ITS LESBIAN VISIBILTY DAY!
April 26, 2018 9:11 PM Subscribe
IT IS LESBIAN VISIBILITY DAY! Read a goddamn book!
100 Best Lesbian Fiction & Memoir Books Of All Time from Autostraddle.
11 Books Every Queer Woman Should Read To See All Different Versions Of The Female-Identified Queer Experience from Bustle
100 Must-Read Bisexual And Lesbian Books from BookRiot
10 Best Lesbian Books from The Lesbian Review
15 Books Every Young Gay Woman Should Read from Buzzfeed Genre recommendations inside...
13 Lesbian Romance Novels Everyone Should Read from A Love So True
The Most Mind-Expanding Lesbian Science Fiction Books from Gizmodo
The Sapphic Fantastic: Lesbian & Bi Women Fantasy Books from BookRiot
Ten Lesbian & Bisexual Poets To Fall in Love With from Autostraddle
Top 20 Lesbian Mystery Novels from the Lesbrary
100 Best Lesbian Fiction & Memoir Books Of All Time from Autostraddle.
11 Books Every Queer Woman Should Read To See All Different Versions Of The Female-Identified Queer Experience from Bustle
100 Must-Read Bisexual And Lesbian Books from BookRiot
10 Best Lesbian Books from The Lesbian Review
15 Books Every Young Gay Woman Should Read from Buzzfeed Genre recommendations inside...
13 Lesbian Romance Novels Everyone Should Read from A Love So True
The Most Mind-Expanding Lesbian Science Fiction Books from Gizmodo
The Sapphic Fantastic: Lesbian & Bi Women Fantasy Books from BookRiot
Ten Lesbian & Bisexual Poets To Fall in Love With from Autostraddle
Top 20 Lesbian Mystery Novels from the Lesbrary
Did Janelle actually manage to come out in Rolling Stone, the day before her new album drops, on Lesbian Visibility Day?? She is a pro.
posted by potrzebie at 9:54 PM on April 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 9:54 PM on April 26, 2018 [12 favorites]
I am choosing to not mention this to an openly L team member; but thanks for the links. Neat stuff indeed.
posted by Afghan Stan at 12:23 AM on April 27, 2018
posted by Afghan Stan at 12:23 AM on April 27, 2018
... and I had gotten my books-to-buy list down to such a manageable level, too.
Anyway, the Lesbrary also has a Master List of Recommendations up.
And while you're doing all that reading, you can play Lesbian Book Bingo!
posted by kyrademon at 1:39 AM on April 27, 2018
Anyway, the Lesbrary also has a Master List of Recommendations up.
And while you're doing all that reading, you can play Lesbian Book Bingo!
posted by kyrademon at 1:39 AM on April 27, 2018
And here are my top recommendations why not.
LITFIC:
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
How To Be Both by Ali Smith
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
CLASSICS:
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
The Price of Salt by Clare Morgan (AKA Patricia Highsmith)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
YA:
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend, by Emily Horner (Mefite!)
FANTASY:
Broken Wings by L-J Baker
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher
Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones (and sequels)
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks (and sequels)
SCIENCE FICTION:
Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Maerlande Chronicles by Elisabeth Vonarburg
COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS:
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Potential by Ariel Schrag
WRITTEN BY MEN:
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (SF)
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (SF)
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
posted by kyrademon at 3:33 AM on April 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
LITFIC:
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
How To Be Both by Ali Smith
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
CLASSICS:
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
The Price of Salt by Clare Morgan (AKA Patricia Highsmith)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
YA:
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend, by Emily Horner (Mefite!)
FANTASY:
Broken Wings by L-J Baker
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher
Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones (and sequels)
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks (and sequels)
SCIENCE FICTION:
Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Maerlande Chronicles by Elisabeth Vonarburg
COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS:
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Potential by Ariel Schrag
WRITTEN BY MEN:
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (SF)
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (SF)
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
posted by kyrademon at 3:33 AM on April 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Good suggestions in post and thread! My reading list just got that much longer :)
posted by triage_lazarus at 4:51 AM on April 27, 2018
posted by triage_lazarus at 4:51 AM on April 27, 2018
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
I actually would recommend Written on the Body over Oranges. I describe it as either the best novel-length, paragraphed poem I have ever read, or the best memoir of dating -- or both.
I would also say that
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (SF)
The Maerlande Chronicles by Elisabeth Vonarburg
are both brilliant science fiction novels which push the boundaries of the genre - as well as good queer novels.
Ryman's The Warrior who Carried Life is also very good. I should re-read it - it's been about 20 years, but the story still sits in my mind, dense like flesh -- there aren't a lot of books that you can really describe that way.
posted by jb at 5:47 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I actually would recommend Written on the Body over Oranges. I describe it as either the best novel-length, paragraphed poem I have ever read, or the best memoir of dating -- or both.
I would also say that
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (SF)
The Maerlande Chronicles by Elisabeth Vonarburg
are both brilliant science fiction novels which push the boundaries of the genre - as well as good queer novels.
Ryman's The Warrior who Carried Life is also very good. I should re-read it - it's been about 20 years, but the story still sits in my mind, dense like flesh -- there aren't a lot of books that you can really describe that way.
posted by jb at 5:47 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I often don't click with the stuff that gets recced a lot as far as queer SFF, so I will give some book-shoutouts of my own in case out there is someone who has tastes like mine and yet was not able to find these yet -- some of these are wonderfully written and others a little rough round the edges, but either way I personally enjoyed them more than they seem to have attracted the appreciations of the hype-and-buzz:
Check your library or a bookstore:
Otherbound (Corinne Duyvis) -- rooted in grim things "despite" being YA, but has hope
Jane, Unlimited (Kristin Cashore) -- bi protag, but it's a f/f relationship at the very heart of these intertwined multiverses
Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm (Naomi Kritzer) -- a really good realizing-that-I've-fallen-in-love that pays off; bonus: genderfuckery and nuanced cultural/religious dynamics, if you can overlook the slightly handwavey political machinations
The Winged Histories (Sofia Samatar) -- perhaps the most "literary" of the lot, but eminently readable in its gracefulness; it's a companion-but-not-sequel to A Stranger in Olondria and also plays with the idea of literature and record, but stands alone and is far more to my taste for various reasons including the obvious.
Available online:
Earthcast (Lydia West) -- interrogations of personhood in a setting informed by Eastern European history and mythology, but also love-as-lodestar and love-as-redemption throughout a long and arduous madcap journey through the hungry forest. (I do mean long -- the author has said that they would have to figure out some way to split it into thirds for print publishing.) One of the women is the equivalent of bi or pan and the other.... well, she has a lot of other questions of identity to deal with first!
"The Padishah Begum's Reflections" (Shweta Narayan) -- originally published in Steam-Powered, an original anthology of steampunk short fiction featuring queer women, if you prefer print. This arch, puzzleboxy tale was my favorite in the anthology as well as the story that cued me in to Shweta Narayan's stuff.
posted by inconstant at 7:05 AM on April 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Check your library or a bookstore:
Otherbound (Corinne Duyvis) -- rooted in grim things "despite" being YA, but has hope
Jane, Unlimited (Kristin Cashore) -- bi protag, but it's a f/f relationship at the very heart of these intertwined multiverses
Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm (Naomi Kritzer) -- a really good realizing-that-I've-fallen-in-love that pays off; bonus: genderfuckery and nuanced cultural/religious dynamics, if you can overlook the slightly handwavey political machinations
The Winged Histories (Sofia Samatar) -- perhaps the most "literary" of the lot, but eminently readable in its gracefulness; it's a companion-but-not-sequel to A Stranger in Olondria and also plays with the idea of literature and record, but stands alone and is far more to my taste for various reasons including the obvious.
Available online:
Earthcast (Lydia West) -- interrogations of personhood in a setting informed by Eastern European history and mythology, but also love-as-lodestar and love-as-redemption throughout a long and arduous madcap journey through the hungry forest. (I do mean long -- the author has said that they would have to figure out some way to split it into thirds for print publishing.) One of the women is the equivalent of bi or pan and the other.... well, she has a lot of other questions of identity to deal with first!
"The Padishah Begum's Reflections" (Shweta Narayan) -- originally published in Steam-Powered, an original anthology of steampunk short fiction featuring queer women, if you prefer print. This arch, puzzleboxy tale was my favorite in the anthology as well as the story that cued me in to Shweta Narayan's stuff.
posted by inconstant at 7:05 AM on April 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
> "I actually would recommend Written on the Body over Oranges."
Written on the Body is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, so I actually agree. The only reason it isn't on my rec list above is that the gender of the narrator is never established, so the central relationship can be read as either f/f or m/f.
(Although, yes, I totally read it as f/f.)
posted by kyrademon at 8:19 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Written on the Body is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, so I actually agree. The only reason it isn't on my rec list above is that the gender of the narrator is never established, so the central relationship can be read as either f/f or m/f.
(Although, yes, I totally read it as f/f.)
posted by kyrademon at 8:19 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Janelle came out as bi/pan not lesbian. There's a difference.
That aside this is a great list! Happy lesbian visibility day!
posted by Braeburn at 8:29 AM on April 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
That aside this is a great list! Happy lesbian visibility day!
posted by Braeburn at 8:29 AM on April 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Written on the Body is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, so I actually agree. The only reason it isn't on my rec list above is that the gender of the narrator is never established, so the central relationship can be read as either f/f or m/f.
(Although, yes, I totally read it as f/f.)
I kept flip-flopping for the narrator/main character. Which makes it, like, uber-queer :)
posted by jb at 10:59 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
(Although, yes, I totally read it as f/f.)
I kept flip-flopping for the narrator/main character. Which makes it, like, uber-queer :)
posted by jb at 10:59 AM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is a wonderful set of lists - I'm especially excited to see all the fantasy and sci-fi recommendations, as I've had a tough time coming across really good lesbian books in those genres. Surprised not to see mention of The Traitor Beru Cormorant (unless I missed it), so I'll throw that one in. And I've had The Child Garden on my to-read for the longest time and hadn't even realized it was a lesbian story - Geoff Ryman is one of my favorite male authors and his portrayals of women in Was really shook me, so now I think I really need to bump The Child Garden up my list.
posted by DingoMutt at 12:16 PM on April 27, 2018
posted by DingoMutt at 12:16 PM on April 27, 2018
Oh, and happy Lesbian Visibility Day! Being an de facto invisible lesbian in the clinic I currently work/study in (in that I doubt any of my clients know and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to explicitly avoid mention of my wife) is pretty damn weird and I don't quite know what to do about it. Nice to have a day to remember that no, those two ladies who are laughing and smiling together over a fancy romantic dinner probably AREN'T sisters.
posted by DingoMutt at 12:18 PM on April 27, 2018
posted by DingoMutt at 12:18 PM on April 27, 2018
> "Surprised not to see mention of The Traitor Beru Cormorant ..."
This -- along with a number of other books mentioned in the various lists and the comments here -- would have been in my "recommended" list (as opposed to the "most recommended" list above).
But that list is ... long.
posted by kyrademon at 12:52 PM on April 27, 2018
This -- along with a number of other books mentioned in the various lists and the comments here -- would have been in my "recommended" list (as opposed to the "most recommended" list above).
But that list is ... long.
posted by kyrademon at 12:52 PM on April 27, 2018
DingoMutt: The Child Garden is wonderful on so many levels - it's about music and passion and family and people photosynthesizing like plants (only with purple pigment). (Another book I read 20 years ago and still remember like a splash of bright colour).
Actually, I think I prefer both The Child Garden and The Warrior who Carried Life to Was - but maybe because Was is set in our world, and I've always loved things set elsewhere.
posted by jb at 7:43 PM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Actually, I think I prefer both The Child Garden and The Warrior who Carried Life to Was - but maybe because Was is set in our world, and I've always loved things set elsewhere.
posted by jb at 7:43 PM on April 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just downloaded the epub of Fire Logic from the library - and have holds on several other books here as well. Thank you!
posted by jb at 8:08 PM on April 27, 2018
posted by jb at 8:08 PM on April 27, 2018
I am now slightly miffed that I was not at work yesterday to be all visibly lesbian. I mean, I don't think my cat cares. Although actually I am not sure I quite count as a lesbian anymore either.
Anyway, I know that they are listicles and listicles usually have stupid clickbaity titles. But any list of anything "of all time" is just going to date, and there have been awesome lesbian books written since 2012. And I am not particularly enamoured of the list claiming to represent "All Different Versions Of The Female-Identified Queer Experience", which includes only four non-white perspectives (two African-American, one Iranian, one Chinese-American) and two non-American perspectives (one British, one Iranian). One person who did identify as trans and lesbian (but not, as the article says, with they/them; Feinberg preferred zie/hir or she/her). Hardly all different versions. though honestly, a list of 11 books is never going to be able to represent all of anything.
However I mostly want to point out some awesome authors/books they have missed. Laurie R King, perhaps better known for her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books, also has a crime/mystery series with a lesbian detective, Kate Martinelli, and has interesting social commentary and a distinctly feminist perspective as well. (Also well-written and fairly widely available.) I can't personally read Val McDermid anymore, but it's weird that she is left out altogether; not only is she a lesbian herself, she regularly includes lesbian and gay characters both as protagonists and supporting cast.
Recent queer science fiction isn't complete without mentioning Becky Chambers and her pair of books The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit, which are probably more queer than lesbian but still deserve mention. Also Naomi Alderman's The Power for those who don't mind some dystopian spec fic.
Also I am not sure what category to put this in, but Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties is bloody amazing.
posted by Athanassiel at 12:13 AM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Anyway, I know that they are listicles and listicles usually have stupid clickbaity titles. But any list of anything "of all time" is just going to date, and there have been awesome lesbian books written since 2012. And I am not particularly enamoured of the list claiming to represent "All Different Versions Of The Female-Identified Queer Experience", which includes only four non-white perspectives (two African-American, one Iranian, one Chinese-American) and two non-American perspectives (one British, one Iranian). One person who did identify as trans and lesbian (but not, as the article says, with they/them; Feinberg preferred zie/hir or she/her). Hardly all different versions. though honestly, a list of 11 books is never going to be able to represent all of anything.
However I mostly want to point out some awesome authors/books they have missed. Laurie R King, perhaps better known for her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books, also has a crime/mystery series with a lesbian detective, Kate Martinelli, and has interesting social commentary and a distinctly feminist perspective as well. (Also well-written and fairly widely available.) I can't personally read Val McDermid anymore, but it's weird that she is left out altogether; not only is she a lesbian herself, she regularly includes lesbian and gay characters both as protagonists and supporting cast.
Recent queer science fiction isn't complete without mentioning Becky Chambers and her pair of books The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit, which are probably more queer than lesbian but still deserve mention. Also Naomi Alderman's The Power for those who don't mind some dystopian spec fic.
Also I am not sure what category to put this in, but Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties is bloody amazing.
posted by Athanassiel at 12:13 AM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Close and Common Orbit, dammit.
posted by Athanassiel at 8:03 AM on April 28, 2018
posted by Athanassiel at 8:03 AM on April 28, 2018
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posted by mudpuppie at 9:44 PM on April 26, 2018 [11 favorites]