LGBTQ Book Club Discussing I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein

In-Person and Virtual Program

Join the LGBTQ Book Club for a hybrid (in-person and online) discussion of I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein. For adults.

This is a hybrid event and will be hosted in-person in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room as well as on WebEx Meetings via the following link:

https://lacountylibrary.webex.com/lacountylibrary/j.php?MTID=mba7b1691835e16da3c49839dae72210b

West Hollywood Library's LGBTQ Book Club meets on the last Tuesday of the month to discuss literary works of relevance and interest to the LGBTQ+ community.

Please contact the library to borrow a print copy of the book. eBook and eAudiobook are available through Libby app/OverDrive.

This event is held in-person. LA County Public Health strongly encourages masks and physical distancing indoors regardless of vaccination status. Masks will continue to be available for customers upon request. Please see the Guidelines for Attendees during the registration process for more information.

Summary provided by the publisher:

Harvey Fierstein’s legendary career has transported him from community theater in Brooklyn, to the lights of Broadway, to the absurd excesses of Hollywood and back. He’s received accolades and awards for acting in and/or writing an incredible string of hit plays, films, and TV shows: Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, Cheers, La Cage Aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy, Newsies, and Kinky Boots. While he has never shied away from the spotlight, Mr. Fierstein says that even those closest to him have never heard most of the tales—of personal struggles and conflict, of sex and romance, of his fabled career—revealed in these wildly entertaining pages.

I Was Better Last Night bares the inner life of this eccentric nonconforming child from his roots in 1952 Brooklyn, to the experimental worlds of Andy Warhol and the Theatre of the Ridiculous, to the gay rights movements of the seventies and the tumultuous AIDS crisis of the eighties, through decades of addiction, despair, and ultimate triumph.

Mr. Fierstein’s candid recollections provide a rich window into downtown New York City life, gay culture, and the evolution of theater (of which he has been a defining figure), as well as a moving account of his family’s journey of acceptance. I Was Better Last Night is filled with wisdom gained, mistakes made, and stories that come together to describe an astonishingly colorful and meaningful life. Lucky for us all, his unique and recognizable voice is as engaging, outrageously funny, and vulnerable on the page.

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