Read Women discussion

Do you have any favorite lists or recommendations of books to read during Pride month, or all year long, whether written by or pertaining to the experience of women who are members of the LGBTQ community?

Have you read a great book this year featuring LGBTQ themes or a queer character?

Share anything you like on this topic here!

Just finished: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I loved it, and it's fresh contemporary take on the sci-fi genre.

BuzzFeed published a list last year that I'd like to work through over time. Several authors were new to me and intrigued:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kithaggard/b...

Here are the women authors and their books featured:

felt in the jaw by Kristen Arnett

When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri

Spinning by Tillie Walden (graphic memoir)

Passage by Gwen Benaway(poetry)

A Handbook of Disappointed Fate by Anne Boyer

Mean by Myriam Gurba (memoir)

The Fifth Woman by Nona Caspers

A Body, Undone: Living on After Great Pain by Christina Crosby

Large Animals by Jess Arndt

Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin

Fen by Daisy Johnson

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall by Suzette Mayr

Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell

Some Animal by Ely Shipley

Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Sphinx by Anne F. Garréta

The Estrangement Principle Ariel Goldberg

Autumn and Winter by Ali Smith

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

If you liked or disliked any of the above, let us know.

Fen is very good (broadly themed short story collection) :)

I've read Her Body and Other Parties and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a fan of short story compilations. And A Little Life became one of my favorite books after reading it a couple of years ago. It is a painful, tortured, and beautiful read.

I'd also like to add Radio Silence by Alice Oseman which covers a lot of sexuality and identity diversity.

Here's a link to a really fresh, thoughtful article from FSG, entitled, "10 FSG Authors on Foundational Queer Books That Influenced Them". Plus, the design of the webpage and the photos are lovely in their own right.

https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2019/06...

It's a diverse mix of authors and influencers - not all women -- and one of the best articles I've read lately on literature. I hope you get as many new ideas to expand your TBRs as I did.

LARB's Reading the Rainbow list to my "lists to keep after June is over" file. The blurbs are particularly strong, in terms of efficiently telling readers what the key selling points are, so you can determine whether they might interest you.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/r...#!

Women authors and their works referenced within it are:

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

Abandon Me: Memoirs by Melissa Febos

Patsy by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde

The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie (I LOVED this.)

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (I tried, but this one wasn't for me)

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Holy Wild by Gwen Benaway (poetry)

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby

Madwomen: Poems of Gabriela Mistral by Gabriela Mistral

Pretend We Live Here by Genevieve Hudson

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages (Fantasy/historical fiction)

Jane: A Murder by Maggie Nelson (true crime/memoir)

Mean by Myriam Gurba (memoir)

The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch (non-traditional memoir)

Little Fish by Casey Plett

Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Carrot Quinn

Rise of the Rain Queen by Fiona Zedde (speculative fiction romance)

A Certain Loneliness: A Memoir by Sandra Gail Lambert

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry

and more...

The Jewish Book Council published a list of queer Jewish narratives which I found most interesting and also shines a light on several authors I might not encounter on other Pride month lists:

https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/boo...

Women authors and their books highlighted in it:

All Russians Love Birch Trees by Olga Grjasnowa

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon

Disobedience by Naomi Alderman

Echo After Echo by Amy Rose Capetta

Keep Your Wives Away from Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires by Miryam Kabakov

My Son Wears Heels: One Mom's Journey from Clueless to Kickass by Julie Tarney

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman

Little & Lion byBrandy Colbert (YA)

Paper Is White by Hilary Zaid

The Cosmopolitans by Sarah Schulman

The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer

The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective by Joy Ladin

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA by Roberta Kaplan

They May Not Mean To, But They Do by Cathleen Schine

Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey between Genders by Joy Ladin

Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax

Willa & Hesper by Amy Feltman

Yip Harburg: Legendary Lyricist and Human Rights Activist by Harriet Hyman Alonso

You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman

I'm a little late, to the say the least. Rather than start a new thread, I thought it would be helpful to build on this topic each year and take advantage of past recommendations and resources.

This morning I found several new (to me) and intriguing lists:

From a rising junior at Indiana, 4 recs:

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2020/...

What are you reading or wanting to read for Pride Month? Have you read relevant titles in 2020 that you recommend?

From the UK,The Independent recommends this list (includes male authors):

11 best LGBTQ+ books to read during Pride month and beyond

https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/...

From Canada, NOWToronto offers its own curated list (includes men):

12 queer books to read in summer 2020

https://nowtoronto.com/culture/books/...

Thanks for the lists Carol, they have reminded me of a couple I wanted to try including Disoriental and I'm Afraid of Men
I read Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay last year and highly, highly recommend it, I've never read anything else so searingly raw and honest

Oh and I also read a sample of We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir which seemed really good, I'm looking forward to libraries reopening so I can continue with that one

My apologies if it already on the list, a book I read recently is
A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She is Today by Kate Bornstein

Hannah wrote: "Oh and I also read a sample of We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir which seemed really good, I'm looking forward to libraries reopening so I can continue with that one"

This sounds really interesting. I’ll be looking for it.

Crazytourists_books wrote: "My apologies if it already on the list, a book I read recently is
[book:A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years ..."

I haven’t seen it anywhere. Thanks for the rec!

I just read Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey. It was a surprising mix of western and dystopia a la LGBTQ resistance. A short novella so the worldbuilding is minimal, but I liked it.

Book Riot published this list of 12 Informative Queer Women's History Reads and, before even getting to the books, I loved the accompanying photo for representing women you rarely see in media. (includes at least 1 male author)

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective

Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present

Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women

Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World

Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society

Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement

and more...

https://bookriot.com/2020/06/16/queer...

I read a lot of books with queer female characters, so here are some recs:

Historical Fiction -
The Huntress by Kate Quinn
Juliana by Vanda
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (currently reading)

Young Adult -
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Classics -
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

Contemporary -
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

F/F Romance -
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
Ask, Tell by E.J. Noyes
Reaping the Benefits by E.J. Noyes
Shaken to the Core by Jae
Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden
Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden

Gabriella wrote: "I read a lot of books with queer female characters, so here are some recs:

Historical Fiction -
The Huntress by Kate Quinn
Juliana by Vanda
[book:Tipping the Velve..."

Thanks for sharing your recs, Gabriella!!

The longlists for the Polari Prize and Polari First Book Prize for LGBTQ+ literature (not all by women but many are)

https://www.polarisalon.com/polari-prize

I've only read Frankissstein: A Love Story (and I loved it.)

Things We Say in the Dark sounds good.

I thought Things We Say in the Dark was great - some of the stories were genuinely disturbing, to the point where I'm not sure I could read them again. I also liked Salt Slow.

Thanks, Franklinbadger. I'll probably avoid reading anything disturbing for right now because real life is disturbing enough. I have Salt Slow on my tbr so am glad to hear you liked it.

Short story collections are very hit-and-miss for me but I thought Salt Slow was excellent.

Hit and miss for me too, but still worth reading as one good story in an otherwise so-so can stay with you for years.

Do you have any collections by women to recommend? (Admins, do we have a short story thread? I don't want to hijack the Pride Month thread.)

"Hit and miss for me too, but still worth reading as one good story in an otherwise so-so can stay with you for years."

Sarah Hall is a bit like that for me - the first story in Madame Zero: 9 Stories really stuck with me, even though I can't remember the others. Recently, I've also quite enjoyed The Sing of the Shore and We Show What We Have Learned and Other Stories. Things We Lost in the Fire is another one that I liked but found too disturbing to re-read.

June's just around the corner.

Vogue published, "9 LGBTQ+ Books We're Looking Forward to This Spring" and it's a fun rabbit hole to use for TBR augmentation purposes, if not immediate action. (I checked Black Girl, Call Home out of my library this weekend even though I'm not a poetry reader, generally. That cover!!)

https://www.vogue.com/article/lgbtq-b...

This list includes male authors, and I'm highlighting all authors mentioned, but I've placed the works by male authors at the end of the list below.

Untold: Defining Moments of the Uprooted edited by Gabrielle Deonath (anthology)

Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans (poetry)

Girlhood by Melissa Febos (nonfiction) (March 30 release)

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (graphic memoir) (May 4 release)

Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (graphic novel) (May 11 release)

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman (May 18 release) (nonfiction)

Sarahland, a short story collection by Sam Cohen

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green

Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir by Hari Ziyad

I was going to create a thread, but Carol beat me to it with her pre-planning skills. So, "bump," and Happy Pride month.

To start it off, I came across this really interesting and informative article from CNN.com, It's Pride Month. Here's What You Need to Know covering some interesting history of why we celebrate Pride month, why in June (the Stonewall Uprising), the history of the Pride flag, and more (cnn.com).

Looking forward to reading LGBTQ+ authors and characters with you all this month, and hearing about your reads and recommendations.

Let me know if you'd like me to start a new thread for this year, or shall we continue off of this one?

It seems that I'm on board with this theme already without realizing it. I am reading The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. It takes place in Michigan and it is about a group of friends, mostly gay men finding themselves in the midst of the AIDS epidemic during the 1980's. I am really enjoying it so far.

I enjoyed that one too Sophie, although I liked the parts set in the 80s more than the contemporary plotline. But the situation was just so wrenching. Did you see the series 'It's a Sin' recently? Thought that was really excellent, I thought it might be clunky and sentimental but it was incredibly powerful and compelling.

Pushkin Press is reissuing some of Ivy Compton-Burnett's work and I hadn't realised but she features in a lot of lesbian lit lists, she lived with a woman, Margaret, for most of her life, until Margaret died and it's clear that she never got over losing her. And apparently her novels feature a number of queer themes as well as explicitly gay and lesbian characters. So have picked out More Women Than Men to try.

Also planning to read When We Rise: My Life in the Movement still desperate to see the series based on this but can't find it streaming anywhere in the UK.

Also thinking about May Sarton's work and have Journal of a Solitude tbr and Annemarie Schwarzenbach's All the Roads Are Open: The Afghan Journey

I may just scrub some of these though and reread Derek Jarman's diaries.

I loved The Great Believers too. I would also recommend We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones, and Angry Queer Somali Boy. God in Pink by Hasan Namir and Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead are also good. To continue on the heels of AAPI month are On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and anything by Shyam Selvadurai or Shani Mootoo, well-known queer Canadian writers of South Asian descent.

Alwynne wrote: "Did you see the series 'It's a Sin' recently? Thought that was really excellent, I thought it might be clunky and sentimental but it was incredibly powerful and compelling."

Generally, I am not a Russell T. Davies fan, but 'It's a Sin' was brilliant.

I wasn't expecting much either but I agree, although quite devastating to watch. I read somewhere that Davies had difficulty getting the series picked up because commissioning editors weren't keen on the subject matter or thought it was too niche! And seems incredible that the UK AIDs crisis hasn't been properly represented in television drama until now. It's such an important part of our history and the people who died deserve to be remembered and mourned.

Lambda Literary announced its 33rd annual literary awards winners as well as several special honors.

Special Honors Recipients

Ana-Maurine Lara received the Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction.
The Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize went to Sarah Gerard and Brontez Purnell
Nancy Agabian received the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction; and
The Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers was awarded to Taylor Johnson and T Kira Madden.

Lesbian Fiction
Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera (Feminist Press)

Bisexual Fiction
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat (Catapult)

Bisexual Nonfiction
Wow, No Thank You.: Essays by Samantha Irby (Vintage)

Transgender Nonfiction
The Black Trans Prayer Book by Dane Figueroa Edidi and J Mase III

Lesbian Poetry
Funeral Diva by Pamela Sneed(City Lights Books)

Bisexual Poetry
Salt Body Shimmerby Aricka Foreman (YesYes Books)

Transgender Poetry
I love you and I’m not dead by Sade LaNay (Argos Books)

Lesbian Memoir/Biography
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland (Tin House Books)

Lesbian Romance
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur (Avon Books)

LGBTQ Anthology
Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, edited by Joshua Whitehead (Arsenal Pulp Press)

LGBTQ Comics
Apsara Engine by Bishakh Kumar Som (Feminist Press)

LGBTQ Studies
Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World by Zakiyyah Iman Jackson (NYU Press)

and many award-winning men are identified at the site.

https://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards...

Thanks Carol only recognise a tiny number of those, very keen to read the Jenn Shapland but lots that look really interesting.

Carol wrote: "June's just around the corner.

Vogue published, "9 LGBTQ+ Books We're Looking Forward to This Spring" and it's a fun rabbit hole to use for TBR augmentation purposes, if not immediate action. (I c..."

I started Girlhood and it's a very powerful collection. Her essays are based around sexuality and all the ways it develops within and around budding girls. I definitely have to take my time with it because it covers these painful and powerful moments in young girls' lives, and probably everyone has experienced some of these negative situations and feelings surrounding our developing bodies and sexuality in the eyes of others, therefore shaping how we perceive ourselves and our own sexuality. Also great, I think, to share with any young women in our lives. Of course all women would enjoy this in some aspect, I think. I'm only less than halfway through, so there's no telling what ages she might cover throughout.

Anita wrote: "Carol wrote: "June's just around the corner.

Vogue published, "9 LGBTQ+ Books We're Looking Forward to This Spring" and it's a fun rabbit hole to use for TBR augmentation purposes, if not immediat..."

Sounds excellent Anita, I'm as usual reading several things at once. For Pride Month I'm enjoying finding out more about Valentine Ackland, she was a poet and long-term partner of writer Sylvia Townsend-Warner - Valentine Ackland: A Transgressive Life

I'm also reading a biography of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, a fascinating figure, gender defiant, writer, traveller, anti-fascist, campaigner for social justice - Carson McCullers dedicated Reflections in a Golden Eye to her memory. I've read one of her novellas but the only biography I could find is in French Annemarie Schwarzenbach, ou, Le mal d'Europe: biographie slow progress because my vocabulary is a bit rusted/limited.

Also in French, I'm making my way through Herve Guibert's autofictional account of his life dealing with being diagnosed with AIDs in the early years of its appearance. Again slow but mainly because he has a habit of writing sentences that continue over several pages and take a while to unravel!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the belated bump, but here's our reminder that June is Pride month, and we'd love to know what you're reading or what you'd recommend.

I'm obviously behind this month, this year, .... this while, but maybe some of you are, too. I plan to continue seeking out LGBTQ+ stories as 2022 unfolds.

This Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books for Summer 2022 was published by Electric Lit in April 2022, but from my perspective now is the time to check it out, since we can get ahold of many of the mentioned books now rather than dream of them and add them to library lists for someday.

https://electricliterature.com/the-mo...

Mentioned women authors and their works are:

Acts of Service by Lillian Fishman
The Third Person by Emma Grove (a debut, and also a 900-page graphic memoir)
All the Things We Don't Talk About by Amy Feltman
Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin (short stories)
Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
Brown Neon by Raquel Gutiérrez (debut essay collection)
Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler (romance)
Nevada by Imogen Binnie (re-issued; first pub'd 2013)
So Happy for You by Celia Laskey
Enjoy me among my ruins by Juniper Fitzgerald (memoir)
Body Grammar by Jules Ohman(debut, coming-of-age)
Gods of Want: Stories by K-Ming Chang (July 12)
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (July 12) (debut, love story)
Pretty Baby: A Memoir by Chris Belcher (July 12)
Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress (July 12)
Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (July 19)
The Work Wife by Alison B. Hart (July 19) (Debut)
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews (August 2) (debut)
Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility by Michelle Tea (Aug 2)


If anyone has read any of these and recommends them, please comment.

More broadly, what are your favorite reads of 2022 featuring LGBTQ+ characters or written by authors who identify as LGBTQ+?

Not a brand new book (published 2020), but I really enjoyed You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

Lindsey wrote: "Not a brand new book (published 2020), but I really enjoyed You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat"

What an awesome title. I'll check this out, Lindsey.

I'd love to see this thread become filled with recommended reads featuring LGBTQ+ authors and/or main characters, regardless of publication date. In fact, even though I'm quite mesmerized by shiny objects, I think too many lists and articles promote new releases to the disservice of readers - because that's the focus of publicists' placement efforts - and readers miss it on reading strong backlist titles. But I digress.

In the course of researching Nordic reads yesterday, I found this 2020 list which may be of interest to members looking for LGBTQ+-themed reads from Denmark, et al. I think all authors cited are women.

https://lgbtqreads.com/2020/09/25/fav...

Carol wrote: "I'm obviously behind this month, this year, .... this while, but maybe some of you are, too. I plan to continue seeking out LGBTQ+ stories as 2022 unfolds.

This Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books for ..."

I've read 'Yerba Buena' which was a bit of a mess; 'Briefly' was okay but the writing a bit stilted, liked the detail on George Sand; the Juniper Fitzgerald doesn't quite work but fascinating life; just finished 'Acts of Service' and really more hetero fantasy than queer, i.e. lesbian meets guy with 'magic' penis and realises what it is she's been missing

I did like the Julia Armfield though!

Alwynne wrote: "Carol wrote: "I'm obviously behind this month, this year, .... this while, but maybe some of you are, too. I plan to continue seeking out LGBTQ+ stories as 2022 unfolds.

This Most Anticipated LGB..."

That last would have made my eyes roll back so far in my head, they may have become stuck.

I’m bummed about Yerba, but appreciate all the time touches aged me. I remain somewhat intrigued by The Work Wife and will keep the Armfield in mind.

You’re having a really great reading year!

What are your reading plans for this year’s Pride Month?

I’m a fan of CLMP’s recs each year, below, but haven’t yet finalized planning:

https://www.clmp.org/news/a-reading-l...

Share your thoughts and resources here.

I have no idea what I will read for Pride month - oh wait - I am starting Iron Widow by non-binary author Xiran Jay Zhao. I have a bunch to recommend! :)

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson is a horror/thriller, and it's so good!
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta I read a couple of years ago, and it was one of my favorite reads of that year.
If You'll Have Me by Eunnie is a graphic novel that I bought for my kiddo. They really liked it, and I read it for the 2024 BINGO. I am not a big fan of graphic novels, but it was a good story with cool art.
The Bone Shard Daughter and The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart has a lesbian couple in it that I love.
Unashamed: A Coming-Out Guide for LGBTQ Christians by Amber Cantorna-Wylde is a fabulous and heartbreaking book.
Of course, we can't forget the classic Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown!

My plans so far include Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo (since I was so smitten with Girl, Woman, Other last year) and Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
So much stuff catching my eye in this thread though.

I’m currently reading Monstress: Book Two and have The Sleeping Car Porter on my kindle already.

I really liked Mr Loverman, Jen, and hope you do too. He’s a very rich character.

Since I read alot of LGBTQ+ literature already, I was thinking I want to read particularly on the history for Pride Month. I just started the audiobook memoir When We Rise: My Life in the Movement by Cleve Jones. I'm just 10% in but can say his narration is great. A lovely, clear voice and he adds subtle humorous tone where fitting.
Also, as a quilter, I'm so excited to have just learned from Wiki that he is the person who conceived the incredible AIDS Memorial Quilt! Omg my heart is singing. I lived some years in San Francisco Bay Area too so I'm going to enjoy that aspect of his story too.