I was feeling nostalgic this month and decided to re-read Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden (she/her), one of the first queer books I ever read. My ability to remember specific plot details is notoriously bad, so it was almost like reading it for the first time. I am pleased to report, it did not disappoint! Originally publishedRead More
The Original Sapphic Vampire: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link A young girl, Laura, becomes haunted by a figure in a dream that preys on her. Ten years later, that girl, Carmilla, shows up at her home and claims to know her from the dream as well. They become fast friends, but Carmilla holds a dark secret: she is a vampire whoRead More
Bee reviews Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
I have never been so confused as I was while reading Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. I felt exceedingly silly, like I was missing a trick (or several) about the impenetrable prose and the seemingly nonsensical character behaviour. I was expecting to be wowed, amazed, startlingly impressed by it as a work of literature. Jeanette WintersonRead More
Maggie reviews Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller
For reasons I can no longer remember, I was reading an article about operas when it mentioned an opera about lesbians called Patience & Sarah, which I am sort of upset I have never heard of since I have worked at two different operas. Then I looked into it more and found out it wasRead More
Anna Marie reviews Stone Butch Blues
Ever since I learnt about Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg I’ve wanted to read it, but I knew it would be an intense book to read with quite a lot of violence in it, so I waited till I thought I might be slightly more ready for it. The time to read it arrived since, lastRead More
Mary Springer reviews Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterspoon
Trigger warnings for mentions of homophobia and abuse The relationship between sapphic women and Christianity is a complicated and sometimes tragic and violent one. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a semi-autobiographical story based around the author’s life raised by an evangelists in an English Pentecostal community while discovering her attraction to women. JeanetteRead More
Danika reviews Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Orlando is the book that I’ve been most ashamed of never having read. It’s a queer classic! So when I was picking out which book should be my first read of 2016, it seemed the obvious choice. The funny thing about reading the classics is that I always go in thinking that I have a generalRead More
Rachel reviews Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller
First published in 1969 under the title A Place for Us, Patience & Sarah is a lovely classic lesbian novel by Isabel Miller. Like Nancy Garden’s Annie on my Mind, this book is one of the first and few books of the time to have lesbian female protagonists in love, and to have a happyRead More
Rachel reviews Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Published in 1985 by Jeanette Winterson, the classic novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit hits home on a young girl coming of age and beginning to question her sexuality. The protagonist, Jeanette, has been adopted by stringent Pentecostal evangelists. As she grows up, she is expected to one day be a missionary. Her motherRead More
Laura Mandanas reviews Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
A few weeks ago, I decided to bring a book into the tub for a relaxing bubble bath. When the temperature was right, I gingerly picked up the paperback and eased my way into the frothy suds, cautiously avoiding the slightest splash. I took careful pains to hold the book a deliberate 6-8 inches outRead More