April's selection

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!!

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

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!

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

Throw it to the River reviews

Throw It To the River by Nice Rodriguez (review found on a discussion board for Filipinos about books that made a difference in their lives)

I really liked this book. It's a collection of short stories (fiction) about women in the Philippines. Some are funny, sad, political, sexy, frustrating, emotional, or a combination. It's about relationships between women and how those relationships affect the other people around them. It is the only book I know of that portrays different experiences of being queer and female in the Philippines (most of the stories take place in Manila). It's also politically and culturally enlightening. I think all of the characters are interesting and prismatic (not one dimensional). A very nice read. Highly recommend, whether you are queer or not.

Throw It to the River by Nice Rodriguez (review found at a UCLA student discussion)

This debut collection of short stories introduces Nice Rodriguez as a writer whose style is fresh and clean. Set in the Philippines and in Canada, these stories sparkle with self-contained pleasure in life, even at their most poignant moments. In Throw It To the River, Nice Rodriguez shines a bright lesbian light on a fascinating world. Nice Rodriguez' stories have appeared in Piece of My Heart and After Glow: More Stories of Lesbian Desire. "This is accomplished writing, fuelled by a keen imagination and an affection for language."

Another site of interest:
The Filipino Book Barn: A web site about Gay and Lesbian books by Filipino authors.

March 2005

March's selection is "Throw it to the River" by Nice Rodriguez. The author is Filipino, living in Toronto. The book is actually a collection of short stories - this should be an interesting change from our routine. It portrays the lesbian experience in the Philippines - most of the stories take place in Manila.