Queereaders discussion

Hi Everyone: I've been a member of this list for over a year and am just getting around to introducing myself. I enjoy reading the other posts when new members introduce themselves so figured it was only far to do so myself.

I live in Stratford, ON and work in administration at the University of Waterloo. I've been an avid reader as long as I can remember. I'll read just about anything, but favourite genres include mysteries, historical fiction & non-fiction, best sellers, literary fiction both current and classic, American, Canadian & British authors.

I hadn't read a lot of gay fiction or non-fiction in recent years so this list is a good way to find out what's new and what people are reading. I've read a couple of the group reads and have a few more on my ever-growing to-read pile. My favourite from the group reads thus far is [book:What They Always Tell Us|2498668.

Looking forward to curling up with a few more of the group reads this winter.

Doug

Welcome, Doug!

Canada is one of my favorite places to visit, though I've only spent time in the Montreal area.

Feel free to jump in any of our discussions or start one of your own. We are currently discussing Maurice by E.M. Forster and Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan. If you've read or are planning to read either of those books, please comment.

What They Always Tell Us was one of our past selections. Feel free to comment on any of those too.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Thanks Nancy: I haven't been to Montreal since I was in high school but it's one of those places I'd like to go back to.

Doug

Welcome Doug from a compatriot...at least a transplanted one (from the US originally).

My partner and I live in Toronto but we both love Stratford!

I think you'll enjoy the group!

Hi Tom: Thanks for the welcome. Nice to hear from a fellow Canuck.

I'm in Toronto.

Hey John!

Yay Toronto! Me too!

Wonderful. I used to volunteer at the Canadian Lesbian Gay Archives. Anyone else know it?

Doug wrote: "Hi Everyone: I've been a member of this list for over a year and am just getting around to introducing myself. I enjoy reading the other posts when new members introduce themselves so figured it ..."

hi Doug! nice to read your intro! Having lived off and on in Canada I believe Canadians are the most beautiful people out there!
I too enjoy most books, from nonfiction to crime fisction and memoires. I absolutely love Radclyffe's lesbian cop and secret service books (ha!) but they are super "dykey" so you might not love them so much :). Welcome!

John wrote: "Wonderful. I used to volunteer at the Canadian Lesbian Gay Archives. Anyone else know it?"

Hi John - I do know it. My partner did some research there a couple years ago for his dissertation and we were at the launch party for the new building, which is great!

Another Canuck here ... I'm in Ottawa. :)

Fiona - Radclyffe is a guilty pleasure. If you like gritty crime/mystery fiction, you might like British author Val McDermid - she wrote one lighter mystery series with a lesbian protaganist (Kate Brannigan) and her more well known series is the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series (not lbgt) that is much darker but really well done.

Hi Fiona: Thanks for the welcome - and on behalf of my fellow Canadians, thanks for the compliment! I've never heard of the Radclyffe lesbian cop series but now I'm curious to know how 'Dykey' is 'super Dykey'?

Megan wrote: "If you like gritty crime/mystery fiction, you might like British author Val McDermid - she wrote one lighter mystery series with a lesbian protaganist (Kate Brannigan) and her more well known series is the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series (not lbgt) that is much darker but really well done..."

Welcome, Doug and Fiona! And hello also to all others sharing this space but especially Megan whose comment on Val McDermid I would like to endorse.

I recently read Fever of the Bone and I was quite astonished at how much the novel (#6 in a series of novels I have not read)gripped my attention! Fantastic characterisation; perfectly-paced plot; brilliantly chilling (but erm, the framing of the suspense/themes felt a little predictable); a book I really did not want to put down!

I have heard many positive reviews and recommendations for this Scottish lesbian crime writer. It is so wonderful to read contemporary crime fiction written by a woman - a woman creating such strong female characters. And although crime/suspense fiction is not really my cup-of-tea, I am really rather eager to reading the 'Kate Brannigan' novels; I'll turn my attention towards The Mermaids Singing first.

Fiona wrote: "I absolutely love Radclyffe's lesbian cop and secret service books (ha!) but they are super "dykey".."

Fiona, please could you share a link with us? I'm intrigued! ;)

Anyone from Weyburn, Saskatchewan? This prairie boy hails from there although I've been transplanted to Toronto for, erm, quite a while. (Let's just say I've been shopping at Glad Day Books since they were located on Collier St.) My husband and I live right in the thick of things; Maple Leaf Gardens is barely more than an elevator ride away.

My favourite books are mysteries -- high brow or low brow, gay or str8 -- and since acquiring a Kindle and a Kobo in the past 18 months, I've been reading avidly. In truth, I've been reading with the same passion as I did as a teenager and it's giving me enormous pleasure.

I've been enjoying Anthony Bidulka, Josh Lanyan, Richard Stevenson ... just finished Matthew Gallaway's The Metropolis Case and am working through Louis Bayard's The Pale Blue Eye. I strongly recommend Kathleen Winter's Annabel, the only book short-listed for the 2010 Governor General's Award, Scotiabank Giller Prize and Roger's Trust ... and won nothing (except a place in my heart for extraordinary writing).

And, for pleasures, without a gay theme (except the couple who run the antiques shop / bed and breakfast in Three Pines), I simply adore Louise Penny and her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series ... which finally was released in Canada last week in e-book form at Kobo and Amazon.

I'm also a new member and am from Hamilton, Ontario. Val McDermid is one of my favourite authors, have read everything except her latest, which I want to get to ASAP. Very gritty, though I do wonder how she sleeps at night. L.R. KIng also wrote a detevtive series where the main character is gay, IMHO not as gripping as Val McDermid, but still very readable.
I enjoy books by Helen Humphreys, Emma Donaghue and Jane Rule for gay content.

Oh, Erika, Val McDermid is the BEST... I love her so much. Have you read any Reginald Hill? Or Stephen Booth.. you mike like them if you like her, they are both semi literary mystery writers that I adore!

Welcome!

Welcome aboard, Robin!

I took a quick run over to your blogs / ex-blogs (Disco Ball Cocktail ... without Goldschlagger? *rolls eyes* WHAT on earth were your readers thinking?!?) and was charmed. So much so, I picked up your book at Amazon, , and popped it onto my formal to read list ... (which means I will read it "shortly"). The Amazon blurb begins: The Jolly Lobster is a very gay adventure featuring rum runners, speakeasies, brothels, and love in Halifax during Prohibition. It's the summer of 1920 and ... it sounds like a fun read.

You may have heard of or seen another west coaster, Fraser Nixon, and his first novel The Man Who Killed: A Novel -- which is about the 1920s prohibition era in Montreal, and some of the seedier characters well down in the corruption food chain. It's a pretty dark tale, with nothing gay to redeem it, though the writing is compelling.

Welcome Robin!

Ah, I am there somewhere, waving!