Wade Rouse (r) and his partner, Gary Author Wade Rouse is introspective and sarcastic, often in the same sentence

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Someone is sleeping in your bed. Okay, so it's not really your bed anymore. In fact, it's not even your home these days, but visiting the place where you grew up makes you remember your childhood. Everything is different through adult eyes—the rooms look so tiny!—even though it seems like nothing's changed.

But you did, the second you moved out.

You can click your heels together all you want, but can you ever really go home again? Read the new book At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream by Wade Rouse (Harmony), and you'll see.

When he was a little boy growing up in the Ozarks, Wade Rouse spent many happy hours sitting on a glider on a hill with his grandmother. There, she shared her wisdom, quoting a much-loved, bedraggled (and pilfered) copy of Walden by Thoreau.

Rouse says he couldn't get away from the country fast enough.

As soon as he could, he moved to the city, where Ikea and Starbucks were a quick drive away. He and his partner, Gary, practically lived at the gym and the tanning booth. Keeping up with fashion and celebrities and shopping were high priorities.

But something was missing.

Signs were pointing Rouse to a different place in his life. While on vacation to Saugatuck, Michigan, he found it.

Rouse and Gary never planned on moving, but the cottage was too perfect. It was perched on the edge of woods, near a farm with horses and another with blueberries. There was a to-die-for view of nature out back and a rusty pink trailer next door. Lake Michigan was a mile away. Who could resist?

In the new house, channeling Thoreau, wanting to write, and desperately looking for a New Wade, Rouse tried to live by 10 tenets that Walden's most famous resident embraced, modernized to fit a new century. But Michigan has snow—lots of it—and wild animals and germ-filled dirt and bare feet.   There are back-to-nature types there, and hunters and rednecks. And this stretch of Michigan lacked Ikea, well-stocked grocers, and a corner Starbucks.

How could a gay man from the city possibly thrive?

How could you not love a book that starts out with “There's a raccoon on my head”?

Author Wade Rouse is introspective and sarcastic, often in the same sentence—a writing style that's intimate yet hilarious. He paints a perfect picture of his surroundings and the people he lives near, exaggerating the ridiculous and noting the kindness. He's willing to poke fun at himself and Gary, their peccadilloes and their relationship, and their fears while becoming accustomed to new surroundings. And Rouse's memories of his parents, his childhood, and his beloved grandmother will melt your heart.

While I don't know that I'd give this book to Grandma, I really loved it and I think you will, too. Pick up At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream and see that you can always go home, as long as you clearly know where it is.

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old, and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.

Photo caption: Country living: Wade Rouse (r), author of At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream, and his partner, Gary, spend some quality time with their two dogs.
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ReadOut Shorts

Liquid Toffee and Musoetryz
by Ifa Bumi
Review by Joyce Gabiola

Ifa Bumi's poem “Yield” insists that you tie me to your imagination. This can be arousing, but then the reader is faced with a rather unoriginal image of unoriginal soaked panties. What's a girl to do—read on or take care of business herself? This gal read on. The poem titled “Thirsty Desires” contains the line: I want to cast myself beneath your naughty treats. This expression, I assume, exists to create excitement or convey indulgence. Instead, the phrase of “naughty treats” is simply distracting.

Although the Georgia music artist and writer's Liquid Toffee fails to incite, Bumi's Musoetry delivers. It is at once sexy and inviting. Two tracks in particular, “Making Out” and “Ruby,” resemble Madonna's breathy “Justify My Love.”   They are embraced in backbeats that excite the body to move. Enveloped with Bumi's silky spoken words, the CD is titillating and an absolute for your iTunes playlist titled “Tease Me, Spank Me, Feed Me Grapes.”

A new voice certainly exists in Liquid Toffee and Musoetry. Perhaps Bumi's “anxious fingers” will do something for you.
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Blue Boy
Rakesh Satyal
Kensington (kensingtonbooks.com)
Kiran is a young Indian boy growing up in Cleveland. An only son, he bears the mammoth social expectations of his family and his culture. His love of makeup, dolls, and the arts would make him a failure if it did not prove he is the reincarnation of Krishna. This deeply moving debut novel by Rakesh Satyal reminds us that when we are young and gay, “sometimes we are so consumed by the flame, burning so painfully in its heat, that we can't see the utter gorgeousness of the fire.” — Review: Angel Curtis

Object of Desire
William J. Mann
Kensington Books (kensingtonbooks.com)
Danny is having a midlife crisis. He still grieves the disappearance of his sister when they were teenagers, and he's not convinced that his partner of 20 years truly desires him. Enter Kelly, a stunningly handsome young man. Moving between three periods of Danny's life, there are moments of real emotional investment for the reader throughout. Not a life-changing piece of literature, but it's an excellent summer read for intelligent people. — Review: Neil Ellis Orts

Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude
Jonah Winter, illustrated by Calef Brown
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
(simon&Schuster.com)
Yes, really, this is a children's book about Gertrude Stein and her friends. Written in a style reminiscent of Stein and illustrated a la a young Picasso, this book makes the most difficult of American writers accessible to a new generation. Kudos to Jonah Winter and Calef Brown for a who-woulda-thunk-it hit. This is truly a book for the erudite child in all of us. — Review: A.C.

Drama Queers!
Frank Anthony Polito
Kensington Books ( kensingtonbooks.com )
In this sparkling follow-up to Band Fags, which saw closeted Jack and devil-may-care best friend Brad split up, we get Brad's account of their senior year at a high school in a Detroit suburb. It's a revolving door of crushes on cute guys, Top 40 hits that speak to Brad's heart, and secondary roles in school plays. Brad also does drag. And somebody dies. Ten discussion–group questions at the end signal that Drama Queers! is meant to instruct as well as entertain. — Review: Donalevan Maines

Postnationalism in Chicana/o Literature and Culture
Ellie D. Hernández
University of Texas Press (utexaspress.com)
Ellie Hernández gives the reader a new viewpoint on the interaction of feminism, the LGBT civil rights movement, and Chicana/o cultural endeavors. Written by a scholar for scholars, this book is not casual reading. It is, however, must reading for anyone who understands that national literature is usually expressed in male voices and who is looking for fresh perspectives on the Latina experience. — Review: A.C.

Between XX and YY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes
Gerald N. Callahan
Chicago Review Press (chicagoreviewpress.com)
Between XX and XY is a compromise of a book. Genetic variation is explained so that any literate layperson can understand it. A very few stories remind us of the struggles faced by the “intersexed.” Treatment options are alluded to just enough so one knows to go find other information. Although this book tries to be comprehensive, it instead offers the reader just “a cocktail party knowledge.” Go someplace else if you need in-depth information on any of the covered topics. — Review: A.C.

Oh the Things Mommies Do! What Could Be Better Than Having Two?
Crystal Tompkins, illustrations by Lindsey Evans
Oh the Things Mommies Do! Publishing (ohthethingsmommiesdo.com)
This vibrant, rhyming children's book drawn from the spirit of Heather Has Two Mommies is sure to draw the ire of fundamentalist nay-sayers who will likely rant that it threatens the sanctity of fatherhood. — Preview: Nancy Ford