This February delivers two stand-out books for gays. In the first, Rupert Everett, the out, debonair star of My Best Friend's Wedding, Shakespeare in Love and An Ideal Husband, has written an autobiography. He writes easily, with grace and style — no surprise, as he is the author of two published novels — and he is quite open about his likes and dislikes as he travels from his childhood in England to stage success in London's West End to movie stardom in Hollywood.

Surely no recent actor has had such a blue-ribbon career that involves working with directors Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, Orson Welles and Paul Schrader and actors such as Colin Firth, Julie Andrews, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Matthew Broderick and Miranda Richardson. In addition, he has befriended Andy Warhol, Roddy McDowell, Elizabeth Taylor, Donatella Versace and Madonna, as well as traveled the world, with stops in Berlin, Moscow, Paris, St. Tropez and South Beach. There are lots of delicious photos to enjoy, from Everett 's family snapshots to glam photos of the gorgeous movie star.

While elegant hobnobbing could become tiresome, what makes this all rather fun is Everett's self-deprecating attitude. One almost forgets that he is a formidable actor. (Remember his film debut in the touching, gay-themed Another Country?) He hasn't studied acting since an early experience in a London drama school where he was expelled; he admits he is part of the "just do it" school of acting.

His early life in England is charmingly portrayed, and he writes with obvious affection for his family and school friends. His writing is at times lyrical: "London crept into my consciousness in a series of grainy snapshots. … Nineteenth century London squeezes in on every side, and now the noises of the Embankment is a constant anxious rumble, creating tiny vibrations in every cup, saucer, and windowpane."

One of my favorite parts is when he describes his first rapturous moviegoing experience when he and his mother see Mary Poppins. He was enthralled, and he cried when the famous nanny flew away at the end of the film never to return. Thus begins his obsession with favorite movie mom Julie Andrews. He later co-starred with her in Andrei Konchalovsky's film Duet for One and wondered if he dared admit his long, deep-felt adoration to her. (He didn't.)

Everett's finely tuned powers of observation miss nothing, including a glamorous evening with Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow when Jennifer Lopez first enters the social scene and makes a social faux pas. He worked with Sharon Stone on a minor film that ended up going straight to video, but he includes her in the Joan Crawford and Faye Dunaway school of Hollywood diva-hood.

He writes humorously of Bob Dylan. He appears with French movie star Catherine Deneuve in a film that he calls Dangerous Lesbians (the film was Dangerous Liaisons). At the end, one feels his sense of ennui with the world of celebrity and glamour. One is left with an endearing portrait of a little boy lost, someone rich with experience, humanity and love, and yet a still a little bit out of sorts.

Colm Toibin, author of the award-winning The Master, has written nine short stories which are collected in Mothers and Sons. Several of the stories have a gay theme, such as "Three Friends," in which a young man is rescued by three friends after enduring his mother's wake and funeral and is taken to an all-night rave. He winds up in an erotic experience with one of his straight friends, an experience that is both life-affirming and joyful.

Another story, "A Long Winter," tells the tale of the son of an alcoholic mother who disappears one wintry night. The son must deal with the ongoing search party for the mother. In the process he meets a young, gay policeman with whom he shares furtive looks, and later a sympathetic male housekeeper, with whom he shares a tender embrace, who comes to help him and his father make meals and run the household.

Each story in the collection of nine deals with the touching, sometimes difficult relationships of sons and mothers. Toibin creates very real, down-to-earth characters. He writes about their weaknesses and failures with kindness and without judgment, but with a cool, clear eye.

My favorite story is called "A Song," and it is about a famous singer who is estranged from her son. After an absence of nine years, the son hears his mother sing in a local pub. He is awestruck by the beauty of her voice, and her eyes meet his at the end of her song, yet the son is still not able to confront her face to face.

Toibin's writing is lyrical and understated. There is an obvious Irish setting and point of view, but these stories are universal — a perfect book to dip into on cold nights. And if readers have not yet discovered The Master, now is a good time to pick up a copy of the paperback edition.