CONTEST!

Win a copy of Another Life Altogether (see the amazing review below). Just answer the question (in the comments or via Twitter): what's your favorite lesbian novel? CAVEAT: It cannot be a book already mentioned in the blog.

Winner will be chosen at random from entries.

Hooray for free books!

Elaine Beale, Another Life Altogether

Back Cover Copy: "A keenly observed depiction of the effects of a mother’s mental illness on her young daughter, Another Life Altogether is a profoundly moving, funny, and ultimately heartrending coming-of-age story.

After years of living in the shadow of her mother’s mental illness, thirteen-year-old Jesse Bennett is given a fresh chance at happiness when her family moves to a village in northern England. But just as it seems that she might be able to build a perfect life for herself after befriending two of her new school’s most popular girls, her mother’s worsening mental state and the secret Jesse fiercely guards about herself threaten to destroy her fragile stability. Caught in the storm of her mother’s moods, her father’s desperation, and her classmates’ cruel social hierarchies, Jesse is forced to choose between doing what’s right and preserving her hope for a normal life.

At the heart of a maddening, eccentric, and ultimately lovable family—from her manic mother and her long-suffering father, to her blowsy Aunt Mabel and Uncle Ted, a comically inept criminal—Jesse is an utterly sympathetic narrator who navigates the ups and downs of adolescence with insight, emotional vulnerability, and a wickedly sharp sense of humor. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, Another Life Altogether marks the arrival of an immensely gifted novelist."

I've said again and again that all I'm really looking for is a great lesbian novel that has nothing to do with coming-of-age or coming out. 


I take it all back when it comes to this book. Lesbians of the world, add this to your cannon of Books We All Have to Read Right Now. 


I've been meaning to review this novel for months now, ever since I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Beale this summer. I was on vacation and already had a stack of lez-tastic novels in my bag ready to go, but after hearing Ms. Beale read a chapter from her book, I was hooked. I marched right up, bought a copy, got her lovely signature, and took that book down to the lakefront, where I promptly tore through about half of it before I was forced to go eat something. I believe I finished it the next day.


As you'd have guessed from my little intro, this book does include plenty of coming-of-age and a dose of coming out as well. But Ms. Beale's voice is magnetic, and her characters so finely drawn and achingly real that I was half sure I'd met all of them at one time or another in my life. 


I don't think I'm going too far to say that this debut novel renewed my faith in the genre this summer and encouraged me to rededicate myself to this blog and to promoting lesbian writers and their books. Because if you have ever been a young lesbian with a slightly-to-extremely dysfunctional family (you there, in the back, come on, raise your hand with the rest of us), you will enjoy this book. 


Still wavering? Go to Ms. Beale's website and listen to her read you the first chapter of the book (complete with intoxicating British accent). Like me, I doubt you'll want to resist after that. 


Buy the book at Amazon.

Are you a lesbian writer and/or writer of lesbian fiction with a manuscript you want to share with the world? Need a little help first? Not getting the literary agent or publisher attention you were hoping for? Know it needs work but no idea where to start and you just want to toss the whole thing in the grill and set fire to it? Pop over to www.murdockediting.blogspot.com and make the acquaintance of an editor who is dying to use her literary talents to help you bring another lesbian gem to the world. (Hint: it's me.)

CONTEST!!!!

Win a copy of the next book I review* by answering the following question:


What author (gay or straight) do you really wish would write a novel with lesbian protagonists? 

I'm halfway through Alice Hoffman's latest, The Red Garden, and damn, can this lady write. I always look forward to her books (although my favorite is still The Third Angel), and I would give...well, I'd give up my Kindle **gasp** to read Awesome Lesbians Doing Awesome, Slightly Magical Surreal Things by Alice Hoffman.

*Sent within the continental U.S. only - sorry my lovely global readers! I love you too!

So You're a Gay Lady... (Literally Lesbian Books You Really Should Have Read By Now if You're a Lady Who Likes Ladies (TM))

So, you're a gay lady, a lesbian if you will. Maybe you're a proud, card-carrying dyke. Maybe you're utterly closeted and reading Curve magazine with your bedroom door locked late at night (Hi, 16-year-old me! We should talk!). No matter where you fall on the spectrum, you want to read like a lesbian. 


That's why we're here!


To kick off the re-opening of this blog and give you something to read while I dive into the next les-tastic novel on my reading list, here's the first five books on my Literally Lesbian Books You Really Should Have Read By Now if You're a Lady Who Likes Ladies (TM)!


(The Coming Out/Figuring Out You're Gay After Watching But I'm A Cheerleader Edition)

(1) Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson


Where it all began for more than a few of us, I'd imagine...


Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a coming-out novel from Winterson, the acclaimed author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. The narrator, Jeanette, cuts her teeth on the knowledge that she is one of God’s elect, but as this budding evangelical comes of age, and comes to terms with her preference for her own sex, the peculiar balance of her God-fearing household crumbles.

(2) Odd Girl Out, by Ann Bannon.


Start here, then read everything by our friend Ann - enormously delicious pulp, even if it is a little out of date. 


In the 1950s, Ann Bannon broke through the shame and isolation typically portrayed in lesbian pulps, offering instead women characters who embraced their sexuality. With Odd Girl Out, Bannon introduces Laura Landon, whose love affair with her college roommate Beth launched the lesbian pulp fiction genre.

(3) Map of Ireland, by Stephanie Grant


A sad, sweet, gorgeously written novel set in the early days of bussing in Boston - I'm fairly certain I've dated the main character in at least two incarnations, so you probably have too. 

(4) Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden


A little corny, a little dated, but still erotic and a damn good read. 

(5) Tipping the Velvet, by Sarah Waters


If you came out sometime between yesterday and 1998, you should have been issued a copy of this book along with your black vest, flannel shirt, and L-Word DVDs. If you haven't read Sarah Waters yet, grab a few bottles of wine and settle in for the ride. 

What I've Been Reading - Support Lesbian Lit!

Just because I've been away doesn't mean I haven't been reading some fantastic Lesbian Lit. Need some inspiration? Try these delicious reads.

I Can't Think Straight by Shamim Sarif 

Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend.

Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.

Moving between the vast enclaves of Middle Eastern high society and the stunning backdrop of London's West End, I Can't Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms. (Also check out Sarif's other novel of Lesbian Love: The World Unseen.)

Everafter by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

How far would you go to save your lover's soul? When medical student Valentine Darrow is bitten by a Vampire on her way home to propose to her lover, Alexa Newland, her life becomes a nightmare. She is consumed—both by a craving for human blood, and by an obsession to find her attacker and bring him to justice. Alexa is determined to be everything that Valentine needs, but when Val's appetite outstrips Alexa's ability to nourish her, Alexa risks her life to save her lover. Will Valentine be able to control her thirst—for blood and for vengeance? And can Valentine and Alexa's relationship endure against seemingly impossible odds?

Ash by Malinda Lo

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, re-reading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she begins to believe that her wish may be granted. 

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's royal Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing and romantic, Ash is an empowering retelling of Cinderella about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

Lesbian Book Review: October's Promise

Back Cover Copy: Just because parts of her life are unsatisfactory and dull, there's no reason for Libby Jackson to bolt for New Hampshire, even if she did just receive a large inheritance from a mysterious source. But she does just that. The urban comforts of New York quickly seem light years away when her journey is hampered by cars that won't start, locks that won't turn and a strange dog that has decided that Libby would be the perfect owner.

Quinn Barnett is in no mood for damsels in distress. Her reasons for partaking of New England's fall colors is deeply personal and painful. She's promised to do one thing on this trip, and falling in love isn't it. Once her mission is accomplished she's moving on - if only she can start some cars, unlock some doors and get that bothersome stray to leave her alone.

The golden shores of a beautiful New England lake and glory of October's sunsets should create the prefect stage for falling in love, unless two stubborn women decide to keep the wrong promises.

October's Promise by Marianne Garver isn't a lot of things.

It isn't really a character-driven novel - the characters are pleasant, but not overly developed. Our heroines Libby and Quinn are somewhat two-dimensional - they're stand-in's for you or anyone you know. You won't fall in love with them, but it's easy to put imagine yourself in their shoes if you should so choose.

It isn't a plot-driven novel either. Libby Jackson, a New York Ad Woman, travels up to Turtle Cove in New Hampshire after receiving a generous inheritance from a man she's never heard of before. There, she meets Quinn, a sexy loner with a shadowy past. They meet, and, as one does in a romance novel, fall in love.

Beyond that however, not much happens. Questions are asked and questions are answered. The stakes are low and the tension nonexistent - it's difficult for the reader to feel that any road is the wrong one for these characters - they'd be just as happy with each other as without each other. They could stay or go, and in the long run, be just fine wherever they ended up.

That said, October's Promise is an escape. A quick, simple, easy-to-read escape into a languid, low-stakes world surging with the colors of the New England Autumn. Nothing in this story is going to keep you up at night turning the pages to see what happens next, but perhaps that's the point. Garver's writing is smooth and relaxing, good for a nice half-hour respite from a stressful day. In my experience, it pairs well with a glass of Pinot Grigio and a small plate of cheese and Triscuits.

Thinking about adding one of the books discussed at Literally Lesbian Book Review to your reading list? Please consider clicking through the links on this page. You'll pay the same low Amazon price, but a portion of the cost will go toward supporting this blog - buying books, paying reviewers, and supporting lesbian authors!

Literally Lesbian Book Review on Twitter!

Now that we've gone live an entire month early (!), I hope you'll join us on Twitter - you can find us at http://twitter.com/LitLesbian.

Tweet me with book recommendations, article suggestions, comments, requests, or, yanno, just to point out a good resource for more hot Clea DuVall photos.