The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Short Stories

by Emma Donoghue (Editor)

An international cadre of outstanding lesbian authors offers a new collection of short fiction, including several original works, by Emma Donoghue, Tanith Lee, Jennifer Levin, Shani Mootoo, Dorothy Allison, Patricia Dunker, Sara Maitland, and others. Original.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian, Short Stories, Anthologies, Queer, Romance

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Grew up in Ireland, 20s in England doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, since then in Canada. Best known for my novel, film and play ROOM, also other contemporary and historical novels and short stories, non-fiction, theatre and middle-grade novels.

Reviews

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s nearly impossible to fairly rate and review a collection of short stories, especially one that spans 500 pages. This collection is well-edited. The stories are grouped into sections: Child’s Play, Present Tense, Family Values, Past Times, and Possibilities. Each section is preceded by a short essay explaining the grouping and highlighting information from the stories in the section. The end of the book has paragraph-long biographies of each author, most of whom were new to me.

There are a couple of standout stories here: Pamelump, Kermit’s Room, A Country Dance, La Bruja, The Woman Who Loved the Moon, and Did’ja Ever Hear of a Goolieguy were my favorites.

I’m pretty sure I picked up this collection in a used bookstore in Dublin several years ago. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. Short stories were just what I needed this holiday season to fit in between other activities.

[Pippa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Choosing fiction for its lesbian content seems very suspect to me, as relationships of any kind are usually part of a bigger story. That said I loved Pamelump by Anna Livia, whicdh was just about the love of one girl for another. Some other stories were quite good, but I do rebel against the forcing of all to one mould.

[penelopewanders]

Loads of labels, because as this is an anthology, some stories are contemporary, some dystopian, some historical, some more magical...
I selected this from a bookcrossing virtual book box and am yet again reminded that I'm not so into short stories. I always feel like I'm just getting up to speed when the story ends.
These were grouped into sections: Child's Play; Present Tense; Family Values; Past Times; and Possibilities. There were a number of stories which I did not connect to at all, while I very much enjoyed some of the others, like La Bruja, The Woman who loved the Moon, and Did'ja Ever Hear of a Goolieguy?, to mention a few. There were some stories which I appreciated on a more analytical or intellectual level, but they did not captivate me as I would have liked.

[Rebecca Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Lilly Biglow · Rating 5 out of 5]

so may different stories, loved it
obtained from Re-Read in Seville Spain