Yo-yo reading

Yo-yo reading is all I could come up with for a title today. Our discussion of Giannina Braschi's Yo-Yo Boing! was ... let's say it was difficult. One couldn't finish the book. One read it but said she couldn't really say she knew what it was about. After reading such glowing reviews, we looked forward to it. But sheesh. The first segment was about pus. But believe it or not, I looked back fondly on that section once I entered the next segment. A conversation that went on and on where the reader has no idea who's speaking, what they're talking about, whether the conversation 10 pages ago is still the same conversation on the current page... Well. We just didn't enjoy it.
May's title Rose of No Man's Land promises much more. (I've already read it and loved it up!)

Reading list ideas extravaganza.

Hey everybody.
I have been working on adding titles to our reading list for the rest of the year. We came up with some great ideas and I'm excited about (almost) all of them!
April was already set with Yo-Yo Boing! May we're reading Rose of No Man's Land by Michelle Tea. For June, we've added The Group by Mary McCarthy - a story about a bunch of "Vassar girls." July we'll try The Bermudez Triangle, thanks for the idea, Jenn. August we're reading Jeanette Winterson's newest - a memoir called Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal. For September, we've selected The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson. October's title will be Nina Revoyr's award-winner Wingshooters. (I love loved loved Southland so I'm excited about that.) November we've chosen an Edmonton author, Candas Jane Dorsey; we're reading Black Wine. Finally, in December we'll read Ellis Avery's new one, The Last Nude (reviewed by Lindy here)!
Okay! So that was a lot of choosing and we have many more titles we will likely add as the months go by. Like Shamin Sarif's The World Unseen; Jane Rule's Taking My Life; Elana Dykewomon's Risk and Alison Bechdel's newest.
So. Another project. I am trying to recommend to a local bookstore that we love (Audrey's) some authors they ought to keep in stock to have a real, useful lesbian fiction section. Here's my opinion: you need to have one or two titles from the following authors: Jeanette Winterson, Sarah Waters, Michelle Tea, Elana Dykewomon, Nicola Griffiths, Ivan Coyote, Helen Humphreys, Emma Donoghue, Camilla Gibb, Farzana Doctor, Dionne Brand, Shani Mootoo,  and maybe Alberta authors Suzette Mayr and Larissa Lai. I'd love to hear what you all think makes a reasonable lesbian fiction section? I'm trying to think of what is actually popular and would sell for them, but also have interesting options. And contain some quality reading instead of just lesbian mysteries and romances (which have their place). Send me your ideas!

Yo-yo!

Thanks for the discussion last night, book clubbers. We read Malinda Lo's Ash, and while it was a nice light read, we got quite involved in discussion of young adult fiction and gender roles. We were looking forward to a different spin on Cinderella, and this was a different spin in that Ash (aka Cinderella) ended up with a woman instead of a prince, it still felt like the same old story of poor, poor girl with no options is rescued by a man, or lesbian in this case. Where are the stories where women/girls rescue themselves?
Next we head into Giannina Braschi's Yo-Yo Boing! Brace yourselves, readers, this one seems a little odd so far!

Cinderella and unicorns.

Who knew the book club was becoming so froofy - we're reading musings on Cinderella and books centred around unicorns! Our March title is Ash by Chinese American author Malinda Lo. It's been described as a lesbian twist on Cinderella. Check out the book's trailer here!
Our February title was Suzette Mayr's Monoceros - monoceros is Greek for unicorn. We enjoyed a terrific phone meeting with Suzette where she gamely answered all of our questions. We quizzed her about whether the unicorns in the book were supposed to be interpreted literally, why one character came out (and outed his partner at the same time) and broke up with his partner all at the same time, how she managed to write characters mostly peripheral to a young boy's life and have them all make sense together. Very enjoyable! Thanks again, Suzette. And thanks to Coach House books for their discussion questions - they helped us look at the book from different angles!

Suzette Mayr at book club

Hey everybody long time no update!
Just a quick post to let you know that this month's title (February!) is Monoceros, by Calgary author Suzette Mayr. We read her novel Venous Hum a few years back and it was very interesting, sparked a lot of discussion. Had some wild characters including a vegetarian with vampire tendencies. Monoceros sounds rather different from that, but very interesting nonetheless. Suzette has kindly agreed to chat with us over the phone while we meet this month, so get excited! We love chatting with authors.
Send your discussion question ideas, pronto!
And please confirm your plan to attend so I know who's coming!

future thoughts?

Some items for future consideration...
Torchlight to Valhalla, a 1938 novel by American author Gale Wilhelm - considered a classic of lesbian fiction, and published only 10 years later than The Well of Loneliness, but (quite rare for lesbian fiction in this time) the ending is actually satisfactory for the lesbian characters. It was also reissued in 1953 by Lion Publishers, but titled The Strange Path. It was re-issued once more in 1985 by Naiad Press under its original title.
The Group is a classic from American author Mary McCarthy. Sounds like this 1962 novel is the reason for all those rumours about Vassar!
This one is exciting - lesbian fiction from a young Muslim woman from Indonesia. Herlina Tien Suhesti's novel Garis Tepi Seorang Lesbian (The Margin of a Lesbian) was a massive (and unexpected) bestseller in Indonesia. Does anyone know if it's available in English?
Yo-Yo Boing! by Giannina Braschi looks fascinating, although apparently it is written in English, Spanish and Spanglish(!) so I'm not sure it's right for the book club cuz I'm not sure how many of us read/speak Spanish, but I'm excited to take a look at it.

Updated reading list

Updated reading list!
September we're reading Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme. This anthology is edited by Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman. They have a blog for the book and all its fans, check it out! Kind of a butch/femme appreciation zone.
October is If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous. The book is about a character who moves to Japan to teach English.
November we're reading Sing You Home from Jodi Picoult. This blockbuster author is a bit of a departure for us. We're looking forward to trying something new. Since it's being made into a movie, there is lots of hoopla and info on her site. Check it out!
And December we're reading a classic, Beyond the Pale, by Elana Dykewomon. It's a Lambda Lit award winner.

August, again!

Hi everybody, remember, we are meeting on the last Wednesday of the month, that means August 31st! Hope to see you there to talk about Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina.
A few discussion questions for you to consider between now and then...
1. Bone is nicknamed when, at birth, her "Uncle Earle announced that I was ‘no bigger than a knucklebone.’" In what way does this name come to define her character? Does it reflect on her life in any way other than her size?
2. When Bone is born, Anney is fifteen, dirt poor, and unmarried. With so many obstacles, why is she so focused on Bone’s birth certificate, which no one but her will see? How does she pass this preoccupation on to Bone?
3. Bone’s identity as a female shifts tremendously throughout the book. She worships her uncles and takes pride in being a tomboy. Yet, on page 91 she says, "I liked being one of the women with my aunts, liked being a part of something nasty and strong and separate from my big rough boy-cousins and the whole world of spitting, growling, overbearing males." How does gender play a role in the book? How does Bone’s relationship with other characters in the book shape her conception of her own gender?
4. In the middle of the book, Bone suddenly becomes quite religious. On page 150 she claims, "I became fascinated with the idea of being saved, not just welcoming Jesus into my heart but the seriousness of the struggle between salvation and damnation, between good and evil, life and death." What do you think inspires this newfound fanaticism? How do her religious feelings relate to her relationship with Daddy Glen? With her feelings of illegitimacy?
5. The issue of race is consistently present on the periphery of the book. At certain points, Bone shows particular interest in black people. For example, on page 83, when her Aunt Alma moves into an apartment building downtown, Bone becomes fascinated by one of the black children living below her relatives. Similarly, Bone and Shannon Pearl’s fight on page 170 is provoked by Bone’s anger at Shannon’s family’s racism. Why is race so important to Bone? How does race play a part in her own identity as a white person? As an illegitimate child?
6. In Greenville County, it is clear that family means something different than the traditional "nuclear" family. Bone’s aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother all have distinct roles in the book. How do they each contribute to Bone’s upbringing? How do you think Bone would define family?
7. On page 300, Raylene says: "Bone, no woman can stand to choose between her baby and her lover, between her child and her husband." How does this quote come to define Bone’s family? In what ways throughout the book are Anney’s loyalties tested?
8. Allison says writing her most terrible stories gives her power over the experiences. Considering Allison doesn't hide that much of the book is autobiographical, does that change your reading of it?
9. A reviewer says "If Bastard Out of Carolina sharply affects many readers because of the swell of truth behind the characters and their actions, that is partially Allison's intention." Did it affect you?
10. Most of the people around them view the Boatwrights as useless and shiftless. How do you think this affected Bone and her mother?

Dorothy Allison and changes

Big changes everybody! New meeting dates - permanent change! Adjustments to reading list!
Most importantly, we now meet the LAST Wednesday of the month. Yes, we just had our August gathering a couple of days ago, but we'll meet again this month on the last Wednesday of the month, and continue with that from here on in. Be there or be square, okay?
Secondly, the local bookstore hasn't got copies of Persistence yet so we bumped Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina. I read it already and it is powerful stuff, so please don't skip this one!
This week our discussion of On Dangerous Ground was great - it was a light read, written by an acquaintance of one of our members. The author asked our friend "should she write a sequel?" and well, the reply from book club is "I'd read it!" Thanks for the slightly pulpy butch cop fantasies provided by this little nugget of a novel, DL Line.
Oh and one more title added to the reading list breaking from our "rules" it's not a lesbian author - we've chosen Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home. It's good enough for Jenn (and Ellen is apparently making a movie of it?), it's good enough for us!

Is Annie on your mind?!

Last night, thanks gals, for the great discussion of Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind. We were really glad to meet a new member, and see old ... just kidding, some members we haven't seen in awhile! Annie was a great book, with great fodder for discussion: the era it was written in, the controversy it saw in its time, and just general good literature talk! Thanks, Nancy Garden, for a sweet love story that had a happy ending (we frequently notice that a lot of lesbian fiction has terribly UNhappy endings).
Reading list excitement! Next month is from the wonderful Toronto writer, Farzana Doctor: Six Metres of Pavement. Farzana has kindly offered to chat with us via teleconference during our meeting - so please prep some questions for her!!! Farzana chatted with us when we read her first, Stealing Nasreen, and it was really wonderful.
July's title will be The Book of Salt from Monique Truong, a Vietnamese American writer. The Book of Salt tells the story of Binh, a Vietnamese cook, who, after spending years in Paris working for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, must decide whether to travel with his employers to the United States, return to Vietnam, or remain in France. A few years back, we read The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which was all about Stein and Toklas's lives in Paris during that time. I'm excited to hear this fictional extension from there!
August we'll read On Dangerous Ground by DL Line. There's a book club connection there somewhere. We'll talk about that more later.
And September we'll read the new anthology from Ivan Coyote and Zena Sharman: Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme. Maybe we'll discover some new writers in this one while we're at it.

Last minute reading list changes for May!

LAST MINUTE CHANGES!!
May's title is the classic Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden. Audrey's bookstore says they might be able to get a few in by mid-month so check it out. It should be readily available in lots of places, it's a pretty mainstream title. This is a young adult title, considered a classic. According to wikipedia, Annie was a step forward for LGBT young adult literature because being gay is treated as something permanent and to be explored, not something that needs to be fixed. The School Library Journal included the book in its list of the 100 most influential books of the 20th century.
June's title is Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor. Farzana has offered to join us via the phone for that meeting! July we'll go with Monique Truong's The Book of Salt.
Thanks to everyone for the discussion of Seven Moves at our last get-together. It was great... Very thought-provoking discussion.
Some more reading list ideas - Malinda Lo's Ash seems very interesting - another young adult novel including a girl who's bisexual and there seem to be fairies involved. Another intriguing title is Keeping You a Secret, by Julianne Peters. Think about it!

Seven Moves discussion questions

Thanks Kay! for the discussion questions from the publisher...

1. What are some of the ways in which Chris and we question—as a result of her misperception of her and Taylor’s relationship—her competence as a therapist and lover?


2. What different views of female sexuality emerge from the relationships and actions of Chris, Renny, Taylor, Leigh, and Stéphane Michaud?


3. Does Chris’s challenge ultimately become one of recreating her very identity, beyond merely reconstructing her life without Taylor? What is the relationship between identity and love, desire, and self-deception? To what extent do we create our own identities or have them imposed upon us by society?


4. How central to Chris’s life is her need for control? Does she come to realize that loss of control is a defining element in her disintegration? How is the need for control related to a person’s self-esteem?


5. In what ways do Chris’s neglect and manipulation by her parents, in her early years, contribute to the vulnerability that surfaces following Taylor’s disappearance?


6. There are numerous references to gambling throughout the book, from Chris’s card-sharp father, to the Magic 8 Ball, to Chris’s own prowess with cards. What is the significance of all these references?


7. How much to the point is Myra’s comment (remembered by Chris) that “covering a lot of territory means you’re never wholly vulnerable in any one place”? In what ways does our gradually acquired knowledge of Chris’s sexual history contribute to our understanding of her character and her inability to achieve true intimacy?


8. Chris’s best friend and closest confidant, Daniel, is a fellow therapist and a heterosexual man with troubles of his own. How does his role differ from that of Leigh?


9. How do the ten flashbacks, juxtaposed with the ongoing narrative of Chris’s present, contribute to our understanding of Chris’s attraction to Taylor and of Chris’s changing comprehension of their relationship? To what extent do these flashbacks foreshadow for us, if not for Chris, the outcome of that relationship?


10. In the first flashback, we learn that “in the face of everything Chris knows to be true about the fundamental isolation of humans, their imperviousness to real connection, or the failure of connection to alleviate the isolation, . . . she longs to . . . slip back to the place before unbelieving.” What does this tell us about Chris’s inability to confront her own emotions and behavior? How does a terror of being “stunningly, utterly alone” impact Chris’s personal relationships?


11. What are the two most important physical clues Chris discovers that enable her to better understand Taylor’s disappearance? How is it ironic that she finds both clues in Taylor’s darkroom?


12. At the novel’s midpoint Chris arrives in Morocco and confronts Stéphane Michaud in the desert. What is the correspondence between the desert, where the paved road gives way to unmarked sandy tracks, and Chris’s inner state? What revelations does she have during her drive, in the Berber market, and in her confrontation with Mme. Michaud?


13. Stéphane Michaud tells Chris that “for Taylor, aging was like a death. The powers she holds are youth and beauty.” How does Chris react to this? To what extent does this explain Taylor’s disappearance?


14. Chris and we are presented with growing evidence that the Taylor she loved was, to a great extent, a figure of her own imagining. And after her visit to the psychic, Chris realizes that “who she is missing and who she might find are quite different people.” How does each of us, like Chris, create the person we love out of our own needs, hopes, desires, and ideals?


15. Chris’s words near the end of the novel, directed to Daniel, are: “The ferocious solitude and isolation of it all. Souls sealed away in separate bubbles.” To what extent does this constitute Chris’s final judgment of her own and everyone else’s situation in life? What does it reveal about Chris’s newly acquired sense of self?

Change the date!

Last meeting everyone agreed we need to meet one week early this go around. It's all my fault because I'm going to be out of town the first Tuesday of the month. I suggested you guys go ahead without me but for some reason you guys want me to come! Aw, thanks!
So. Meeting to chat about Seven Moves is next Tuesday March 29th (instead of April 5th)!!! Mark your calendars!

The Well of Loneliness and more

Hi all. Thanks for a wonderful discussion of the classic The Well of Loneliness. I enjoyed your thoughts immensely. Especially interesting was the discussion of Jenn's question in my last post - whether the book is still "the lesbian bible" and whether the challenges faced by the characters are still relevant today. Amazingly, almost 100 years later, most of it rings true to us; many of us could identify with the struggles of that era. What does this mean? No progress? But we live in Canada, where same sex marriage is legal! Where LGBT rights are more entrenched than most other parts of the world! I'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

Some changes to the reading list had to be made. It seems that The Au Pair is not as readily available as we'd hope so we're moving it back by a couple of months to see if we can get hold of it. So this month, we're reading Carol Anshaw's Seven Moves. Grab a copy right away! We will have some discussion questions asap! We read Anshaw's Lucky in the Corner ages ago. Looking forward to it!

The next title we've added is by another author we've read before, Toronto writer Farzana Doctor. Last time Farzana was kind enough to chat with us via teleconference, maybe we'll convince her again! Her newest book, Six Metres of Pavement, is recently out. Read an excerpt here!

happy valentine's day!

Here are some discussion questions for you all to ponder before next discussion, courtesy of Jenn! Thanks Jenn!
1. What's in a name? Is it possible that Stephen's name influenced her personality? Or perhaps the fact that her father treated her as the boy he'd always wanted? Which side (if either) of the nature/nurture debate does Radclyffe Hall seem to be taking?
2. The Well of Loneliness has been called the "lesbian bible." Do you think that this title is still applicable today, nearly 100 years since its original publication? Are the challenges the characters face throughout the novel still relevant for the queer community today?
3. The introduction to the story suggests that the book should be read for its historical value, rather than its literary value. Do you agree/disagree with this statement?
4. Religion seems to have played a large part in Stephen's understanding of her identity. She often identifies with biblical figures who had suffered. Do you think this helped her understand and accept her identity, or made it harder for her?
5. Stephen's sexuality and gender identity have been debated, with many readers believing her to be a lesbian, while many others believe her to have been transgendered. Is this an important distinction to make, or not?