Recommendations based on "Dearest Milton James"

Arthur Drams works for a secret government security agency, but all he really does is spend his days in a cubical writing reports no one reads. After getting another “lateral promotion” by a supervisor who barely remembers his name, it’s suggested that Arthur try to ‘make friends’ and ‘get noticed’ in order to move up the ladder. It’s like high school all over again: his attempts to be friendly come across as awkward and creepy, and no one wants to sit at the same table with him at lunch. In a last-ditch attempt to be seen as friendly and outgoing, he decides to make friends with The Alien, aka Agent Martin Grove, known for his strange eating habits, unusual reading choices, and the fact that no one has spoken to him in three years.Starting with a short, surprisingly interesting conversation on sociology books, Arthur slowly begins to chip away at The Alien’s walls using home-cooked meals to lure the secretive agent out of his abrasive shell. Except Martin just might be something closer to an actual secret agent than paper-pusher Arthur is, and it might be more than hearts at risk when something more than friendship begins to develop.Please note this book has a Heat Rating of zero.

Random Family tells the American outlaw saga lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. With an immediacy made possible only after ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses the reader in the mind-boggling intricacies of the little-known ghetto world. She charts the tumultuous cycle of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.Two romances thread through Random Family: the sexually charismatic nineteen-year-old Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and fourteen-year-old Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar, an aspiring thug. Fleeing from family problems, the young couples try to outrun their destinies. Chauffeurs whisk them to getaways in the Poconos and to nightclubs. They cruise the streets in Lamborghinis and customized James Bond cars. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between life and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George's business activities; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty. Together, then apart, the teenagers make family where they find it. Girls look for excitement and find trouble; boys, searching for adventure, join crews and prison gangs. Coco moves upstate to dodge the hazards of the Bronx; Jessica seeks solace in romance. Both find that love is the only place to go.A gifted prose stylist and a profoundly compassionate observer, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc has slipped behind the cold statistics and sensationalism surrounding inner-city life and come back with a riveting, haunting, and true urban soap opera that reveals the clenched grip of the streets. Random Family is a compulsive read and an important journalistic achievement, sure to take its place beside the classics of the genre.

THE #1 BLACKBOARD BESTSELLERMeet Jazmine Deems: she's twenty-six, steppin' out from under her overprotective preacher father, and determined to escape the streets of South Central and realize her dream of making it in the music business.Meet X-Man: he's embroiled in the violence of the streets, and seems destined for a life spent hangin' with his homies -- until his talent as a tapper attracts the attention of a big-lime record producer.Fate brings Jazmine and X-Man together as promising young stars for the same record company. They thrive on the excitement of their new careers and passionate love, until a power-hungry executive pits them against each other, jeopardizing both their musical careers and romantic future. Follow Jazmine and X-man as they discover that with the right mix of love and determination, it doesn't matter where you're from, it's where you're at.

From hot new talent Jordan Sonnenblick, a "Tuesdays with Morrie" for teens.16-year-old Alex decides to get even. His parents are separated, his father is dating his former third-grade teacher, and being 16 isn't easy, especially when it comes to girls. Instead of revenge though, Alex ends up in trouble with the law and is ordered to do community service at a senior center where he is assigned to Solomon Lewis, a "difficult" senior with a lot of gusto, advice for Alex, and a puzzling (yet colorful) Yiddish vocabulary. Eventually, the pair learn to deal with their past and each other in ways that are humorous, entertaining, and life changing.

True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, is a hilarious, twisted road movie about which Interview raved, "A pop-crazy, instant B classic with A clout." Alabama, a hooker, and Clarence, a comic-book store clerk, fall in love and hit the road in a purple Cadillac. They are going to Los Angeles to start a new life -- with a suitcase full of cocaine accidentally stolen from Alabama's defunct ex-pimp. Guided by the spirit of Elvis, Clarence attempts to sell the coke to a top Hollywood director, putting the young lovers in the middle of a standoff between the narcs and the Sicilian gangsters who rightfully own the cocaine. This publication of Tarantino's first screenplay, written when he was still a video-store clerk, contains the original ending and Tarantino's "answers first, questions later" structure, both of which were altered by Scott.

From the award-winning author of George, the story of a boy named Rick who needs to explore his own identity apart from his jerk of a best friend. Rick's never questioned much. He's gone along with his best friend Jeff even when Jeff's acted like a bully and a jerk. He's let his father joke with him about which hot girls he might want to date even though that kind of talk always makes him uncomfortable. And he hasn't given his own identity much thought, because everyone else around him seemed to have figured it out. But now Rick's gotten to middle school, and new doors are opening. One of them leads to the school's Rainbow Spectrum club, where kids of many genders and identities congregate, including Melissa, the girl who sits in front of Rick in class and seems to have her life together. Rick wants his own life to be that ... understood. Even if it means breaking some old friendships and making some new ones. As they did in their groundbreaking novel George, in Rick, award-winning author Alex Gino explores what it means to search for your own place in the world ... and all the steps you and the people around you need to take in order to get where you need to be.

When you are raised to believe that the person you are is unacceptable, you hide. And you stay hidden. If you are X-Men and Dance Academy star Tim Pocock, you become an expert at hiding - until you can't anymore. Tim Pocock was a born performer. At ten, he took to the stage as a professional opera singer. At twenty-two, he launched his acting career in the blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine and went on to star in the beloved series Dance Academy. But Tim's biggest role was one he never auditioned for - the role he played at home as a devout, straight son. Raised in a conservative Catholic family and attending a school with links to Opus Dei, Tim always knew that being gay was out of the question. He was encouraged to become a priest and experienced gay conversion therapy to have his sexuality hypnotised out of him. After making a bid for freedom, Tim traversed the glitzy landscape of Los Angeles, navigated the pressures of the acting industry, and made chaotic forays into the gay dating scene - all while carrying immense trauma. With unflinching honesty, Tim reveals his journey toward healing and shows how we can set ourselves free. 'A brave and important memoir that captures the nuance and struggle of people trapped by the beliefs of their loved ones' IAN THORPE OAM

The author of The Two-Bear Mambo serves up a gritty, bawdy, action-packed Texas thriller involving a black, gay protagonist, a chili chef, a femme fatale, a rabid squirrel, a tornado, and several corpses. Reprint.

At forty, Lan Davis is looking for his damned picket fence and 2.5 kids. What he doesn't expect is instead of a wife in the picture, his mind keeps conjuring up images of two men. One, his partner in the force, who is as straight as they came, the other an ex, who he'd hurt but never forgot.After an incident leaves Lan injured, the two men rally around him... only maybe they shouldn't have. It seems a medicated Lan is a truthful one.Parker Wilding is pissed at the world. His anger builds when his partner refuses medical care after an attack. Instead, Lan entrusts his neighbour to take care of him--a guy Parker doesn't trust. While he's aware they share a history,when the past is revealed, the truth shocks the hell out of him.Being emotionally crushed ten years ago, Easton Ravel hoped he would never have to see the man who broke him again. Hope is a fickle b*itch. And now he's not sure how to handle being face-to-face with the man he once loved. Add in the mix the annoying, testy Parker, and Easton finds his limits are pushed.Just not in the way he thought they would be.What happens next sure does come out of the blue.

Grace Park and Shawn Mathews share a city, but seemingly little else. Coming from different generations and very different communities, their paths wouldn't normally cross at all. As Grace battles confusion over her elder sister's estrangement from their Korean-immigrant parents, Shawn tries to help his cousin Ray readjust to life on the outside after years spent in prison. But something in their past links these two families. As the city around them threatens to spark into violence, echoing events from their past, the lives of Grace and Shawn are set to collide in ways which will change them all forever.