Hello from a queerfemme

[HJ]

Hi folks, good to be here. Glad to have found the group; I am constantly on the look out for queer lit. Particularly positive queer lit; when I first identified as queer, I realised I had only read stories that were devastatingly sad. Like to change that, and be able to recommend reads to friends and Normals.

Looking forward to reading with you!

[Robert]

HI HJ

Welcome :)

I also belive 'positive' needs to be a main ingredient in books :)

I couldn't help but notice your reading Color of magic...My all time favorite author, how are you enjoying it?

[HJ]

Wonderfully much. I am listening to it as an audiobook, which I highly recommend.

Thank you for the welcome!

[Bill, Moderator]

Welcome HJ! Do you have any particular genres you like?

[HJ]

Hi Bill, thanks the welcome! I'm not sure about genres, but I really enjoy speculative fiction and fractured narrative (where several characters are given a voice per chapter, like Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, and History Boys).

[Greg]

Welcome HJ! I know what you mean about the devastatingly sad stories - I like them, but it's good to read some happy stories too. After all, life isn't always devastatingly sad, thank goodness!

If you like lesbian themed stories, you might like one of our past group reads, Patience & Sarah. For the era, it's remarkably clear headed & non-histrionic, and quite positive too. In the 70s, Isabel Miller sold hand made copies; she couldn't find a publisher because of the content. But it became such a huge underground success that she eventually did get a publisher, and the book still in print today.

I liked History Boys, but I haven't read Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind. I'll have to take a look!

[HJ]

Thanks for the recommendation! Added to the To Read pile (which, thanks to the Reading Challenge, I am getting through at a steady rate). Currently chewing on Root of the Spark by Michele Fogal and the first couple of chapters are very promising. She shared it with our group a couple of months back, on this very issue of "too much sad, not enough happy." Grim and gritty start but with promise of things turning out well from the first page, and a barnstorming shag in chapter two. Marvellous ;-)

Can I offer one back? Redfern Jon Barrett's The Giddy Death of the Gays & the Strange Demise of Straights is one of my favourites.

[Greg]

HJ wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation! Added to the To Read pile (which, thanks to the Reading Challenge, I am getting through at a steady rate). Currently chewing on Root of the Spark by M..."

Thanks for the recommendation HJ! Looks like a fun read! :) I added it to my to-read list.