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recent notable books: lesbian romance
Sep. 19th, 2010 05:17 pmThe Apprenticeship of Big Toe P by Rieko Matsuura. So funny and painful! Something about the way certain Japanese novels just come right out and state relationship dynamics and self-reflections hits me perfectly, and a lot of this one's themes were really pertinent to me as I read it. Slightly embarrassing to read on the bus as basically the entire book consists of sex. Don't expect perfect queer-friendliness; people basically wind up in opposite-sex pairs, and the portrayal of the transgender character made me very uncomfortable. However, I really liked the way that preferences for different kinds of sexual experiences (focused on overall body contact/closeness, focused on arousal/orgasm) didn't correspond to physical sex the way my society tries to tell me they do, and the (poly) love affair between the two women was believably messed up and sweet.
Did this really shape the sexuality of a generation of Japanese people, as the back cover tried to tell me? How interesting would that be?
Solitaire by Kelly Eskridge. Well-written, creepy, affirming, examines some of the issues of online and personal identity that have been going around a bit lately, and contains actual lesbian partnership. I don't want to say too much, since I feel like even the jacket copy spoiled me more than I would have liked. I recommend it, though.
Not what I was hoping: Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn. I haven't liked the Shinn I've tried before the last week or so, but I've been blazing through the Twelve Houses books since giving Reader and Raelynx a try.* I had such high hopes for this one -- the back starts off talking about the former King's Rider Wen, a Known Girl, rescuing a young woman from abduction, and how she wanted to have no connection with the girl or her family afterward but was drawn back in. I did recognize the possibility that there was some unnamed fellow to occupy the other slot in the romance (for these are romantic fantasy despite their fine ensemble cast, and a pairing is non-optional), but I was all "give me some invert sugar, baby!" and BOUGHT IT.
Yeah, so, not so much. There is a fellow of interest, and I liked him as he is a big bookish nerd, and it was clear from early on that the abducted girl was too young for that sort of thing, but hmph. Oh well. The books overall did come through with really strong bonds among chosen family, especially in Dark Moon Defender, and that plus entertaining plots were enough to make them fun despite the Relentless Heterosexuality At All Times and everyone in the entire world being written as white. (I think it's all in my head that Tayse is black; his skin color's never overtly mentioned and calling someone else "dark" seemed to mean just her hair.) It also has magic/theology geeking, though not very much in depth.
* I am amused that Shinn says not to start there. It was obvious that I hadn't read the others, but it worked fine! And the cover's pretty, unlike Mystic and Rider, which is So Not Senneth. Well, the raelynx is not a raelynx, but I didn't know that yet.
Did this really shape the sexuality of a generation of Japanese people, as the back cover tried to tell me? How interesting would that be?
Solitaire by Kelly Eskridge. Well-written, creepy, affirming, examines some of the issues of online and personal identity that have been going around a bit lately, and contains actual lesbian partnership. I don't want to say too much, since I feel like even the jacket copy spoiled me more than I would have liked. I recommend it, though.
Not what I was hoping: Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn. I haven't liked the Shinn I've tried before the last week or so, but I've been blazing through the Twelve Houses books since giving Reader and Raelynx a try.* I had such high hopes for this one -- the back starts off talking about the former King's Rider Wen, a Known Girl, rescuing a young woman from abduction, and how she wanted to have no connection with the girl or her family afterward but was drawn back in. I did recognize the possibility that there was some unnamed fellow to occupy the other slot in the romance (for these are romantic fantasy despite their fine ensemble cast, and a pairing is non-optional), but I was all "give me some invert sugar, baby!" and BOUGHT IT.
Yeah, so, not so much. There is a fellow of interest, and I liked him as he is a big bookish nerd, and it was clear from early on that the abducted girl was too young for that sort of thing, but hmph. Oh well. The books overall did come through with really strong bonds among chosen family, especially in Dark Moon Defender, and that plus entertaining plots were enough to make them fun despite the Relentless Heterosexuality At All Times and everyone in the entire world being written as white. (I think it's all in my head that Tayse is black; his skin color's never overtly mentioned and calling someone else "dark" seemed to mean just her hair.) It also has magic/theology geeking, though not very much in depth.
* I am amused that Shinn says not to start there. It was obvious that I hadn't read the others, but it worked fine! And the cover's pretty, unlike Mystic and Rider, which is So Not Senneth. Well, the raelynx is not a raelynx, but I didn't know that yet.
