LGBTQ Books

See also: Rainbow Book List (for Kids & Parents) | LGBTQ Film & TV

Fiction

Brokeback Mountain: Proulx, Annie; 1997; Summary: Brokeback Mountain is the story of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two cowboys who share a small cabin while working as herders and camp tenders during a summer spent on a range far above the tree line. They fall into a relationship that at first seems solely sexual-but then reveals itself to be something more. Both men marry and have families, but over the course of many years and frequent separations they find their relation- ship becomes the most important thing in both their lives, and they do anything they can to maintain it. Proulx's description of their bond is beautiful and haunting-and often brutal in its portrayal of the hardships, and ultimately the violence, they face. Perfect for both moviegoers and Proulx's already well-established legions of readers, this volume is a handsome and timely edition of one of the most talked-about stories of recent years.
Giovanni's Room: Baldwin, James; 1956; Summary: "The groundbreaking novel by one of the most important twentieth-century American writers--now in an Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics hardcover edition. Giovanni's Room is set in the Paris of the 1950s, where a young American expatriate finds himself caught between his repressed desires and conventional morality. David has just proposed marriage to his American girlfriend, but while she is away on a trip he becomes involved in a doomed affair with a bartender named Giovanni. With sharp, probing insight, James Baldwin's classic narrative delves into the mystery of love and tells an impassioned, deeply moving story that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart. Introduction by Colm Toibín"-- Provided by publisher. "A hardcover edition of James Baldwin's classic novel, with a new introduction by Colm Tóibín"-- Provided by publisher.
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Kushner, Tony; 1993; Summary: Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama, 1993. The first part of Tony Kushner's epic drama of America in the 1980s. "A vast, miraculous play.... provocative, witty and deeply upsetting.... a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama."--Frank Rich, The New York Times ¶"Daring and dazzling! The most ambitious American play of our time."--Jack Kroll, Newsweek
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Chbosky, Stephen; 2012; Summary: A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent, it's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends
Middlesex: Eugenides, Jeffrey; 2002; Summary: A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides - the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl. In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond clasmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia- back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City and Prohibition, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie's grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite.Spanning eight decades - and one unusually awkward adolescence- Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker .
Tipping the Velvet: Waters, Sarah; 1999; Summary: Lavishly crammed with the songs, smells, and costumes of late Victorian England (The Daily Telegraph), this delicious, steamy debut novel chronicles the adventures of a young girl whose fortunes are forever changed when she falls in love with a cross-dressing music-hall singer.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit: Winterson, Jeanette; 1985; Summary: Innovative in style, its humour by turns punchy and tender, Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit is a few days ride into the bizarre outposts of religious excess and human obsession. It's a love story, too. Winterson's adaptation of the novel was an internationally acclaimed television drama awarded a BAFTA for best drama and an RTS award in the same year; the Prix Italia; FIPA D'Argent at Cannes for best script; The Golden Gate in San Francisco and an ACE Award at the Los Angeles television festival.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: Flagg, Fannie; 1987; Summary: She's one of America's fairest and funniest ladies. Actress and screenwriter, director and comedienne, Fannie Flagg is also a most accomplished and high-spirited author. Said Kirkus of her first book, Coming Attractions: It's subtitled 'A wonderful novel' and that's exactly what it is. Here is her second. Get ready, because it's going to make you laugh (a lot), cry (a little), and care (forever). What is it? It's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women--of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present--for Evelyn and for us--will never quite be the same. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, with humor and drama--and with an ending that would fill with smiling tears the Whistle Stop Lake...if they only had a lake....
The Color Purple: Walker, Alice; 1982; Summary: Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.
Maurice : a novel: Forster, E.M.; 1971; Summary: Written during 1913 and 1914, Maurice deals with the then unmentionable subject of homosexuality. More unusual, it concerns a relationship that ends happily.
Call Me by Your Name: Aciman, André; 2007; Summary: Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spiritsis a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy. nbsp; The psychological maneuvers that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman's frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.
Boy Meets Boy: Levithan, David; 2003; Summary: This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance. When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he's found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul's not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right. This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world. From the Hardcover edition.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Danforth, Emily M.; 2012; Summary: Set in rural Montana in the early 1990s, emily m. danforth's The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a powerful and widely acclaimed YA coming-of-age novel in the tradition of the classic Annie on My Mind. Cameron Post feels a mix of guilt and relief when her parents die in a car accident. Their deaths mean they will never learn the truth she eventually comes to-that she's gay. Orphaned, Cameron comes to live with her old-fashioned grandmother and ultraconservative aunt Ruth. There she falls in love with her best friend, a beautiful cowgirl. When she's eventually outed, her aunt sends her to God's Promise, a religious conversion camp that is supposed to "cure" her homosexuality. At the camp, Cameron comes face to face with the cost of denying her true identity. The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut that was a finalist for the YALSA Morris Award and was named to numerous "best" lists.
The Hours: Cunningham, Michael; 1998; Summary: A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World and Flesh and Blood. In The Hours , Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family. Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For: Bechdel, Alison; 2008; Summary: From the author of Fun Home -- the lives, loves, and politics of cult fav characters Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and others. For twenty-five years Bechdel's path-breaking Dykes to Watch Out For strip has been collected in award-winning volumes (with a quarter of a million copies in print), syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. Now, at last, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For gathers a "rich, funny, deep and impossible to put down" (Publishers Weekly) selection from all eleven Dykes volumes. Here too are sixty of the newest strips, never before published in book form.Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it "half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel") of the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of characters, most of them lesbian, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Her brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends -- academics, social workers, bookstore clerks -- fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents.Bechdel fuses high and low culture -- from foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex to postmodern theory -- in a serial graphic narrative "suitable for humanists of all persuasions."
Will Grayson, Will Grayson: Green, John; 2010; Summary: Two award-winning and New York Times- bestselling author join forces for a collaborative novel of awesome proportions. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens--both named Will Grayson--are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history's most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan's collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of faithful fans. A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice An ALA Stonewall Honor Book " Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a complete romp. [It is] so funny, rude and original that by the time flowers hit the stage, even the musical-averse will cheer." -- The New York Times Book Review ★"Will have readers simultaneously laughing, crying and singing at the top of their lungs."-- Kirkus Reviews , starred review "It is such a good book. [Green and Levithan] are two of the best writers writing today." --NPR's The Roundtable
Orlando : a biography: Woolf, Virginia; 1928; Summary: Born in the Elizabethan Age to wealth and position, Orlando is a young nobleman at the beginning of the story--and a modern woman three centuries later.
The Persian Boy: Renault, Mary; 1972; Summary: "It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half-man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior."- The Atlantic Monthly The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes-mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander's mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.
Huntress: Lo, Malinda; 2011; Summary: Seventeen-year-olds Kaede and Taisin are called to go on a dangerous and unprecedented journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen, in an effort to restore the balance of nature in the human world.
Rubyfruit Jungle: Brown, Rita Mae; 1973; Rubyfruit Jungle is the first milestone novel in the extraordinary career of one of this country's most distinctive writers. Bawdy and moving, the ultimate word-of-mouth bestseller, Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a lesbian in America – and living happily ever after. Born a bastard, Molly Bolt is adopted by a dirt-poor Southern couple who want something better for their daughter. Molly plays doctor with the boys, beats up Leroy the tub and loses her virginity to her girlfriend in sixth grade. As she grows to realize she's different, Molly decides not to apologize for that. In no time she mesmerizes the head cheerleader of Ft. Lauderdale High and captivates a gorgeous bourbon-guzzling heiress. But the world is not tolerant. Booted out of college for moral turpitude, an unrepentant, penniless Molly takes New York by storm, sending not a few female hearts aflutter with her startling beauty, crackling wit and fierce determination to become the greatest filmmaker that ever lived. Critically acclaimed when first published, Rubyfruit Jungle has only grown in reputation as it has reached new generations of readers who respond to its feisty and inspiring heroine.
Tales of the City: Vidal, Gore; 1978; Summary: Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City has blazed a singular trail through popular culture -- from a groundbreaking newspaper serial to a classic novel to a television event that entranced millions around the world. The first of six novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales is both a wry comedy of manners and a deeply involving portrait of a vanished era.

Nonfiction

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic: Bechdel, Alison; 2006; Summary: A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescense, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.
Running with Scissors: Burroughs, Augusten; 2002; Summary: Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor's bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.
Me Talk Pretty One Day: Sedaris, David; 2000; Summary: A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors. Sedaris is an amazing reader whose appearances draw hundreds, and his performancesincluding a jaw-dropping impression of Billie Holiday singing I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weinerare unforgettable. Sedariss essays on living in Paris are some of the funniest hes ever written. At last, someone even meaner than the French! The sort of blithely sophisticated, loopy humour that might have resulted if Dorothy Parker and James Thurber had had a love child. Entertainment Weekly on Barrel Fever Sidesplitting Not one of the essays in this new collection failed to crack me up; frequently I was helpless. The New York Times Book Review on Naked
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic: Shilts, Randy; 1987; New York : St. Martin's Press, c1987
A Queer and Pleasant Danger: Bornstein, Kate; 2012; Summary: The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal: Winterson, Jeanette; 2011
What Is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution: Graff, E.J.; 1999; Summary: John Stuart Mill called marriage the first political institution most of us enter as adults. In a book that is always witty, often startling, and deadly serious, E. J. Graff traces the history of this institution, from a feminist perspective, illuminating the many forms it has taken, arguing forcefully for the legalization of same-sex marriage, and shedding new light on such ongoing battles as equality between wives and husbands and the contentious definition of "family." Each chapter-Money, Sex, Babies, Kin, Order, and Heart-examines a crucial aspect of this personal and political bond, sifting through the ways Old Testament Hebrews, Catholic theologians, Protestant reformers, nineteenth-century utopians, and people in our day define marriage. Graff reveals that marriage is something surprising and strange-and, right-wing moralizing notwithstanding, not very traditional at all. For instance, marriage wasn't declared a sacrament in the Catholic Church until 1215. Among Roman aristocrats, wedding pledges were exchanged by the groom and his father-in-law. And the "crime against nature" once meant contraception. This passionate and often personal search for the meaning of marriage argues that marriage has always been a social battleground, shifting constantly to suit each economy, each era and each class. The Washington Post Book World: "(Graff's) first- person interjecti turn what could have been a dry textbook into a lively personal examination of what it means to choose a life partner (regardless of age or sex)." The San Francisco Chronicle: "With the patience of a saint, and the wit and wisdom of that favorite professor at college, Graff Shows in What is Marriage For? how and why marriage in the 20th Century is about love, money, social justice, stable homes for adults and children and constitutional democracy...all who are caught up in the same-sex marriage debate will find Graff's book invaluable."
Orange Is the New Black: Kerman, Piper; 2010; Summary: With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424--one of the millions of people who disappear "down the rabbit hole" of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman's story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison--why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they're there.
A Queer History of the United States: Bronski, Michael; 2011; Summary: "A Queer History of the United States is groundbreaking and accessible. It looks at how American culture has shaped the LGBT, or queer, experience, while simultaneously arguing that LGBT people not only shaped but were pivotal in creating our country. Using numerous primary documents and literature, as well as social histories, Bronski's book takes the reader through the centuries--from Columbus' arrival and the brutal treatment the Native peoples received, through the American Revolution's radical challenging of sex and gender roles--to the violent, and liberating, 19th century--and the transformative social justice movements of the 20th. Bronski's book is filled with startling examples of often ignored or unknown aspects of American history: the ineffectiveness of sodomy laws in the colonies, the prevalence of cross-dressing women soldiers in the Civil War, the effect of new technologies on LGBT life in the 19th century, and how rock music and popular culture were, in large part, responsible for the great backlash against gay rights in the late 1970s. More than anything, A Queer History of the United States is not so much about queer history as it is about all American history--and why it should matter to both LGBT people and heterosexuals alike"-- Provided by publisher.
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America: Faderman, Lillian; 1991; Summary: As Lillian Faderman writes, there are "no constants with regard to lesbianism," except that lesbians prefer women. In this groundbreaking book, she reclaims the history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America, tracing the evolution of lesbian identity and subcultures from early networks to more recent diverse lifestyles. She draws from journals, unpublished manuscripts, songs, media accounts, novels, medical literature, pop culture artifacts, and oral histories by lesbians of all ages and backgrounds, uncovering a narrative of uncommon depth and originality.
The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World: Downs, Alan; 2012; Summary: The most important issue in a gay man's life is not coming out, but coming to terms with the invalidating past. Despite the progress made in recent years, many gay men still wonder, Are we better off? The byproduct of growing up gay in a straight world continues to be the internalization of shame, rejection, and anger, a toxic cocktail that can lead to drug abuse, promiscuity, alcoholism, depression, and suicide. Drawing on contemporary psychological research, the author's own journey, and the stories of many of his friends and clients, Velvet Rage addresses the myth of gay pride and outlines three stages to emotional well-being for gay men. The revised and expanded edition covers issues related to gay marriage, a broader range of examples that extend beyond middle-class gay men in America, and expansion of the original discussion on living authentically as a gay man.
Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws: Bornstein, Kate; 2006; Summary: Transgender author Kate Bornstein provides guidance for suicidal teenagers, relating personal emotional struggles; discussing bullies, identity, and freedom; and describing 101 activities teens can use to cope and keep themselves alive.
Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community: Erickson-Schroth, Laura; 2014; Summary: "There is no one way to be transgender. Transgender and gender non-conforming people have many different ways of understanding their gender identities. Only recently have sex and gender been thought of as separate concepts, and we have learned that sex (traditionally thought of as physical or biological) is as variable as gender (traditionally thought of as social). While trans people share many common experiences, there is immense diversity within trans communities. There are an estimated 700,000 transgendered individuals in the US and 15 million worldwide. Even still, there's been a notable lack of organized information for this sizable group. Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is a revolutionary resource-a comprehensive, reader-friendly guide for transgender people, with each chapter written by transgender or genderqueer authors. Inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, the classic and powerful compendium written for and by women, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is widely accessible to the transgender population, providing authoritative information in an inclusive and respectful way and representing the collective knowledge base of dozens of influential experts. Each chapter takes the reader through an important transgender issue, such as race, religion, employment, medical and surgical transition, mental health topics, relationships, sexuality, parenthood, arts and culture, and many more. Anonymous quotes and testimonials from transgender people who have been surveyed about their experiences are woven throughout, adding compelling, personal voices to every page. In this unique way, hundreds of viewpoints from throughout the community have united to create this strong and pioneering book. It is a welcoming place for transgender and gender-questioning people, their partners and families, students, professors, guidance counselors, and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life"-- Provided by publisher. "Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (TBTS) will be the go-to resource for transgender populations, covering health, cultural and social questions, history, theory, legal issues, and more. It is a place for transgender and gender-questioning people, their partners and families, students, educators, counselors, and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life. It is intended to become the ultimate commercial resource (approx 500 pp.) on trans health and development for trans populations, serving much the same role as Our Bodies, Ourselves, which is now published for women worldwide"-- Provided by publisher.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches: Lorde, Audre; 1984; Contents: Notes from a trip to Russia -- Poetry is not a luxury -- The transformation of silence into language and action -- Scratching the surface : some notes on barriers to women and loving -- Uses of the erotic : the erotic as power -- Sexism : an American disease in blackface -- An open letter to Mary Daly -- Man child : a black lesbian feminist's response -- An interview : Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich -- The Master's tools will never dismantle the Master's house -- Age, race, class, and sex : women redefining difference -- The uses of anger : women responding to racism -- Learning from the 60s -- Eye to eye : black women, hatred, and anger -- Grenada revisited : an interim report.
Later Poems Selected and New: 1971-2012: Rich, Adrienne; 2013; Summary: In Later Poems: Selected and New 1971-2012, the strong trajectory of the work of one of the most important artists of American letters is on display. This volume brings together a remarkable body of work. Included are Adrienne Rich's own selections from twelve volumes of published works, including the National Book Award-winning Diving Into the Wreck, An Atlas of the Difficult World, and her most recent volume, Tonight No Poetry Will Serve, along with ten powerful new poems, previously uncollected. Among these, "From Strata" is a kind of archaeology of the present day; "Itinerary" searches for an "indefinite future" in a menaced landscape; "For the Young Anarchists" offers a trope of skilled labor for political action; and the haunting voice of "Teethsucking Bird" reminds us of what we have been told to forget. This collection testifies to a monumental career that distinguished American literature in the late twentieth century and will continue to inspire readers for years to come.
Black White & Jewish: Walker, Rebecca; 2000; Summary: Alice Walker and Mel Leventhal, like many blacks from the South and whites from the North were brought together by the Civil Rights Movement. When they married, Mel's family turned its back on him and the first grandchild, Rebecca. After her parents divorced, Rebecca was bounced between white, Jewish, upper middle class suburbs, and her mother's "artisan" class lifestyle. Being black, white, and Jewish, but none of these things, Rebecca turned, chameleon-like, into whomever she needed to be, whether she was in Mississippi, Brooklyn, Washington, DC, the Haight, Westchester, the Bronx or Yale. Confused, and mostly alone, she turned to sex, drugs, books and a cast of characters who walked the edge. This is the story of a child's unique struggle for identity and home when nothing in her world showed her who she was. Poetic reflections on memory, time, and identity punctuate this gritty exploration of race and sexuality.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More: Mock, Janet; 2014; Summary: "In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she publicly stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Since then, Mock has gone from covering the red carpet for People.com to advocating for all those who live within the shadows of society. Redefining Realness offers a bold new perspective on being young, multiracial, economically challenged, and transgender in America"-- Provided by publisher.
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity: Butler, Judith; 1989; Summary: Since its publication in 1990, Gender Trouble has become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory, and an essential work for anyone interested in the study of gender, queer theory, or the politics of sexuality in culture.
How to Grow Up: Tea, Michelle; 2015; Summary: "A gutsy, wise memoir-in-essays from a writer praised as "impossible to put down" (People) As an aspiring young writer in San Francisco, Michelle Tea lived in a scuzzy communal house; she drank, smoked, snorted anything she got her hands on; she toiled for the minimum wage; and she dated men and women, and sometimes both at once. But between hangovers and dead-end jobs, she scrawled in notebooks and organized dive bar poetry readings, working to make her literary dreams real. In How to Grow Up, Tea shares her awkward stumble towards the life of a Bonafide Grown-Up: healthy, responsible, self-aware, stable. She writes about passion, about her fraught relationship with money, about adoring Barney's while shopping at thrift stores, about breakups and the fertile ground between relationships, about roommates and rent, and about being superstitious ("why not, it imbues this harsh world of ours with a bit of magic.") At once heartwarming and darkly comic, How to Grow Up proves that the road less traveled may be a difficult one, but if you embrace life's uncertainty and dust yourself off after every screw up, slowly but surely you just might make it to adulthood. "-- Provided by publisher.

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