Quick Wit

Packaged in perky, colorful editions barely bigger than a Blackberry, the trio of titles in the Portable Queer book series by Erin McHugh may be the most perfect gifts for the living room (or the lavatory) since the scented candle.

A Gay in the Life: A Compilation of Saints and Sinners in Gay History provides quick bios of the biggies who changed the gay universe, from Sophocles to those frisky poofter penguins Silo and Roy. And Homo History: A Compendium of Events that Shook and Shaped the Gay World is a mini-encyclopedia charting queerness from ancient Greece to Christopher Street (and then some), with tutorials on “outing,” “reparative therapy” and a secret gay language you didn’t even know existed.

Best of all may be Out of the Mouth of Queers: A Compendium of Bon Mots, Words of Wisdom and Sassy Sayings, which serves up carnal commentary from John Waters (“Thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty.”), amorous analysis from Marcel Proust (“Love is reciprocal torture.”) and smart talk from Billie Jean King (“No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed.”), for starters.

With these little info-crammed tomes, “Gay D.D.”-addled brains have just found their handbooks.

The Portable Queer series is available now from Alyson Books.

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