Only This Beautiful Moment
Only This Beautiful Moment

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher: Univ. of Queensland Press

Published: 2023-05-30

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0702268070

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2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself. 1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country' s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse— he' s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed. 1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he' s thrust into has a dark side. Bobby is forced to hide his sexuality for fear of losing everything.Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.

Like a Love Story
Like a Love Story

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0062839381

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Stonewall Honor Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book of All Time "A book for warriors, divas, artists, queens, individuals, activists, trend setters, and anyone searching for the courage to be themselves.”—Mackenzi Lee, New York Times bestselling author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. He’ll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won’t break Judy’s heart—and destroy the most meaningful friendship he’s ever known. This is a bighearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds.

The Authentics
The Authentics

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-08-08

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0062486683

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The Authentics is a fresh, funny, and insightful novel about culture, love, and family—the kind we are born into and the ones we create. Daria Esfandyar is Iranian-American and proud of her heritage, unlike some of the “Nose Jobs” in the clique led by her former best friend, Heidi Javadi. Daria and her friends call themselves the Authentics, because they pride themselves on always keeping it real. But in the course of researching a school project, Daria learns something shocking about her past, which launches her on a journey of self-discovery. It seems everyone is keeping secrets. And it’s getting harder to know who she even is any longer. With infighting among the Authentics, her mother planning an over-the-top sweet sixteen party, and a romance that should be totally off limits, Daria doesn’t have time for this identity crisis. As everything in her life is spinning out of control—can she figure out how to stay true to herself?

The Chandler Legacies
The Chandler Legacies

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2022-02-15

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0063039346

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From the Stonewall Honor–winning author of Like a Love Story comes a revelatory novel about the enclosed world of privilege and silence at an elite boarding school and the unlikely group of friends who dare to challenge the status quo through their writing. Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, Kathleen Glasgow, and Jandy Nelson, with crossover appeal for readers of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep. Beth Kramer is a “townie” who returns to her sophomore year after having endured a year of tension with her roommate, Sarah. But Sarah Brunson knows there’s more to that story. Amanda Priya “Spence” Spencer is the privileged daughter of NYC elites, who is reeling from the realization that her family name shielded her from the same fate as Sarah. Ramin Golafshar arrives at Chandler as a transfer student to escape the dangers of being gay in Iran, only to suffer brutal hazing under the guise of tradition in the boys’ dorms. And Freddy Bello is the senior who’s no longer sure of his future but knows he has to stand up to his friends after what happened to Ramin. At Chandler, the elite boarding school, these five teens are brought together in the Circle, a coveted writing group where life-changing friendships are born—and secrets are revealed. Their professor tells them to write their truths. But is the truth enough to change the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler? And can their friendship survive the fallout?

Ohio
Ohio

Author: Stephen Markley

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-08-21

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 1501174495

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“Extraordinary...beautifully precise...[an] earnestly ambitious debut.” —The New York Times Book Review “A wild, angry, and devastating masterpiece of a book.” —NPR “[A] descendent of the Dickensian ‘social novel’ by way of Jonathan Franzen: epic fiction that lays bare contemporary culture clashes, showing us who we are and how we got here.” —O, The Oprah Magazine “A book that has stayed with me ever since I put it down.” —Seth Meyers, host of Late Night with Seth Meyers One sweltering night in 2013, four former high school classmates converge on their hometown in northeastern Ohio. There’s Bill Ashcraft, a passionate, drug-abusing young activist whose flailing ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to post-BP New Orleans, and now back home with a mysterious package strapped to the undercarriage of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting her family and the mother of her best friend and first love, whose disappearance spurs the mystery at the heart of the novel; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he’s tried desperately to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the washed-up captain of the football team triggers the novel’s shocking climax. Set over the course of a single evening, Ohio toggles between the perspectives of these unforgettable characters as they unearth dark secrets, revisit old regrets and uncover—and compound—bitter betrayals. Before the evening is through, these narratives converge masterfully to reveal a mystery so dark and shocking it will take your breath away.

The Walk-In Closet
The Walk-In Closet

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher:

Published: 2014-05-21

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780615988689

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2015 Lambda Literary Award Nominee, Best LGBT Debut 2015 Lambda Literary Award Nominee, Best LGBT Debut Winner in the "Gay and Lesbian Fiction" category of the 2014 International Book Awards Finalist in the Best Multicultural Fiction Category at the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards "Absorbing entertainment. I walked into Nazemian's walk-in closet and didn't want to walk out." Kelly Oxford, author of Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar "Absolutely engrossing read from page one- Abdi Nazemian has painted a world so vivid and real that even if you know nothing of 'Tehrangeles', by the end you feel as if you are a part it. I simply COULD NOT put this book down! " Busy Philipps "At once wickedly funny and devastatingly moving, The Walk-In Closet is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Nazemian surprises with every turn he takes, telling a story that vividly illustrates the price of living in a closet." Chaz Bono, author of Family Outing, The End of Innocence and Transition "I relished every moment of this warm, funny, brutally engaging novel. Abdi Nazemian's Los Angeles is both uncannily familiar and entirely foreign. Put this in the canon of LA literature: Nazemian has written a side of Los Angeles prevalent in real life but rarely seen in fiction." Katherine Taylor, author of Rules for Saying Goodbye "Ladies: If you like Shahs of Sunset you'll love The Walk-In Closet. Abdi Nazemian shines a white hot, entertaining spotlight on the ins and outs of Tehrangeles. Abdi will get your inner Persian princess purring. Curl up and enjoy this fabulous debut!" -- Jessica Bendinger, author of The Seven Rays, screenwriter of Bring it On and Sex and the City "The Walk-In Closet is a contemporary fable of love, loss and redemption, set between cultures and between the sexes. Written at a spanking pace, with humor, suspense and a heart, it captures the voice of a generation and paves the way to a new genre of literary fiction." Lila Azam Zanganeh, author of The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness Kara Walker has never found much glamour in her own life, especially not when compared to the life of her best friend Bobby Ebadi. Bobby, along with his sophisticated parents Leila and Hossein, is everything Kara always wanted to be. The trio provides the perfect antidote to what Kara views as the more mundane problems of her girlfriends and her divorced parents. And so when the Ebadis assume that Kara is Bobby's girlfriend, she willingly steps into the role. She enjoys the perks of life in this closet, not only Leila's designer hand-me-downs and free rent, but also the excitement of living life as an Ebadi. As Kara's 30th birthday approaches, Leila and Hossein up the pressure. They are ready for Kara to assume the mantle of the next Mrs. Ebadi, and Bobby seems prepared to give them what they want: the illusion of a traditional home and grandchildren. How far will Kara be willing to go? And will she be willing to pull the Persian rug out from under them when she discovers that her own secret is just one of many lurking inside the Ebadi closet?

A Little Life
A Little Life

Author: Hanya Yanagihara

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2016-01-26

Total Pages: 833

ISBN-13: 0804172706

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Author: Ocean Vuong

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-06-01

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0525562044

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The instant New York Times Bestseller • Nominated for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction “A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years. Named a Best Book of the Year by: GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME, Esquire, The Washington Post, Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine and more!

Sometimes I Lie
Sometimes I Lie

Author: Alice Feeney

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2018-03-13

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1250144833

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My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

Only A Moment Ago
Only A Moment Ago

Author: Wanita Humphrey

Publisher: Lagan Press

Published: 2021-05-25

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9781633736979

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Defined by love. Denied by time. In the month of June, 1952, Eudora Winningham leaves the sticky summer heat of Booneville, Mississippi, and embarks upon the great adventure of flying to France to spend time in Provence. The expedition in itself is almost taboo for a genteel southern lady, but that's not the most unique thing about this particular holiday. While trespassing on his land to find the perfect spot to capture the beautiful landscape onto canvas, Eudora meets Alain Philidor... and falls in love. Eudora can tell from the start that Alain is a special man, and the farmhouse he has so lovingly restored an equally special place, but she doesn't learn just how special until it's too late. For while she exists in the world where calendars mark the year as 1952, Alain is of a different place and time altogether-the world of 2006. Can they bridge this chasm of time, or will the years between them deny their love forever? A hauntingly beautiful tale of love found and love lost, Only a Moment Ago chronicles the deeply personal struggle of heartbreak with tenderness and dignity. Debut author Wanita Humphrey captures perfectly the anguish, the confusion, the soul-rending feelings of betrayal and loneliness we've all felt at the end of the affair, yet still manages to deliver a message of hope and affirmation in even the most unimaginable of circumstances.