Month: September 2013

Danika reviews Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

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BlueIsTheWarmestColor

Honestly, after Casey’s review of this title, I feel like my whole review could just be “I agree!” But that would be a bit of a cheat. Besides, I did read the English translation, so we do have that difference.

Blue Is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel structured so that Emma is reading her recently deceased girlfriend’s high school diaries, which then show us flashbacks, which make up most of the narrative. It is set in 90s France, and most of the art is in black, white, and grey, like watercolours, but with occasional splashes of colour. The artwork is definitely the best part of this collection (you can see panels in Casey’s reviews). I especially appreciated how Maroh draws faces, which portray subtle expressions. Although the text is translated, there is also some untranslated French in the background, like on banners in the panels, and things like sound effects. Obviously, if you are able to read French, I’m sure the original publication is the best way to read this book.

This is both a sexy and angsty book. Clementine sees Emma on a crowded street and passing and begins dreaming about her. Emma is a mysterious and captivating figure, her blue hair the only spot of colour in the panel. I could definitely see where Clem was coming from in her attraction to this anonymous figure with the sly smile. Emma grows into a more full character by the end of the book, but this might have been my favourite part, with the thrill of potential. There is more angst and sexiness, though, including beautifully drawn sex scenes, and all the drama of coming out. We know that Clementine is dead from the first few pages, and yet the narrative manages to only up the melodrama. Everything seems to be as difficult and painful as possible, including a few moments that seemed implausible. [spoilers, highlight to read] Really? You’re staying over at your closeted girlfriend’s house and you go downstairs (in the night) naked? I don’t care if you think everyone is asleep, that seems pretty far-fetched. And the circumstances of her death seemed more dramatic than necessary. [end spoilers]

Really, I felt very similarly to Casey on this book. The artwork is so beautiful, and with the hype around the movie version winning the Palme d’Or, I wouldn’t try to dissuade anyone from picking this one up, but do be prepared for some over-the-top melodrama.

TB reviews Black-Hearted Bitch by Lynn Kear

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blackhearted

Black-Hearted Bitch is the first book in the Kell Digby Crime series by Lynn Kear. Here’s a brief synopsis:

Hit man Kell Digby has been killing for so long she’s become bored. Sent from Chicago to Atlanta for a routine hit, the assignment goes bad. Brutally betrayed, she’s content to nurse her wounds until she’s lured back to life with an irresistible con game involving a sister she never knew she had.

I won’t say anything more about the plot since I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone.  I will add that Kell Digby is a lesbian and I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read about a lesbian hit man. This isn’t Kear’s first book, but it was my first time reading one of her books. The other day I decided to read the first page to see if I would like it. I had no intention of reading the book anytime soon. As it turned out she hooked me right away and I finished it in two days.

Kell Digby is a fascinating character. The plot is entertaining and it’s a quick read. This is the type of book that’s fun to read as long as you don’t take it seriously. If you think too much about the plot the story will unravel. Don’t do that.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.  The focus of this book is the main character. There’s action but I was surprised by the character development. The reader really gets to know Kell and I think since this is the first book in the series that will really help in the long run. And in the short run the author includes just enough action to keep the story moving along. The ending was a surprise and I’m curious to see where Kear takes the story next.

If you are in the mood for a fast read that will keep you turning the pages give this a go.

Kristi reviews Hold Me Forever by D. Jackson Leigh

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hold me forever

When Southern debutante Mae St. John learns from her grandmother’s will that not only is the family fortune gone (with all the remaining income designated for the care of Big Mae’s poodle), she thought things could not get more surprising. Then a note left by Big Mae reveals that Mae’s long presumed dead father is in fact alive and living in Louisiana. With no ties left to bind her, Mae heads out to meet the father she never knew.

Meanwhile, Whit Casey has come home to Louisiana to take care of her father’s racing farm in his declining health. Not that the move was not helpful in breaking off her dying relationship with Avery, a closeted lawyer, but Whit did not need another person to be responsible for. Maneuvered into hiring Mae to write for her online racing magazine, Whit believes Mae to be a trust fund baby with no credentials, but is quickly proven wrong by Mae’s enthusiasm and her growing relationship with Whit’s father. A relationship soon grows between Whit and Mae as well, yet both are keeping secrets from the other. When Mae’s investigation into possible horse cloning causes trouble for Whit, the women soon discover that Whit’s farm, and their relationship, are both in jeopardy.

I always approach “straight woman discovers her lesbian identity” stories with a jaded view. I believe this trope is overdone, yet I would like to give credit to Leigh for her depiction of this May-December romance. Sometimes Mae seems a lot younger than 28, with her tendency to talk on forever and constant mentions of her sorority sisters, which made me wonder if these traits were to further enhance a “Southern debutante” profile. Yet it is Mae’s engaging manner with her surroundings – both setting and people – that brings a modern twist to the romance. Mae’s discovery of her attraction to Whit is very circumspect, and she does not waffle in her feelings. Mae believes in the attraction, yet has the foresight to go on a date with another woman to see if she feels that same pull. I found it refreshing to see the “newer” lesbian unafraid of dealing with her feelings.

There were still some obvious plot lines of jealousy, secrets causing betrayal, and hidden enemies that brought the book into some overly familiar plot territories. However, the character interactions between both women, their fathers, and Whit’s ex Avery gave some unique tweaks to the story.

Link Round Up: Sept 18 – 25

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womensbarracks   ifyoufollowme   strangeronlesbos

Autostraddle posted Lez Liberty Lit #29: Against Stupidity, Apathy, And Zombification and Drawn to Comics: Princess Princess Makes All Of Your Queer Fairy Tale Fantasies Come True.

Lambda Literary posted An Evening of Lesbian Pulp Fiction (New York, October 10th).

Piercing Fiction posted Rainbow eBooks is closing.

Queer Books Please posted Episode 35 – If You Follow Me, The Courier’s New Bicycle, underrated lesbian fiction.

SheRises   hild   Charity-ylva

Women and Words posted Coming Attractions, October 2013 and One Question, Ten Answers, September 2013.

Nicola Griffith posted Save the date: Hild appearances.

In the Midst of Tribulation by Mary Griggs was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

She Rises by Kate Worsley was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook, Goodreads and tumblr. 

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Rachel reviews Pembroke Park by Michelle Martin

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pembrokepark Pembroke Park by Michelle Martin is a daring novel for its time. Published in 1986, it is the story of two lesbian women in the regency period of England.

The year is 1817 in Herefordshire, and wealthy widow Joanna Sinclair, one of England’s privileged “ton”, the upper class society of England, meets her new neighbor, Lady Diana March. But Diana is a woman like no other; she rides in men’s clothes, has traveled around the world and puts exotic furnishings in her home at Waverly Manor. At first Joanna is scandalized, but soon befriends Diana, leading them both to forbidden feelings of love. Joanna’s scheming brother, Hugo Garfield, is bound and determined to ruin these women to protect his reputation and keep order in his ever-growing tumultuous household. But he meets his match in his sister and Diana.

Pembroke Park, though not a widely known novel, is one of the better lesbian books out there. The personalities of Joanna and Diana bring them to life. Joanna’s struggle with her feelings of love and Diana’s fight against a sad past are feelings anyone can relate to. Their relationship progresses slowly but realistically, and they are tender and loving towards each other.

The other characters are very well written. Joanna’s daughter Molly is charming, Diana’s friend Hildegard is very blunt and comical, and Hugo is self-righteous and cold. They all add spice to the story and have their own purposes for the plot.

The setting of this novel is beautifully described. I could easily picture the stunningly large homes, the lush gardens and the expensive clothes that the ton in England wore at that time. The presence of the conservative English society back then is portrayed as harsh and judgmental towards homosexuals and outcasts, which is probably not too far off the mark. In such a rigid time, people really were hard on those who didn’t fit their mold of propriety.

The story is engaging, with many obstacles hurled at Diana and Joanna that they must navigate through. It was hard to put down, and many tense scenes made me wonder how they would work things out. Martin also did a good job with the language and things that people in 1817 England would probably have said. These made Pembroke Park seem even more authentic.

Pembroke Park is a great historical novel as well as a tender romance with some comedy added to the mix. In my opinion, the gem that it is, it should be better known and reprinted for more readers. This is one story not to be missed!

Danika reviews Love In the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

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loveinthetimeofglobalwarming

 

Love In the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block is a post-apocalyptic Fantasy teen re-telling of The Odyssey. Yes, it has a lot going on.

The book is set decades in the future, but for the most part it seems like it could be current day. The main character, Penelope, has survived (so far) the aftermath of the earthquakes and floods, not to mention the giants, that have decimated the vast majority of the world’s living things. After months of waiting in her paranoid father’s stockpiled house, she decides to head out to try to find her family, and her journey seems to be eerily echoed by the story of The Odyssey.

This is the first book of Block’s that I’ve read, and I also haven’t read The Odyssey, so I was a little worried that I’d be in over my head. To some extent, this book reminds me of The End by Nora Olsen. Both are teen post-apocalyptic books that also have Fantasy elements, but overall I think that Love In the Time of Global Warming pulled it off a little better. The writing was very easy to read, and I just kept being pulled along by the story–I finished it in a couple of sittings. I was so enthralled that it seemed to make up for faults that would have irritated me in other books. For example, Pen falls in love pretty quickly (this is a bisexual book, by the way, and the main romantic relationship is between Pen and a guy), but this is the end of the world! It happens. And many of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi elements aren’t really explained. Okay, so the giants were genetically engineered… but there doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason for that. And the elements of magic and people seeming to have powers aren’t explained at all. And, most of all, why does The Odyssey keep predicting what will happen next in their lives? (A note on that: don’t be intimidated if you haven’t read The Odyssey, because the allusions are pretty blatant. The book is actually quoted several times, and characters clearly state that ‘Hey, this is just like what happens in the book!’ That was a minor irritation, but I guess she didn’t trust that teen readers would get the reference. Still, I haven’t read it, and even I got those references through popular culture.) Those elements aren’t really explained at all. And the explanations that do take place, like why giants were created, or that giants caused the earthquakes (?) seemed a little flimsy. And yet! I didn’t really care. I was swept up in the story, and liked the characters too much to fuss about those things.

The characters are fantastic. Not to give too much away, but Pen does bump into other people along the way, and I thought that they seemed realistic and likeable, even though they didn’t have a lot of time to develop. [Spoilers, highlight to read] Hex, her love interest, is trans, and for the most part I thought this was handled well. Pen, who as far as we know has previously only been attracted to girls, is too busy dealing with survival to worry about now being attracted to a guy. And when she’s told, she says at some point, and I quote “I don’t give a fuck”. Which I liked. There was only one moment where she mentally considers calling Hex “her” that I didn’t like, but that was it. [end spoilers] Ah, that’s another parallel to The End: it’s a group of queer teens who seem to survive the end of the world, because queers are naturally magic, as one character in Love In the Time of Global Warming recognizes: “Maybe we have superpowers . . . I mean, besides the basic natural queer superpower”.

Right now Amazon is offering the first five chapters for free, so I definitely recommend you read a chapter or two. If you like the style, you’ll probably like the book! As long as you’re okay with leaving a fair amount of questions unanswered.

Link Round Up: Sept 4 – 18

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batwoman   sitar   Ammonite

AfterEllen posted “Batwoman” writers resign, say DC won’t allow Kate and Maggie to get married and AfterEllen.com Book Club: “Will of the Empress” and “Ammonite”.

Autostraddle posted

Band of Thebes posted The Polari LGBT First Book Shortlist 2013 (also check out Jon Dolores’s blog about the Polari evening).

Bonjour, Cass! posted Five Ways to Write Better LGBTQ Book Reviews.

SheRises   aFTERdELORES   girlsiverunawaywith

Good Lesbian Books posted Non-Human Lesbians in Fantasy Fiction (Mermaids, Elves and Immortals).

Lambda Literary posted

Over the Rainbow Books posted OTR Summer 2013 Nominations.

Queer Books Please posted Episode 33 – Nevada, The Wives of Bath, Lost and Delirious and Episode 34 – She Rises.

Tor posted Batwoman’s Lesbian Marriage Problem.

teahousefire   MommyMamaandMe-298x300   wordswillbreakcement

“Where Are The Gay Parents In Children’s Literature?” was posted at KRISTINE CARLSON ASSELI.

Ellis Avery’s Stonewall Fiction Award Acceptance Speech.

Masha Gessen, Russian lesbian author, pleas ‘Get Us the Hell Out of Here’ (also covered at GNN).

Shira Glassman posted My experiences with bi erasure, and a guest post about the sensual parts of The Second Mango.

Karin Kallmaker posted Appearing at June Mazer Archives on September 21 in WeHo.

Malinda Lo posted 1 week till INHERITANCE! Plus events!

Sarah Schulman was interviewed by Arsenal Pulp Press.

Sarah Waters will have a new book out autumn 2014!

OtherSideofParadise   hood   anythingthatloves

Bella Key by Scarlet Chastain was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin was reviewed at ELIXHER.

Anything That Loves edited by Zan Christensen was reviewed at Bisexual Books.

Hood by Emma Donoghue was reviewed by Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian.

Leap by Z Egloff was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan was reviewed at QueerYA.

Orangesarenottheonlyfruit   patienceandsarah   takenbythewind

Being Emily by Rachel Gold was reviewed at the Magpie Librarian.

The Passion of Alice by Stephanie Grant was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Taken By the Wind by Ellen Hart was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Patience & Sarah (Little Sister’s Classics) by Isabel Miller was reviewed at That’s All I Read.

Mask of the Highwaywoman by Niamh Murphy was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson was reviewed at Iris On Books.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook, Goodreads and tumblr. 

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Erica Gillingham reviews Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

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“Have you ever felt really close to someone? So close that you can’t understand why you and the other person have two separate bodies, two separate skins? I think it was Sunday when that feeling began.”

Let me give you a little background on me before I tell you how awesome Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden really is: I research love and romance in LGBT YA novels. Which means that I read a lot of love stories about gay teenagers. Which really means that I’m a big ol’ sap. A novel with a sweet, compelling love story makes me swoon faster than you can say, “Kiss me.” Which is basically to warn you that this post may contain a large amount of gushing.

The other thing you need to know about my review of Annie On My Mind is that I avoided reading it for, well, a long time. My dismissive thinking went a little something like this: ‘it was published in 1982, two years before I was born! C’mon, it can’t be that exciting now. Really, how good is this “classic” going to be? A YA novel published in the 1980s must have been so censored that reading it will be such a chore—you don’t even get explicit scenes in YA published in 2012!’ (Yes, sometimes my inner monologue does remind me of the teenage characters I read about, but in the spirit of being with you honest with you on the Internet, I was thinking stuff like that.)

Which is why I feel it is so important to admit that I was being a big ol’ AGEIST when it came to actually cracking the spine on my 25th anniversary edition copy.

I want to stand up in front of all you lovely Lesbrary readers, own up to all of scathing prejudice and snarky disbelief, and admit: GIRL, I WAS SO WRONG.

Annie On My Mind is an incredible young adult novel with a sweet, sweet love story. It blows my mind that it was published in 1982—amongst so much fear and misinformation about homosexuality—but it boggles my mind even more that there aren’t MORE YA novels like it published by now.

To set up the story, Liza and Annie meet in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Annie is singing her heart out in a deserted wing and Liza, an architectural student, has come to take a look around the museum. They come from different socio-economic backgrounds and very different school situations and yet that does not pose any significant issue to their relationship. The attraction is instant and their friendship builds swiftly.

The major drama of the story revolves around the strict rules and image of Liza’s private school as it is in danger of closing for financial reasons. As you can imagine, all of the students and faculty (hint hint: there are more lesbians than meets the eye) must be on their utmost behaviour during such a funding crisis, i.e. any bad news is all bad news for the school. The other barrier to their relationship is Liza’s coming out process. To be fair, though, I have read much more tortured and dramatic coming out stories. Liza’s, in contrast, feels real in the time it takes for her to accept herself and open herself up—fully—to her relationship with Annie.

I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of page space given over to the sexual desires and acts between Liza and Annie. Sure, it’s not explicit sex scenes, but no one can argue that those two seventeen year old girls don’t have a healthy sex life! Some teenagers do have a high sex drive, especially when they fall in deeply in love for the first time, and it was refreshing for me to read that in a YA novel.

When reading it, I do think it is relevant to remember that it was published in the 1980s. Some of the references and ‘ways of life’ are no longer as common today—who has recently pierced their ears with a needle and a potato instead of going down to the mall?!—but the story itself isn’t dated. The relevance of a love story never ages, and this one really does deserve the title of ‘classic.’

Editor note: Also check out Danika and Ana’s conversation about this book, and Danika’s notes about this book!

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Erica is a MPhil/PhD Student researching love and romance in LGBT YA literature. She is currently running an Indiegogo campaign, “Made with Love,” to fund the second year of her program. More info can be found on her website.

Jill reviews Strangers In Paradise: Volume One by Terry Moore

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I’ve heard so much about Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise over the years, especially this year as he released a special box set edition of the entire series for its 20th anniversary, that approaching it started to seem intimidating, and also complicated. I’ll probably lose some nerd cred for saying this, but compilations of long running comics have always confused me: there are so many different volumes, and different versions of those volumes, that I never know which are the best or right ones to get. My library’s holdings of it are shoddy at best, and I obviously can’t afford the $100 box set. But last month when I was perusing the graphic novel section of my local bookstore and found a $4 copy of Strangers in Paradise: Volume One, there was pretty much no excuse for me anymore.

It’s a thin collection, including the first three comics in the series, along with a short vignette and some of Moore’s sketches and original inspirations for the characters. We’re introduced to our two main ladies: Francine, dark haired, curvy, heart of gold, and Katchoo, scowly but funny, angry, artsy, with a mess of blonde hair almost always covering too much of her face. Best friends since high school, the story really begins at some indeterminate point of their adulthood. Roommates, Katchoo is clearly in love with Francine and always has been, and has to gut wrenchingly watch as Francine, clueless and naive, clings from one horrible guy to the next. The plot in this first volume mainly deals with the latest bad egg in Francine’s life, who is really, really a bad egg, and the revenge Katchoo takes for messing with her girl. We also meet a couple of side characters, including the adorable and lovable David, a fellow artsy type who wants to woo Katchoo until she not so politely informs him that he’s not her type, but who sticks around anyway, because that’s the kind of guy he is.

While I enjoyed this volume, it’s hard to review it on its own because I know that it’s just the tip of the iceberg, and all I’m left feeling is that I want more! I want Francine to get some sense knocked into her; I want Katchoo to have to stop pining. But it is remarkable that in such a short book, less than 100 pages, I already do feel attached to these characters Moore has so lovingly crafted: while Francine’s misdirected clinginess is excruciating, you somehow still like her and root for her to get over all of this, and while Katchoo’s rage can be over the top, you see her heart and know that you’re on her team from page one. Plus, in one of the very first scenes, we see her sleepily take out a gun from her bedside table and literally shoot her ringing alarm clock. It’s hard not to like a girl like that.

But my favorite thing about the story so far is actually Moore’s illustrations. While done in black and white and not overly complex–most of Strangers in Paradise was self-published–his depictions of both women are realistic in a wonderful way I can’t completely describe. We see Francine in particular in various shades of undress, and each time, her body is imperfect–thick thighs and bum, a perfectly normal stomach–but yet she is still completely and utterly sexy. It’s refreshing, and lovely, and I look forward to much, much more in my near future when I get my hands on Volume Two.

 

Carol reviews Women Float by Maureen Foley

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WOmenFloatPublisher: CCLaP Publishing
ASIN: B00D208K98
Genre: Fiction

Overview from Amazon.com

Lonely California pastry chef Win never learned how to swim, despite growing up just miles from the Pacific Ocean. Even Janie, her flaky pro-surfer single mother, couldn’t convince her to brave the water, solidifying Win’s fear when she leaves her at the tender age of 9. But when Win turns 29 and decides to take swimming lessons for the first time — finally confronting her hydrophobia and trying to make sense of why her mer-mother suddenly swam off all those years ago — she must also deal with a desperate crush she’s developed on her New Age neighbor, mysterious postcards that keep arriving in the mail, and her bad habit of pathological lying. This touching and humorous look at female relationships and the dramas that come for contemporary women turning thirty also doubles as a loving ode to the small coastal town of Carpinteria and the laid-back SoCal lifestyle that guides it. Poetic and moving, Maureen Foley’s fiction debut is both a perfect beach read and an insightful look at love, accidental families and the power of friendships.

Review

3.5 out of 5 Stars

I find that sometimes novellas will leave me feeling unsatisfied as if there is unfinished business that was suddenly rushed to an end in an effort to complete the story.  That is definitely not this case with Women Float.

The main character, Wen, is complex and comes across as three dimensional.  In addition, despite her insecurities, and in some instances major flaws, I found myself wanting things to get better for her.  Wanting her to improve and get her life in order.

There was one particular quote about a ¼ of the way through the book that just really stuck with me, because of the imagery it created for me.  Wen is looking at an anonymous postcard that she received and she’s thinking to herself:  “I want the postcard to be from Selima. Or my mom.  Or Mia. Any of the countless women who’ve leaned their heads towards mine and told me huge important things, like how to separate egg yolks and whites and were to pick boysenberries.”  I think if we have been lucky we all have people in our lives who have shared the secrets of life.
This is a nice easy read for the beach, sitting in the back yard, or in the house on a rainy day with a hot drink.