lesbian books

[Puff]

My favorite Karin Kallmaker book would be One Degree of Separation....Iowa Frickin' city LMFAO it is a fun read.

I just re-read Turn back Time by Radclyffe. I love it, but then I like the surgical ones. Matter of Trust is also one of the books I can read frequently but then I love Michael yummy!

Chance by Grace Lennox who is really Jennifer Fulton who is also Rose Beecham was also a really enjoyable read and I liked it much better than the Moon Island series.

I am of course eagerly awaiting the publication of Lavender Secrets by Sandra Barret. But then I have a vested interest in that

[Twisted Minstrel]

So rare do I post that I'm up at 1 am to do it.

Has Ali Smith been mentioned on this thread yet? Apologies if so.

"Like" and "The Accidental" are two of the finest books I've ever read. Both complex, multi-layered and deeply affecting. Her collections of short stories is also worth looking out for.

I'll also mention Ms. Sarah Waters again and her new novel , "the Night Watch" which is set during WWII and maybe the beginning of another 'tryptich" on the lines of her three previous Victorian-era books.

Emma Donoghue also has a new collection due out soon called Touchy Subjects.

Along wih Winterson, these four women are arguably the most original and fascinating writers (never mind being lesbian) of our times.

And just a random notice, someone a while back asked about 'lesbian' publishers - Alyson Books and Virago are probably the top two (that I'm familiar with anyway).

[Twisted Minstrel]

The Guardian Ukhas just released their top ten list for the Big Gay Read:


1 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin

2 Tipping the Velvet Sarah Waters

3 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson

4 Trumpet Jackie Kay

=5 Fingersmith Sarah Waters

=5 Calendar Girl Stella Duffy

=5 The Long Firm Jake Arnott

6 At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O'Neill

7 Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx

8 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst

9 Carol Patricia Highsmith

=10 Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown

=10 Desert of the Heart Jane Rule

=10 Rough Music Patrick Gale

=10 Crocodile Soup Julia Darling


A strong list but still found this a bit disappointing - neither Emma Donoghue nor Ali Smith are mentioned!

[db]

Trolling for a good read - thanks for the suggestions, all!

I noticed that no one mentioned

Anchee Min's Red Azalea.

I highly recommend it, if anyone is interested. It's not a romance - it's a dark semi autobiographical story of growing up in Maoist china with a lesbian love story imbedded right in the middle.

db

[Ice]

Its late here and Im too lazy therefore to read backlog so if the following have been mentioned then I apologise.

Maddie and Anna's Big Picture: If youlike complicated relationships and an apparent 'happy ever after' thats not really, then this is good.

Scarlet Thirst: Lesbian vampires.... need I say more?

The obvious ones by Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet is excellent.

[notl33t]

Murfle! I am happy and full of delightedness that there is such a long list. I'm not much of a reader, so I didn't realize that there were even these many lesbian books in existence.

Whatever you do, don't read Radclyffe Hall's Well of Loneliness. Skim it if you must. I read it yesterday and, well, its not poorly written, but it isn't entertaining or insightful to me. Reading about a girl named Stephen is not that much fun. It probably was groundbreaking once upon a time.

Glad to know that we've got more choices now.

[drlloyd11]

A rather nice list on this topic

http://www.autostraddle.com/20-best-tee ... ls-143198/

NPR recently polled its readers for their favorite teen novels of all time and published the results in thier Top 100 Choices for Best Teen Novels. Unsurprisingly, very few queer books made it onto the final list, so we all smashed our heads into each other's heads and came up with our own list of 20 awesome queer young adult novels.
There's plenty of neat lesbian YA books that we don't talk about here but have talked about in other posts, such as Dare Truth or Promise, Kissing Kate, Hello Groin and Crush. We tried to get a reasonable variety of topics and styles on this list while not venturing outside the Young Adult section, which disqualified adult books about young queermos, such as Rubyfruit Jungle (which opens when the narrator is very young), Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Punk Like Me and Name All The Animals (which is actually a memoir and therefore disqualified for two reasons!).
The following list contains book suggestions and descriptions from Whitney, Malaika, Laura, Laneia, Rachel, Cara, Carolyn, Sarah Gabrielle and Vanessa. What are your favorites?

20 Supreme Queer Young Adult Novels For Growing Girls

20. Shockproof Sydney Skate, by Marijane Meaker (1973)
The gay lady in this underrated YA novel is actually the protagonist's Mom, but it's a fascinating look at her world through the eyes of her son, Sydney, chock-full of punchy dialogue, wry observations and classic pop culture references, shot through with a smart, fast-paced plot. Sydney decoded his agent mother's power-lesbian-girlfriend gossip at age eight but has never told her that he knows she's gay. Then he falls in love with Alison Gray, his Mom's newest client... who subsequently falls for his Mom. Hijinks ensue.+
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19. Letters in the Attic, by Bonnie Shimko (2002)
Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls and Betty DeGeneres blurbed this Lambda-Award-Winning young adult novel (and crossover success), which takes place in the early 1960's and follows 12-year-old Lizzy McMann, a teenager forced to move from Arizona to upstate new York with her "unstable" mother when her father leaves them for a hatcheck girl. There, she falls for an eighth grader "who looks like Natalie Wood and smokes," meets her grandparents for the first time, and experiences fun things like "puberty." Emily Saliers notes: "Letters is a biting and compassionate look at the vulnerabilty of coming of age and the triumph of coming into own's own."

18. Girl Walking Backwards, by Bett Williams (1998)
Skye lives in Southern California with a psuedo-New Age enthusiast for a mother and a giant crush on Jessica, "a troubled gothic punk girl who cuts herself regularly with sharp objects," who Skye catches fucking her boyfriend in the bathroom at a rave. Following that unwelcome encounter, Skye switches up her life, acquiring a new pagan best friend and an athletic love interest. This book has been described as "a post-Catcher in the Rye roman à clef."
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17. Sugar Rush, by Julie Burchill (2004)
If you missed the short-lived television series based on this sweet YA novel, then perhaps you would enjoy the book! This book won't make you smarter, but it's a fun and crass read centered on fifteen-year-old British teenager Kim, who is horrified when she has to leave her posh school for the "infamous Ravendene Comprehensive" in Brighton. There's lots of drugs and sex and other risky behavior but mostly there's Sugar, the Queen of the Ravers, who Kim promptly falls in love with and the two of them proceed to get in lots of trouble. (Sidenote: the author, Julie Burchill, is apparently quite infamous for many unpleasant reasons, which I was unaware of until reading the Wikipedia entry about her today!)
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16. Hard Love & Love and Lies, by Ellen Wittlinger (2001 + 2009)

Hard Love is the story of Gio, a straight 'zine writer head-over-heels in love with a lesbian named Marisol. Love and Lies picks up where Hard Love left off, but this time Marisol is the narrator, who moves in with her high school best friend after high school, intending to take a year off before college in order to write a novel and fall in love. Then she falls in love with her writing instructor, Olivia Frost, and there's a lot of drama and she begins losing sight of her goals and you'll just have to read it!

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15. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, (1999)

There aren't any actual lesbians in this book but this book is a lesbian favorite for its carefully rendered and earnestly honest portrayal of what it's like to be a teenager always on the outside of things, searching for serenity or sanity or comfort with the right people, the right party and the right sexual partner. Charlie's best friend, Sam, is the kind of straight girl that gay girls can't help but fall for, and his other best friend Patrick is gay. It was one of the American Library Association's ten most frequently challenged books of 2009, for its "treatment of drugs, homosexuality, sex and suicide," and the movie version will come out this year. Soon
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14. The Difference Between You and Me, by Madeline George (2012)
Jesse is the singular member of The National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos and she wears big fisherman's boots and Emily is on student council, has a boyfriend, and prefers flats. Yes, what we have here is your classic weirdo-and-popular-girl-bond-via-shared-secret-Sapphism plot-line (see also: Deliver Me From Evie), which is hands down my favorite. Jesse is a strong, inspirational character, one of many rewarding aspects of reading this book.
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13. The House You Pass Along the Way, by Jaqueline Woodson (2004)
14-year-old Evangeline Ian Canan, better known as "Stagerlee," and her family have never really fit in. Stagerlee is the middle of five children to a black father and a white mother. Her father's family disowned them when their son married a white woman, but they come back into Stagerlee's life when his father's sister dies and his other sister sends her adopted daughter, Trout, to live with the Canans for the summer. Stagerlee, coming to terms with sexuality and crush on her friend Hazel, finds a surprise comrade in Trout, who it turns out is — surprise! — also a baby lez!
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12. Boyfriends With Girlfriends, by Alex Sanchez (2011)

Four friends are at the center of uber-successful Lambda-Award-winning author Alex Sanchez's recent novel, Boyfriends With Girlfriends: out gay boy Lance, the allegedly heterosexual Allie, bisexual guy Sergio and Kimiko, a semi-closeted lesbian. The foursome struggle to define their identities, discover their sexuality and find their place in the world — and with each other. Sanchez is known for his books about gay boys, but this one serves up a mixed-gender group of friends that many queer girls can relate to and features an Asian-American lesbian teenage girl, which is nice!
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11. Born Confused, by Tanuja Desai Hidier (2002)
The title of Born Confused is important 'cause it's a play on ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi. The book's protagonist, Dimple Lala (who has the best name ever), is a straight high school student who disdains her immigrant parents' traditions and also thinks she's a little too curvy and a little too brown and a little too boring compared to her Gwen Stefani-esque best friend. But then her formerly-nerdy-turned- beautiful, queer and smartsmartsmart cousin from NYU opens her eyes to just how cool her family is. Her cousin is what makes this book so magical — more teenagers need lesbian fairy godmothers. Also, this lesbian fairy godmother is friends with a stunning(ly beautiful and intelligent) trans woman! Even though Dimple is straight, there's something undeniably queer about her coming-of-age. (-laura)

10. Pages For You, by Sylvia Brownrigg (2001)
You know how it will end from the first page, so you're free just to enjoy the bright melancholy and poetic, honest descriptions of emotions and moments. If you've fallen in love (hard), tried to smoke cigarettes to look mysterious (and failed), or dreamed of finally realizing your lesbian powers on a leaf-strewn campus far away from home — you will like this book.



9. Empress of the World, by Sara Ryan (2001)
The 'pretend college/summer camp' atmosphere of this book allows for some unique experiences that we couldn't have had otherwise. Sara Ryan doesn't focus solely on the queer girls' storyline -- we're introduced to the personal conflicts of each member of the clique: Katrina, the "manic computer chick," Issac the "nice-guy-despite-himself, Kevin "the inarticulate composer," and Battle "the beautiful blond dancer." As you can imagine, Battle becomes the apple of Nicola's eye. Empress is a sweet, funny depiction of sexual fluidity and friendship.
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8. Down to the Bone, by Mayra Lazara Dole (2008)

Cuban-American Miami teenager Laura Amores gets kicked out of Catholic school and subsequently her home when a nun confiscates a love letter to Laura from another girl and reads it out loud in class. Shortly thereafter Laura's girlfriend, under pressure from her family, accepts a marriage proposal from a dude. Laura's gotta make a whole new life for herself, starting from square one.
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7. Deliver Us From Evie, by M.E. Kerr (1994)

I remember reading this one when it came out and feeling captivated by titular character Evie, the 18-year-old tomboy from a family of farmers whose affair with the Patsy the banker's daughter is the catalyst for the tightly-packed story's unwinding. The whole story takes place in Missouri and is told through the point-of-view of her high school junior brother, Parr. It's a deftly crafted book by a master of the genre, and was enormously controversial at the time.
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6. Awkward, Definition, and Potential, by Ariel Schrag (1997, 1999 & 2000)

Awkward, Potential, and Definition chronicle graphic novelist’s Ariel Schrag’s high school existence. She would put each book together in the summer following the school year, and would then distribute them zine-style once classes started. It’s really interesting to see how Schrag’s style and art grows with her. In Awkward, written after her freshmen year, the drawings are little more than stick figures, but charming nonetheless. The contrast between the complicated anxiety that is freshman year and the simplicity of her drawings makes Awkward feel, well, awkward, which is perfect, since it’s hard to describe your first year of high school with any other word.
In Potential and Definition, the drawings have filled out, grown into themselves. Ariel, too, is growing up. She begins to realize that she is, in fact, attracted to girls. She explores her sexuality, and does not shy away from writing and drawing sex. You get the feeling that everything is so new and exciting she wants to put it all on paper so she never forgets . The books are set to a backdrop of 90s pop culture - Schrag idolized L7, Gwen Stefani, and Juliette Lewis. Reading the trilogy is like peeking into a really smart, quirky friend’s diary, or looking at a great queer tumblr. She teaches you a ton about music while giving you a front row seat to all the complex emotions that come with being queer, young, and interesting. After high school, Schrag would go on to write for the The L Word and was even mentioned in Le Tigre’s "Hot Topic." (-malaika)
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5. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by emily m. danforth (2012)

This critically acclaimed novel, the first from emily m. danforth, takes place in rural Montana in the 90's and centers on the titular Cameron Post, whose first thought when her parents die suddenly in a car crash is that she's relieved she won't have to tell them she had been kissing a girl only hours earlier.
Nancy Garden, author of Annie on My Mind, raves: “This novel is a joy—one of the best and most honest portraits of a young lesbian I’ve read in years. Cameron Post is a bright, brash, funny main character who leaps off the page and into your heart! This is a story that keeps you reading way into the night—an absorbing, suspenseful, and important book.”
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4. Keeping You A Secret, By Julie Ann Peters, 2005
This is the kind of book you can basically eat in one day, like a cupcake! There are some extreme "suspending my disbelief" moments but it's sweet with lots of feelings. Julie Ann Peters totally rules the queer YA section, sidenote — definitely worth checking out is the National Book Award finalist Luna, the story of a transgender teenager beginning her transition, as well as favorites like Rage: A Love Story and Far From Xanadu.
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3. The Rose of No Man's Land, by Michelle Tea (2006)

Described as "a furious love story between two weirdo girls, brimming with snarky observations and soulful wonderings on the dazzle-flash emptiness of contemporary culture," Michelle Tea's YA turn is the story of a 14-year-old teenager who, after getting fired form her job at the Square One mall, "finds herself linked up with a chain-smoking, physically stunted mall rat named Rose."


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2. Ash, by Malinda Lo (2009)
We kind of all freaked out about this when we first heard about it, and our feelings haven’t changed. You guys, it’s a lesbian YA retelling of Cinderella. Yeah, I know. I wish I could be a 13-year-old queer growing up right now, because I would be so fucking pumped to read this book, it would change my life for real. Fuck princes, the protagonist Ash has a “dangerous flirtation” with the fairy Sidhean and courts Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, who I am assuming is hot. Lo’s writing is darkly compelling and completely beautiful, exactly right for a modern fairytale. This is definitely, definitely worth reading no matter your age – Lo is a fantastic writer who won’t disappoint. (-rachel)
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1. Annie on My Mind, by Nancy Garden (1982)

Everybody has their own story about Annie. Here's Cara's:
"I stole Annie On my Mind from my local library in middle school because I was embarrassed to check it out. I hid it under my bed for years and forgot about it, and then I found it again when I was moving to college, after Accepting Myself and Coming Out and Having My First Relationship etc. I snuck it back in to the library so that some other young queer could steal it and that's seriously one of the moments in my life that still seems the most symbolic and gratifying and cyclical to me. What I'm trying to say is, I love that YA queer books exists and I love that we all read the same ones, even if not all of our names are on the checkout card."

[Trom DeGrey]

I came across a trilogy earlier this year that I'm reading for the second time. That's significant because I rarely reread much of anything. LOL! The books are called When Women Were Warriors by Catherine M. Wilson. I got the first book free on my Kindle and happily paid $20 total for the other two. The books are set in an ancient time when both women and men are warriors, but women tend to be the head of great households and the armies that protect them. It's an epic adventure featuring the coming of age of Tamaras, intrigue, love, and lesbians galore. Though self-published, the trilogy is incredibly well-written and I highly recommend them!

[JustSkipIt]

Trom - Thanks for the heads-up. The first book was still free from the Kindle store so I downloaded it. I may hit you up to ask to borrow the others if I like the first (I've got two items on loan now that I've got to finish first).

[Katharyn]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned "The Blue Place" by Nicola Griffiths. The lead character, Aud, is truly one of the great characters of recent fiction, period, let alone lesbian fiction. Blending a character piece, a travelogue (Atlanta and Norway just come alive... and not many people have blended those two places before!) and thriller all in one... it's a fantastic book. The definition of a 'happy ending' leaves something to be desired, but the lead character's journey is completed. One of the most affecting books I've read in recent years both as a writer and as a reader.

[drlloyd11]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned "The Blue Place" by Nicola Griffiths.

"Nicola was a member of this board back in 2002-2003", was casually name dropped.

[wayland]

Excellent. I noticed on her website that she put Buffy first on her list of favourite TV shows.

Did she write any fanfiction, by any chance?

[JustSkipIt]

Woo hoo. Someone loaned me when women were warriors II on book lending. Com!

[wayland]

Someone loaned me when women were warriors II on book lending. Com!

I enjoyed it. You might find interesting this article about its publishing history.


http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/2012-lesbian-fiction-appreciation-event_22.html

[JustSkipIt]

Someone on booklending.com lent me A.C. Grey's I'll Cover You. I think it probably costs about 2.99 from the kindle store and I thoroughly enjoyed it. President/Secret Service Agent romance with a lot lot lot of sex. It's predictable and fluffy with some glaring grammatical errors (particularly in one chapter that I assume the editor skipped) but I enjoyed it.

[JustSkipIt]

Car lent me How Sweet it Is on Kindle by Melissa Brayden. Besides Annie on my Mind and the WWW books, this is probably my favorite lesbian romance ever. (and I'm not sure I'd qualify WWW as lesbian romance). The characters are likable but they have a genuine barrier to happiness to deal with. There is chocolate and sweet foods and there is lovely and sexy sex. Two thumbs up.

[SJ]

There's a book on the iTunes Book Store called Lady Aviator by Angela Giorgio. It's a great read worth checking out.

[CrazyTaraWitch]

I just read Keeping You a Secret by Julie Ann Peters, and it was great. It's YA and a very quick read, but it's a great coming-of-age/coming-out story, and a nice love story as well. The story and writing (though by no means high literature) were intriguing from the start, though it took about 1/3 of the book for me to love the characters. They're teenagers and they make a few stupid choices, but very believable ones. I loved the ending because though it was happy it didn't try to wrap up everything; it left some open ends, which felt perfect given the rest of the book. If you're looking for something fluffy yet emotional, and especially if you're shopping for a young teen, I highly recommend it.

[JustSkipIt]

Jas - on your recommendation, I read it yesterday (I love checking kindle books out from the library). It was really good. Thanks.

[Finey_McFine]

I recently read three books by Robin Alexander...Just Jorie, The Secret of St Claire and The Lure of White Oak.

Just Jorie

This one was my favorite of the three. The two main characters were endearing and well written, as were the secondary characters. The book is low on the grammatical errors and typos, so that was a big plus! Jorie and Lena had some very sweet moments and some very funny moments as well. I think that's probably what I enjoyed the most, there were many laugh out loud moments.

"Some believe that special someone is out there just waiting to be found. Jorie Andolini is one of those people and has spent a lot of time envisioning that moment. She bumps into a woman at a grocery store, the woman drops a can of peas, Jorie picks it up, their eyes meet, and two souls connect. But it’s actually a wasted trip to New York, a snowstorm, and a canceled flight home that puts her in the path of Lena Vaughn. Lena has found fault in every man she’s ever dated. Her dream of finding a husband is dwindling with every year that passes. Despite what her friends say, Lena doesn’t believe she has a fear of commitment, she simply hasn’t found a man she wanted to commit to. It comes as a surprise that in fact it is a woman who stirs those desires. For Lena, it’s not really a matter of sexuality, it’s just Jorie. Travel the road to happiness with Jorie and Lena. Two crazy old women, meddling friends, and cattitude are just some sights you’ll see along the way."

The Secret of St Claire

"Lighthearted romance, sweet and funny. Idyllic, quaint, and straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting is St. Claire, Louisiana—at least on the outside. Beneath the veneer, it’s anything but. That’s the secret of St. Claire. Born and raised in St. Claire, Lindsay Juneau’s life was seemingly full raising a six-year-old daughter and caring for her widowed mother. Of course, things aren’t always what they seem, and the newest resident of St. Claire isn’t buying the ruse. Veterinarian Nicole Allen is looking for something different. She finds it in St. Claire with its hypochondriac rabbits, shotgun-toting shut-ins, and eclectic mix of people. The most alluring, though, is a woman who’s also looking for something different."

The Lure of White Oak

"The small town of White Oak Lake, Louisiana, is home to a group of colorful characters, three of whom take their Cupid duties seriously. Their pet project is Jaclyn Wyatt, a single mother who, in their opinion, needs a little help in the romance department. Jaclyn doesn’t agree, but the trio secretly springs into action when a newcomer arrives. Morgan Chassion retreated to White Oak Lake to mentally and emotionally recover from losing her father, being dumped by her girlfriend and the final insult, losing her job. The past few months have not been kind and solace is what she needs, but complication is what she gets. Love’s potion is being brewed in White Oak Lake. The recipe is simple, two lonely hearts, a little time, and a dash of vulnerability. Add a little heat and the potion is complete."

[JustSkipIt]

I just read two books that I highly recommend:

Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall and the sequel to that one Shadow & Dreams. First off, Alexis Hall writes some relatively hot sex scenes (not a lot in there but good ones). The genre is sort of campy Film Noir/Private Investigator but the PI is a drunk half-faerie and she's basically a Paranormal investigator. She's in London with Vampires, Werewholves, Fairies, Demons, etc. All that is sort of ok but the books are FUNNY! I mean laugh out loud then read the paragraph to your wife and she laughs out loud funny. The first book is better than the second but I recommend both.

Our library had the first book in hard copy and the second in e-book but I think that they are each $6.99 if you want to buy them on Kindle.

[Ariel]

When I was in college I read "Patience and Sarah" by Isabel Miller. I wasn't out to anyone, this was a lonnnnnng time ago! That book excited me, thrilled me, fueled my dreams but more than anything else it gave me hope . . . I'll never forget it. Also love "Annie on my Mind" . . .