Queer

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Queer /

Alrighty then. I finished it last night. It’s chick lit, plain and simple chick lit. I had hoped for something else, not that I don’t like chick lit – I do like chick lit, I love it. I just expected more about people’s obsessions with “things”. I read that before the book arrived and I thought I was in for something a little different. But no. Darn it.

So, about this piece of chick lit. Medwed made a huge change in the general format of chick lit – rather than give her heroine a gay friend or a lesbian friend, she gave her lesbian moms! Unfortunately, she killed the moms before we got to meet them and their demise was really what caused all of the drama.

Well their demise, their lack of a solid will (let that be a lesson to dykes everywhere, including THIS dyke) and Abby’s inability to do anything except wallow in her own self-pity.

I’m used to female lead characters in chick lit who are drowning slowly and painfully. Abby – not slowly but very painfully. The woman was a mess. Til she got her guy back! Then, like magic, poof! All better!

I liked some things about How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life – I disliked others. All in all – a 5, which is where most Chick Lit lives. Worth reading at the beach or when you need something mindless to lose yourself in.

Who am I sending this too, once TW has read it? Anyone want it? Anyone into chamber pots or EBB?

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Tramps Like Us

2007, Books in Bed, Feminism, Queer /

I have never read a book with so much gay boy sex in it. And, I hope to never read one again. Good grief. Tramps Like Us wasn’t erotica, or at least I don’t think it was but I’m not a gay man so what the hell do I know about it, right? It made me almost physically ill at times because I know how it turns out… in real life. 🙁



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Surveillance

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Fiction, Queer /

I’ve been putting off reading Surveillance for at least a month, maybe two. The cover did not look appealing and I couldn’t remember why I had reserved it from the library or if one of us had just picked it up off of the shelf. I had better things to read. When I saw it was due back to the library this week and had already been renewed to the limit, I went ahead and picked it up. It was good, at first.

Actually, it was good through til the end. What the hell? I feel like I’m missing chapters or something. It ended like that? But, but, but. Huh? I don’t even get it now. I almost re-read the last chapter thinking I missed something by trying to rush through it this morning so we could hit the library early. But I didn’t. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have missed THAT much. It just ended badly. Very badly. Because of that – don’t read this book. Sheesh.

(Oh goodness, I should have read the Amazon reviews – they all were disappointed in the ending. What crap! The author should be shot!)

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The Sunday List of Dreams

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

Another Radish book down, is it two or three more to go? I am not sure, I’ve lost track and they are beginning to blend in together just a little bit. Though Sunday List of Dreams was different from the other two in some significant ways (main character was just a little more reserved than the others and errr uhhh ummm the whole sex toy industry thing….sheesh).

TW didn’t really like this one, she said. The person who first recommended Elegant Gathering didn’t like this one very much. I, on the otherhand, liked it quite a bit more than Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn. It’s not often that you read a book about sex toys and the “womyn’s festival”.

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The Story of the Cannibal Woman

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer, Women /

Look! A post about a book! A book I was very disappointed with. The Story of the Cannibal Woman has a great title and got some good reviews and I yawned my way through it. (At least I made it through, TW put it down early.) There were lines I really liked, passages where I thought “Hey, this might improve!” but in the end it was disappointing. All of that back and forth, mixed up mess, for this ending? OK. Well. Ho Hum.

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Drag King Dreams

2007, Books in Bed, Fiction, Queer /

Drag King Dreams is a pretty decent follow up to the queer classic Stone Butch Blues. Pretty decent is about as good as I can come up with, particularly since Stone Butch Blues is fantastic.

I am a little tired of the post 9/11 NYC thing and this book was just a little too full of that for me. I understand the point – the police harassment of those from Pakistan, India, Iraq, Iran etc… is very similar to the harassment of “gender queers”. It makes sense and it’s a good point but I’d have enjoyed the book more with just a wee bit less politic thrown in.

The end of the book though, fantastic. The calling out of each person’s “name” while in jail – really good ending.

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Sweet Potato Queens

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Queer, Women /

A whole lifetime ago my friend Janet was ga-ga over the Sweet Potato Queens. Being the most excellent friend that I am (quit laughing), I picked them up and read them in a show of support and encouragement. I wasn’t nearly as thrilled by them as Janet was. They were no “Ya-Yas” and they weren’t even “Red Hat” quality. But, I could see how Janet would be so taken with them and I encouraged her fixation as best I could.

Yesterday, I was wandering through the library stacks while TW searched for new knitting books and I stumbled upon The Sweet Potato Queens First Big-Ass Novel. Feeling nostalgic, I checked it out. Since it is such a new book it is due back to the library in two weeks, so I went ahead and started it last night. And I have been reading it all morning. Not because I’m trying to avoid cleaning the bedroom or the yardwork on me “to do list” but because I was enjoying the book so much.

If you read the other Sweet Potato Queen books and weren’t overly thrilled with them, I think you’ll like this one better. If you’re a Ya Ya fan or a Red Hat fan, you’ll probably enjoy this one a good bit. The gay boy Sweet Potato Queen is a nice touch, by the way. I’m not usually a fan of “token gay characters” but this one works.

I hope there’s a second big-ass novel in the works.

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Elegant Gathering of White Snows

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

Someone on a message board at my place of business recommended Kris Radish’s books and she suggested I start with Elegant Gathering of White Snows. Gee, I wonder how she knew this would be the perfect book for me?

It’s sort of like The Red Tent in that female energy sort of way. Fantastic female characters and of course they’ve experienced pretty much every single issue/problem a woman can face. Just go read it, and enjoy it.

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Why couldn’t I have found this in a tube station?

Books in Bed, Queer /

Some hapless Penguin staff member left Jeanette Winterson’s next book (or a portion of the book) on a bench in a London train station. Can you imagine?

I wonder what the lucky woman thought of The Stone Gods… I wonder if Winterson will send her a signed preview copy, she should – don’t you think? Is it a new children’s novel or adult? Does anyone know?

(Thank you Reading Matters!)

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