... having been breathed out

Anonymous asked: If you were going to suggest ten fictional books about queer women, which ten would you suggest??

Honestly, it would depend a lot on the person to whom I was suggesting them. I’m only too thrilled to give my personal top-10 list of works of fiction involving queer women, but first some caviats about where I’m coming from:

• As tired as I am of the “tragic queer” stereotype, I do not share Tumblr’s penchant for happy happy happy all the time queers (or characters of any stripe). I myself am a queer who is not happy happy happy—or even remotely admirable—all the time, and I find the most solace in works that explore moral ambiguity and refuse to provide simplistic answers to tough questions. Simplistic answers do indeed come in both grim and cheerful flavors, but nothing sours in my mouth worse than a forced-feeling happy ending, ymm(and probably does)v.
• I don’t, as a general rule, read YA fiction or sci-fi/fantasy, so can’t really rec them.
• I get off on stylistic experimentation. It can certainly fail, but for me, all other things being equal, it’s an exciting plus rather than a minus to be overcome.
• I’m not awesome on racial diversity in my literary back-catalog, though I’m working to remedy that.

Still with me? Here, in no particular order, are my top 10 queer-lady-involving pieces of fiction, with snippets on why I love them:

1. ( The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters )

2. ( Hood, by Emma Donoghue )

3. ( Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinberg )

4. ( The Color Purple, by Alice Walker )

5. ( Nightwood, by Djuna Barnes )

6. ( Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf )

7. ( The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith )

8. ( No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre )

9. ( Patience and Sarah, by Isabel Miller )

10. ( The Passion, by Jeanette Winterson )

I hope you find something of interest here, Anon! :-D