Edmonton Lesbian Book Club

Suzette Mayr at book club

2012-01-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

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?

2011-09-07T18:17:00.001-06:00

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

2011-09-02T16:15:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-08-29T20:56:00.002-06:00

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

2011-08-03T23:06:00.003-06:00

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?!

2011-05-04T21:01:00.004-06:00

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!

2011-03-31T21:09:00.003-06:00

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

2011-03-28T12:46:00.002-06:00

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

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?

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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!

2011-03-24T22:04:00.000-06:00

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

2011-03-04T18:59:00.005-07:00

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!

2011-02-13T16:40:00.002-07:00

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?

Uplifting titles

2011-02-02T19:12:00.003-07:00

We just finished discussion of The Creamsickle, a delightful novel from Rhiannon Argo. Everyone seemed to enjoy the characters a great deal though the plot seemed a little meandering. All in all we loved it and we intrigued by it and identified with it... love that.
This month we're reading the lesbian classic with the most uplifting title, The Well of Loneliness. Originally published in 1928, it was subject of a storm of controversy. It became the target of a campaign to have it banned for obscenity. Although its only sexual reference consists of the words "and that night, they were not divided," a British court judged it obscene because it defended "unnatural practices between women." According to Wikipedia, in 1926, Radclyffe Hall was at the height of her career. Her novel Adam's Breed, had become a bestseller and award-winner. She had long thought of writing a novel about "sexual inversion" and believed, her literary reputation would allow such a work to be given a hearing. Since she knew she was risking scandal and "the shipwreck of her whole career," she sought and received the blessing of her partner, Una Troubridge, before she began work. Her goals were social and political; she wanted to end public silence about homosexuality and bring about "a more tolerant understanding" — as well as to "spur all classes of inverts to make good through hard work... and sober and useful living."

Creamsickle discussion!

2011-01-26T19:10:00.004-07:00

February's title is The Creamsickle! And according to our recent survey (have you taken our survey??), we love discussion questions. So here they are for you to ponder before next Tuesday.
1. This review (here) says: "Bois, boards, baby butches and bed hopping - Argo's angsty fiction debut, centred on the shenanigans of a crew of gender-fluid young women, should perhaps come with an age-appropriate label. Old folks - anyone over 40, more or less - ought to be adolescent at heart, or at least nostalgic for their own adventurous youth, to fully engage with its feisty plot..." Do you agree that The Creamsickle is mostly suited to one age group? Why? Why not?
2. How realistic was the characterization? Would you want to meet any of the characters? Did you like them? Hate them?
3 What about the plot? Did it pull you in; or did you feel you had to force yourself to read the book?
4. Some of the characters made choices that might be seen as having moral implications - such as becoming a stripper, would you have made the same decisions? Why? Why not?
5. The house, the Creamsickle, is the setting of the book, along with San Francisco. Is the setting a character? Does it come to life? Did you feel you were experiencing the time and place in which the book was set?
6. How would the book have been different if it had taken place in a different time or place?
7. Did the book end the way you expected?
8. Would you recommend this book to other readers? To your close friend?
9. Was there a particularly striking scene in the novel? Share it with the group, and then discuss why and how it impacted each person.
10. Was the novel plot-driven or character-driven? Explain.
11. How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes? Do the changes/evolutions seem believable?
12. Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?
13. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it-amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored...?

The first...

2011-01-23T16:59:00.003-07:00

Okay, well, obviously Sappho wasn't the first lesbian. But she seems to be the first one in recorded history... And it's her home, the island of Lesbos, in Greece, that brought the word lesbian into usage.
In January, we read and discussed Sappho's poems in a collection called "If Not, Winter" by Anne Carson. It was interesting to see how the historians and translators worked to bring such a body of poetry to life. The poems are found on old papyrus scraps. Shards. Like in the photo I'm attaching here. So in some cases the poems are nearly intact. In others, there is much left to the imagination. In some cases, it's hard to understand why the editor bothered to include one word on a page, although sometimes that one word did seem be evocative.
Some members felt that using the broken fragments of poetry would be wonderful in an English class. Ask students to fill in the blanks. What a wonderful idea!
February's title is The Creamsickle by Rhiannon Argo. A very wild change of pace from Sappho's violet passions, but I loved it and can't wait to hear what you all thought.

This One's Going to Last Forver

2010-11-04T21:55:00.003-06:00

Thanks everybody for the discussion of Shamim Sarif's I Can't Think Straight - book and movie - the other night! It was great. Shamim kindly offered to answer some questions about the book based on our discussion - we are so appreciative! And we'll of course post the Q&A!

This month we're reading Nairne Holtz's latest, This One's Going to Last Forever. Montreal-based Holtz is wonderful writer, we know cuz we read her first novel, The Skin Beneath. Hoping we'll get in touch with Nairne again, as last time we read her work, she was generous enough to visit us in person. This'll be December's title. In January we're reading Sappho! And just an early heads up - we'll meet the second Tuesday of the month in January - just this once to allow everyone to recover from the holidays.

we can't read straight

2010-10-06T19:59:00.003-06:00

Excited! We're reading Shamim Sarif's I Can't Think Straight. And we're hoping to watch the movie too, however we might arrange for that. I watched the movie awhile ago and I loved it. It's kind of a weird thing to be reading the book AFTER watching the movie, usually one does that in the reverse order, don't you think? But then again, it seems that (correct me if I'm wrong) Sarif wrote the screenplay first, then the book so maybe it is the correct order!?

Lu Vicker's Breathing Underwater was a good read, I'm not sure everyone agreed because attendance was ... LOW... last night! I liked it. Very good teenage angst. Good.

This month desperately seeking a lesbian novel featuring roller derby? Too great a wish? Come on, help me find it?

And one more thing - we want to read Jackie Dumas' novel Madeleine and the Angel. Anyone know if it's still in print?

reading ideas...

2010-08-10T20:22:00.002-06:00

Just tossing around some ideas for our reading list.

We haven't read any classics lately - Radclyffe Hall's tragic novel of lesbian love called The Well of Loneliness was suggested. HD's HERmione might be another esoteric choice... In 2002, classicist and poet Anne Carson produced If Not, Winter, an exhaustive translation of Sappho's poetry fragments. Her line-by-line translations, complete with brackets where the ancient papyrus sources break off, are meant to capture both the original's lyricism and its present fragmentary nature.

Biography/autobiography was also suggested - there are a few choices I've found. All You Get is Me, a bio of k.d. lang by Victoria Starr or k.d.lang Carrying The Torch by William Robertson. Eight Bullets: One Woman's Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence by Claudia Brenner. The End of Innocence by Chastity Bono. Love, Ellen by Betty Degeneres. Michelle Cliff might be a good choice with Claiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise, in which she mixes poetry and prose, patois and standard English, she considers her position as a light-skinned lesbian, capable of passing as both white and heterosexual. The Stonewall by an author who called herself "Mary Casal" is an early lesbian autobiography. The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar or Mean Little deaf Queer, by Terry Galloway.

Maybe we'll try non-fiction. Lesbian icons Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon wrote non-fiction title Lesbian Love and Liberation.
Side note history lesson: Martin and Lyon became lovers in 1952, and moved in together in an apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco. They had been together for three years when they founded the Daughters of Bilitis in San Francisco in 1955, which became the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States. On February 12, 2004, Martin and Lyon were issued a marriage license by the City of San Francisco after mayor Gavin Newsom ordered that marriage licenses be given to same-sex couples who requested them. The license, along with those of several thousand other same-sex couples, were voided by the California Supreme Court on August 12, 2004. Phyllis Lyon was quoted "Del is 83 years old and I am 79. After being together for more than 50 years, it is a terrible blow to have the rights and protections of marriage taken away from us. At our age, we do not have the luxury of time." They were married again on June 16, 2008, after the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal. Once again they were the first couple married in San Francisco, in fact the only couple married that day by the mayor.
Maybe a non-fiction selection about them would work too, such as Marcia M. Gallo's Different Daughters: A history of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement.

Lambda award winners are always good picks, such as The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (winner for lesbian debut fiction) or A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (winner for lesbian fiction). Montreal author and friend to our book club Nairne Holtz has a new novel nominated for a Lammy too, This One’s Going to Last Forever. American author Elana Dykewomon is a bit of an icon, and has a new book, Risk.

Some other suggestions from book club members include Jennifer Levin's The Sea of Light, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (movie night!), Walk Like a Man (gasp, erotica, I see blushing at this book's discussion) by Laurinda D. Brown, or The Cottage by Gerri Hill. And don't forget, we're looking at reading a manuscript from a local author, Jennifer Hill.

Tell me your choices, your ideas, your votes!

August!

2010-08-07T17:00:00.002-06:00

Ch-ch-ch-changes! We've made some adjustments to our reading list because of the availability of the books. So! Please take note - this months book is now Trumpet, by Jackie Kay. We pushed back Breathing Underwater and I Can't Think Straight. By the way, we may be watching the movie version of I Can't Think Straight if we can't get books! Yay - it's great.

Discussion of The Slow Fix was good. Short stories are harder to discuss, but we managed. Everyone loves Ivan's conversational style and many of the stories. Our big question, though? The title. What is the slow fix? What's being fixed? Did it get fixed? Or is it like a drug fix, soothing? Lots of wonderings about how autobiographical these stories are, and some dissatisfaction with the relationship mentioned in many of the stories disappearing very suddenly. Although, relationships do that sometimes, don't they.

Working on some further additions to the reading list asap! Love to have your ideas, suggestions, and wish lists, as always. Send me a note, or leave a comment!

book club romance!

2010-07-07T21:11:00.004-06:00

Book club romance, real or imaginary? Both!
This weekend 2 book club members, who met at book club, got married! This is the second wedding borne of the book club. I love it.
I also love that we're reading Ivan E. Coyote's The Slow Fix this month, because, well, I love Ivan E. Coyote, and well, when I speak of imaginary romance, it's because of my not-so-secret crush on her. Ever since the one time I saw her perform in person about um 10 years ago, I have been totally captivated. By her words, her stories, the way she tells them. (I also flirted my ass off, to no avail. Cut me some slack, my mom was with me at the reading, she cramped my style. :)
ANYWAY, we are reading The Slow Fix this month! We were originally scheduled to read Breathing Underwater by Lu Vickers but had to switch them because the bookstore didn't have enough Vickers in stock, but had lots of Ivan, good indie Canadian bookstore that it is.
Okay, so, got it? August=Ivan. September=Vickers. And we're just hopin' and hopin' that there will be a Canadian distributor in time to get copies of Shamim Sarif's I Can't Think Straight. It's a gooood summer line up folks. Join us!

The Bruise and pretty girls (Lisa Ray)

2010-06-15T11:45:00.002-06:00

This month we're reading Magdalena Zurawski's The Bruise. It reminded me of H.D. and Elizabeth Smart. Some sort of melding of their styles. Moments not stripped down to their bare bones, but described in impossible detail, pages on one single moment, breath, look, thought.

I got some suggestions for future reading too. Jackie Kay's Trumpet sounds pretty interesting. Lucy Jane Bledsoe has a new book, The Big Bang Symphony, that looks really good. Also, it's a book that comes with a trailer. Very amusing. And lastly, Shamim Sarif's latest book I Can't Think Straight looks really good. I follow her on facebook. She's a busy woman. Shamim is equally accomplished as an author and film director and this book is being made into a movie starring Lisa Ray. Uh, I'm in! Adding to reading list immediately. And we have to arrange to see the movie too. Yes, I said "have to." What.

laurie reads

2010-06-02T20:58:00.002-06:00

Local poet Laurie MacFayden read for us last night from her newly published collection of poetry, titled "White Shirt." Lucky us, she also read from some new material she's working on, and read from all the juiciest sapphic selections in her gravelly melodic voice.

Some of my favourite lines
"she tugs my belt/i'm in a trance
she's a sexy honeyboy and i don't stand a chance"
"does she know
how much i want the voice on the phone
to be you/to be, always, always you
... i want it to be you/ for me
you/ wanting me"

If you want to know which poem and what, you'll have to buy her book!

Thank you Laurie! It was wonderful.

Book clubbers? Next month, Magdalena Zurawski. Be sending those suggestions to add to the reading list, pls!

Events! events!

2010-04-20T17:58:00.007-06:00

1. Launch of White Shirt / Dektet 2010 (details are on facebook here) - Tuesday April 27, 2010
Our good friend Laurie McFayden is one of 10 authors whose books are being launched at this event. Since Laurie will be joining our book club to read from and chat about her first book, White Shirt, at our June meeting, it might be nice to support her launch too.

2. WE ARE FAMILY (details on facebook here) - Thursday April 29, 2010

Celebrate the struggles and triumphs of queer parents in Canada as well as the publication of TWO groundbreaking Canadian books:
Who's Your Daddy?? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting
And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents and Our Unexpected Families

Be there or be square!

Chandra, Shani, and Laurie

2010-04-12T17:15:00.004-06:00

There is much to say. Thanks so much to Chandra Mayor for her unexpected visit with the book club last week. It was truly delightful. Chandra has this delightful habit of ending even the most sombre or tragic of stories with an exuberant laugh. It's awesome. And the more irreverent poem "green eggs and cunt" was pretty great. The room was busting with laughter. I was tickled that she read from my favourites of the short stories in "All the Pretty Girls."

We're reading Shani Mootoo's Valmiki's Daughter this month. Anybody have discussion questions to offer?? Here's an interview with her about the book.

And third of all, local wonder poet Laurie McFayden is launching her first book of poetry! As part of Frontenac House's launch event (see details on facebook) Laurie's "White Shirt" promises to be fantastic. I plan to attend the launch - hope some other book club members will join us - it's on Tuesday, April 27, 7 pm at the Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre. And even better, we've added "White Shirt" to our reading list and Laurie will join us to read on June 1st!

Special Event - Last Minute - Chandra Mayor!

2010-03-30T18:06:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone,

Please, please, please make a special effort to come out to book club next Tuesday for a special get-together with Winnipeg author Chandra Mayor, whose "All the Pretty Girls" was one of our selections last fall. Chandra's going to read, and chat with us and commiserate about life, I think. Can't wait.

Please come to the event at Audrey's bookstore, at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. This is a public event, so please invite your friends - doesn't have to be book clubbers only! 7:00!!! (not 7:30 as previously advertised..)

(side note : yes we're postponing Shani Mootoo's Valmiki's Daughter until next month to accommodate Chandra's sudden availability)

Vixen Voices Revue

2010-03-23T22:25:00.003-06:00

poetry and music with some feisty ladies... including Laurie McFayden, poet, artist, friend and visitor of book club!

Saturday, April 3, 2010
8:00pm - 11:00pm
Axis Cafe
10349 Jasper Avenue

Lammies!

2010-03-19T19:10:00.003-06:00

Lambda Literary Foundation from Word Is Up on Vimeo.

The Lambda Lit Award Finalists are up:

Lesbian Fiction

Dismantled, by Jennifer McMahon (HarperCollins)
A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (Bywater Books)
Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory, by Emma Pérez (University of Texas Press)
Risk, by Elena Dykewomon (Bywater Books)
This One's Going to Last Forever, by Nairne Holtz (Insomniac Press)

Lesbian Debut Fiction

The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (Spinsters Ink)
The Bigness of the World, by Lori Ostlund (University of Georgia Press)
Land Beyond Maps, by Maida Tilchen (Savvy Press)
More of This World or Maybe Another, by Barb Johnson (HarperCollins)
Verge, by Z Egloff (Bywater Books)

I forgot

2010-03-19T19:04:00.003-06:00

Hi all,
I forgot to blog about The Gilda Stories. For me, something of a "vampire stories are hokey" kind of person, it was impressive. It was well-written. The transitions were great. The vampire stuff wasn't hokey. It was kind of interesting. To me!!! To others in the book club, who actually appreciate vampire stories, it was better than that! Consensus seemed to be all thumbs up except for some lack of love for the ending. Wrapped up too quickly, too much of a twist in character, and just yech on the future stuff that wasn't far enough in the future to be believable... I think it would make a GREAT movie. Especially if the last section with the hunters was left out and she instead went and fell in love with Aurelia's great-granddaughter!

trans.parent

2010-01-18T19:59:00.003-07:00

Author Cris Beam's website has a teacher's guide for Transparent: Love, Family and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers. The guide could also work as discussion questions for us. Last month we talked about having discussion questions in mind while reading... so. Take a look. Here are a couple that caught my attention...

1) Cris Beam outlines the difference between being transgender and transsexual. Were you familiar with this distinction before reading the book?
2) How have you defined family throughout your life? Who have your best “parents” been? Did you have the equivalent of a “drag mother,” someone you were not related to but who modeled your ideal and gave you entry into an otherwise closed community?
3) An element of adolescence is experimentation. How, ultimately, do we know which aspects of our behavior are pure experimentation and which ones reflect our true identity? Have you ever encountered a situation in which the line between healthy and harmful experimentation was not easy to discern?
4) What did you learn about the legal quandaries posed by current use of gender-specific language, such as hurdles regarding passports, driver’s licenses, and marriage certificates?

Canada Reads

2010-01-18T16:25:00.005-07:00

The annual Canada Reads festivities have started and guess what? One of earliest reads in this book is one of the five finalists this year. I thought maybe, if people are interested, we might revisit Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald at our next meeting. Does anybody remember it? Did anybody read it? I remember I myself couldn't quite finish it as it was too disturbing and sad for me. But maybe I'll try and pick it up again.

Of course, this would only be in addition to our current month's pick: Transparent, by Cris Beam.

Hiromi Goto...

2010-01-10T08:15:00.003-07:00

An event happening in Edmonton... check it out on Facebook!

Hiromi Goto at Olive!

watching the ball drop

2009-12-29T19:27:00.002-07:00

work, work, work
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

we've been busy. distracted. a little off the ball.

but we're back on track. made some adjustments to the reading list - see the left-hand column.

join us, okay?

All the pretty girls meet at book club

2009-10-07T07:37:00.005-06:00

This month we're reading Chandra Mayor's short stories "All the Pretty Girls." We've been on a streak lately of lesbian fiction with little to no actual lesbian content, so we're having some high hopes for this one.

The sci-fi experiment was interesting. We had a couple of fans, and a couple of haters... the mixed bag always makes for good discussion. We tried to stretch the envelope looking for queer content but the gender neutral characters were all we could find. And they were creepy. Although some people wanted a diagram of way they mated because they couldn't visualize it... very amusing. If you find a diagram, illustration or some such? Send it, I'll post it!

We also made a few adjustments to the reading list based on availability and stuff. Check the current reading list. We added Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories due to one member's need for a story about a black lesbian vampire raised in a whorehouse. Ha!

As always, we love requests/suggestions, so keep 'em coming!

Bring on the sci-fi!

2009-08-18T15:12:00.006-06:00

Here we go girls. This month we're reading Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood. It's actually 3 books in one. But we can handle it. It's part of our reach out and touch some sci-fi venture.

Last month's title, My Miserable Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy by Andrea Askowitz, was great. I loved it. A few were lukewarm. One person got a little scared since she's thinking about getting pregnant. The biggest part of the discussion was the great humour in her honesty about how she was feeling - how she didn't buy into the whole "i'm glowing and doing nature's work" myth that is out there for women; and then how there was this complete reversal when the baby came - the whole "i fell in love with the baby the second i saw her and knew just what to do and it made me feel like a natural woman" thing. I think some felt a tiny bit betrayed by that sudden flip in attitude. I myself experienced that instant bond and trusting my intuition about mothering my daughter so I understood where the author was coming from, I suppose? But I also have lots of friends who did NOT experience the start of motherhood this way and am always looking for narratives that support the point of view that it doesn't come naturally to everyone and that it's okay that it doesn't come naturally to everyone. So from that perspective, this book was a tiny bit disappointing and that might sound incredibly unfair since it's non-fiction and a memoir and the author was obviously just telling her experience. Other than that? Laughed out loud, loved it, resonated with it, thought it was great.

Who's your daddy?

2009-06-25T23:06:00.003-06:00

Looks good? I think so. Who's your daddy?

Also? Interesting news stolen from afterellen.com:

Carol Ann Duffy has been appointed poet laureate of Britain, a prestigious 341-year-old position previously held by men like John Dryden, Alfred Tennyson, William Wordsworth...

Not only is Duffy the first woman to hold the position, she is the first Scot, the first mother, and the first lesbian.

what's on the shelf

2009-06-20T13:30:00.003-06:00

what's on the shelf
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

Thanks to some great suggestions, we have a plan for the next few months of reading!

A non-fiction title: My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy by Andrea Askowitz because at least one member of the book club is pregnant and I wish I were too.
Fiction: Valmiki's Daughter by Shani Mootoo because basically, we're hopelessly devoted to her.
A young adult novel: Breathing Underwater by Lu Vickers. Maybe it's not young adult. Maybe just about a young adult? Either way.
A collection of short stories and a Lambda winner: All the Pretty Girls by Chandra Mayor - a Winnipeg author and because Kay thinks we should. We were going to wait for Chandra to be able to join us but everyone keeps requesting it so we're not waiting anymore!
A classic that also happens to be sci-fi: Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler because it was Trevor's first/best idea.
Another non-fiction: Transparent: Love, Family and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers by Cris Beam just because Lindy said so.

Just a note: We've had to put Secret Service by Zsa Zsa Gershick on the backburner for now until we can scare up some copies.

Also, thanks to Nicola Griffith for not taking my Attitude about sci-fi to heart and for sharing a link to some of her free short stories. Please visit and enjoy!

The Twilight Zone

2009-06-16T21:38:00.003-06:00

Okay. I have a confession to make. The first book we ever read in this book club was a science fiction title by Nicola Griffith: Ammonite. It was chosen by the members of the newly formed group and most of them (I think all 3 at that point?) really liked it. But here's my confession. I hate science fiction - yes, I'm making a blanket generalization about a whole genre. I just do. I have a mental block about it. I'm sure Ammonite has all kinds of goodness to it, but I got to page 7, saw the word "airlock," and I was done. I just couldn't push through.

So, several book club members of late have decided we need to go down that road again. To punish me, maybe. To expand my horizons, maybe. Anyhoo, we've been researching like mad, with the help of the wonderful Trevor at Audrey's Books. And I've got a long list of titles to choose from. So. Go. Read below. And tell me your opinion. Quick! Before I change my mind.

Octavia Butler: Lillith's Brood

According to wikipedia, the central characters are Lilith and her genetically altered children. The story includes extraterrestrials who have a third gender, the "ooloi," who have the ability to manipulate genetics, plus the ability of sexually seductive neural-stimulating powers. Octavia Butler seems like a cool choice - a black lesbian writer way before her time.

Katherine V. Forrest: Daughters of a Coral Dawn

According to lambdascifi.org, it is a lesbian classic about a race of women (founded by one woman and her daughters) leaves its home to colonize a vacant planet. It is the first novel in her Lambda Literary Award-winning lesbian-feminist utopian trilogy.

Ursula K. LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness

Another book considered to be a classic of lesbian fiction despite LeGuin not being a lesbian author. Characters are hermaphroditic humans; for part of each lunar cycle they are sexually latent androgynes, and for the remaining days are male or female.

Jewelle Gomez: The Gilda Stories

A black lesbian vampire who began life as a slave and got her education in a whorehouse is not your typical heroine. Not quite sci-fi? More fantasy? I don't know.

Melissa Scott: Mighty Good Road

A definite lesbian author - she's co-authored some titles with her partner Lisa A Barnett. The title mentioned was one of many to win the Lambda Lit awards for lesbian sci-fi - others include: Point of Dreams/Burning Bright/Trouble and Her Friends...

Joan Slonczewski: Door Into Ocean

The ocean-world of Shora is populated solely by "Sharers," amphibious females who "share" with each other every aspect of their lives.

Monique Wittig: Les Guérillères

Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist who called herself a radical lesbian. This sensibility can be found throughout her books, where she depicted only women. Les Guérillères was a landmark in lesbian feminism - about a war of the sexes, where women engage in bloody, victorious battles using knives, machine guns and rocket launchers. Moreover, sympathetic males join them in their combat.

2 favourite things at pride

2009-06-14T22:39:00.003-06:00

2 favourite things at pride
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

Was anybody at Pride? Was everybody at Pride this weekend? Man, it was crowded. My little one and I didn't last too long but it was fun.

Also, the Lambda Lit Awards were announced and I've been meaning to post some of the winners.

BISEXUAL Open, Jenny Block, Seal Press
LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/University of Alabama Press
LESBIAN FICTION (a tie!) The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY Sex Talks to Girls, Maureen Seaton, University of Arkansas Press
LESBIAN MYSTERY Whacked, Josie Gordon, Bella Books
LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books

Happy Pride!

2009-06-14T22:31:00.005-06:00

Zami was a great read the first time and I loved it more the second time. Audre Lorde is cool, face it. She was radical. She was brash. She pushed back.

Skim

2009-05-08T21:24:00.002-06:00

Skim was good. That seems to have been the consensus. It's won about a gazillion awards. Including being nominated for the Governor General's award. You can even become a fan of Skim on facebook. Cute. Sweet. Ambiguous. Interesting. Definitely a glimpse into teen-dom. For those of us *cough* who barely remember. I had my usual aversion/problem with interpreting the graphic parts. Words I know how to interpret. The graphics? I struggle. Sigh. Found out some interesting stuff about the author and illustrator - they are cousins. One lives in Toronto and seems to be adroit at pretty much everything. The other is from Calgary (come see us someday, 'kay Jillian?!) and lives in New York and makes a living with her art. Which I admire. And love. Makes me happy for them. Check out Mariko Tamaki's site and Jillian Tamaki's site too.

Apparently we're trend-setters too - the CBC book club has chosen Skim as their June title! Check out the pod-cast!

Next month we're reading Zami. I'm super-excited because I've already read Zami and I love it. Stupid a lot. Can't wait to re-read.

Lambda Lit Awards

2009-03-15T23:01:00.005-06:00

The 2008 Lammy finalists have been announced!

Lesbian Fiction

The Slow Fix, Ivan E. Coyote, Arsenal Pulp Press
The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Map of Ireland, Stephanie Grant, Scribner
All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press
Breaking Spirit Bridge, Ruth Perkinson, Spinsters Ink

Lesbian Debut Fiction

Red Audrey & the Roping, Jill Malone, Bywater Books
Passing for Black, Linda Villarosa, Kensington
Closer to Fine, Meri Weiss, Kensington
Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind, Chavisa Woods, Fly by Night Press
The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/University of Alabama Press

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy, Susan Griffin, Shambhala Publications
Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press
Sex Variant Woman, Joanne Passet, Da Capo
Sex Talks to Girls: A Memoir, Maureen Seaton, University of Arkansas Press
Case of a Lifetime, Abbe Smith, Palgrave Macmillan

It's great to see two Canadian writers in the finalists for lesbian fiction - Ivan Coyote and Chandra Mayor. Congrats to them! [Update! Emma Donoghue has lived in Canada for over 10 years - that makes 3 Canadian authors on the shortlist for Lesbian Fiction.] We often select a couple of Lambda winners/finalists/nominees for our reading list. Anyone know of any other awards we might follow?

adopted: veprecose

2009-03-15T10:00:00.001-06:00

adopted: veprecose
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

meaning: full of prickly shrubs or bushes

heh. savethewords.org is a fun site with some words that have fallen into disuse and are being dropped from dictionaries.

two memoirs i'm really wanting to read

2009-03-06T20:32:00.004-07:00

So. Apparently, *someone* in our book club knows *someone* featured in this book - Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military by Zsa Zsa Gershick. That alone qualifies it for our reading list. Hee. Seriously, it sounds really interesting, don't you think?

Another memoir just caught my eye too: My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy by Andrea Askowitz. It sounds very funny and a little bitter. Anybody in?

International House of Pancakes.

2009-03-03T19:52:00.004-07:00

In case you didn't know what IHOP stood for. April's selection is The IHOP Papers by Ali Leibegott.

We met last night to chat about Dionne Brand's novel What We All Long For. There was a lot to say. For one thing, we tried to answer the question - what did the main characters long for? Did they long for love? For release from the ties to their families' troubles? I myself loved the depiction of Toronto - having lived there myself for a couple of years. It felt really honest. Not everyone loved it, but all of us found it fascinating to read and discuss. The book made us examine the immigrant experience, race, familial relationships, art, music, and on and on and on!

Thinking about future reading!

2009-02-13T20:23:00.003-07:00

bloghead
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

In case you hadn't noticed, I decided we needed a logo. Ha! Nothing fancy, just something a little jazzier to blend in with this standard blogger template.

But back to the topic at hand. Future reading. Been thinking on that. Some people want to read Radclyffe Hall's classic The Well of Loneliness. I like that idea.

Some others (me!) want to read Audre Lorde's classic Zami.

A newer title caught my eye - All the Pretty Girls by Chandra Mayor, a Winnipeg author. All the Pretty Girls is a collection of short stories, so a bit tougher for discussion, but still. Winnipeg author! Nominated for the Lambda in the Lesbian Fiction category!

Another nominee that caught my eye was Stephanie Grant. Her latest novel, Map of Ireland, sounds delightful! Seriously. "In Map of Ireland, Stephanie Grant has written a novel of hard times that is a jagged jewel of perfection... it is as if Charles Dickens had written a tomboy." —Honor Moore, author of The Bishop's Daughter

One more that has piqued my interest: Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole. A young adult novel about a Latina lesbian teen!

If you find a title you're dying to read, email me or comment here!

Southland is a controversial book!

2009-02-03T07:57:00.005-07:00

Discussion of Southland was heated! There were lovers and haters of the book. From the topic of the Japanese internment during WWII to the race riots of L.A. in the 60s, there was lots of history to slog through - in a good way. I'm not sure I'm qualified to summarize the whole discussion because it really ran the gamut from the truly analytical - why so many voices and points of view; how one-dimensional some characters seemed; the author's choice to flip frequently from one time period to another - to the more subjective - why didn't Jackie break up with her girlfriend before kissing another woman?!; why did everyone love the grandfather so much?

It was a great discussion. Thanks everyone.

March's title is Dionne Brand's 2006 novel What We All Long For. Random House has some discussion questions on their site. Be sure to check those out.

Take note we've selected titles for April and May as well. For April we chose something that appears to be a bit on the lighter side - we need that after The Child and Southland - Ali Leibegott's Lambda winner The IHOP Papers. And for May we're going with a Lindy pick, another graphic novel, Skim, by Mariko Tamaki. Lindy's never steered us wrong.

1000 novels everyone must read.

2009-02-01T19:28:00.007-07:00

1000 novels everyone should read.
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

The Guardian has published a list of "1000 novels everyone must read." I thought I'd check how many titles by lesbian/bi authors were included in the list. Here's what I found:

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Zami by Audre Lorde
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Affinity by Sarah Waters
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Orlando by Virginia Woolf

So what do you think? I'm a fan of Sarah Waters, but three? three titles? of hers? Really? There are only three of Hemingway's novels included! Just pondering. Is there any title you really think they missed out on? Do you think any of those included don't deserve it?

2009-01-09T22:51:00.003-07:00

February's title is Nina Revoyr's Southland and it sounds kinda like a mystery wrapped in a riddle. Which is, well, interesting. Anybody know of any discussion questions out there?

Our January discussion of The Child was intense! Fitting I guess, since the book was also intense. Very thought-provoking. Um. Intense.

discussion questions for The Child

2008-12-27T11:46:00.002-07:00

1. Why do you think Sarah Schulman wrote The Child?
2. One of the criticisms Schulman says she encountered is that she did not explicitly 'come out' for or against the relationship between Stewie and David and Joe. Do you agree that the author was objective? How did you feel about the relationship? Did you come to a judgment in your own mind?
3. One of the big questions posed in the book is whether Stewie is an adult or a child. The system wants to treat him as an adult for his crimes, but as a child for his choices re: sex. What are your thoughts?
4. It seemed to me that the author did an excellent job of humanizing the central characters - Eva, Stewie, Hockey - letting us see the complexity of their lives, personalities, and situations. What about the peripheral characters, such as Eva's sister, Stewie's family members, the social worker and police officers? Did you find any of them complex? stereotypical?
5. Schulman said this in an interview: "I think that it’s a conceit of privilege to see one’s supremacy as natural, neutral, and value-free, instead of imposed by force. When representation [in literature] expands to include protagonists who don’t have full citizenship rights, it makes other people have to confront that their own, dominant point of view is in fact just one of many, instead of “the way things are.” This knowledge, that people do not earn or deserve their privileges, and that their power is constructed, not natural, makes people very angry. It punctures their façade that they didn’t know was a façade. It is unbearable news, and they will do anything to avoid hearing it." How do you think this applies to The Child?
6. A reviewer on amazon.com wrote: If you know who Procrustes was, and what "procrustean" means, then you'll be at home in this book." What do you think about this? Do you agree?
7. The same reviewer included a disclaimer in his review: "DISCLAIMER: This being America, I need to make it clear that I have contempt for pedophiles and that this book did not make me more sympathetic to them. What it did make me realize is that media stories about them are simplified so that they lose all connection to reality and, as a result of that, we as a society lose all hope of addressing the outcomes." Do you think everyone needs to make this disclaimer if they like the book? If they find the characters Joe and David sympathetic? DID you find them sympathetic?
8. Did you realize this novel was inspired by real events? afterellen.com says: "The Child was inspired by the tragic case of Sam Manzie, who sexually assaulted and strangled an 11-year-old boy who came by his house selling candy. Manzie's parents claimed their son was "pushed over the edge" by his sexual relationship with Stephen Simmons, a 43-year-old man the 15-year-old boy had met online." Does this change your perceptions/feelings about the story?
9. Did you find humour in this book?
10. How did you feel about Eva and her girlfriend's relationship? Did it seem like it was going to work out?
11. What do you think could have saved Stewie?
12. Did you want to read on at the end of the book? Did you want to know the fate of Stewie, Eva, etc?

Change is good!

2008-12-15T11:39:00.004-07:00

what i'm reading.
Originally uploaded by kim.mama

So my book club friends,

Most of us seem to like the idea of a change to first Monday of the month. So we'll try this for a couple of months and see how it goes. If it isn't working, we'll find something else that does! And this is with BIG apologies to the one person who let me know this won't work for her.

So our next meeting is Monday, January 5th at 7:30 pm.

Got that? New day of the week. New time. New time of the month.

January's title is The Child by Sarah Schulman.

Anybody want to volunteer some discussion questions?

On a personal note, I've decided to give this "canada reads" thing a try! I'm starting with Lawrence Hill's novel The Book of Negroes. I'm excited! Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

discussion questions for Aoibheann Sweeney

2008-10-19T10:06:00.006-06:00

I just noticed how many reviews there are out there of this month's title, Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking.

I also just came across discussion questions! Take a look?

Also, this interview piqued my interest.

By the way, my Irish friend informs me that Aoibheann is pronounced "ay-veen". FYI.

Ch-ch-changes!

2008-09-26T21:03:00.004-06:00

As often happens, we're changing the planned reading list. Unfortunately, Tulchinsky's Love Ruins Everything is out of print. Sigh. So, October's new title is Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeney.

We've also picked a book for January: The Child by Sarah Schulman. Schulman recently read at the University of Alberta and some book club members were able to attend. I heard it was great. And read a great review! Much fodder for discussion!

I missed the discussion this month, but had this from another book club member: We had a good discussion of Pink; everyone liked the book. A member found the character rather annoying - acting younger than her age - but I think the rest of us found her to be a sympathetic character. Several mentioned that it took until the midway point of the book to really capture interest, but it was a quick read anyway. Our main discussion centered around the issue of homophobia in current society, with some of the women sharing their coming out experiences.

September is pink

2008-09-16T21:15:00.004-06:00

The anthology, No Margins, was really well enjoyed by the our book club. It was a lovely re-visiting of several authors we've already read, and a great introduction to some other authors we haven't encountered yet!

This month we're reading Pink, by Jennifer Harris. Can't wait!

October's selection is from Karen Tulchinsky, that icon of Canadian lesbian fiction, Love Ruins Everything.

November we'll read Marion Douglas' Dance Hall Road. The excerpt in No Margins piqued our interest!

No Margins

2008-08-16T18:06:00.006-06:00

Last month's book was The Reddening Path by Amanda Hale. Sadly, summer lovin' almost killed the book club - nobody showed. I was so sad because I truly wanted to discuss that book. In some ways it was utterly riveting and fascinating. The Malinche story. Parts of Paméla's story. Other parts could've used a better edit. The dialogue between Paméla's mothers rang false to me. Some of the stories wandered a bit too far and lost my interest. Anyhoo, I was all set to chat, but ... crickets chirped back at me. Oh well.

This month, it's an anthology - No Margins - by fifteen Canadian lesbian writers. Lots of whom we've already read, like Lydia Kwa, Marnie Woodrow, Ann-Marie McDonald, Nicole Brossard, Shani Mootoo, Larissa Lai and Emma Donoghue. Here's a review. Let's go!

Girl Met Boy

2008-07-07T08:59:00.004-06:00

Ali Smith's Girl Meets Boy was the subject of our last discussion. It was great. I myself, being a little *cough* busy didn't quite finish it, but according to all, it was great. And, interesting. Playing with gender. We loved the grandfather's references to "when I was a girl."

This months title is Amanda Hale's The Reddening Path. (Want to see a review?) It was published by Thistledown Press, a teeny publisher that holds a special place in my heart, being from Saskatoon. Looking forward to it!

Paula Gunn Allen

2008-06-08T21:34:00.007-06:00

Many months ago, we read a wonderful book by Paula Gunn Allen, The Woman Who Owned the Shadows. Paula passed away last week at 68. She was a key figure in "Native American literature" - an author and educator who advocated for the inclusion of First Nations voices in the mainstream of literature.

Her 1986 book, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, broke new ground again, countering the stereotypical view of Native American women with provocative essays examining female deities, the honored place of lesbians and the importance of mothers and grandmothers to Native American identity.

One of the most anthologized essays -- "Who Is Your Mother? Red Roots of White Feminism" -- asserts that early feminists in the United States owe a debt to women of the female-centered Iroquois, who were their role models. The work, like much of Allen's writing, attracted a significant lesbian readership. Though she once identified as a lesbian, Allen said she later said she was a "serial bisexual," interested in a certain type of person, unconcerned "if it's male or a female body."

More info available at www.paulagunnallen.net.
*Info from article by Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 7, 2008

Lambda Lit Awards

2008-06-06T16:10:00.002-06:00

LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION
Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking, Aoibheann Sweeney
(The Penguin Press)

WOMEN'S FICTION
The IHOP Papers, Ali Leibegott
(Carroll & Graf)

WOMEN'S ROMANCE
Out of Love, KG MacGregor
(Bella Books)

WOMEN'S MYSTERY
Wall of Silence, Gabrielle Goldsby
(Bold Strokes Books)

WOMEN'S MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
And Now We Are Going to Have a Party, Nicola Griffith
(Payseur & Schmidt)

Desert of the Heart and updates!

2008-06-03T15:57:00.003-06:00

On Desert of The Heart: The happy ending was appreciated by all and a few people commented on how different the movie is from the book - but most of us had never seen the movie. We'll be having a movie night soon to watch the movie! (on facebook or contact Kim for details) It was fun picking apart characters and lamenting the lack of a substantial sex scene. Especially interesting was that club members seemed to make many different personal connections to this book - almost everyone told a story or two after relating to a line or happening in the story.

Please note the changes to the reading list (top left corner on blog page)! Poor Pink, just keeps getting shoved back. We're hopeful it'll be in stock and you know, out there, by the end of June so that we can read it for July.

New additions to the reading list: For September, No Margins. It's a collection of lesbian short fiction edited by Nairne Holtz and published by Insomniac Press.

Some other suggestions for future reading include:

Skim by Mariko Tamaki (Canadian graphic novel coming-of-age about a teen with a Japanese mother and Scottish father, divorced. Kim, called Skim, falls for a female teacher at her high school and copes with the emotions that ensue.)

Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking by Aoibheann Sweeney (Another coming-of-age story. Has similarities to Fun Home but it isn't a graphic novel. A gay father raises his daughter on a remote island in New England. She goes to New York City after she graduates and falls in love with a woman.) -- This just won the Lambda Lit award for lesbian debut fiction!

Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man by Norah Vincent (Non-fiction. One of our members is discussing this in another book group next month, so she'll tell us how that goes.)

About Slammerkin ...

2008-05-04T15:21:00.003-06:00

We had an excellent discussion around Emma Donoghue's Slammerkin this month. Slammerkin was a fascinating read - "historical fiction" with dark, bawdy humour. Some members who started off hating it even came around a wee bit during the discussion. It's always interesting that a writer can create unlikeable characters and still make the reader care about them. I came across readinggroupguides.com, which had some great discussion questions for Slammerkin. We touched on a few of them - especially this one: "Is Slammerkin a woman's story, or an exploration of powerlessness in all its forms?" We seemed to all agree that it really is an exploration of the idea of powerlessness - how people choose to live out their lives in a culture and society that allows them almost zero choice. It was basically succumb to your lot in life, or die. Not a pretty picture! Enjoyed the discussion immensely!

Next month we're reading a classic: Jane Rule's Desert of the Heart. Jane Rule, who passed away just last fall, was a bit of a lesbian icon. (Here's what wikipedia has to say about her.) Desert of the Heart was published in 1964 after Rule was rejected by 22 publishers! A movie was made based on the book in 1985, Desert Hearts. The movie is definitely not my favourite, but I know many people consider it pivotal!

Lambdas

2008-04-12T19:10:00.002-06:00

Lambda Literary Foundation nominees for Lesbian Debut Fiction - includes a couple of titles on our list.

And, nominees for Lesbian Fiction.

Stealing Nasreen chat

2008-04-04T22:33:00.003-06:00

Our book club chat with Farzana Doctor via teleconference went off without a hitch! Farzana was wonderfully articulate and we were just so thrilled to have her join us from afar. It was a treat to have her answer our questions about her writing process. We were fascinated to hear how Stealing Nasreen's story evolved over time and that she felt like the characters led the story. We were also really happy to hear that Farzana is working on her next book! Our discussion continued on after we hung up the phone. There was a lot to say, given the richness of the book. And I personally was intrigued that different readers connected with different characters to the point that they felt like that one character was the main character.

Looking forward to Slammerkin! Speaking of which, here's an interview with Emma Donoghue.

Farzana Doctor and Stealing Nasreen!

2008-03-23T10:45:00.001-06:00

Did i forget to mention that at this month's meeting of the lesbian book club, author Farzana Doctor will be joining us via speakerphone to chat a little about Stealing Nasreen? Well, she is! We're looking forward to it! And you should be there!

lesbian manga - sugoi!

2008-03-03T22:55:00.001-07:00

Here's a link to an online novel, Indigo Blue by Ebine Yamaji, mentioned at our recent book club meeting. There are also many other lesbian manga fan translations on the Lililicious site. Cool!

About 12 days

2008-03-02T12:03:00.003-07:00

Our discussion of June Kim's 12 Days was really fascinating. 12 Days was an unusual book - a graphic novel in the style of Japanese manga, by a Korean author, with lesbian content! The story revolves around the main character's mourning of her ex-lover's death. Everything from how the graphic novel affected us to the ethics of grieving came up. Fabulous. I'm only sorry I had to leave early. Here's a good review if you're interested.

March's title is Stealing Nasreen, by Toronto-based writer Farzana Doctor. A Quill and Quire review says: “The process of leaving one’s country and finding a sense of belonging in another is often rife with uncertainty and turmoil. What makes Stealing Nasreen such a riveting read is the way it takes this uncertainty and makes it even more complex by adding sexuality and desire to the angst-filled immigrant experience."

Laurie McFayden

2008-02-15T21:12:00.003-07:00

Hello friends,

This broadcast will include a friend of our book club, Laurie McFayden, reading her poem, "Skillet Prayers and Polar Bears."

Tomorrow on CBC: Five poets perform with the Raving Poets Band tomorrow on the CBC, up here in Canada. If you'd like to hear what all the fuss is, the broadcast is available anywhere in the world here (click on Edmonton).

All five poets and the Raving Poets Band doing some of their tunes will be broadcast on CBC's "Key of A" with Katherine Duncan, February 16 beginning at 5:00 pm MST.

a great article

2008-01-26T22:03:00.003-07:00

Check out this great article entitled "13 Lesbian and Bi Characters You Should Know" at afterellen.com.

5 years!

2007-12-04T15:34:00.001-07:00

It's been 5 full years of the lesbian book club! How amazing! We've covered romantic fiction, mystery, memoir, sci-fi, pulp, and "fine, fine literature"!

It's not often the book club members have a unanimous opinion on the books we read. Our reactions tend to run the gamut from love, hate, lukewarm, etc. This usually results in the best discussions. Once in a while we're unanimous in our love for the book. This usually results in a short, and not very exciting discussion. We recently finished reading Babyji, by Abha Dawesar. I think it was the first time we were unanimous in liking the book, but still had a lot to say about it. We were genuinely intrigued by the main characters, loved the writing style, and just generally enjoyed the story as it developed.

As usual, we'll take a break - no book for December.

Our reading list for the new year:

*January 08: The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
*February 08: 12 Days by June Kim
*March 08: Stealing Nasreen by Farzana Doctor
*April 08: Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue

One more note: We wanted to give a much belated thanks to Nairne Holtz for her wonderful reading from The Skin Beneath!

do you facebook?

2007-09-20T09:07:00.000-06:00

if so, join us, here!

This is Nairne Holtz!

2007-08-23T20:57:00.001-06:00

The Edmonton Lesbian Book Club and Audrey's Bookstore are thrilled to host a book party with lesbian author Nairne Holtz of Montréal. Nairne will read from her new novel The Skin Beneath and invites discussion! The event will be at Audrey's Bookstore (10702 Jasper Ave) on Friday, September 28th, at 7:30 pm.
Obviously, the book club will be reading "The Skin Beneath" as our September selection. Please join us!!

It's almost August...

2007-07-27T18:20:00.001-06:00

and time for a little update. The book club really enjoyed Hillary Carlip's memoir. Queen of the Oddballs was hilarious, with all the name-dropping and obsessions. Really, really, funny.

We've made some selections for the coming months, too. August, we already have Disobedience slotted. For September, we're going to read Montreal writer Nairne Holtz's novel The Skin Beneath. Don't set this in stone yet, but it looks like Nairne will be able to join us for a reading on September 28th. Details to follow!

In October we're reading Shamim Sarif's novel Despite the Falling Snow. Shamim sounds like an interesting person—she lives in London, England with her partner Hanan and their two children. She was born in the UK of South African and Indian descent. Her first novel, The World Unseen, won a Betty Trask Award and the Pendleton May First Novel Award.

In November, it's Babyji, winner of a Stonewall Award and a Lambda Literary Award. The author, Abha Dawesar, was named one of "India's 25 Young Achievers" by India Today this year!

And we've gone ahead and selected a title for next January as well. (We always skip meeting in December.) Ellis Avery is, I think, an American writer, whose book The Teahouse Fire was nominated for a Lambda Lit Award as well, and was described by one of our members as "wayyyy better than Memoirs of a Geisha"!

summertime

2007-06-30T22:26:00.000-06:00

Hi lesbian book club members,

Happy summer!

READING LIST UPDATE:

* July 07: Queen of the Oddballs by Hilary Carlip
* August 07: Disobedience by Naomi Alderman

I received a fun note from a new author from Montreal, Nairne Holtz, wondering if we'd add her book to our list and tentatively offering to do a reading for the book club! Details will be posted if it works out.

Check out Nairne's website with a bibliography of Canadian literature - it's great.

We had planned to add Where Bones Dance by Nina Newington, because a) it sounds really good (see here) and b) we heard she has recently moved to Edmonton and were hoping to invite her to join us. But we threw it on the back-burner because it's still in hardcover and pretty expensive. As soon as it hits paperback, it's on.

updates!

2007-06-11T12:27:00.001-06:00

Hi all,

Just want to point out that if you look to the top left of this page, you'll always find our most current reading list. It's june, we're reading In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam.

I used to read someone's blog (live@lakeridge) and she often raved about her friend, how she's published, etc. then this friend was nominated for a lambda award, so we selected her memoir - Queen of the Oddballs by Hilary Carlip - for July.

One of our members told us about Disobedience by Naomi Alderman and it sounded so good we made it our August selection.

That's it for now!

Winners of the lammies

2007-06-02T16:54:00.001-06:00

Fiction - Lesbian
* The Night Watch, Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)

Debut Fiction - Lesbian
* The Teahouse Fire, Ellis Avery (Riverhead)

Mystery - Lesbian
* The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (Bantam)

Poetry - Lesbian
* Lemon Hound, Sina Queyras (Coach House Books)

Romance - Lesbian
* Fresh Tracks, Georgia Beers (Bold Strokes)

Memoir/Biography - Lesbian
* Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)

Lambdas, and other news

2007-03-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hi! We had one of our liveliest discussions in a long time about Fun Home (which, by the way, is nominated for a Lambda in 2 different categories - Arts and Culture, and Lesbian Memoir/Biography!). It was marvellous. A really interesting book. Everyone liked it, but the discussion didn't fall flat at that!

The nominees for the Lambda Lit Awards are out. I'll just mention a few of the more, uh, relevant categories!

Nominees for LESBIAN FICTION

Punk Like Me by JD Glass (Bold Strokes)
Slipstream by Leslie Larson (Crown)
Outrageous by Sheila Ortiz Taylor (Spinsters Ink)
Rose of No Man's Land by Michelle Tea (Macadam Cage)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)

Nominees for LESBIAN ROMANCE

Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers (Bold Strokes)
Wild Abandon by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes)
Finders Keepers by Karin Kallmaker (Bella Books)
Chance by Grace Lennox (Bold Strokes)
Turn Back Time by Radclyffe (Bold Strokes)

Nominees for LESBIAN MYSTERY

Sleep of Reason by Rose Beecham, Rose (Bold Strokes)
Night Vision by Ellen Hart (St. Martins)
The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
Idaho Code by Joan Opyr (Bywater Books)
The Weekend Visitor by Jessica Thomas (Bella Books)

Nominees for LESBIAN POETRY

Domain of Perfect Affection by Robin Becker (University of Pittsburgh)
Days of Good Looks by Cheryl Clarke (Carroll & Graf)
The Truant Lover by Juliet Patterson (Nightboat Books)
Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras (Coach House Books)
Touch to Affliction by Nathalie Stephens (Coach House Books)

Nominees for LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

Intimate Politics by Bettina Aptheker (Seal Press)
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)
Queen of the Oddballs by Hilary Carlip (HarperCollins)
Hit by a Farm by Catherine Friend (Carroll & Graf)
Incognito Street by Barbara Sjoholm (Seal Press)

Nominees for LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION

The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery (Riverhead)
Black Marks by Kirsten Dinnall Hoyte (Akashic)
Erzulie's Skirt by Ana-Maurine Lara (Redbone Press)
Slipstream by Leslie Larson (Crown)
Origami Striptease by Peggy Munson (Suspect Thoughts)

Also, I noticed No Margins: Writing Canadian Fiction in Lesbian, edited by Catherine Lake & Nairne Holtz (Insomniac) nominated under Anthology.

a book that sounds like fun

2007-02-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

Eh, I just heard about this book, and it sounds fun. So, check it out if you like: Queen of the Oddballs by Hilary Carlip.

Also just read about British author Shamim Sarif's two novels: her debut The World Unseen (2001), about two women in 1950s apartheid South Africa who fall in love; and second novel, Despite The Falling Snow (2004).

Winter reading

2007-02-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a lovely discussion of Venus of Chalk the other night. Unfortunately, some of us (me!) didn't actually get around to reading the book, so it was kinda short and sweet.

This month, it's Alison Bechdel's Fun Home - our first graphic novel. We do our best to try new things!

We selected readings for the coming months. In March we'll read Nicole Brossard's latest title, Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon. I'm a huge fan, even though if I'm honest most of it's over my head. Members selected a title by an Indian writer, Suniti Namjoshi, Feminist Fables, for April. Then May's selection is a bit lighter: The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett. And for June, we've decided to try a non-fiction item. It's Judith Halberstam's In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. At least, I think that's the title!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here's to Year Five for the Edmonton Lesbian Book Club!

I've redesigned the blog and plan to keep it much more up to date this year - it's a new year's resolution!

You'll notice one important new category on the top left-hand side - our current reading list. Please bookmark this page and remember to check it each month, or more. And, if you have suggestions for the site, let's have 'em!

January's title is Venus of Chalk by Susan Stinson. If anybody wants to volunteer some discussion questions, I'd love to have them and post them here.

See you at the end of the month!

November is almost over

2006-11-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

November's title is Mohawk Trail by Beth Brant.

December we're on hiatus.

January we're reading Venus of Chalk by Susan Stinson.

A graphic novel!

2006-05-10T21:06:00.000-06:00

Something new and fun out - for those um, old-school dykes out there, readers of the Dykes to Watch Out For series by Alison Bechdel! She's written a graphic novel, called Fun Home about her own childhood/life. Looking forward to it!

Alison Bechdel's blog has links to reviews and other info, enjoy!

Reading List 2006!

2006-02-12T22:11:00.001-07:00

FEBRUARY: Our Sister Killjoy, by Ama Ata Aidoo

MARCH: Loose End, by Ivan E. Coyote

APRIL: Wild Girls, Diana Souhami

MAY: Patience & Sarah, by Alma Routsong (aka Isabel Miller)

JUNE: Wild Dogs, by Helen Humphreys

JULY: The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith

AUGUST: What Night Brings, by Carla Trujillo

SEPTEMBER: The Monkey's Mask, by Dorothy Porter

OCTOBER: Drag King Dreams, by Leslie Feinberg (due out March 2006)

NOVEMBER: Mohawk Trail, by Beth Brant

Happy New Year!

2005-12-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long break between posts.

Here's the scoop. We've had excellent book discussions in the last couple of months. And, we had a lovely little pre-holidays get-together too.

We take a break from book club in December because people are always so busy with the holidays.

And here are our plans for the coming months:

January: We're reading "Our Sister Killjoy" by Ama Ata Aidoo.
February: We'll read "Loose End" by Ivan E. Coyote.

Unfortunately, we had to shelf the idea of reading Nicole Brossard's "Mauve Desert" as it is out of print and difficult to get hold of. Perhaps when her latest, "Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon" goes paperback, we'll read it.

That's it until the new year!!!

reading list update!

2005-09-08T20:47:00.000-06:00

Our reading schedule for the coming months, based on your votes/anti-votes/requests!

October: Finding Ms. Wright, by Anne Seale
November: Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson
December: we're on hiatus
January: Our Sister Killjoy, by Ama Ata Aidoo
February: Mauve Desert, by Nicole Brossard

September

2005-08-31T23:12:00.000-06:00

We're reading "The Quilt" by Ismat Chugtai. a review.

questions for "Aimée & Jaguar"

2005-08-29T19:23:00.000-06:00

1. Lilly was awarded the German Federal Service Cross in 1981 for “her heroic efforts” to conceal and protect Felice. Did you find Lilly “heroic”?
2. Was this a memoir?
3. Did you find their affair passionate? Do you think the circumstances of the war heightened their affair?
4. Did you find Lilly self-serving?
5. Do you think Felice regretted not leaving Germany when she had the chance?
6. Did the relationship come across as obsession to you?
7. “It is not an introspection on being or becoming lesbian. It is not the reminiscence of a woman who regrets not doing enough to save her lover from the Holocaust. It is not an inspirational memoir by an ordinary Berliner who learned great lessons from her experiences. Neither is it a compelling account of that dreadful time nor even much of a love story.” Do you agree? What is it, if not a love story?

discussion questions

2005-08-29T18:50:00.000-06:00

I'm just posting our discussion questions from the following two books, in case you missed the weekend, but read the books...
Questions for He Drown She in the Sea (Shani Mootoo)
1. Why did Mootoo set this novel in a fictional island instead of Trinidad?
2. What is the effect of the skipping through time?
3. What role do class divisions play in the story? What about race?
4. How did you feel about Rose’s father’s reaction when he discovered the children sleeping together?
5. Reviewers describe the patois her characters speak as lyrical and sensuous. Do you agree?
6. An important scene happens when Rose and her mother visit Dolly and Harry at their seaside shack. She says
to him “They are not our friends. Maybe I myself mislead you.” What impact did this scene have?
7. The book takes quite a plot twist at the end. Did it feel real to you?
Note: Click here to hear Shani Mootoo read from her book.

Questions for Venous Hum (Suzette Mayr)
1. The publisher calls this novel “magic realism.” According to a google search, “literature of this type is usually characterized by elements of the fantastic woven into the story with a deadpan sense of presentation. The term is not without a lot of controversy, however, and has come under attack for numerous reasons. Some claim that it is a postcolonial hangover, a category used by “whites” to marginalize the fiction of the “other.” Others claim that it is a passé literary trend. Still others feel the term is simply too limiting, and acts to remove the fiction in question from the world of serious literature.” What do you think?
2. "Mayr sutures the plot velocity of a genre book together with literary language and politics, creating a Frankenstein's monster of a novel, one with more elegance and brains than you’d expect."(Toronto Star) Do you agree?
3. Several reviewers feel that the book had a lot of potential and went “off the rails” when Lai Fun’s mother reveals her cannibalistic side. How did you feel about this element of the strange and unusual?
4. A quote from the author to think about: “I wanted to explore the horror genre, but what always struck me about Dracula and those type of books is that it’s about a rich white guy who everyone finds instantly attractive,” Mayr explains. “And I thought, ‘Well, what’s so horrible about that? Why can’t the monster be an immigrant woman who can’t find a job with a
spendthrift husband who works at a gas station?’”
5. Do you think the author went for the gory punch line, or was it a valid storyline?

August update

2005-08-01T11:30:00.000-06:00

For August we're reading "Aimée and Jaguar" by Erica Fischer, and may be watching the movie too! Some reviews of the book here!
Don't forget about the weekend getaway in late August, where we're reading "Venous Hum" by Suzette Mayr (publisher's description) and "He Drown She in the Sea" by Shani Mootoo (publisher's description). See earlier post for details.
And in September, it's "The Quilt and other stories" by Ismat Chugtai. (Read a review.)

Questions for "Days of Awe"

2005-07-24T13:32:00.000-06:00

1. The Jews in Cuba are described as going into hiding here by converting to Catholicism, a practice that has occurred in many areas of the world. Do you see this as paralleling/not paralleling the experiences of members of the GLBTQ community who have stayed or gone into hiding i.e., "the closet." What about other cultural variations on the same theme?
2. Many of the characters are confronted with the challenge of assimilation and the emergence of multiple identities. Is Alejandra Cuban or American or both? How does Judaism play into her identity? How does lesbianism or bisexuality factor into her identity? What about her lover- how does she respond to Ale's multiple cultural identities?
3. Ytzak both gave up, and took from others, much for his beliefs especially in regard to his relationships to with his family. How do you see this paralleling the queer community? Do you think Ytzak overstepped his rights as grandfather?
4. What is "love"? Have you ever been in love, and how did you know and define it as love?
5. Nena tells Ale that the priest who gives the Last Rites to Enrique is "not for him, not for you," but for her, Nena. Is it proper to perform a religious ceremony on an adult without his consent? Do we ever have the right to decide for another?
6. Linguists often note that the number of words for a concept in a given language indicates the importance of that concept to speakers. Chapter 29 explores the many Spanish equivalents for the English word "love." Based on the relationships in this novel, do you think this proliferation indicates importance, or merely confusion? The queer community in Canada has, in many respects, a language of its own. What is your perception of important love is to our community?
7. Although she celebrates Jewish holidays and has Jewish ancestors, Ale only calls herself a Jew once, and only in a failed attempt to put off proselytizing Christians. Is Ale a Jew? Who gets to make that determination?
8. Ale never says she is lesbian or bi. Who gets to make that determination?
9. What did you think when you were reading the specific passages about the Voyage of the Damned?
10. Celina is 14 years-old and being molested according to our belief system, in order to be driven to see her father who is in prison "for crimes against the state." Her mother is deceased and she is living on her own. The author feels guilty for not having turned Orlando in when she saw what he was doing to Celina. Have you ever had a moment where saw harm happening and turned away?
11. What is the purpose of Celina's appearance in this novel? What is the meaning of Ale's final encounter with her?
12. Do you remember where you were on the day of the Bay of Pigs or when the Berlin Wall fell?

Thanks for these, Alex!

Lesbian book club getaway!

2005-06-29T22:20:00.000-06:00

Hey Lesbian Book Club! Tell all your friends and loved ones! The book club is having its second annual weekend getaway at Pine Trails!

When? The weekend of August 26, 27 and 28th, 2005.

Where? Pine Trails at Pigeon Lake

How much does it cost? It’s $70 per person for the weekend. Tent sites are less.

What’s happening? Well, the details are far from finalized, but here’s the plan. We’ve selected two titles to read and discuss over the weekend: "Venous Hum" by Suzette Mayr, and "He Drown She in the Sea" by Shani Mootoo (both local authors!).
We’ll barbeque! We’ll go swimming. Or whatever you like.

If you’d like to go, you need to reserve a spot. Contact tree_dream@yahoo.ca!

**More details to come as things as finalized.**

July 2005

2005-06-29T22:04:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

July's title is "Days of Awe" by Cuban-American author Achy Obejas.

Some links:
A great interview with the author, some discussion questions, etc: National Yiddish Book Centre
Another fantastic site with interviews, discussion questions, etc.: bookclubs.ca
More questions: random house publishing group

For those planning ahead, August we're reading "Aimée and Jaguar" by Erica Fischer, and may be watching the movie too! And in September, it's "The Quilt and other stories" by Ismat Chugtai.

Look out! It's a book meme!

2005-06-16T22:00:00.000-06:00

Want to try something different? Let's share a little of our book love?
1. Total number of books owned
2. Last book bought
3. Last book read
4. Five books that mean a lot
Post your answers in a comment!

and the Lambda Lit awards go to...

2005-06-06T13:28:00.000-06:00

The Lambda Literary Awards were announced! The winners are:
The Lesbian Debut Fiction Award was given to Judith Frank, who drew on her experience as an adult literacy tutor to write her first novel Crybaby Butch (Firebrand).
The Lesbian Fiction Award was given to Village Voice writer and novelist Stacey D'Erasmo for A Seahorse Year (Houghton Mifflin), which follows a San Francisco family coping with a 16-year-old son's mental illness.
Lesbian Poetry: Sweet to Burn by Beverly Burch, Gival Press
Lesbian mystery: Hancock Park by Katherine V. Forrest, Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Group USA
Independent LGBT Press Award: Bella Books

June!

2005-05-25T23:14:00.000-06:00

Hey book club members,
June's title has been changed!!! We've had to switch things up again.
So, June's title is "The Touch Typist" by Helen Sandler.

some questions for This Wild Silence

2005-05-05T21:02:00.000-06:00

Why was Lenny included in the story?
In Mark's speech, after being caught by Tina, why do you think he said Liz lived through Tina?
Do you think that Tina was being blind to everyone's feelings by bringing up Timothy at every opportunity?
Why was Flo Tina's first love?
Were you surprised by where Timothy ended up being?
When does your dark side come out?

This Wild Silence

2005-04-29T21:16:00.000-06:00

May's title is "This Wild Silence" by Lucy Jane Bledsoe.

From the American Library Association:
Bledsoe follows the stories in Sweat (1995) and the working-class novel Working Parts (1997) with a tale of family loyalties, lies and secrets, and the daunting terrain of sisterhood between two wildly different people. Christine (Tina), a physician in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, seems to have difficulty in forming and maintaining intimate relationships and seeks solace in her work. Meanwhile, her outdoorsy, survival-enthusiast sister Liz's marriage to high-school sweetie Mark, now an educational publisher, seems faultless. But beneath smooth surfaces lie fault lines, as Tina learns while snow camping with Liz and Mark in California's Sierra Nevadas. Both women have lived with the guilt stemming from the disappearance of their brother, then a preschooler, while they were watching him during a family excursion three decades ago. Will the harsh environment provide Tina the perspective she needs to appreciate the subtleties of her new relationship with neighbor Flo, a poet; or Liz with the stimulus to break away from the lifetime of deceit that the two sisters share?

Questions for The Woman Who Owned the Shadows

2005-04-13T13:54:00.000-06:00

Some questions to ponder as you read:

1. What moral/ethical choices did the characters make? What did you think of those choices?
2. Why do you think the author wrote this? What is her most important message?
3. How did you feel about the characters? Who did you like or not like and why?
4. What did you think of the ending?
5. How does the setting figure as a character in the story?

Will have more questions soon!

Heroic Journeys in Lesbian Literature

2005-04-05T11:09:00.000-06:00

I found a women’s studies class syllabus (it's a pdf file) on heroic journeys in lesbian literature. The course is from San Diego State University. Here's a bit from the course description:

"In literature, myth, and religion, a human life has often been imagined as a journey along the path from birth to death: a quest, pilgrim’s progress, or heroic tale. Overcoming obstacles along her/his way, the pilgrim comes to understand her/his relation to self, gods, and society, and is rewarded at the end with love or punished with death. But what if that pilgrim progresses along a lesbian path? What kind of journey does she undergo? What kind of self does she discover—or construct? What kind of tale does she tell? What kind of love and place in society awaits her at the end?"

The course’s required texts include:
Paula Gunn Allen, The Woman Who Owned the Shadows
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues
Jewelle Gomez, The Gilda Stories
Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness
Judith Katz, Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound
Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Virginia Woolf, Orlando

Since one of the titles mentioned is Paula Gunn Allen’s book, I thought we might consider these questions!

the Lammys

2005-04-04T13:44:00.000-06:00

Hey, the Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the finalists for the annual Lambda Literary Awards! (aka the Lammys)

For us lovers of lesbian fiction, here are the finalists in the in the category of lesbian fiction:

A Seahorse Year by Stacey D'Erasmo, Houghton Mifflin
Abundant Light by Valerie Miner, Michigan State University Press
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue, Harcourt
Skels by Maggie Dubris, Soft Skull Press
Venus of Chalk by Susan Stinson, Firebrand Books

And in the new category of lesbian debut fiction:
Crybaby Butch by Judith Frank, Firebrand Books
Death by Discount by Mary Vermillion, Alyson Publications
Dish It Up, Baby! by Kristie Helms, Firebrand Books (note to book club members - we already read this one!)
Fire & Brimstone by Laurinda D. Brown, Strebor Books
Minus One: A Twelve-Step Journey by Bridget Bufford, Alice Street Editions

April's selection

2005-03-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

April's title is "The Woman Who Owned the Shadows" by Paula Gunn Allen. She is one of the first Aboriginal (American) authors to be published, let alone lesbian ones!
For those of you planning ahead, May's title is "This Wild Silence" by Lucy Jane Bledsoe, and June's title is "The Quilt and other stories" by Ismat Chugtai.

Nicole Brossard News!!

2005-03-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Quebec lesbian author Nicole Brossard celebrates her 40th publishing anniversary. This month, Coach House Books will publish Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon the English translation of Brossard's 2001 novel, Hier. It's her first English novel in 8 years, and will be launched at the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival on March 31.

I know, we're in Edmonton, she's in Montreal. Still, it's good news and worth mentioning in case you are planning to be in Montreal later this month! The event will feature readings of Brossard’s work in English and French by Martine Audet, Denise Desautels, Louise Forsyth, Alberto Manguel and Elise Turcotte, and a collaborative reading from Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon by Brossard and the novel's translator, Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood.

Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon is hailed by critics in Quebec as the synthesis of almost four decades of writing. According to Coach House, it is a meditation on time, death, desire and history, a novel whose backbone is formed by the relationship that develops between Carla Carlson and an unnamed narrator as they talk about childhood and parents and landscapes, about time and art, about Descartes and Francis Bacon and writing. Set against the grand backdrop of Quebec City, Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendo interweaves the lives and conversations of four women into a kind of romantic art installation, a lively read in which life and death and the vertigo of ruins tangle themselves together to say something about history and desire.

Perhaps we should add it to our reading list.

Reading Questions for Throw it to the River

2005-03-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

1. How is reading a collection of short stories different from reading a novel? There were 14 stories. Do you have a favourite? Do you have a least favourite?
2. Most (all?) of the main characters identified as butch. Do you identify as butch? Did you like reading stories from this perspective? For instance, did you enjoy “Stone Butch,” and the main character, Mitos?
3. The copy on the back cover says that the book “expands the definitions of butch.” How many different definitions of “butch” do you think the book offers?
4. Some of the stories didn’t give names to the characters, such as in “Big Nipple of the North.” Did you like this?
5. Many of the stories had lesbian characters that knew they were lesbians (or something different anyway) at a very young age, such as “When You’re Six.” What did you think of this? Did you know at a young age that you were “different”? Do you know anyone who has had this experience?
6. What did you think of “The Lesbian Hen”?
7. In “Innocent Lust” the main character’s first girlfriend gets married to a man and has children. This is one of those clichéd lesbian stories, and yet it didn’t seem trite, or bitter. What made it different, do you think? (Or did you find it trite, or bitter?)
8. “Keepsake” told another lesbian cliché – an affair with an older woman. But the author’s take on this story was pretty surprising… what did you think?
9. Did you find the title story, “Throw it to the River,” touching? Sad? Funny?
10. “GI Jane” told a story in an unusual way. What effect did the letter style have on you?
11. In general, did you find Nice Rodriguez’s storytelling funny? Too light? Too graphic? Brilliant? Something else?

rainbow reading!

2005-03-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Another great link provided by Lindy:
Rainbow Reading: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Booklist
Check it out!