The principal relationships in the poet's life were with women, but she had a few affairs with men as well. James Broughton, _Coming Unbuttoned: A Memoir_ (City Lights). Calif. filmmaker & poet tells of his friendships with Robert Duncan, Alan Watts, Stan Brakhage & others & his marriages with Suzanna Hart (1962-76) & Joel Singer (1976- ). Graham McCann, _Rebel Males: Clift, Brando, and Dean_ (Rutgers UP). Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando & James Dean "were, without doubt, the three most influential (and probably the most gifted) male movie stars of the 1950s.... [They], despite their individual differences, combined to form the new sexual trinity, subverting the traditional masculine solidarity of their predecessors." All were bisexually active. Recommended. Joyce Wadler, _Liaison_ (Bantam Books). French civil servant Bernard Boursicot, a bi man, is seduced into espionage by beautiful Shi Pei Pu, a bi male whom BB believes to be a woman & mother of his son; stranger-than-fiction originals of _M. Butterfly_. Recommended. Christopher Andersen, _Jagger Unauthorized_ (Delacorte). What do Chrissie Shrimpton, Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Rudolf Nureyev & Allen Ginsberg have in common? Yes, says Andersen. _And Then I Met This Woman: Previously Married Women's Journeys into Lesbian Relationships_, ed. Barbara J. Cassingham & Sally M. O'Neil (Mother Courage). Nearly all 36 narrators identify as lesbians who happen to have married men for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with their own sexual preferences; several view bisexuality as a transitional phase in their "journeys" or as an alternative identity; only 3 clearly identify as bisexual. Fiction bi Women Alice Adams, _Almost Perfect_ (Knopf). Handsome, vain, superficial, irresponsible, alcoholic, bisexual Richard betrays love-besotted Stella with Eva & Andrew, but she gets over him. Pat Barker, _The Eye in the Door_ (Viking). In early 1918, 2 bi English officers recuperate from physical & psychic wounds as UK persecutes pacifists & homosexuals. _Guardian_ fiction prize winner; highly recommended. Sandra Bernhard, _Love, Love, and Love_ (HarperCollins). Episodic, discontinuous narrative by bi woman of various sexual/romantic encounters. Intelligent & well-written. Rita Mae Brown, _Venus Envy_ (Bantam). Believing herself to be dying, Frazier writes truth-telling letters to those close to her & changes several lives. Witty, entertaining, bi+ novel includes 4 bisexual mortals and 2 bi-identified deities. Highly recommended. Jackie Calhoun, _Friends and Lovers_ (Naiad). Woman-oriented romance in which Danny, a divorcee with a daughter, & her best friend Kara, married with 2 children, fall in love. Susan Taylor Chehak, _Dancing on Glass_ (Ticknor & Fields). Bader Von Vechten loves his wife, Katherine, & Lee, the teenage boy next door in 1960s Iowa. Compassionate, insightful & highly recommended. Stephanie Cowell, _Nicholas Cooke: Actor, Soldier, Physician, Priest_ (Norton). England 1592-1617: NC pursues various careers & lovers, including playwrights Christopher Marlowe (carnally) & Shakespeare (platonically) & his wife Susan. Well-researched & fluent but very High Church. Leslie Feinberg, _Stone Butch Blues_ (Firebrand). Transgendered, stone butch Jess Goldberg says: "What gets it for me is high femme.... It doesn't matter whether it's women or men--it's always high femme that pulls me by the waist and makes me sweat." Vivid novel about identity, with powerful message of understanding among l/t/g/b communities & of acceptance of erotic difference within them. Winner of ALA/GLTF Book Award; Lambda Book Award finalist; very highly recommended. Maria Flook, _Family Night_ (Pantheon). In a love/sex triangle an abusive bi male, Tracy, loses out to het stepsiblings Margaret & Cam. Bi element is submerged but significant. Beautifully written. Anne Rice, _Lasher_ (Knopf). Oncle Julien, Ancient Evelyn & Stella are bi in this sequel to _The Witching Hour_; in the central plot coven queen Rowan Mayfair flees the demon Lasher with their unusual child. Standard Rice fare. Cathleen Schine, _Rameau's Niece_ (Ticknor & Fields). Forgetful 18th-cent. scholar Margaret Nathan strays from her marriage in an earnest pursuit of libertinism, including an unsuccessful attempt to seduce her best friend Lily. Wonderful comedy. Starhawk, _The Fifth Sacred Thing_ (Bantam). In 2048 No. Calif. Paganist/eco-conscious/- multicultural/(pro)feminist bisexuals conduct pacific war against totalitarian/heterosexist invaders from the South. Lambda Book Award finalist; very readable, recommended. Wendy Wasserstein, _The Sisters Rosensweig_ (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). Pfeni R. loves Geoffrey, who believes "Love is love. Gender is merely spare parts." When he leaves her, Gorgeous R. asks, "Pfeni, when Geoffrey told you he missed men, what did you do?" & she replies, "I said I missed them, too." If you found this line funny, you'll love this play. Cheryl West, _Before It Hits Home_ (Dramatists Play Service). Powerful African-American family drama about acceptance; Wendal, a jazz saxophonist with AIDS, leaves his longtime female & male lovers on a final visit to his original home. Recommended. Kieran York, _Timber City Masks: A Royce Madison Mystery_ (Third Side). Both the murder victim & lesbian deputy sheriff RM's lover are bi. Fiction bi Men Stephen Birmingham, _Carriage Trade_ (Bantam). Beachread whodunit about murdered East Side dept. store magnate, Si Tarkington. His VP Tommy Bonham proposes marriage to Si's daughter Miranda but sleeps with his houseboy. Cyril Collard, _Savage Nights_ (Quartet). Trans. of _Les Nuits fauves_ (1989) in which 30-y-o man, HIV+ filmmaker, has affairs with Sammy, Laura & Jamel, & several other bi characters appear. Collard, a French writer, film director & actor, died from complications of AIDS in 1993; 72 hours later a film version of this autobiographical novel was awarded 4 Cesars. Recommended. Viktor V. Erofeyev, _Russian Beauty_ (Viking). Trans. of _Russkaia krasavitsa_ (1990). Stream-of-consciousness narrative by eponymous Irina Vladimirovna of her affairs/flirtations with male & female lovers & Russian Orthodoxy. Intelligent but sometimes tedious. William Finn & James Lapine, _Falsettos_ (Plume). Text of Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. Marvin leaves his wife & son for Whizzer but stays friendly with son, ex & her new husband; play ends with Whizzer's death from AIDS. Andrew M. Greeley, _Fall from Grace_ (Putnam). Brien Donahue is a wife-battering, alcoholic bisexual who wants to be a senator but is killed off just in time. Author is an RC priest: prurient, sanctimonious & homophobic. Joseph Hansen, _Living Upstairs_ (Dutton). Whodunit set in 1943 Hollywood in which appear 3 quite unexemplary bi men & at the end a very nice, nasty surprise. Greg Johnson, _Pagan Babies_ (Dutton). Traces the 30-year friendship of Janice & Clifford from East Texas to Atlanta: their affair, their sexual adventures with others, their competition over Jack, C's HIV-antibody test & more. Highly recommended. Neil Jordan, _A Neil Jordan Reader_ (Vintage). Includes filmscript of 1992 film _The Crying Game_, in which at least 1 male bisexual appears. Paul Kafka, _Love Enter_ (Houghton Mifflin). Novel of 4 American friends in Paris, 3 of them bi (1 formerly, 1 potentially, 1 very actively). Recommended. Tony Kushner, _Angels in America: Millennium Approaches_ (Theatre Communications Group). Mormon lawyer Joe turns gay & denies ever having had sexual feelings for his wife. Pulitzer Prize winner & Lambda Book Award finalist but needs Part 2. David Leavitt, _While England Sleeps_ (Viking). Based litigiously closely on Stephen Spender's much better memoir of the Spanish Civil War, _World within World_, this novel includes 2 minor bi female characters & as protagonist the bi-behavioral gay-man-who- thinks-he's-straight one expects from Leavitt. Patrick McGrath, _Dr. Haggard's Disease_ (Poseidon). In WW2 England physician Edward Haggard transfers with horrific results his obsession with his dead ex-lover to her Spitfire-pilot son. Carl Reiner, _All Kinds of Love_ (Carol Publishing Group). Fred & Sharon Cox's marriage is mercifully destroyed by their secret affairs with Hana, their Japanese-language tutor. Mildly entertaining. Vikram Seth, _A Suitable Boy_ (HarperCollins). Against backdrop of 1952-53 India, Seth depicts over 1348 pp. the intertwined affairs of 4 families, 3 Hindu, 1 Muslim. A major plot strand involves Maan Kapoor, younger son of a congressional minister, & Firoz Khan, son of Nawab Sahib of Baitar, friends & lovers but not coreligionists. Maan is obsessed with courtesan-singer Saaeda Bai Firozabadi, with whom he has a passionate affair; Firoz develops an infatuation with Saaeda's putative younger sister Tasneem. Highly recommended. Lucius Shepard, _The Golden_ (Mark V. Ziesing). Vampire murder mystery with 2 bi female vamps; bi+ & Rice-like but better written. Charlie Smith, _Chimney Rock_ (Henry Holt). Actor Will Blake as an adolescent discovers his mother in sex with his best friend (later lover) Veronica; later, his father loves & impregnates Will's wife. Ugly plot, brilliant writing. Highly recommended. Scott Turow, _Pleading Guilty_ (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Subplot involving narrator's bisexual ex-wife Nora is largely extrinsic to the enthralling, well-crafted story. This pamphlet (updated 19\n(yr/\n(mo/\n(dy) is published by the Bisexual Resource Center. You are welcome to reproduce and distribute it with your group's contact information at the bottom of this column. Please send a $10 donation for each flyer that is useful enough to you to reproduce, to support the publication of new literature. For more information and literature, write or call: Bisexual Resource Center (phone 617-338-9595) (email BRC@panix.com) POB 639, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140, USA. Local Contact Information: