Read This! "My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them" - Edited by Michael Montlack

Just in time for Harrisburg's Pride Fest, we're talking divas all week! And what better way to start out the week with a review of the brand new book that inspired the theme, My Diva.

Gay men and divas go back as far as pop culture history. From Billie Holiday's male assistant who would borrow her furs and clothes for a night out on the town to Lady Gaga's massive gay following, gay men love women who are larger than life. But My Diva covers more than the "Liza-Judy-Barbra-Bette, these are names we shan't forget" gaggle of Divas/Goddesses/Icons. In fact, Judy Garland and Barbra Striesand don't even get an entry, instead the focus is on the ladies with whom the authors felt a personal connection with. Bjork, Nina Simone and Sade take their place, as well as authors like Virgina Wolfe and chefs like Julia Child. There is more to being a diva than sequins and hysterics.

We hear the memories of a little boy locking himself away from his troubles with Bewitched reruns in Richard Blanco's ode to Endora. We identify with the heartbreak that leads Patrick Letellier to draw strength from Queen Elizabeth I. While we may not know the same cultural circumstances that lead Kenji Oshima to idealize Margaret Cho, we get a better glimpse at the childhood of a young Asian gay man.

And some of the classic divas do stroll in: Cher, Liz, Miss Ross. But no one descends into yippy fangirling. These real men found a muse, a mother figure or a heroine in the women whose varying degrees of fame don't distract from the devotion and worship of their divas. Some have personal connections to the ladies they love, others have only seen them breifly, and many only know them through the magic of the page, radio or screen. Fictional charactors can be divas, too. Wonder Woman, Princess Leia and Auntie Mame each inspire without being real.

Each entry is but a few pages, making My Diva a swift and breezy read. Even though it's not a paperback, I'd even recommend it as a beach read. Because of the shortness of the stories, when you hit a strangely paced bit like the artsy Anna Moffo bit, you'll get to another sweet, funny, poignant or bittersweet tale of a man and his diva. 65 divas, 65 men who love them. What else do you need?