Recommendation for lesbian novel ^^

[Sakura90]

Hi!

I'm looking for lesbian romance novels. I read the Strawberry Panic light novel (first volume, I couldn't find the second) and I loved it. But there are too few light novels translated from Japanese so I extended my search to regular English novels. I like drama stories, I'm not very fond of comedy, although bits of comedy elements here and there are nice. Also I'm looking for something with elements such as daily life, school life, coming of age, tragedy and "heart-warming" (*). Basically a high school novel that follows the lives of the female characters as they grow and fall in love with each other <3. With no fantasy or other fancy elements (unless they are very subtle), a realistic story set in present time. It can be a tragedy too. If it has erotic or sex parts along the way I won't complain ^^

Does something like that written in English exist? I'm 19 and I'm new to the English literature world (it's not my native language), but I wanted to read something like that for a while now :). I hope my skills are good enough for that :3

Thanks for your time~


(*)
Heart-warming (taken from AniDB): The story and its characters give off good vibes - includes elevated feelings of affection such as tenderness, sympathy and love, all in one package.

[JuniperWoolf]

Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith wasn't great for me, but it's the only lesbian novel I can think of.

[TheFifthElement]

Not sure if they entirely meet your requirements, but Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters are fairly well known English speaking lesbian writers. So you might want to try Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit or Tipping the Velvet. Waters tends to write historical fiction, so doesn't entirely meet your theme, but your requirements are quite specific :D

[Jozanny]

I have one I'll give you if you want it, called Keep To Me Stranger. It is a romance, tame, and I purchased it by mistake from a small press review capsule highlight. I read it but would love to get rid of it and give it to someone who is actually interested. PM me your address if you wish and I will gladly send it to you. Late 80's or early 90's edition, but it is in good condition.

Titles like this are probably hard to find at major book sellers, so I really don't mind mailing it to you. They know me at the post office because I am always busy with manuscripts and Amazon.

[Veva]

Hi,
I read a few, but I can only recommend - Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart... that one was pretty good, though maybe not absolutely what you are looking for... but give it a go anyway... it is worth it:)

[dfloyd]

but Patricia Cornwell's mystery novels have a main character who is a lesbian. She is the niece of the protagonist, Dr Kay Scarpetta, in a series of novels. Patricia Cornwell is an excellent novelist that I have enjoyed for years. And now I know why she included a lesbian in her novels: she lives in MA, and she married another woman, after divorcing her husband. As the saying goes, sometimes life is stranger than fiction.

[OrphanPip]

There's abundant amounts of lesbian "pop" fiction out there but you usually have to go to a gay bookstore to find it. You seem to be looking for something of the Rachel Cohn and David Levithan variety (They wrote Nick and Nora). Cohn writes heterosexual high school romances while Levithan usually writes about gay males though. I'm sure someone who writes similar style stuff about lesbians is out there, unfortunately I just don't know of them.

A clerk at a gay bookstore would probably be able to help you out.

[kelby_lake]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Rush-Julie-Burchill/dp/0330415832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263402419&sr=1-1

There was a tv programme of it too.

[Amylian]

Hi,
I read a few, but I can only recommend - Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart... that one was pretty good, though maybe not absolutely what you are looking for... but give it a go anyway... it is worth it:)

I would surley recommend this one...

[Sakura90]

I have one I'll give you if you want it, called Keep To Me Stranger. It is a romance, tame, and I purchased it by mistake from a small press review capsule highlight. I read it but would love to get rid of it and give it to someone who is actually interested. PM me your address if you wish and I will gladly send it to you. Late 80's or early 90's edition, but it is in good condition.

Titles like this are probably hard to find at major book sellers, so I really don't mind mailing it to you. They know me at the post office because I am always busy with manuscripts and Amazon.
Give it for free? How nice! Yes, I'm interested. I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Can you ship it here? How can I pay for the shipping?


There's abundant amounts of lesbian "pop" fiction out there but you usually have to go to a gay bookstore to find it. You seem to be looking for something of the Rachel Cohn and David Levithan variety (They wrote Nick and Nora). Cohn writes heterosexual high school romances while Levithan usually writes about gay males though. I'm sure someone who writes similar style stuff about lesbians is out there, unfortunately I just don't know of them.

A clerk at a gay bookstore would probably be able to help you out.
That's another problem. There are few English bookstores here and much less gay ones, most probably they don't even exist. Normal bookstores have almost everything in Spanish (given this is a Spanish speaking country it's expectable xD) and a section for English books, so I won't find any rare novels, like lesbian, here. Everything that's left for me is the Internet and buying in places like Amazon with a borrowed credit card (I don't have one at the moment, only paper money).

Thanks for the answers! I'll check your recommendations and see if I can get the books online and make them ship here.


PS: Yeah, even though I may have other options in my language I like reading things in English for fun. I've been like that since I was a little kid ^^

[Jozanny]

Yes Sakura, I will send it to you, please don't worry about money or shipping. Online friends have mailed me books, and I am happy to do the same.

I know you are new, so let me see if I can guide you here, on the top right of the page, under your user name, or avatar, it links to private messages. Click it, then type in Jozanny in the member field, and a subject--if you give me the mailing info, it will be shipped to you next week.

Let me add a qualification: *Mistake* is probably not the right word. SPR did not actually review the title, but highlighted it as a pick, and I never knew it was a lesbian romance. Back then, it mattered, because I did not have much money to spare for reading, so I have resented this innocent novel for some time :)

[Mariamosis]

The only book that comes to mind would be Ernest Hemmingway's 'The Garden of Eden', which is about a husband and wife who fall in love with the same woman.

Although I wouldn't consider this a coming of age book.

[Dinkleberry2010]

The novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyff Hall is probably the best-known lesbian novel, as well as being the first lesbian novel. It was written in 1928, and it is still in print

[Phaedra's Love]

I would also recommend Sputnik Sweetheart. I've never read it in English though.

Hmm, can't think of another one. Maybe we should all write one together :D

Just out of curiosity Sakura, where are you from?

[Indian Boy]

This topic is weird

[Sakura90]

I would also recommend Sputnik Sweetheart. I've never read it in English though.

Hmm, can't think of another one. Maybe we should all write one together :D

Just out of curiosity Sakura, where are you from?
Sputnik Sweetheart is Japanese :redface:. Did you read it in that language? How nice, I like it a lot ^_^. I'll start a Japanese course in March. For now I only know hiragana, katakana and about 50 kanjis (and random words from hearing them here and there).

I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. And you?

I currently have Annie On My Mind, Luna and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. I'll start with the first two, as all the other ones you mentioned are not available in my country and soon I'm going out for vacation, so if I order more novels they'll arrive when no one will be here to receive them.

About Luna... I wasn't looking for transgender, but the story sounds REALLY nice. I'm starting to do a bit of crossdressing myself, and the theme of that book (a boy hiding his "transformation" into a girl at night) is much similar to what I'm doing, I like going out at night to dance or places like that dressed as a girl (I'm NOT gay, I just love girl's clothes and... the girls herselves of course xD). So, now I'm also looking for transgender novels like Luna :)

And about writing one ourselves... count me in! xD. An year ago I started to write a "story" about young girls in Middle or early High School liking each other, but soon after I realized I suck at writing (and more in English :P) and dropped the whole thing. I think I don't even have the original file where I saved what I wrote. The idea was a "heart-warming" story, two cute little girls exploring their real feelings about each other, how that could affect their social life and... well, their sexuality, both alone and together :D. Nothing really new or special.