The Lambda Literary Book Club meets in the Community Meeting Room the last Tuesday of the month (except December) and highlights a heady mix of LGBT classics, unheralded gems, and new releases. August's selection is Boy Erased, a memoir by Garrard Conley, soon to be a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Library catalog summary: “The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality. When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to "cure" him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness. By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds.” Please inquire at the library for the availability of a copy.
For more information, please visit http://lacountylibrary.org/calendar/index.php?eID=130336
RSVP: No
COST: No
CONTACT: West Hollywood Library 310-652-5340