Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Other Trials from My Queer Life [Paperback]

Michael Thomas Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

An irreverent, insightful, and wickedly funny humor collection that shows just how queer life really is.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The short humorous essay is a form that few writers can master. Sure, pithy and funny are easy enough (if you are, in fact, pithy and funny), but the failings of most humorous essays come from a lack of seriousness. Humor is most effective when the writing articulates a clear, thoughtful point of view. The essays in Michael Thomas Ford's Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me & Other Trials from My Queer Life are perfect models of the form. Ford, who writes a syndicated column titled "My Queer Life," can muse on anything from Martha Stewart's manias to his devotion to Alec Baldwin's chest, from the elusive gay gene to right-wing Fundamentalist Christianity (in which he was raised), and he manages to make us laugh and sometimes even cry. His ironic view of a world that keeps threatening to be wonderful but never quite succeeds dovetails perfectly with his desire for world peace, freedom for gay people, and better sex. Witty, funny, and surprisingly moving, Michael Thomas Ford explains life to us and it actually begins to make sense.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555834310
• ISBN-13: 978-1555834319
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. As a writer for young adults he is the author of Suicide Notes and Z (forthcoming in 2010), and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. In 2009 he signed a 3-book deal with Random House for a series featuring Jane Austen as a modern-day vampire. The first book in the series, Jane Bites Back, will be published in January, 2010. His work has been nominated for 11 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and twice for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for his short story "Night of the Werepuss").

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really funny!, November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Other Trials from My Queer Life (Paperback)

I bought this book online despite the reviews of it being shallow and only somewhat funny. In reality it was hysterical... I rarely laugh out loud when reading books but this had me laughing all the time. I reccomend it to everyone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very witty. Side-splitting humor, March 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Other Trials from My Queer Life (Paperback)

This is a collection of short stories on the trials of being gay and the humor associated with it. Ford is amazing at bringing clarity to what gay people would love to say to their staright friends, family and..... on gay life...you know, the sister who has a son who LOVES show tunes at 10 and she just doesn't get it!

The "Marthaholic" (Martha Stewart addict) had me crying-I was laughing so hard and so did "I hate Shopping" where that author and a female friend almost kill each other trying to get a Fireman to notice one of them.

Good "Commute/Lunch time" reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and thoughtful essays, July 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Other Trials from My Queer Life (Paperback)

This collection of essays made me smile, laugh, and think. Diverse topics range from the light (butching it up at Home Depot, competing with a straight girlfriend for the attention of a fireman) to the serious (putting kids with the "gay gene" on the short school bus, saving the heathen kids from hell). Ford's observations don't always lead to out-and-out belly laughs (although there are a handful of those), but they will inspire knowing grins and comfortable chuckles over and over again. Ford is a talented and polished writer whose prose seems easy, almost too easy, for the wise and thoughtful observations it contains. I especially liked his treatment of the difference between gay men and lesbians ("the girls are still waiting for the boys to catch up"), his look back at his odd Aunt Betty and her longtime "friend" Doreen, and his bust-a-gut funny romp through an online chatroom. Most appealing to gay men because so many of their experiences are similar, these essays will appeal to many others who can appreciate everyday experience written about with a gay sensibility.