Below is a collection of books that were reviewed during Amanda's previous GLBT challenge. You'll find that I've tried to include something of a description of the books with a link back to the source and also links to those who reviewed the books. If you've reviewed any of these books and would like your link included please email me at jensfgeek[at]gmail[dot]com.
Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan (Young Adult)
Synopsis from the author's web site:
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.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
The Sky Always Hears Me, by Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Young Adult)
Synopsis from the author's web site:
Morgan wants out of her life in Central Nowhere. Period. Nobody's listening, nobody cares. Even though life sucks (of course), her sane-and-urbane grandmother helps her cope with her crazy family, and her crush on co-worker Rob helps her cope with high school. Then sometimes-friend Tessa kisses her, and the world shifts. As she solves the Tessa riddle, her grandma's health collapses, and family secrets emerge before Morgan's ready for them. But, as her life transforms, Morgan discovers people *are* listening to her. She'd better start listening, too.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Kristin @ The Book Book
Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle (Young Adult)
Synopsis from the author's web site:
Lissa thought that she and Kate, her beautiful and charismatic best friend, would always be close. Then one summer night Kate kissed Lissa-and Lissa kissed her back. Now Kate acts as if nothing happened and as if Lissa doesn't exist. Suddenly forced to navigate her feelings and her classes without the protection of her more confident friend, Lissa feels truly alone. But with a keen sense of humor, a flaky new friend, and a book on lucid dreams, Lissa finds the bravery to examine her own desires and discovers that falling in love with the wrong person can be one way of finding your footing.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf (Literary Criticism/Essay)
From Wikipedia:
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published during 24 October 1929,[1] it was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay is on women as both writers of fiction and as characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled "Women and Fiction", and hence the essay, are considered non-fiction.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Jason @ 5-Squared
Carlton @ Fifty Books Project
Stella Matutina
And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, and illustrated by Henry Cole (Children's Picture Book)
From Wikipedia:
The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo. For six years they formed a couple and were given an egg to raise. The book follows part of this time in the penguins' lives, but not subsequent events.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Pedro and Me, by Judd Winick (Graphic Novel/Young Adult)
From Wikipedia:
An autobiographical graphic novel by Judd Winick regarding his friendship with AIDS educator Pedro Zamora after the two met while on the reality television series, The Real World: San Francisco. It was published in September 2000.
Reviewed By:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Debi @ Nothing of Importance
Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg (Young Adult)
From Barnes & Noble:
Star quarterback Bobby Framingham, one of the most talented high school football players in California, knows he's different from his teammates. They're like brothers, but they don't know one essential thing: Bobby is gay. Can he still be one of the guys and be honest about who he is? When he's outed against his will by a student reporter, Bobby must find a way to earn back his teammates' trust and accept that his path to success might be more public, and more difficult, than he'd hoped. An affecting novel about identity that also delivers great sportswriting.
Reviewed By:
C.B. James @ Ready When You Are C.B.
The Center of the World by Andreas Steinhofel (Young Adult)
From Pinkbooks:
Seventeen-year-old Phil has felt like an outsider as long as he can remember. All Phil has ever known about his father is that he was Number Three on his mother's long list-third in a series of affairs that have set Phil's family even further apart from the critical townspeople across the river. As for his own sexuality, Phil doesn't care what the neighbors will think; he's just waiting for the right guy to come along.
Reviewed By:
C.B. James @ Ready When You Are C.B.
Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne (Young Adult)
From Barnes & Noble:
Darkness: Where light is not.
Light: Brightness or illumination from a particular source.
Absolute brightness: The mystery of Leonard Pelkey.
This is the story of a luminous force of nature: a boy who encounters evil and whose magic isn't truly felt until he disappears.
Reviewed By:
C.B. James @ Ready When You Are C.B.
Jen @ Multi-Genre Fan
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett (Mystery/Thriler)
From Barnes & Noble:
At forty-seven, Mr. F's working life on London's Skin Lane is one governed by calm, precision, and routine. So when he starts to have recurring nightmares, he does his best to ignore them. The images that appear in his dreams are disturbing-Mr. F can't think of where they have come from. After all, he's an ordinary middle-aged man.
Reviewed By:
C.B. James @ Ready When You Are C.B.
The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
Evangeline (nickname Staggerlee) meets her adopted cousin Trout for the first time the summer they are both thirteen. The two girls form a strong friendship and learn a lot from each other about what it means to be the children of heroes and what it means to grow up in a world that isn't tolerant.
Reviewed by:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
Claudine at School by Colette (Romance)
From Wikipedia:
The novel recounts the final year of secondary school of 15-year-old Claudine, her brazen confrontations with her headmistress, Mlle Sergent, and her fellow students. The work is assumed to be highly autobiographical, and includes lovely descriptions of the Burgundian countryside, where Colette grew up.
Reviewed By:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
John, untouchable since his parents' divorce six years ago, and Marisol, who's recently come out as a lesbian, meet through their interest in writing zines, personal homemade magazines into which they pour their life stories.
Reviewed By:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Gothic Fiction)
From Wikipedia:
The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art...
Reviewed By:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Memoir)
From the author's web site:
I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted is a memoir about growing up in a haunted house, and an exploration of what it means to be "haunted." It was published by Doubleday/Broadway in January 2008, and was released as a paperback in October of that same year.
In this follow-up to She's Not There, I tried to show how love, forgiveness, and humor help us find peace with our ghosts, with our loved ones, and with the uncanny boundaries, real and imagined, between men and women.
Reviewed By:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
Jen @ Multi-Genre Fan
Normal by Amy Bloom (Short Story Collection)
From the author's web site:
Normal explores sex and gender through portraits of people who are widely considered not normal.
Reviewed by:
Eva @ A Striped Armchair
Debi @ Nothing of Importance
Chris @ Stuff as Dreams are Made On
Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
For Alex Ford, dressage is an oasis. In the stable, he can slip into his riding pants, shed the macho cowboy image, and feel like himself for a change. For Cleo O'Shea dressage is a fresh start. She's got a new boarding school, absentee parents, and best of all: no one to remember her past... They're an unlikely pair, but sometimes the last person you'd ever think of as a friend ends up being the one you need the most. Susan Juby's trademark humor brings life and laughter to this remarkable story of relationships, mixed signals, and the soul-searching that sometimes takes two.
Reviewed By:
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
Between Mom and Jo by Julie Anne Peters (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
Jo promised Nick they'd always be together. So did Mom. When you're a stupid little kid you believe what your parents tell you. You want to believe that your life will be good and nothing will change and everything-everyone-goes on forever. It's not until later you find out people are liars, forever is a myth, and a kid with two moms should never be put in the position of having to choose between them.
Reviewed by:
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
Chris @ Stuff as Dreams are Made On
The Straight Road To Kylie by Nico Medina (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
Life is fabulous for Jonathan Parish. He's seventeen, out and proud, and ready to party through his senior year with his posse of best girlfriends. But the year starts off with the wrong kind of bang when Jonathan-in an inebriated lapse of judgment-sleeps with a friend of his . . . a girlfriend!
Reviewed by:
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
Ash by Malinda Lo (Young Adult)
From the authors web site:
In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, re-reading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.
Reviewed by:
Andrea @ The Little Bookworm
Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde (Play)
From Wikipedia:
is a four act comedy, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it is a biting satire on the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage.
Reviewed by:
Mish @ Stage and Canvas
Salome by by Oscar Wilde (Play)
From Wikipedia:
The play tells in one act the Biblical story of Salome, stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of Jokanaan (John the Baptist) on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the Dance of the Seven Veils.
Reviewed By:
Mish @ Stage and Canvas
Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel (Cartoon Collection)
From Barnes & Noble:
In her eighth smart and hilarious cartoon collection, big changes are in store for everyone as Bechdel's beloved gals are moving out. Still the best lesbian cartooning going.
Reviewed by:
Mish @ Stage and Canvas
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
From the author's web site:
At last—almost all the episodes of Dykes To Watch Out For trapped between two covers!
Reviewed by:
Debi @ Nothing of Importance
Angels in America by Tony Kushner (Play)
From Wikipedia :
Set in New York City in the mid-1980s, Act One of Millennium Approaches introduces us to the central characters.
Part 1 - Millennium Approaches - Reviewed by:
Mish @ Stage and Canvas
Part 2 - Perestroika - Reviewed by:
Mish @ Stage and Canvas
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Historical Fiction/Gothic Fiction)
From the author's web site:
London 1862. Sue Trinder, orphaned at birth, grows up among petty thieves - fingersmiths - under the rough but loving care of Mrs Sucksby and her 'family'. But from the moment she draws breath, Sue's fate is linked to that of another orphan growing up in a gloomy mansion not too many miles away.
Reviewed by:
Jason @ 5-Squared
Nymeth @ Things Mean a Lot
Trish @ Trish's Reading Nook
Chris @ Stuff as Dreams are Made On
If Not, Winter by Sappho (translated by Anne Carson)
From Jason's review:
a collection of all of the known works of Sappho - almost entirely fragments.
Jason @ 5-Squared
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (Young Adult)
From the authors' web site:
Naomi and Ely have been inseparable since childhood - partially because they've grown up across the hall from each other in the same Manhattan apartment building, and also because they're best friends. Soul mates. Or are they?
Reviewed by:
Jason @ 5-Squared and Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Patience and Sarah, by Isabel Miller (Historical Fiction)
From Wikipedia:
Based on a real-life painter named Mary Ann Willson who lived with her companion Miss Brundage as a "farmerette" in the early 19th century in Greene County, New York. Routsong said she came upon Willson's work in a folk art museum in Cooperstown and was inspired to write the story after reading the description of Willson and Brundage.[
Reviewed by:
Jason @ 5-Squared
Selected Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva
From Jason's review:
The first part of the 20th century was the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, the time of many of Russia's greatest poets both inside and outside the Soviet system: Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Blok, and lots of other folks that we, as Americans have never heard of (except for Pasternak, and that's for his novel, after all).
Reviewed by:
Jason @ 5-Squared
Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey (Fantasy)
From Wikipedia:
These occur some centuries before the Heralds of Valdemar books, telling the life story of Vanyel Ashkevron; by the time of the "later" books he has become legend, thus explaining some of the small inconsistencies. This series was also consistently nominated for the Lambda Literary Prize, with Magic's Price winning in 1990.
Part 1 - Magic's Pawn - Reviewed by
Witch Baby's Journey
Part 2 - Magic's Promise - Reviewed by
Witch Baby's Journey
Part 3 - Magic's Price - Reviewed by
Witch Baby's Journey
Hotel World by Ali Smith (Literature)
From Wikipedia:
A postmodern novel with influences from modernist novel, portraying the stages of grief in relation to the passage of time.
Reviewed by:
Rhinoa @ Rhinoa's Ramblings
Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Gothic Fiction)
From the author's web site:
In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners - mother, son and daughter - are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own.
Reviewed by:
Rhinoa @ Rhinoa's Ramblings
Incubus volumes 1, 2 & 3 by Yayoi Neko (Paranormal Romance / Manga)
From Barnes & Noble:
Can a demon find love on Earth? The painful relationship between the demon Lenniel and the human Judas continues despite all the odds stacked against them. They will endure tribulations as pressures from Hell and Earth seek to split them apart. How can they overcome such epic obstacles?
Reviewed by:
Rhinoa @ Rhinoa's Ramblings
Hero by Perry Moore (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trail and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join.
Reviewed by:
Jen @ Multi-Genre Fan
Nymeth @ Things Mean a Lot
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson (Fantasy)
From the author's web site:
The title "Skin Folk" comes from folkore. Throughout the Caribbean there are stories about people who aren't what they seem. Skin gives these folk their human shape. Peel it off, and their true selves emerge. They take on the shapes of animals, of fantastical creatures. They may be dangerous, or just eldritch. And whatever burdens their skins had borne, once they remove them, they can fly.
Reviewed by:
Jen @ Multi-Genre Fan
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (Non-Fiction / True Crime)
From Wikipedia:
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is atmospheric and Southern Gothic in tone, depicting a wide range of eccentric Savannah personalities.
Reviewed by:
Trish @ Trish's Reading Nook
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (Fantasy / Horror)
From Wikipedia:
Two 13-year-old boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern town one October.
Reviewed By:
Shellie @ Layers of Thought
Jen @ Multi-Genre Fan
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Gothic Horror)
From Wikipedia:
Scientist, Victor Frankenstein, learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful.
Reviewed by:
Shellie @ Layers of Thought
Bend, Don't Shatter (edited) by T. Cole RAchel & Rita D. Costello (Poetry)
From Pink Books:
This new poetry anthology navigates the rocky waters of teenage sexuality and confusion with insight, clarity, and understanding. The poems were written by adults who keenly remember the turmoil and excitement of their own adolescent sexual explorations but now have the perspective and sense of self that come with growing up.
Reviewed by:
Christina @ Reading Thru The Night
Affinity by Sarah Waters (Historical Fiction)
From the author's web site:
From the dark heart of a Victorian prison, disgraced spiritualist Selina Dawes weaves an enigmatic spell. Is she a fraud, or a prodigy? By the time it all begins to matter, you'll find yourself desperately wanting to believe in magic.
Reviewed by:
Aimee @ My Fluttering Heart
Nymeth @ Things Mean a Lot
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Novel)
From Wikipedia:
Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on female black life during the 1930s in the Southern United States, addressing the numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture.
Reviewed By:
Ceri @ Not in the Pink
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
From the author's web site:
Tender and tragic, set against the turbulent backdrop of wartime Britain, The Night Watch is the extraordinary story of four Londoners: Kay, who wanders the streets in mannish clothes, restless and searching . . . Helen, who harbours a troubling secret . . . Viv, glamour girl, recklessly loyal to her soldier lover . . . and Duncan, an apparent innocent, struggling with demons of his own.
Reviewed by:
Nymeth @ Things Mean a Lot
My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger (Young Adult)
From Barnes & Nobel:
Best friends and unofficial brothers since they were six, ninth-graders T.C. and Augie have got the world figured out. But that all changes when both friends fall in love for the first time. Enter Ale. She's pretty, sassy, and on her way to Harvard. T.C. falls hard, but Ale is playing hard to get. Meanwhile, Augie realizes that he's got a crush on a boy. It's not so clear to him, but to his family and friends, it's totally obvious! Told in alternating perspectives, this is the hilarious and touching story of their most excellent year, where these three friends discover love, themselves, and how a little magic and Mary Poppins can go a long way.
Reviewed by:
Chris @ Stuff as Dreams are Made On
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan (Young Adult)
From the author's web site:
Nicola Lancaster comes to the Siegel Summer Institute for Gifted Youth to decide whether or not she wants to be an archaeologist. She doesn't expect to make the best friends she's ever had, and she especially doesn't expect to fall in love with another girl.
Reviewed by:
Marineko @ Dreaming Out Loud
Rules For Hearts by Sara Ryan (Young Adult) - Sequel to Empress of the World
From the author's web site:
Battle Hall Davies is sure of some things: she's going to Reed; she loves girls; and her older brother, Nick, is cooler than she could ever be. Nick ran away when Battle was in high school, and four years later, he's tracked her down. Now she's spending her summer before college in "Forest House", the co-op where he lives in Portland.
Reviewed by:
Marineko @ Dreaming Out Loud
Sweet Lovin' Baby by Yamaji Ebine (Short Stories/Manga)
From Marineko's review:
A collection of short stories (in manga format) by Yamaji Ebine. Most of the stories contain GLBT themes...
Reviewed by:
Marineko @ Dreaming Out Loud
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