Giovanni's Room | 
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Excellent, but I kept falling asleep while reading the beginning (still sick). I can‘t tell if I was bored or the start was slow or if I was just still too sick to read. Worth persevering for the ending.
An LGBTQIA classic published in 1956, about an American living in Paris coming to terms with his homosexuality. His girlfriend Hella is on an extended vacation to Spain, when he meets Giovanni.
#LGBTQBookBingo2024
#10beforetheend
pickThis was my first James Baldwin book, and I haven‘t been able to stop thinking about it. It was complex and poignant. I hung on to every word.
People can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.
pickFirst Baldwin and already one of my favorite reads this year!
The way Baldwin weaves the story between David and Giovanni is exquisite.
I read this on Kindle, borrowed from the library and I definitely need a physical copy for a reread and annotation.
So glad I have the rest of his backlist to enjoy.
Loved this!
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Current read…Library holds coming in strong in the past few days and I‘m not mad about it!
🌈 This June, our tribute goes to extraordinary LGBTQ+ authors breaking boundaries in literature.
Find out why their stories are essential for broadening perspectives and their representation is key to a more inclusive and empathetic world. 🤗
✨ Discover our take on the profound impact of queer voices in books and beyond: https://blog.getbookly.com/10-lgbtq-authors-to-celebrate-this-pride-month/
#lgbtq #lgbtqauthors #lgbtqbooks #readmore
pickSometimes you start a book knowing you‘re going end it thinking - I don‘t know how I waited so long to read this! And that was totally this book, BUT it also completely took me by surprise. I‘ve can‘t remember the last time I read something where you could pull out every third line as a standalone quote. (Maybe the last time I read Baldwin?) I kept thinking I‘m so glad I‘m not writing an essay on this, or my copy would look insane. #doublespin
pickWow, this book hit me real hard. I barely know what to say about it. It runs so deep, I can't really find the words to describe it. Some scene made me cringe, so did some words or dialogues. But in this story it's more than clear that those are the words and thoughts of the characters, not necessarily the author's, which made them even more real to me.
This book left me with a heavy feeling on my heart and soul.
#weirdwords #weirdwordwednesdays @CBee
I love this word! The closest equivalent we have in American English is “bum a smoke” which sounds offensive, and really only works for cigarettes.
I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life. #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl
Giovanni‘s Room by James Baldwin!
I've been pining for this book to be adapted into a movie ever since I first read it. The knowledge of a secret screenplay squirrelled away somewhere in a London flat penned by Baldwin himself only made the notion more desirous.
Forever holding out hope!
pickA bold story to have been written in the mid 1950s. It‘s a tale of homosexual love that, pressed by the times in which it plays out and ideas of masculinity that are held at the core, lead to the destruction of two lives with significant consequences. I wanted to love it more but sadly I didn‘t, but I think it‘s a courageous work that deserves to be widely read. So far though, I prefer Baldwin‘s non fiction work more.
pick#aty24 #fitssuggestionthatdidntmakefinallist
#52bookclub24 #apostropheintitle #februaryminichallenge #authorborninleapyear
@BarbaraBB @Kristy_K @LaraReads @KarenUK @Hooked_on_books @BarkingMadRead @brittanyreads @Magpiegem @BookBelle84 @Larkken @julesG @Deblovestoread @MidnightBookListener @Librarybelle @triplem80 @Tove_Reads @Read4life @Bluebird @eeclayton @hissingpotatoes @Book_Lover95 @TheAromaofBooks @kwmg40 @Crazeedi
Cold night planted on the couch…hubby‘s feet near fireplace and me ➡️ reading!😊
I really need to buy myself a copy of this #novella It seems like every time I decide to borrow it there‘s a 6 month wait time, and then life distracts me, so I actually have yet to read this masterpiece… #HumbleHarvest @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Gay flirting disguised as incisive commentary on French society disguised as a dick joke. GodDAMN, James Baldwin.
God, Baldwin could write. He could especially write gay flirting disguised as incisive criticism of American society disguised as gay flirting.
pickgorgeous yet so shattering. not in the sense you‘re life is changed completely and you‘re sobbing shattering but shattering like i just became david and left the one i loved
“…love him and let him love you. do you think anything else under heaven really matters?”
8-26-23: Just got back from roaming around my city with my daughter visiting all the participating bookstores in the first annual Philly Book Crawl including the country‘s oldest LGBTQ bookstore, Giovannis Room. It was a magical day! Love having reasons to buy books! 📖📚💖
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #Booknotes
Giovanni's Room needs French music of course, I have been in love with Barbara Pravi since I saw her in the 2021 Eurovision. Her Le jour se lève song fits the feel of this Baldwin read, it is all about kissing, and dreaming of kissing, and has a bit of a melancholic piano feel.
"He smiled, 'Why, you will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble. As long as you stay here, you can always think: One day I will go home' He played with my thumb and grinned.
'Beautiful logic, ' I said. ' You mean I have a home to go to as long as I don't go there?'"
#FirstlineFriday @ShyBookOwl
“I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life.“
😍 😍 😍 😍
Really wonderful feature in NYT with several queer writers, including Roxanne Gay, reflecting on, commenting on, the most influential queer writers of the last several decades. Some writers I had not heard of. And some phenomenal portraits and photographs included in this feature. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/t-magazine/queer-postwar-books-plays-poems.ht...
pickAmazing. Reminder that we can't run from ourselves/can't escape our minds
Unfortunately, my copy got ruined in the rain.
pickI finished this on the treadmill this morning and I will be thinking about Giovanni and David for a long time. It‘s heartbreaking and yet beautiful. But I wish I had read it instead of listening. This narrator couldn‘t speak French and butchered the name Guillaume and even the word “monsieur!” But the book made it worth putting up with that.
#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations Day 19 Fiction
Baldwin. Baldwin! I am constantly in awe of Baldwin. His intelligence and ability to relate it into gorgeous earth shattering stories is unmatched. This atmospheric novel set in Paris is a masterpiece. But it also is a slim accessible read. Full of love and sorrow, it is truly worth all the praise.
Book bingo reads 2 down 7 to go for two lines 😂cancel the house 🏡 work call in sick to work and just read ! 🤓😂 happy Monday #bookspinbingo #doublespin #februaryreads
pickThis was incredible. Baldwin conveys so much about humanity, shame, pain, love, and hatred in this story. The writing is open, honest, raw, and so very human. I am in awe. Definitely a new favorite. I cannot wait to discuss this at my next LGBT+ book club meeting at the end of this month!
#lgtbq #queerlit
I recently joined a newly formed LGBTQ+ book club in South Carolina and today we found out this is the first book we‘re reading. It‘s my first ever in-person book club and I am hopeful that it will be a good experience.
#bookclub #lgbtq #southcarolina
My new favorite Baldwin book and probably going to stay in my top 10 reads of the year. This is about a man struggling with his sexuality and relationships as an American in Paris. It‘s heartbreaking and beautiful.
pickAgain, possibly in my top 5 favorites of 2022. This book blew me away. Also, I need to come up with new superlatives. Anyway, I only regret not reading this sooner.
#12Booksof2022 @Andrew65
2022 has been a rather marvellous book year for me!
I've discovered new favourite authors. Unearthed book series that have become lifelong obsessions. And one cannot forget the stand-alones that have found a permanent home in my heart.
⬆️ These were my absolute favourites ⬆️
1: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.
2: Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez.
3: Into This River I Drown by TJ Klune.
pickHave been reading this as a buddy read with my son and wow it was wonderful. Such beautiful prose, brilliantly written characters and a hard hitting story.
This one is definitely going into my all time favourites list
5 ⭐️
pickA short story brilliantly narrated. David‘s efforts to escape both the morality of his American upbringing and his own contradictory desires play out in the small and suffocating atmosphere of Giovanni‘s room. 9/10
#Alphabetgame #LetterG @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Baldwin again. He had many sides - angry and brilliant and provocative - or here, beautiful and elegant. A favorite all-time for me.
Other G‘s: Goodbye to a River by John Graves (for rare tx sanity). The slow and thoughtful Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. And two audio surprises: The Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America-Stacy Schiff & The Greater Journey-David McCullough
Finally got around to reading James Baldwin. Really looking forward to exploring more of his writing.
Fascinating essay by Colm Toíbín, fyi @Graywacke
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n18/colm-toibin/the-last-witness
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/01/where-to-start-with-james-baldwin
With Giovanni‘s Room, I‘ve completed the 2021 #lgbtqbookbingo (begun this year after I finished the 2022 board…) @Kenyazero
pickFor Pride month I picked this classic which I had never read. A moving examination of repression, internalized homophobia and the resulting consequences in 1950‘s Paris.
pickEverything I said about Greek tragedies giving me nightmares applies to this: it was my "bedtime book" & it was the stupidest choice; it wrecked my sleep. Though a slim novel, I dragged it out over 10 days. It's a hard book not because of its prose, which is beautiful, or its plot, which is straightforward, but because of what it contains: shame, rage, denial, anguish; the stuff that is the bedrock of toxic masculinity & (internalised) homophobia.
Sorry to break the rules. I neglected day9 #Pub of #SavvySettings because I couldn't think of anything -- then it hit me- Giovanni's Room - the book that established Baldwin's reputation as a great American writer overnight! While his classic Go Tell It On the Mountain. is another tough reckoning with #Church, Day21 Brilliant stylist. Powerful emotions. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickA tragic love story to rival Shakespeare's Romeo and Juilet.
James Baldwin has composed yet another masterpiece.
When David, a rudderless American, collides with Giovanni, a grief-stricken, vulnerable bartender hiding behind a vivacious bravado, they embark on a journey of love and lust and hate, until one really appreciates how closely all of those impassioned feelings are related.
The prose is a breath-taking feat of vehemence and observation.
so-soThis isn‘t a book about a man confused of his sexuality, this is a book about how self-hatred and self-loathing can destroy the lives of people around you. This is about a man who is selfish and who does not take accountability for his actions or have any consideration for the feelings of people around him.
A lot of people pity for David but he is the enemy.
so-soSet in 1950s Paris, a gay man struggles with his sexuality while falling in love with another man. Even though he is engaged, David, while his fiancée is away on a trip meets a bartender, Giovanni, and continues their affair in Giovannis room until his fiancée returns. This book deals heavily with the mental struggle of accepting yourself as queer, especially at a time when gender roles were so heavily enforced.
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