04-21-2009, 05:30 AM | #1 | |||
Wizard
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Good novels with lesbian protagonists?
Thread started from this post - I have the feeling I was about to highjack that thread completely
I asked this question: I have been looking for novels with lesbian protagonists and it seem there is so little of it. Really, I can't think of anyone but Sarah Waters. At least the kind of books I'm looking for; basically "just" quality entertainment. I can find romance, and what I could call feminist-political fiction, but that's not what I am looking for. Does anyone have suggestions? This is Seabound's anser and my comments - hope it makes sense Quote:
It's funny how tastes differ, I would say Sarah Waters' books are not intellectual and/or arty enough to call it literary fiction, I'd say it was 'general', though also very high quality w. reg. to storytelling and writing style. Jeanette Winterson on the other hand, I would say is literary I like "Oranges are not the only fruit", which I think is probably her least literary and the most accessible. I've tried some of her other books, too, but they never really caught my interest. I'll definitely give "Night Watch" a second try. In fact I just bough an e-version. I have it in hardback, but every time I look at it on the bookshelf I just think 'later' because it's such a large book Quote:
Anyway... I haven't heard about "Bittersweet", though I've read the Anna Pigeon series a long time ago. I'll definitely try it, looks great, definitely something I might like. "The price of salt" I have actually read. The library had it, and even in translation. (now I'm starting to remember the books I have read). Do you know "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown? Quote:
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04-21-2009, 08:44 AM | #2 |
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For Science Fiction you might like Ammonite by Nicola Griffith.
And you could check out the Lambda Literary Awards. |
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04-21-2009, 08:53 AM | #3 |
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
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i'm not sure whether this really quite fits what you are looking for, but Orlando by Virginia Woolf comes to mind. it's a roman à clef, meaning she is writing about real people disguising them with different names (Orlando is based on Woolf's friend Vita Sackville-West), and to escape the censorship of the time the main character of the book is a man at the time he has a love affair with a woman, but later is transformed into a woman.
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04-21-2009, 08:56 AM | #4 | |
Now what?
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04-21-2009, 02:23 PM | #5 |
Wizard
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I'll try Nicola Griffith, then. Thanks
@Zelda: I have read Orlando, and I liked it. But I like the film better though. If you liked the book and haven't seen the film, you should try watch it. If you are interested in Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf and their lives and times, I can recommend Nigel Nicholson's "Portrait of a marriage". It's a portrait of his parents, Vita and ??, and their marriage, and among other things, also his mother's lover Violet Trefusis. It's very entertaining. |
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04-21-2009, 02:36 PM | #6 | |
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
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04-21-2009, 02:59 PM | #7 |
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If you like mysteries, Laurie R. King's series about a San Francisco detective named Kate Martinelli might work for you.
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04-21-2009, 03:17 PM | #8 |
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04-21-2009, 05:29 PM | #9 | |||||
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04-22-2009, 08:21 AM | #10 |
Now what?
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How about Melissa Scott - sci fi/speculative fiction - very focused on gender issues.
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04-22-2009, 09:48 AM | #11 | |||
Wizard
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Quote:
Seriously, starting a new thread might also get more people to see the question and I really think it was better to leave the old thread to Ms. Waters and her books. Quote:
So you don't have any recommendations then? Quote:
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04-23-2009, 02:13 AM | #12 |
You kids get off my lawn!
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Kim Harrison's vampire/witch series has one lesbian protag...she's not the POV character, but she's definitely a main part of the series' story arc.
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04-23-2009, 02:23 AM | #13 |
Wizard
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Thanks for all your suggestions, I will certainly look them up.
I think I'm at the moment not so much into reading sci-fi/fantasy/vampire/etc., but more general fiction, and I'm most interested if it's a main POV character. |
04-23-2009, 04:15 AM | #14 |
Apeist
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Don't know if this helps much, but Iris Murdoch has a bunch of significant gay (mostly) and lesbian characters in many of here novels, although not protagonists.
I believe An Unofficial Rose has a fairly prominent lesbian relationship in it, although I don't think it's one of her better books - I loved A Fairly Honorable Defeat, and also A Severed Head, among others, though, but no lesbians there, that I can recall:-) Murdoch was a great writer, regardless. |
04-23-2009, 05:32 AM | #15 |
Wizard
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I've never read anything by Murdoch, but her novels sound interesting.
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