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Queer Literature
I've been looking to get more into queer literature lately - because representation is nice and I've exhausted my male x female romance lit for the time being.
I've recently read Ash, a lyrical retelling of Cinderella. I quite enjoyed it - very fantastical, and cute. I'm onto When Women Were Warriors. I'm loving the Matriarchy in the world - as well as the different relationships the characters have with each other. They don't just focus on two characters falling in love, and I'm super digging it. (Also - female warriors. Yes. Me like) I'm trying to find a copy of Ascension - A Tangled Axon Novel as I heard it was really good as well. Are there any recommendations? Have you read any of the above mentioned books? Non-fiction wise I'm working my way through Bi: Notes for a bisexual revolution and I'm just eating it up. Sparks a lot of thought, and a must have for any radical queer library. :) |
i'm actually in the same spot you are so i'm going to hang around and wait for some suggestions. decent queer representation in media is a long ways away and i'm soooo ready for it now, just like you. i hate having to scour the internet looking for a book with a character i can relate to instead of just being able to hit up barnes and noble and find one quickly like with heteromance.
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I absolutely LOVE When Women Were Warriors. The best is that every relationship--because, yes, 2Femme said, it doesn't focus on just two characters or single relationship--are all dynamic and unique from one another.
I honestly wish I had suggestions, but it feels like most queer literature, especially romance, is either depressing as fuck or super trashy. I love scrolling through Amazon's gay literature section, though, because you never know what you'll find there (speaking of which, the sheer amount of m/m werewolf romance series in that section is mind boggling.) |
We have a library at my schools Pride office (That I need to finish cataloging - >>;;)
If I find anything that looks good, I'll let you both know! The first half I cataloged was mostly the non-fiction reference guides. (So many cis-white-guys wrote books on sex and gender, my gosh). So I hope we have some good fiction lurking around. :') But yes... I'm halfway through the 2nd book of When Women Were Warriors...and it's just so good. |
I haven't read any of the books you mentioned but Ash has been on my reading list for quite some time now. It depends on what genre you're looking to read I guess. When I was in high school, right after I came out of the closet, (around freshman year) I was really into Julie Anne Peters. Most of her books are YA realistic fiction. Like Far From Xanadu, Between Mom and Jo, Luna, Keeping You A Secret (which was the literature representation of my high school relationship) grl2grl and Define "Normal". I've read all of those and really liked them but I feel her writing gets a little stagnant the more you read it. The stories are nice though. If you're looking for something a little more serious and a little less love story try Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. I read it for a gender studies class my first semester of college and LOVED IT. It's a good story but it's also heavy with politics of the pre-Stonewall era. I also read Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown in that class too. That's another good one. There are others I've read but I don't remember much about, just that I liked them enough to use them for book recommendations on Goodreads, haha. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger, Empress of the World by Sara Ryan, Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez (that one's a series but I never got to the rest of the books), Dare Truth or Promise by Paula Boock, and The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebgott.
I know this was a lot of books but they're all ones that I've had a good experience with that you could classify as queer fiction. If these don't work for you or it's not what you're looking for you should sign up for Goodreads (actually just do it anyways I LOVE Goodreads). You can search for specific books or genres and rate books and it will give you suggestions. Plus you can add your friends on it and see what they're reading and what they've rated books. If you sign up you should PM me so we can be friends on Goodreads! Sorry for this post being so lengthy! I hope you found some use in it! |
If you're into Sci-fi, Burning Bright by Melissa Scott and Slow River by Nicola Griffith. Both very good books and they're very good authors who have written several queer books. Those two just happen to be my favorite representations of both. I also like Everything Leads to You. It's young adult and a bit fluffy, but it's cute.
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I would suggest the books listed below. Most of them ares about male-male relationships.
Suicide notes- Michael Thomas Ford Wide Awake- David Levithan The Vast Fields of Ordinary- Nick Burd Will Grayson, Will Grayson- David Leviathan and John Green Hard Love- Ellen Wittlinger Angels in America- Tony Kushner |
Thanks for the recommendations. I'll add them to my list. :')
I finally finished the When Women Were Warriors books - they are excellent. I did also manage to find a copy of Ascension - A Tangled Axon Novel. It was alright, I enjoyed the sci-fi aspects a lot. A really neat one I read was Adorned. About a society where tattoo artists create living tattoos on the adorned to show them off at parties. I really enjoyed it. :) |
I have collected quite a few m/m romance books at this point, but I haven't had time to read any but one. Which was...okayish. I wouldn't really rec it since the characters somehow got more shallow and uninteresting as the story went on. They started out fine and I don't know how the writer managed that.
When I get around to reading the others, I'll share my opinion on them. I'm thinking I need to look up this When Women Were Warriors book too. |
Ash is literally my favourite Queer novel! I've read it like a hundred times!
I'm just about to start Radcliffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness "which is like the original gay novel. It'll be super interesting to see how much has changed in 90 some odd years "For Today I am a Boy" by Kim Fu is a great story about a trans woman growing up in small town in Ontario. There are a couple relationships throughout but its not really a Queer love story. Also I'm not sure if this is allowed, but my friend is actually just starting up a blog dedicated to MOGAI fantasy and Sci fi novels. Its Mogaireads on tumblr, though there's only two posts at the moment as it only started a couple weeks ago. Check it out if you want (and sorry if I'm breaking any rules by plugging a friend) |
@SeaSaltEyes- ahh! Stone Butch Blues is probably my absolute favorite book. also, i was totally gonna recommend luna as well...
but yeah, as for suggestions, Geography Club by brent hartinger is a good YA novel. i also really enjoyed Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by him, but again, it's pretty YA so it's been years since i read it. Whipping Girl by julia serano is a must-read. Trash by dorothy allison is a great collection of short stories. for non-fiction, Kate Bornstein and Matt Kailey are some of my favorite authors, and i hear Redefining Realness by janet mock is very good. also, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity by mattilda bernstein remains one of my favorite short story/essay anthologies. it's cool because it has queer essays, but also essays relating to race and kink and basically a bunch of intersections. |
My room mate is super into queer literature. He's read a lot of books about it lately but I can't remember even half of the titles. The one that does come to mind is Two Boys Kissing. Other than that I'm drawing a blank. If I remember I'll have to ask him to give me some titles.
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And that last one sounds super great, I'll look into it! Thanks~! :) |
Responding again because I'm taking an LGBT Lit class and I've got some really good ones now:
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin ---Written and (I think?) set in the 50s, this one's about an American man living in Paris, struggling with his feelings towards men and the stigma around that, as well as the impending tragedy facing his male love interest. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (happy ending!) ---Set in Victorian England, about a fishmonger's daughter who falls in love with a "male-impersonator" (drag king) and follows her to London, eventually joining the show as a drag king herself. Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterson ---I've only just started reading this one, but it's about an orphan who was adopted by a very strict, religious mother, and has to cope with her sexuality conflicting with her family's spirituality. Faith Healer of Olive Avenue by Manuel Muņoz ---Several short stories, centered on Chican@s, poverty, family, and gayness. Quote:
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And gosh!! I live up north, no one ever comes here!! I'd chew off my left arm to meet Laverne Cox and Janet Mock. |
Yeah, it was a pretty amazing experience! I work for an LGBT Resource Center, so we brought them out to speak at some of our events. I definitely embarrassed the hell outta myself in front of Laverne though [gonk]
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Nice!! - I had purchased Janet's book for the Pride room on my campus - but I never got to reading it.
....That also reminds me that my bi notes for a bisexual revolution has gone missing.... But it's a good read! |
These are all awesome recommendations! I'm trying to build my library, I only have a few NF books from a class on queer indigenous theory. I can't seem to find very many F/F books, any suggestions? I've been resorting to gratuitous fan fics to get any bi representation..
Has anyone heard of The Captive Prince books? Apparently they're brilliant (according to my tumblr dash), and I was wondering if they were worth the purchase. I know it's M/M, and I think it's like political/historical fiction? I've just seen a ton of fan art. |
the only non fanfiction/non manga queer fiction i've read....
Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (its a spin off of Fangirl) it's m/m and I recc it to fans of harry potter and fantasy. also anyone that loves fanfiction. YA fiction Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green & David Levithan m/m (a bit slow in the middle but I loved Tiny Cooper so I trucked through it and don't regret it) YA fiction Trouble and Her Friends - Melissa Scott f/f - okay this one I read more than 10 years ago and I don't remember hardly anything about it. I rated it 4 stars on goodreads and it seems to have good reviews. so it must be pretty good. hard Sci-Fi I'm totally going to stalk this thread now for book ideas. |
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