GLBT(Q) Challenge
In the spirit of the Feminist Classics Challenge, I decided to make a list of 12 GLBTQ books I’ve always meant to read and make the challenge a bit more of a…challenge for myself. Also, dear Amy agreed to read the books with me, so that will make it even better. If you’d like to read along, let me know!
I will be using this post to link up my reviews/responses/comments to the books.
The Price Of Salt by Patricia Highsmith READ
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam READ
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Maurice by E.M. Forster
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Normal by Amy Bloom
The Riddle of Gender by Deborah Rudacille
Epistemology of the Closet by Eve Sedgwick
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis
Like People In History by Felice Picano
Trumpet by Jackie Kay
The Gilda Stories by Jewel Gomez
Additional Reading:
Transparencies by Cris Beam
Completed:
- The Bad and the Beautiful by Sam Kushner and Jennifer MacNair
- Bob the Book by David Pratt
- The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr
- Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto (author)
- The Devoted Friend & The Nightingale and The Rose by Oscar Wilde (author)
- 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter (minor character)
- Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr by David Bret
- The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman
- The Slow Fix by Ivan Coyote
- High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto (author)
- Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent by Anthony Rapp
- The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
- The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
- Shocking True Story: The Rise and Fall of Confidential, “America’s Most Scandalous Scandal Magazine” by Henry E. Scott
- Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
- Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
- In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam
- I Am J by Cris Beam
- Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring
- Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma Donoghue
- Sick City by Tony O’Neil
- Murder Is Murder Is Murder by Samuel M. Steward
- FUBAR: America’s Right-Wing Nightmare by Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill
- The Other Eighties: A Secret History of America In the Age of Reagan by Bradford Martin
- Holding Still For As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall
- hidden by Tomas Mournian
- My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
- A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner
- Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan
- The Funny This Is… by Ellen Degeneres
- Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez
- Big Sex, Little Death by Susie Bright
- Gay People of Color: Facing Prejudices, Forging Identities (Gallup’s Guide to Modern Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Lifestyle) by Jaime A. Seba
- Coming Out: Telling Family and Friends (The Gallup’s Guide to Modern Gay, Lesbian, & Transgender Lifestyle) by Jaime A. Seba
- Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman
- Tell No One by Harlan Coben
- Firestorm by Radclyffe
- The Queer Art of Failure by J. Halberstam
- Women of the Mean Streets: Lesbian Noir edited by J.M. Redmann & Greg Herren
- The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
- It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
- Eromenos by Melanie McDonald
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- Mile 81 by Stephen King
I’m excited that you made a list and to join in on them. I haven’t heard of… almost any of them previously, so extra excited. Now… I must start tracking down these books
Now these I am excited about and lucky me, I own half of them already. *rubs it in* lol
I am interested in joining when you read Middlesex. I own it and have been meaning to read it!
Is Normal the book that the movie with Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Lange was based on? I thought that was well done.
From the blurb for Normal:
Bloom takes us on a provocative, intimate journey into the lives of “people who reveal, or announce, that their gender is variegated rather than monochromatic”–female-to-male transsexuals, heterosexual crossdressers, and the intersexed.
So no, I don’t think it has anything to do with the movie because isn’t that one about a trans woman?
I hope you do read Middlesex with us, that would be great!
Ooh, I can’t commit to anything because of time restraints, but I’d love to read some of these too! Particularly Giovanni’s Room and Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold. Will at least be checking in to see what you think of them
Thanks Emily Jane! I’m really excited to read them. Glad to hear you plan on stopping by again
I might join you the month you read Maurice!
Cool!
Pingback: A Plan for 2011 « Amy Reads
Hi Cass,
Amy sent me over here, recommending the challenge, and I’m stoked! I’ve already read Middlesex too many times to count, and ditto for Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, but most of the others are either ones I’ve never read and/or never heard of. Oh, except for Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold, which changed my life when I read it as a teenager… I like to think it’s the book that made me into the queer femme I am today.
I included Middlesex and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit because I can’t believe I haven’t read them yet! I’ve heard such great things about them, and they definitely need to checked off my list. I’m pleased to hear that Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold is so tied to your femme identity! I can’t wait to read that one, too. Have you read the anthology Brazen Femme or S/He by Minnie Bruce Pratt? Those are the two that I give credit to for shaping my femme-ness.
Pingback: In My Mailbox 16/01/11 « Amy Reads
Pingback: Books I Brought on my Trip (3) « Amy Reads
Pingback: January 2011 Reading Wrap-Up « Amy Reads
Pingback: January Round-Up | Bonjour, Cass!
Pingback: Welcome to Amy Reads « Amy Reads
Pingback: Review: Maurice by E. M. Forster « Amy Reads