# Kingett Reads introduction

Category: book Nook

## Post 1 by kingettblue (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 17-Feb-2014 21:49:42

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Kingett Reads Basketball Jones, introduction.
If you want to subscribe to Kingett Reads visit the RSS feed below.
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Kingett Reads Basketball Jones, introduction.
f the 4 SD cards that I carry in a small container securely in my backpack with 67 audio books each doesn’t tell you that I am a veracious reader, I don’t know what will.
My name is Robert Kingett, and my literature dives have been into stories ranging from fictional family stories to dastardly, revealing memoirs. I’ve read tales of dragons and time travel short stories. I’ve even read a few westerns from time to time, vowing to stay away from that genre, not even letting a ten foot pole touch those kinds of books.
There’s been one type of book that I’ve never read simply because I didn’t know that there was a market for them: gay books. I’ve never read a book that was targeted to LGBT people such as I.
Everyone who’s read a book that they have really liked can testify to the torrents of emotions and feelings for the characters and story, as well as other elements within the book. Because I’ve been reading books since before I could crawl, I’d figure that I’d share a literary journey with you: a different kind of book review that deals with the book chapter by chapter. This book review series will be called Kingett Reads.
Kingett Reads will be a book review series unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Readers will ride on a literary journey with me as I read gay books and gay literature for the first time, chronicling my thoughts and feelings as I go.
The first book in the Kingett Reads series is a book about sports. Basketball Jones by E. Lynn Harris.
Obviously this is going to be a sports fictional story, given the title. The name Jones, though, is really intriguing. I wonder if it’s the name of the main character of the book. Usually if an author has a name in the title it deals with the main character of the story. Looking at the synopsis, this becomes even more evident. I love how the synopsis just lays out all the cards onto the table right from the beginning, because it sucks me in like a wordy vacuum and it makes me want to read more.
AJ Richardson is living the good life. He has a gorgeous townhouse in always-flavorful New Orleans, plenty of frequent-flier miles from jet-setting around the country on a whim, and an MBA…but he’s never had to work a regular job. He owes it all to his longtime lover, Dray Jones. Dray Jones, the rich and famous NBA star.
This is beyond intriguing. The first thing that this bit does is make me want to read the book just so I can live in AJ’S world, even for a little bit. But I’m just wondering why AJ is just basking in all this, and not working. I mean, I’d definitely live life like this if I had the opportunity. I’d be free from the world and all of its problems. I’m wondering, though, if AJ knew what he was getting into when he first met Drey. I’m not judging AJ by any means, I just want to know if he knew that this kind of life would fall upon him if he agreed to Drey. Then again Dray could have asked him, and this is even more epic that Drey would ask him to be boyfriends because AJ must be a really epic guy to make a star notice him. If this happened, then I pine for Drey already, and I just want to hold him because there’s the part of him that wants to be a normal guy, and not held up to any sort of standard or expect to be very respected. Like it or not, that kind of fame and money has to have some responsibilities attached to it, though.
I’m very eager to see what the rest of the synopsis says.
They fell in love in college when AJ was hired to tutor Dray, a freshman on the basketball team. But Dray knew if he wanted to make it to the big time, he must juggle his public image and his private desires. Built on a deep, abiding love, their hidden relationship sustains them both, but when Dray’s teammates begin to ask insinuating questions about AJ, Dray puts their doubts to rest by marrying Judi, a beautiful and ambitious woman. Judi knows nothing about Dray’s other life. Or does she?
Wait, I don’t know much about athletes and things, but if they are public figures, then they can definitely have influence along with whatever responsibilities that they have. While it’s awesome that Dray persued his dream to the fullest, he could have influenced others to accept gay people. Then again, I can definitely understand the discrimination. Even today, straight people will look at us as a kind of disability that needs to be cured, and they believe that the kind of love we have for one another is like a tumor, instead of the opposite, and this stops people from hiring us or even taking us seriously when we’re trying to do something worthwhile like, say, rent an apartment.
There’s something that I want to know, though, and I want to know if Dray made the decision to stay in the closet on his own or did AJ tell him that? Based on either, I definitely have thoughts and opinions, but I will save those for when I find out what exactly happened throughout those tutoring sessions.
My heart has broken already, and I haven’t even opened the book yet. Oh my god, Dray marries a woman? Why? Just so that he can keep his secret? I don’t understand why this is so important to him, and now I want to read. I have so many questions and I want to find the answers to them.
Did Dray choose to be a secret in the first place?
What is it about AJ that Dray likes so much, and why did AJ like Dray? I hope it’s not because AJ knew that Dray was going to be a famous basketball star someday.
What has Dray seen to make him want to hide who he loves, even to the public? I’m guessing he seen something when he was younger that changed his life forever.
I want to know how AJ will solve this dilemma. I’m definitely ready to start reading and start finding out answers.
Who will, in fact, solve this. AJ, Drey, a friend? Who? I have to know!
I don’t know anything about AJ. I want to know what made him a good student in school and not Dray. There’s so many fabrics of these characters that I want to know about. I want to see how their love began and how it grew. I want to know more about each of them and I want to know why they think the way they do. I want to know these people.
That’s definitely a good blurb! I have many questions, and I have many wishes as well. Hopefully all of them will be answered as I read and learn what the game is with their feelings and how they came to be. I’m guessing that they both needed someone back in the day, and they were there for one another. Since the blurb didn’t tell me how long AJ and Dray were boyfriends I’m guessing quite some time, and there’s definitely a connection there somewhere that’s holding them together otherwise they wouldn’t be together. I don’t think anyone can handle long periods where your lover is gone on tour, unless you’ve fallen for him harder than an arthritic dog and something had to have happened to develop that kind of connection early on.
The blurb got me excited, pondering, wishing, eager to investigate and dive in. There’s a prologue to the book, so I’ll focus on that one next time. I’ll be Blogging about my literary journey throughout this tale of love and passion. I hope that the author doesn’t make this book out to be something different than what the blurb says. I hope that the author rings true when telling the story, and I just hope that Basketball Jones is the book that I’ll never forget as my introduction to gay literature. Stick with me as I find out, one chapter at a time.