Book picks similar to
Rotary Spokes by Fiona Cooper
fiction
lesbian-fiction
lesbian
lgbt
Sphinx
Anne Garréta - 1986
1962) is a lecturer at the University of Rennes II and research professor of literature and Romance studies at Duke University. She joined the Oulipo in 2000, becoming the first member to join born after the Oulipo was founded. Garréta won France's prestigious Prix Médicis in 2002, awarded each year to an author whose "fame does not yet match their talent," for her novel Pas un jour.Emma Ramadan is a graduate of Brown University and received her master's in literary translation from the American University of Paris. Her translation of Anne Parian's Monospace is forthcoming from La Presse. She is currently on a Fulbright Fellowship for literary translation in Morocco.
Days of Grace
Catherine Hall - 2009
A tautly-plotted and suspenseful debut about an intense war-time friendship, a suppressed passion, a jealous crime, and a corrosive secret kept for decades.
Katherine
Anchee Min - 1995
In Katherine's classroom, repression and rebellion meet head-on-and the consequences are both tragic and liberating.
The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall - 1928
Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity when published in 1928. It became an international bestseller, and for decades was the single most famous lesbian novel. It has influenced how love between women is understood, for the twentieth century and beyond.
Up!
Al Stewart - 2018
He recovers from bitter disappointment and gradually life returns to a regular rhythm. Safe and predictable. Every day he gains confidence, but with health comes boredom. From the window ledge, he watches people outside and wishes he could be like them. There's another side to Luke. Underneath his bed are five hidden pairs of jeans with matching Dr Martens: yellow, purple, striped, green and tartan. Some days he feels the itch to get them out. Nope. Those days are gone. One day, an amazing thing happens. Dynamic blog artist Formaldehyde Bob comes to town with an exhibition of light and dark! Luke has crushed on him since being fifteen, idolising the man and his unusual creations. Something about the art calls to Luke like nothing else, makes him believe there might after all be someone out there who thinks in the same way. A soul mate. A bird with a similar song. No. Luke isn't going to go and see Formaldehyde Bob. He isn't. Because he's happy with his monotonous lot and doesn't want to see hope sliding down a mountain of sand. Will Luke take a chance and visit Formaldehyde Bob? Can the jeans ever be worn again? Does grumpy Barbara ever smile? And the most important question: is there any magic left in the world? Find out in this snowy tale of young love in the most unexpected places. Content warning: references to self-harm, mental illness.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fannie Flagg - 1987
Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women-of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth, who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.
Invisible, as Music
Caren J. Werlinger - 2019
Her braces and crutches restrict her, define her, but they also give her independence. Almost. She hates that she has become increasingly reliant on a series of live-in companions to help her. For some reason, the companions never seem to want to stay very long. So Henrietta retreats further and further into her art, where her physical limitations don’t matter.Into her life sails Meryn Fleming: out, outspoken, and fiercely political. She’s young, enthusiastically diving into her first job as a history professor at the local college. When she falls, almost literally, into Henrietta’s path, she seems like a godsend.Little does Henrietta know that this young woman is about to upend her carefully structured existence. Ryn challenges everything, barging right through the walls Henrietta has built to keep others at a distance.To Ryn, Henrietta is an enigma: prickly and easily insulted at the slightest suggestion that she can’t do things for herself; a brilliant artist capable of producing the most beautiful paintings; and sometimes, when Henrietta doesn’t realize she’s letting her guard down, a tender and sensitive woman.With Meryn’s youthful optimism pitted against Henrietta’s jaded acceptance of the world as it is, life will never be the same for either of them.Words: 114,100
The Necessity of Certain Behaviors
Shannon Cain - 2011
They expose the absurdity of our rituals, our definitions of sexuality, and above all, our expectations of happiness and self-fulfillment. Cain’s protagonists are destined to suffer—and sometimes enjoy—the consequences of their own restless discontent. In the title story, Lisa, a city dweller, is dissatisfied with her life and relationships. Her attempt at self-rejuvenation takes her on a hiking excursion through a foreign land. Lisa discovers a remote village where the ritualized and generous bisexual love of its inhabitants entrances her. She begins to abandon thoughts of home. In “Cultivation,” Frances, a divorced mother strapped with massive credit card debt, has become an expert at growing pot. When she packs her three children and twelve pounds of homegrown into the minivan and travels cross-country to sell the stash, their journey becomes one of anguish, revelation, and ultimately transformation. “Cultivation,” like many of the stories in The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, follows a trail of broken relationships and the unfulfilled promises of modern American life. Told in precise, evocative prose, these memorable stories illuminate the human condition from a compelling, funny, and entirely original perspective.
The Marriage Contract
Kim Hartfield - 2018
After losing touch, the unlikely pair reconnects just in time to meet the deadline. A lot has happened in the meantime... like both of them coming out of the closet. Now the popular girl marrying the science geek is an actual possibility. The contract was only a joke, though - wasn't it?44,000 words
Return to Isis
Jean Stewart - 1992
A futuristic lesbian tale of high adventure, mystery and love, in which Whit, a bold warrior from an Amazon nation, rescues Amelia from a dismal world where females are either breeders or drones.
Carry Me Like Water
Benjamin Alire Sáenz - 1995
Saenz's epic tale brings to light amazing revelations about the wonders of love, family, friends, and compassion.
The Roundabout
Gerri Hill - 2016
Following two failed relationships, Megan has sworn off women, but that seems to have only increased her appeal to single lesbians in town. Labeled as “playing hard to get”, she finds that some will go to any lengths to snag a date with her. Megan soon finds she’s the source of amusement for everyone, including her sister, as a partial photo of her appears on Facebook. The town’s resident nympho threatens to reveal the nude photo—piece by piece—unless Megan agrees to a date. If only she were seeing someone…maybe the women would leave her in peace.Leah Rollins thought fifty was too young to retire, so instead, she plans to open a store in the touristy shopping district of Eureka Springs. Leah quickly learns that sisters Nancy and Megan Phenix are polar opposites…one pleasant and friendly and one decidedly on the grumpy side as she and Megan spar over parking spaces and anything else they can find to argue about. When Leah catches the attention of the multitude of single lesbians in town, including Nancy, she searches for a way out. Could the grumpy grill owner next door be the answer to her problems?Megan and Leah strike an unlikely alliance and conspire to rid themselves of the unwanted attention by fake dating. Can they pull it off?As they pretend to date and convince everyone in town that they really are a couple, the pretense becomes harder to hold on to. But there’s just one problem…they don’t really like each other.Or do they?
Thankful
Edie Bryant - 2017
She has always tried to foster a decent relationship with her parents but despite this, there is a lot of tension between them. Tension that comes to a head when Danielle finds out that her parents have moved away from her hometown without even telling her, leaving her stranded at an empty house for the holidays. Fortunately, right across the street is Danielle's old best friend, Elise. They haven't seen each other in years, but when Elise sees Danielle alone and confused she takes hold of the opportunity to invite her to Elise's family's Thanksgiving. As grateful as Danielle is, the romantic feelings she had tried to hide for years start bubbling up inside her and she is not sure how to hold them back anymore. Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting Thanksgiving holiday. During this holiday season, Edie Bryant brings us a sweet Thanksgiving tale of love and reconnecting with those we're truly thankful for.