We don't mean to suggest a secret bromance between straight author John Irving and gay writer Edmund White, but in a recent interview, Irving called White's book A Boy's Own Story far superior to The Catcher in the Rye.

"We're the same age, and I remember when I first read A Boy's Own Story—in the early 1980s—and I thought that the novel spoke much more to me about a boy coming of age (even though it's about a gay boy coming of age, and I'm not gay) than The Catcher in the Rye ever did. I reread The Catcher in the Rye recently, and it doesn't hold up at all; it's just not very well, or very consistently, written. But A Boy's Own Story is beautifully wrought, and fiercely defiant; I could reread that novel every year and find something terrific I had missed in a previous reading. I believe Edmund White is one of the best writers of my generation; he's certainly the contemporary American writer I reread more than any other, and the one whose next book I look forward to reading most."

It's wonderful to hear when good writing by gay authors is applauded not for being good GAY fiction, but for being simply good fiction. Too often, readers limit themselves when universal themes and understanding can be found in all types of writing. (Yes, that means we can read and learn from straight authors, too).  Hear hear, John Iriving!

Ahhh, the holidays.  They bring out the best in most of us -- we smile a little more brightly and trick a little more lightly.  But when it comes to finding that perfect gift for your Daddy or Hunter, the grinch in many of us often comes uninvited to the party, much like your brother-in-law's best friend, who still thinks wedgies are funny and show how "cool" he is with your being gay.

Lucky for you, we present here the first ever DaddyHunt Holiday Shopping Guide.  Here are a few of our favorite gift ideas for the season.  For more great book, CD and movie ideas check out the DaddyHunt Gift Page here!

If you're looking for erotic art that will really turn your crank but is also produced by a first-rate artist, check out the sexy, beefy, hairy men drawn by Burbank artist Minoru. Print prices are generally $20 to $40 and originals also can be purchased.  Check it out at artbyminoru.

After checking out that erotic art, you may want to dress your daddy or hunter in this masculine racing jacket ($224.95) and have him do a little posing for you in the privacy of your own home.  You can see more great gifts like this at The Complete Bear.

Just think, if you had been Antinous (pronounced an-tin-oh-us), you could have said, "my gay daddy is the most powerful man in the world"... and it would have been true. Many don't realize that one of the Roman Empire's greatest rulers was an openly gay man. The first time I heard about Hadrian and Antinous I was daydreaming in my Roman and Hellenistic Sculpture course in college. Professor Connelly brought up the bust of a Roman Emperor on the slide projector and I thought to myself, "hmm... he looks like a sexy bearded daddy".

Truth is, that's one of the reasons I took the course. I love all those sexy sculptures of the hot daddies. I used to drool over the Farnese Hercules and the Laocoon, and a host of other sculptures of gods, philosophers and emperors. Unlike our culture, the Greeks and Romans really celebrated an older ideal, not just youth.

The professor brought me out of my daze as she said, "Hadrian was gay and had a young lover named Antinous". Wow, a gay Roman Emperor. I knew that the Greeks and Romans were a little less uptight about gay sex, but I didn't know it was possible to have that much power as an openly gay man.

Hadrian was born on January 24 in 76 AD. After his parents died he was put under the care of Trajan who was a cousin of his father and happened to be Emperor at the time. In 117 AD he was named emperor and he ruled until his death in 138 AD.

Hadrian has been described as the most versatile of all Roman Emperors. Trajan was a warmonger, but Hadrian ushered in a time of peace. Hadrian was also an intellect, a patron of the arts, and quite a great architect himself. Among his accomplishments were building the Pantheon and Hadrian's Villa.

The Pantheon is my favorite piece of architecture anywhere. Hadrian built it as a temple to all the gods. It seems that his intention was to create a symbol of unity to bring different belief systems together. The dome is 43.3 meters in diameter and holds the record for the world's largest un-reinforced concrete dome. Modern architects and engineers are still baffled at how he achieved this feat nearly 2,000 years ago. Michelangelo designed the dome in St. Peter's to be 1 meter smaller than the dome in the Pantheon in deference to Hadrian. He didn't want to overshadow his hero's great architectural triumph.

As if we needed more evidence of the power and wisdom that comes with age, 55-year-old gay poet Mark Doty has just won the 2008 National Book Award for Poetry for his collection, Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems.

The poems in the book represent more than 20 years worth of work but in an interview about his win, Doty said it was only at this stage in his life as a mature man that he could critically put this collection together. "When I started out I did what most young poets do -- take all the poems I'd written that I could stand and put them in my first book. But more and more it's a matter of building relationships between poems, and the way that new poems get made is out of the suggestions and possibilities of what I've already done."

Sounds like a a good daddy approach to life, and one that we appreciate here at Daddyhunt.

Check out Doty's website here to learn more about him and read some of his poetry.  Doty is the author of several collections of poetry and non-fiction books.  He lives in New York City and Houston, Tx.

Photo © Star Black