Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler

March 28, 2026

Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler

Renata Bronstein lives in a Manhattan tenement with no particular goals other than finding a steady girlfriend, partying with her friends, and doing her best not to hold down a regular job. She sees ghosts, especially the ghosts of her friends who died of complications from AIDS. The only ghost she wants to see but never does is the ghost of her best friend and roommate Mark, who she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to.

A look at LGBTQ life in 1980s Manhattan, with the grief from losing friends far too young and the fear of AIDS lurking at every corner. The two main tropes are the AIDS crisis and Renata's ability to see ghosts, both of which have been done before and done better (see Lincoln in the Bardo about the dead being unable to rest; Angels in America, Borrowed Time, or And the Band Played On about AIDS in the 1980s). The ghostbusters here are not funny guys with slime guns but might be government contractors tasked with getting old, sick, poor, marginalized people out of their rent-controlled apartments so the areas can be gentrified. Possible triggers include addiction, violence against LGBTQ people, suicide, poverty, shame.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

New York LGBTQ club scene circa 1980

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

Thursday, June 20, 2019

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

The library celebrates various heritage months throughout the year, and I always try to read one or two book related to the heritage month theme.  This was one of my picks for Pride Month 2019.

A drag queen named Angel falls in love with a gay man named Hector.  Both rejected by their families, together they decide to create an all-Latino house for other gays and transgendered people from the Harlem ball scene.  The House of Xtravaganza will provide them with the home and support that a family would give them.  The characters are based on actual people and events from the 1980’s ball scene with the specter of AIDS on the horizon.  Heartbreaking in many ways - the people from the ballroom culture lived dangerous lives, often working in the sex trade, and many died young either from AIDS or violence.

If you want to know more about the Harlem ball culture, the documentary “Paris is Burning” is available on YouTube.  It's a little over an hour long and features a number of the characters from the book.