Review\nNathan Burgoine Queer Culture Can only Come from Sharing Queer Stories June 14, 2015 It's pretty rare I step into the world ofnonfiction. When I do, I generally read biographies, and try to readbiographies about people whose lives follow lines very different from my own (and I try doubly hard to find biographies about people whosevoices aren't as often heard). It's not that I don't find nonfictionenthralling, it's actually quite the opposite - the reality ofnonfiction makes it hit me all the harder. 
Case in point, Ipurchased The Up Stairs Lounge Arson by Clayton Delery-Edwards and I aminching my way through it because it disturbs me so. It is importanthistory. It's brilliantly written. It's heart-crushing. 
So, if you wonder why I rarely talk nonfiction, that's the answer. 
That said, nonfiction can also bring joys. 
Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time, by Elisa Rolleis one of those joys. I'm willing to bet that if you're an LGBT readerand you think you don't know who Elisa Rolle is, you actually do -chances are someone in the LGBT world has linked to one of her reviewsabout their work. In the interest of full disclosure, I've been on thelucky receiving end of that honour. Rolle's reviews are complete,honest, and - even when critical - provide a reader with enoughinformation to know whether or not the book is something for them. She's a force for awareness in the LGBT literary world, and we're the richerfor having her. 
This book is a collection of true stories aboutLGBT relationships spanning back from Alexander the Great and thepurported love he shared with Hephaestion to relationships that began in 2012. Each page is a couple, telling of their meeting (if known), theprogression of their romance (again, what details might be found), andtheir ultimate ends. 
Organized as it is in a chronological sense, something happens as you page your way through these stories - you find a continuum. 
Now, I've said this over and over, but one of thethings about being a queer is that you don't inherit a queer culturallineage from your biological family. Those who have come before arealmost surely strangers to you. It is quite likely you know nothing ofqueer history (because, if we're honest, it's just not taught in anymainstream way). The individual stories that make up queer culture areout there - yes - but that's exactly it: they're out there. A brand newqueer kid has to go looking. 
Books like this are invaluable. As I read the stories, I found myself moving through eras, seeing - achingly slowly - the progression queer culture has made, the gains and lossesand victories and pain. Near the end of the collection, entries are full of queer couples marrying after decades of being together without thatright. It is a hopeful collection. 
We have to share our stories.It's the only way we'll continue to have our culture, this strange andwonderful queer culture that is made of individuals that begin in somany different places. Every single love story in this collection,whether joyful, painful, or ongoing, is a story worth knowing, andtelling, and celebrating.\nJim Provenzano Epic LGBT, day by day February 16, 2015 Elisa Rolle, the prolific book review andbiographyblogger, has wisely collected hundreds of her short onlineessays on the lives and loves of notable LGBT authors, artists,musicians and more,from historical figures back to the 17th century tocontemporaryauthors, a few of whom are my own colleagues and neighbors. 
What an inspiration to learn a bit about so many couples, whose lives shaped art and culture for centuries. 
What's also amazing is how thorough Rolle's list is, along with photosonnearly every page. 'Days of Love' thoroughly makes the caseforvisualizing and remembering the many LGBT artists from manycountries,each of whom shaped societies and cultures\nA new book chronicling 2,000 years of same-sex love stories, from Alexander the Great to the latest Literary Award winner, makes the pe

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time

Politics & Social Sciences

Rolle, Elisa

Social Sciences

Blurb

A new book chronicling 2,000 years of same-sex love stories, from Alexander the Great to the latest Literary Award winner, makes the perfect Valentine's Day gift. Days of Love, created and Edited by Elisa Rolle, makes inspiring reading and lays to rest the myth that LGBT couples are not capable of sustaining life-long relationships. Packed full of beautiful photos and illustrations it lovingly features the personal stories of LGBT couples from the dawn of history to the present day. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of the families they have started together. Days of Love is also a great source of LGBT trivia and stories that have all-too-often been written out of history. For example, did you know that Sir Isaac Newton, who laid the foundation for modern physics, may have had a relationship with a Swiss mathematician, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier? That the British author of 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke had a 13-year partnership with a male Sri Lankan teenager, and they are buried together? This is only a fraction of the fascinating facts that you can discover. What comes across is an alternative cultural history of LGBT people. As we celebrate growing social acceptability and the increasing introduction same-sex marriage, we are reminded that many people past and present paved the way for our civil rights, not the least of which is the right to love whoever we want. Elisa Rolle explains in the introduction to Days of Love why she decided to compile this book: "I have always liked love stories, and to me, even if you only spent one day in blissful happiness, then it was a love story. I see the following pages like a family photo album, the enlarged LGBT family sharing their memories: you will read about couples who managed to stay together for more than 70 years, but also those who were able to have only some days of happiness."

History

Queer Places: Eastern Time Zone (New York - 10300 to 11999): Retracing the steps of LGBTQ people around the world

Travel

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