Edmonton Lesbian+ Book Club

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!

November's title is Mohawk Trail by Beth Brant. December we're on hiatus. January we're reading Venus of Chalk by Susan Stinson.

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!

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