IN ME AND MY HOUSE, Magdalena Zaborowska reconstructs and analyzes the last decade of James Baldwin’s life when he lived in St. Paul-de-Vence, a small village in the south of France.

[Chloe] Benjamin brings the reader full circle, to the very heart of life’s mysteries: What’s it all about? How should I live my life? In the end, The Immortalists becomes quite touching and unforgettable. It surprises you, as life itself often does.

THIS DETAILED BIOGRAPHY tells the life story of Alain Locke, one of the major forces behind the Harlem Renaissance. As a critic and public intellectual, he helped establish the careers of many black writers and artists.

            In My Ex-Life: A Novel, David Hedges is a fifty-something gay man, a successful college admissions consultant living in San Francisco, who helps spoiled children get into good schools. His boyfriend Soren has left him for an older man, a surgeon; he has become overweight; and his best friend Renata, a realtor, is trying to sell his ocean-view, under-market rental out from under him.

In Forbidden Lives, Norena Shopland cites this spirit of rebellion as an animating force in the lives of the many Welsh LGBT pioneers whose stories she has collected in her book.

[I] found The Last Word to be smoothly written. It was fun to observe someone with a vast catalogue of life experiences and the ability to turn them into witticisms. Reading this book, one can readily understand why Quentin Crisp was such a sought-after dinner guest.

COOKBOOKS by openly lesbian and gay authors have been published steadily over the decades, with Alice B. Toklas leading the charge. Many are fund-raising efforts for gay or lesbian organizations, while others are collections of recipes and reminiscences …

Amy Hoffman’s The Off Season moves along at a swift pace with short, titled chapters. P’town is brought to life with vivid descriptions of the town and its maritime surroundings.

Written in 1904, Hirschfeld presents a picture of gay and lesbian life in Berlin at the turn of the 20th century. We learn about the tea dances, hustlers, drag kings and queens, lesbian bars, cruising, campy humor and kitschy aesthetics, blackmailers, police raids, and gay ghettos.