Edmonton Lesbian+ Book Club

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

if so, join us, here!

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!!

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 Da

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.

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!

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)

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 Be

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).

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!

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!