I can't recall the author's name at the moment, but the story follows a young woman's attempt to unravel the mystery of her much beloved older sister's death.
Surviving a Writer's Life, Suzanne Lipsett
I really enjoyed this look at one woman's struggle to become the writer she wanted to be, but there is something about that "becoming a writer" concept that piques my curiosity. Why so much worry over whether or not one is "a writer"? Does the plumber ever struggle to become what she is? Does the schoolteacher concern herself with whether or not she is a schoolteacher? I suppose teaching is actually a fair parallel, because the fact of employment as a teacher bears little or no relation to one's talents as a teacher. But still, there are times when reading this book that I want to take Suzanne by the shoulders and say "look, you write, therefore you are a writer. Now relax."
If You Had a Family, Barbara Wilson
With all due apologies to loved ones who grew up in the area, there is something very vapid to me about life in Southern California. Something very tupperware and neon and without history or depth. This novel follows a young woman's lifelong attempt to come to terms with her mother's death, and her father's emotional unavailability.
The Liar's Club, Mary Karr
Even better than Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, and that's sayin' something! A poignant, fast-moving memoir about Karr's difficult childhood, which she survived with great humor, energy and grace.
Silent Words, Joan Drury
I don't normally read this kind of "lesbian fiction," but I was given the book as a gift for help on a web site so I picked it up for a little light reading, and really enjoyed it. I actually love these glimpses into lesbian lives that are so different from mine, and there's something refreshing in reading about women who diverge so much from "mainstream womanhood" yet are the norm in the universe of the novel they appear in. The story is about a woman's journey into her family's past in order to make sense of some puzzling secrets, and features a wonderful character who has redefined her "primary relationships" in a way I can really related to.
Another You, Anne Beattie
I can't believe I'd never heard of Ann Beattie until I picked up this book in a used bookstore in Long Beach, CA -- and yet she's written so many books! While I suspect that this one isn't her best (and I've since picked up five or six more to test that theory), I really enjoyed the intricacy with which she detailed the inner thoughts and feelings of her characters.
Rat Bohemia, Sarah Schulman
I have the impression that Sarah Schulman is actually capable of being a much better writer than she allows herself to be. Or maybe it's just that I don't really like the tone and style of what she writes, even though I think she's talented enough that I'll continue reading her anyway. This novel, like so much of her work, is set in New York City, and focuses on the lives of two twentysomething "downwardly mobile" dykes whose vocabularies and occasional philosophical meandering betray them as oracles for Schulman's ideas rather than individuals in their own right. I just don't believe that anyone really lives like these women do, or talks or thinks like they do, but if they're meant to be symbolic or allegorical rather than real, then here's at least one reader who didn't "get it."
Art and Lies and The Passion, Jeanette Winterson
I think Winterson is one of the most talented and engaging writers I've yet read, and of the five novels of hers I've read, these two are my favorite. Perhaps as a sign of how wonderfully rich and engaging her work is, I find myself utterly unable to come up with a summary of either. I will say this of Art and Lies: I think I would rather have had the whole book focus on Handel's perspective rather than only bits and pieces, although the voices of Sappho and Picasso certainly lend the story a lyrical beauty of a different quality.
Other Books Read and Enjoyed
Walking on the Moon, Barbara Wilson
Tar Baby, Toni Morrison
Ammonite, Nicola Griffith
The Sophie Horowitz Story, Sarah Schulman
A Different Kind of Listening, Kim Chernin
Villette, Charlotte Bronte
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
Solo, On Her Own Adventure, ed. Susan Fox Rogers
The Fifth Child, Doris Lessing
The Chinchilla Farm, Judith Freeman
Trouble and Her Friends, Melissa Scott
The Revolution of Little Girls, Blanche McCrary Boyd
Five Minutes in Heaven ,Lisa Alther
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Slow River, Nicola Griffith
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
Snowcrash, Neal Stephenson
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
He, She and It, Marge Piercy
Beggars in Spain, Nancy Kress
Beggars and Choosers, Nancy Kress
Bingo, Rita Mae Brown
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy ,(whole series)Douglas Adams
A Different Kind of Listening, Kim Chernin
Art and Lies, Jeanette Winterson
Solo, On Her Own Adventure, ed. Susan Fox Rogers
The Fifth Child, Doris Lessing