Gilli again... but it should be the end of it, until he publishes a new book

Gillibran Brown, houseboy and sub to two remarkably patient men.  I finished all of his published works this past weekend, though I have yet to completely read all of his website diaries.  The boy is an incredible mass of emotions fighting through his traditional upbringing to make themselves known.  While I don't actually expect a pleasant tome, the next book of his memoirs should be interesting as it will deal with his mother's passing and how he dealt with her request to sing her father's favorite song at her funeral.  Both of these were foreshadowed in the last two volumes, as well as how he deal with the box of memories she gifted him on her last Christmas.  All of that creates an emotional minefield for someone whose emotions carry on at a heightened level anyway, so I am curious as to how him and his men handled the situation.  Either he has removed the actual events from his blog, or he never reported them there, but I am curious.

A friend of mine mentioned that over on Goodreads there is a group of folk who discuss whether Gillibran Brown is actually a real person, and to them I have no solid reply, but instead think that it doesn't really matter.  While Gore Vidal meant the comment as a slight to Anais Nin, I do think that if Gillibran Brown doesn't exist exactly as he portrays himself in his memoirs, then his memoirs are indeed his greatest bit of fiction.  The Gilli portrayed has so many qualms and tends to be straight-forward with the reader as to what is going on in his mind, that even if everything is not as presented, everything was certainly as interesting as presented.  A good friend of mine has the ability to present the most everyday sort of story in such a fashion that you laugh out loud, so Gilli having the same ability wouldn't surprise me.

The last full book, dealing with Christmas at Leo's, I really thought showed a side of Gilli we haven't seen much.  I really enjoyed the interaction with Pat, who for lack of a better description could be termed an aging or aged queen.  Gilli reached out, Pat reached back, and I hope Pat shows up as a support in the next book, though, if based on real life, there is no telling if that will happen.  Pat has the experience and respect of the others so that when he defends Gilli, they actually listen.  While Gilli can be over the top, Pat being a sympathetic ear, and someone who I think Gilli connected with was a nice change, since Gilli does seem to have issues with so many people, and, even more remarkable, was that Gilli reached out even when he thought he had been dismissed by Pat.  While I hope to read more about how Gilli dealt with all the impending horrible events in his life, I hope for a respite from all of that with Pat showing some support for him.  Anyway, that is how I want things to play out, but life isn't always like that, so who know how his memoir will play out until he releases it.

Gilliflowers, again.

I still have 25% of the book to finish, but one thing I do like about this book is how Gilli portrays his own fight against acceptance of his epilepsy and his partners' acceptance and work on mitigating and minimizing its impact.  I doubt anyone wants to admit they have a condition as potentially debilitating as epilepsy is becoming more active rather than less as they grow older, so I can't fault Gilli in his single minded pursuit that it isn't that big a deal.  Personally, I wouldn't like the fuss over it either, so I genuinely get his point.  One thing about this book is that it takes place over a short period of time, and, since I haven't finished it, I have yet to find out how that plays out.  What I do appreciate about this memoir is how he portrays his denial of the condition while his lover impose ever more restrictive conditions to try and minimize it.  He isn't on board and he is in denial, but he wants the relationship and he respects his partners enough to make a go of it, and while not always pleasant, his attempts give the reader some insight into what is in his mind.  No one wants to be an epileptic, and no one wants to be seen as a medical condition rather than a person, so I am really hoping Gilli makes peace at some point before the end of this book, though from friends, and from a bit of HS English Lit (can we say foreshadowing), I am guessing he will have more than just his epilepsy to work through before the end.

For the record, I did go over to Smashwords and pick up the rest of his books, since his website mentions them first, rather than Amazon.

Couldn't sleep (so I got out of bed and read)

I was having one of those nights, where I wanted to go to bed early, and if you work nights, 2:30am is early, but then couldn't sleep, and after an hour or so, I got up.  Chamomile tea seemed in order.  I did have a bit of it, and am on my second mug now, and I do think I will sleep fine once I finish it, and this entry.  Being all Trumped out, I opted not to focus my reading on current events, and instead picked up a semi-humorous memoir, "Gilliflowers," instead.  Gillibran Brown website can be found here.  Gilli is very effective at translating his smart mouth to the page, and as he calls out his more obvious exaggerations, it does serve as a device to make you wonder about the rest.  Anyway, being out of the UK and writing the books via blog means there are always new phrases I am not accustomed to, and he is kind enough to explain them.  There is also the fun of seeing words on the page that I haven't seen many recent writers use, during today's reading "slattern" caught my attention, and gave me a giggle.  Of course, what would comments about a book be without something political, and here is Gilli's view:

"I hate talking politics, especially with business people. The business class tends to view politics as something that should only relate to their personal profit margins, as opposed to something that should benefit mankind in general."

             - Brown, Gillibran (2012-09-19). Gilliflowers, Bonds of Affection, Memoirs of a Houseboy 2008 (p. 113). Houseboy Works/Gillibran Brown. Kindle Edition. 

Actually the author recently had a kerfuffle with readers when he voiced his displeasure with both Brexit and Trump -- just because he writes fiction, does not mean he isn't allowed his opinion, though some of his readers didn't appreciate him sharing that opinion.  Chiming in here, I am glad he expressed his opinion, as much as anything else because as a writer, writing is safe form of venting, so he doesn't keep all that frustration and feeling of impotence locked up.  It is why I share any number of articles regularly on Facebook & Google+, because it is a way to share my concerns.  His readers don't need to agree with him politically, just like you don't need to like the political beliefs of any actor or musician.  You might wish they would keep their trap shut, but don't call them names because they were sharing their views.

I think I will have to face that if I am actually going to write here regularly, this will be about what I am reading, whether poetry, gay fiction, or to some degree the news, though I will try to push that off to other social media.