NOTE: After much debating, I decided maybe a ranking on the books would be a good idea. Please note this these stars (5 being the best, 1 being the lowest) is only a matter of my opinion and may or may not coincide with your own interests.
* * * * * Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
This is my favorite transgender book I've read so far. It's about growing up as a jewish transgendered youth. This novel deals a lot with the feelings of isolation and lonliless that goes along with growing up as a transgendered female.
* * * * * The Escape Artist by Judith Katz
It's about a Jewish girl named Sofia, that is kidnapped by her "future husband" and taken to live the rest of her life as a whore. While at the whorehouse she meets Hankus, a gifted magician disquised as a man. Hankus and Sofia fall in love and attempt to free Sofia from the whorehouse.
* * * * * Good Moon Rising by Nancy Garden
ok, I have to admit this the best book yet for this summer's reading list. It's about two girls who are in their high school show "The Crucible" learn about their feelings for one another. I stage managed this show in h.s. my senior year(ok, fine I was ASM, but same thing) so when you read this you may understand why I love this book so much. However, just for the record during that show, I didn't have a crush on the character Elizabeth. Also as you may already know I'm a theater engineer major, so since it's about theater, I love it even more!!!!!!!!!!!!
* * * * * Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
This is a wonderful fictional novel about a very determined lesbian growing up.
* * * * * Cecile by Ruthann Robson
This is another fictional book about a lesbian couple raising a little boy. It deals with interesting concepts of how the couple is treated for having a male in their household.
* * * * * Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley
This book is about interracial love. Terry is a wealthy white author, and Renay is a black pianist. Together they find love and happiness, however, still must deal with the prejudices that face them daily. I really enjoyed this novel, and it has some great sex scenes in it as well.
* * * * * Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
Another wonderful book by Nancy Garden, although this one didn't hit as close to home for me as Good Moon Rising did. It's the typical scenerio of two teenagers falling in love, and the predicament this creates on going to a small private catholic school.
* * * * * Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound by Judith Katz
Katz happens to be my favorite author. Although if you read any of her books a little knowledge of Judiasm and Hebrew does help some. This book is about the bond between three sisters growing up, and their relation to their family. One of the sisters, Nadine, is insane, and runs away from home. The whole book centers around Nadine, and how her actions are revolved around her family.
* * * * * Get on With It: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Getting Online by Richard Laerme
If you've got internet access check this out. Even if you've never dared to go online Laerme explains it all. Unfortunately, I fear that within a few years (maybe in monthes in this computer age) most of his information will be very outdated; but for now, it's a great way to find some really interesting websites.
* * * * * The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
I think I had to give this five stars because of the historic importance of this book. The Well of Loneliness was the first widely distributed lesbian novel in the US. It was banned from stores, and burnt publicly, but this wonderful novel still survives. It's practically an autobiography of Hall's life.
* * * * * Lea's Book of Rules for the World by Lea Delaria
Lea is hilarious. She's a lesbian comic and actor. Delaria puts together her rules for the world that she thinks everyone should live by. You might not agree with her ideas, but her book will you leave laughing outloud.
* * * * One Teenager in Ten
This book contains about 20 different stories of teens coming out of the closet and the realization of their sexuality. Some of the stories are really amazing and horrifying. So if you think coming out of the closet will be or was bad for you, just read some of these stories.
* * * * Working Parts
This is an interesting book about an illiterate lesbian dealing with the hardships of life and lonliness.
* * * * OUT FRONT: Contemporary gay and lesbian plays edited by Don Shewey
Well, the title pretty much sums it up. This book features plays by Robert Chesley, Harvey Fierstein, William M. Huffman, Holly Hugs, Harry Kondoleon, Emily Mann, Terrence McNally, Martin Sherman, Evan Smith, Kathleen Tolan, and Doric Wilson. The editor even gives the reader a summery of when and where these shows opened and who performed in them. You'll be surprised to see who some of the actors and actresses were. This book features many different styles of plays and ideas.
* * * * Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack
This was definitely one of the more unique books I've read. It has some qualities of a sci-fi novel, but just isn't quite there. This book features two loves, Jaqe and Laurie along with their daughter, Kate who are frequented by Mother Night a.k.a. death. Mother Night affects all their lives and lots of adventure as well. The theme seen throughout the story is death (obviously), so I must warn you, it's not the happiest book to read.
* * * * Getting to the Point by Teresa Stores
I really liked the writing style of this one. Stores takes on each character's point of view in the novel. The main plot is about Dix coming home to spend her last summer with her dying grandmother. While there Dix must deal with her parents prejudices and decide what to do about her relationship with her lover Sarah.
* * * * Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
Nancy Garden actually makes reference to this book in one of her novels, I think it was in Annie on my Mind. This book is about being a lesbian in the early 19th century. The story line was based on a true story about two lovers "who lived and farmed together...in New York state, in the early part of the 19th century."
* * * * Another Mother by Ruthann Robson
This book was about a lesbian lawyer, Angie, dealing with her past and present problems while raising a child with her lover, Rachel. Angie deals primarily with custody cases dealing with lesbian mothers. Robson does a wonderful job examining the problems lesbian mothers have raising a child in today's society.
* * * * Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality by Pat Califia
This book answers any questions you ever needed to know about lesbian sex. Califia researches a variety of topics ranging from sex techniques to SDT's. Anyone who has any questions about lesbian sexuality should check out this book.
* * * *Shy Girl by Elizabeth Stark
In general this about a woman's first love that she just cannot get over. The main character Alta, after years of silence has regained touch with her first love, Shy. The book is about Alta dealing with her emotions towards Shy, as Shy tries to deal with her mother's health and past secrets.
* * * * Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage by Reverend D. Perry and Thomas L.. Swicegood
This book consists of biographies of some very famous gay and lesbian figures, who helped changed the society for the better of all of us. This book covers the lives of Harvey Milk, Elaine Noble, Gilberto Gerald, Jean O'Leary, Leonard Matlovich, Barbara Gittings, Harry Hay, and Ivy Bottini. Perry and Swicegood even include dialogue from each of the people interviewed.
* * * *Letters from the Closet by Tony Ferrante and Paulette Jacobson
This is such a cute books with a lot of cool artwork inside. It's mainly about a married couple who comes to terms with their own sexuality. I'd recommend this book for people of all ages.
* * * *Dyke Life edited by Karla Jay
This book covers all aspects of a dyke life. Jay has collected essay from various famous authors like Ruthann Robson and Leslea Newman. It covers topics varying from sex and gender identity to raising children. It's a great resource to look into.
* * * *Passion's Shadow by Nicole Conn
I really liked this novel, it's just a basic romance novel. Although I have to give it a four because the plot is a little hard to believe. Generally what happens is this: Lindsey converts Sondra into a lesbian. When Sondra is hospitalized for alcoholism, Lindsey starts hanging out with Sondra's daughter Samantha (who is originally straight as well), but falls in love with Lindsey anyways.
* * * *Lesbian Lists by Dell Richards
Lesbian Lists is one of the most unique books I've read. Richards has compliled a series of all different kinds of lists like 3 lesbian couples buried together or 10 cult films with lesbian characters. So if you like reading about odd facts, read this book. I gave it a four, because despite all the facts Richards has gathered (which I'm sure was a huge challenge) I still find the lists incomplete.
* * * *Lesbian Culture: An Anthology edited by Julia Penelope and Susan Wolfe
This is a collection of works of lesbian culture (obviously). It's an excellent collection, and a huge book. It'll be hard to hide under your bed. As good as I think the collection is, I don't think it evenly represents lesbian culture, I felt it was still somewhat incomplete.
* * * *Forbidden Passages: Writings Banned in Canada
The title says it all. Surprisingly it's not all erotica, some are essay written about homosexuality. It's kinda fascinating to see what Canada banned, and some of the works are really good.
* * * *The Indelible Alison Bechdel by Alison Bechdel
If you're a fan of Dykes to Watch Out For read this book. Bechdel is the cartoonist of this highly popular comic strip. This book features stories never been published and a few of Bechdel's own personal favorites.
* * * *Small Town Girls by Pamela Wallace
It's about four women growing up and their need to escape from their small town and their haunting past. Most of the book is very heterosexual, but in the end a lesbian relationship does turn up. And well...it kept me interested throughout the whole book.
* * * *Hilarith by Suzanne Westenhoefer
This is a talking book (something I've never experienced before, and was great for a long car ride). It is a collection of lesbian comedy acts caught on tape. The comedians include: Marga Gomez, Karen Williams, Kate Williams and Suzanne Westenhoefer.
* * *Apparition Alley: A Kate Delafield Mystery by Katherine Forrest
This was the first mystery novel I've ever read, and I found it pretty good. It's about a lesbian detective, Kate Delafield, and working in the LAPD as a closeted lesbian. The book focuses on coming out in the work place, and the problems of prejudice.
* * * ICED! by Judith Alguire
Well, if you like hockey this isn't such a bad book. It's about a the coach of one of the national womens hockey team. She coaches the Toronto Teddies and falls in love with one of the players, Molly Gavison, then everything starts going downhill from there.
* * * The Hangdog Hustle by Elizabeth Pincus
This was a mystery novel about a lesbian private eye. She is hired by Laney to investigate the murder of a japanese homosexual.
* * * The Last of her Lies: A Maggie Garrett Mystery by Jean Taylor
This is another mystery novel about a lesbian private eye. (gee...I see a trend starting here) This time though the lesbian investigator is examining a case of a lesbian therapist accused of having sex with one of her clients.
* * * Stories for the Third Ear by Lee Wallace
Ok this book happens to have been written by my great aunt, and just for the record if you look at the picture in the book of the author, I don't resemble her at all. It's a list of short stories that tells her clients in her therapy. Only one of the stories really deals with homosexuality, but because of the imagery she uses in the book and the positive message it reinforces, I had to add this to my list. If you're lookign for that particular story, it's called "Secret Room". There's also a short story about gender identity disorder called "All Creatures of the Forest". If you are into psychology, however, I would recommend reading the rest of the stories too, they are quite interesting.
* * * I Knew You Would Call by Kate Allen
This is one of the more unique mystery novels that I've read. Kate Allen keeps your mind wondering and interlays comedy and mystery in this one. The main character, Marta Goicochea, is a psychic who is asked by one of her new found friends to discover the mystery behind a murder. This book honestly confronts the issues of incest survival and abusive lesbian relationships.
* * * The Sewing Circle by Axel Madsen
This is basically a history book of Hollywood's famous female stars that loved women in the early 1900's. It is pretty well written, my major concern was the chroniclogical order of it. The author skips around a lot, and with so many names it's hard to keep track of who's who. But if you're a big fan of Katherine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, or Mercedes D'la Costa, I'd recommend reading this book.
* * * Tomboys edited by Lynne Yamaguchi and Karen Barbar
If you grew up as a tomboy, this is a fun book to read. It's just a collection of essays about various tomboys who grew up to be lesbians. Some of the stories are hillariously funny.
* * * The Heart's Progress by Claudia Bepko
Bepko writes what I assume to be a autobiography of her life (well, it was in the biography section and her main character's name was Claudia, so I assume I can make that assumption.) This book concentrates on the way human beings fall into love and fall out of love.
* * * The Butches of Madison County by Ellen Orleans
Orleans just created a typical love story. Billie is a retired lesbian determined to reconnect her past by writing a novel about it. To do this she moves Madison County where she meets Patsy, who has a husband and family. You can probably guess what happens with the rest of the story.
* * * Inventing Lesbian Cultures in America edited by Ellen Lewin
The title pretty much explains it all. Some of the essays are really good, while others need a little work. This book covers primarily lesbian history in the US.
* * * Girljock edited by Roxxie
I found out Girljock is actually a magazine. The book Girljock is just a collection some of their best articles. So if you like cute pictures and stories of athletic dykes check this out.
* * *Deliver Us from Evie by M.E. Kerr
This is written the in perspective of Evie's younger brother, who watches her sister as she falls in love with a wealthy man's daughter.
* * * Sister Safety Pin by Lorrie Sprecher
This is about a growing up in the 80's as a lesbian during the punk revolution.
* * * Seven Moves by Carol Anshaw
What would you do if you woke up one morning and your partner was gone. That's exatly what happens to Chris one morning. It's an interesting perspective on the psychology that a person goes through when they lose someone, and the anguish that occurs wondering if they will ever return.
* * A Letter to Harvey Milk by Leslea Newman
I did not enjoy this book very much, but if you're looking for a book that that proves that other Jewish lesbians do exist it works. Many Yiddish and Hebrew words are used in this book, so I would recommend having a prior knowledge of the terms or you will be looking at the dictionary a lot.
* * Prozac Highway by Persimmon Blackbridge
It's a novel about a middle aged cleaning lady and lesbian performance artist who's very depressed. She uses the internet as an escape from what she calls the meatworld. It's a facsinating novel, however, I wouldn't recommend reading it while you are depressed
* * Too Queer
These are short essays by the author. The book has no plot, it's just about essays on life. Some of the concepts the author brought up very interesting. She is a very gifted author (unfortunately, at this moment I cannot remember her name).
* * The Best Lesbian Erotica Book 2000
This was just a collection of lesbian sex stories, like that title states. Some of the short stories were really good, others were really bad. However, this book does do a good job with variety. It definitely gave me a new perspective on sex.
* *If Looks Could Kill by Frances Lucas
It's a mystery novel about a Latin American tv writer named Diana who falls madly in love with a famous model "anglo" named Lauren. Lauren is accused of killing her husband, and Diana is persuaded to helping Lauren out in the mystery.
* *The Other Side of Silence by Joan M. Drury
This book started off great, and just went downhill towards the end of the novel. It's a mystery involving columnist Tyler Jones, who is a prime suspect in the murder of Jason Judd. Judd is considered a wonderful man, as long as you're not close to him. He abused his wife and children for years. To protect her innoscence Tyler decides to solve the mystery on her own.
* *Flashpoint by Katherine Forrest
It's mainly based on people coming out. The main character persuades all her ex-lovers (male and female) to meet and wait for the decision about same sex rights in their area. While waiting the others remensce about the past.
* *Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political Culture by Lisa Duggan and Nan D. Hunter
This book was quite boring for me. It's divided into three sections. The first section was about pornography, the second portion was about antihomosexuality laws, and the last part is about queers in history.
* *The Homo Handbook by Judy Carter
Carter is a famous HBO comic. I will admit that this book is hilariously funny. She features quotes from various other gay and lesbian comics. However, the reason she's so low on my ratings list is because I feel that most of the assumptions made are inaccurate and insulting. I would not recommend this as a resource to lesbians, but if you want some good laughs, despite the stereotyping, go ahead and read it.
* * Openly Bob by Bob Smith
Smith is an openly gay comedian, how this book came up on a lesbian search I dont' really know. This is just a basic autobiography of some parts of his life. Some of it is really hiliarous, and other parts of it are just rambling nonsense.
* * Dick for a Day edited by Fiona Giles
I got this book just because of the title, but I have to say that the contents of the book weren't as good as the title. Several writers like Pat Califia were asked to write down what they would do with a penis for a day. This is a collection of their work.
* * Rafferty Street by Lee Lynch
A lesbian bus driver, Annie, gets fired from her work because of claims that she kissed a student. This book focuses around how the town deals with the situation.
* * Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg
Basically this book is about an 18 year old who gets into a relationship with her TA. English was probably one of my worst subjects in high school, but even I could tell that this book has very little character development. Towards the end the book it got better, but I do warn you the beginning of the book is pretty painful.
* Walking to Mercury by Starhawk
This is a unique book that I'm not exactly sure why my library decided it was just a lesbian fiction novel. The main character in the book lives with a women, but doesn't really ever admit to being a lesbian, perhaps bisexual. In this book, Maya, the main character, goes to Nepal to help her sort out her troubled past.
* Alma Rose by Edith Forbes
The first half of this book was pretty good, but after that it just became ridiculous. It is about a quiet teenager who falls in love with a truck driver named Alma Rose. Alma teachs her to "come out". After the short affair Alma leaves her lover Pat, In attempt to hopefully when Alma back, Pat constructs a monument of her.
* Dry Fire by Catherine Lewis
This is about a women cop named Abigail Fitzpatrick who works her way up in the police department as a lesbian cop.
* The American Woman in the Chinese Hat by Carole Maso
I got through the first 50 pages of the book and couldn't go any farther. Maso's writing is very fragmented, and difficult for me to understand. She uses a lot of french words in the book, so a background in french would help. In any case, if you're interested in reading it here's an overview. Catherine got dumped by her long time lover. She lives in France, and has many sexual encounters with both sexes. However, after much searching she falls in love with a man. (I really don't know why my librarian considered this lesbian fiction, bisexual maybe.)
* Bailey's Beads by Terry Wolverton
This book is based on Byrn, who is in a coma due to a car accident. Her lover Djuna, and her mother, Vera, anxiously await by herside for Byrn to recover. This book offers an interesting insight on what it is like to deal with someone in a coma.
* The Black and White of It by Ann Allen Shockley
I'm not a big fan of Shockley's work. This is a collection of short stories, although I have to admit once you read one you're read them all. There's very little variation.
* Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University by John D'Emilio
It was so boring I couldn't even finsih the book. All the essays repeat themselves, so it gets a little monotonous in the end. From the title I'm sure you can guess what you it's all about.
* Tea: a novel by Stacey D'Erasmo
This book is about a girl trying to discover her sexuality, and while doing so trying to make a movie in the meantime. It was a slow book, the only reason I kept reading it was for its reference to the dramatic arts, which I love.
If you have any other books that you would recommend e-mail me
