October is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) History Month and to celebrate I’m participating in The Literary Others: An LGBT Reading Event hosted by Adam over at RoofBeamReader.com. It’s also Banned Books Week which is a great time to commit to reading books by LGBT writers and/or books featuring LGBT characters and issues.
About the event:
This is a one-month event focused on all things LGBT, in honor of LGBT History Month (USA). Reading that will count for this event include any novels, short stories, essays, memoirs, biographies, poetry, plays, etc. written by an author who identifies as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgendered. Also, any works written by heterosexual authors, but whose primary plot/characters revolve around LGBT issues will count as well. See this post for more information and some suggestions.
I’ll be reading Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) and Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt (1952). Both books have long been on my personal To Be Read list and I’ve also included them in my Classic Club reading list. I’ll post reviews on both books later this month.
If you’d like to take part in the The Literary Others and read an LGBT book or two or more, click here to head over to the sign-up page for the event and let Adam know you’re in. He features some books to consider on the sign-up page itself and then recently posted two lists of 100+ gay and lesbian novels which you can see here.
Here’s a list of my top 10 favorite LGBT novels, in no particular order:
- Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
- Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
- The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
- Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
- Patience and Sarah by Isabell Miller
- Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
- Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
- Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
What are your favorite LGBT novels?
Glad you're in! The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Goodness. I don't even know what to say about that book… it's definitely an interesting read and hilarious in the Gertrude Stein kinda way….which is to say, it's not funny at all, but she seems to poke so much fun at the process and the people involved in the process, and at the seriousness with which we all treat “literature.” It's just humorlessly funny!
Oh I can't wait to hear about The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas! I've found it mentioned more and more in books I've been reading recently.
A few of your top 10 are in my favorites list too! I need to read Stein eventually but I'm kind of intimidated.
I'm really looking forward to reading this one! The only other Stein I've read was Three Lives and that was like 20 years ago. It didn't make me want to run out and read all the Stein I could get my hands on. 🙂
It does seem to pop up a lot, and sometimes in surprising places although I can't think of one as an example at the moment. 🙂 I'm hoping it lives up to the “hype.”
Yeah, Stein is one of those writers that I've definitely read more about than have actually read of her works. Three Lives wasn't that bad and I've heard The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is the most accessible of her works. I have to admit to being rather bummed that this iconic lesbian writer's work isn't more readable. How low brow can I be?
I like that you have a Classic Club and are planning to club it with the LGBT Reading Event! Great stuff and I'm off check out the books from your list. 🙂
We're participating in the Reading Event too. Do stop by sometime. 🙂
Happy reading!
Sarika@ The Readdicts