Sadly, the Dead Lesbians Book Club is now defunct because half the group moved away from the D.C. metropolitan area (including moi) and the other half didn't have enough time or oomph or whatever to keep the Club going. After nearly six years, we ran out of stuff to read. Just kidding...sort of. There are only so many historical/discussable books by or about lesbians one can read without becoming redundant. Nontheless, I'll update this list from time to time with new books that I think are good reads, or that someone recommended to me. - Jo

Books we've read so far:
(especially recommended books listed in
purple)

Bastard Out Of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
Rubyfruit Jungle - Rita Mae Brown
Surpassing The Love Of Men - L. Faderman
Glass Houses
Curious Wine - Katherine Forrest
The Beebo Brinker Series - Ann Bannon
Zami - Another Spelling of My Name - Audre Lorde
The Coming Out Stories
Delta of Venus - Anais Nin
Dogtown
Gyn/Ecology - Mary Daly
The Two Mujeres
When God Was A Woman - Merlin Stone
Empathy - Sarah Schulman
Sexual Practice, Textual Theory - Julia Penelope and Susan Wolfe
Tell Me What You Like
The Autobiography Of Alice B. Toklas By Gertrude Stein
Daughters of Darkness
Lesbians In Germany 1890's-1920's - L. Faderman
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold
Melting Point - Pat Califia
The Case of the Not So Nice Nurse
Everything You Have is Mine - Scoppatoni
My American History - Sarah Schulman
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit - Jeannette Winterson
Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg
The Education of Harriet Hatfield - May Sarton
On Intimate Terms - Beverly Burch
The Price of Salt -
Blood, Bread and Roses - Judy Grahn
Track of the Cat - Nevada Barr (April 12, 1995)
Gender Outlaw - Kate Borenstien (May 10, 1995)
Winged Dancer - Cameron Grae (June 14, 1995)
Portrait of a Marriage (Vita Sackville-West) - Nicholson (July 95)
Trouble and Her Friends - Aug 95
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers - Faderman - Sept 95
Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde - Oct. 95
Lesbian Erotic Dance - Jo Anne Loulan - Nov. 95
Selected Poetry - Dec. 95
Homophobia = Mysogyny - Suzanne Pharr - Jan. 96
Serving in Silence - Cammermeyer - Feb. 96
Surface Tension - ed. Meg Daly
Out in the Workplace - 4/96
Aquamarine - 5/96
S/He - Minnie Bruce Pratt - 6/96
Paris Was A Woman - 7/96
From Wedded Wife to Lesbian Life - 8/96
Eleanor Roosevelt - Cook - 9/96
Slow River - Griffith - 10/96
Skin - Dorothy Allison - 11/96
Sisters and Brothers - 12/96
Persistant Desire - 1/97
Paris Was Yesterday - Janet flanner - 2/97
SportsDykes - (anthology) - 3/97
Marriage - Pro and Con - ed. Andrew Sullivan - 4/97
Sexing the Cherry - Jean Winterson - 5/97

Potential future books:

Critical Point - anthology on violence
Scotch Verdict - L. Faderman
Chloe Plus Olivia - L. Faderman
Sarah Hoagland's Lesbian Ethics
Monique Wittig's The Lesbian Body
Lesbian Cultures Julia Penelope and Susan Wolfe - good anthology
The Very Inside an anthology of Asian Pacifica Lesbian Bi writers
Family Values Phyllis Burke debunks the "traditional family"
Written on the Body - Jean Winterson
Gender Trouble
A queer children's book such as Heather Has Two Mommies
A Restricted Country - Joan Nestle
The Gilda Stories - Jewell Gomez
Daring to Dissent - Lesbian Culture from Margin to Mainstream - Liz Gibbs, ed. (collection of essays)
The Straight Woman's Guide to Lesbianism - Mikaya Heart
Out of the Class Closet - Julia Penelope, ed.
Bound By Diversity - James T. Sears, ed.
Fifty Days of Solitude - Doris Grumbach
Sappho - Jane McIntosh Snyder
Her Tongue On My Theory -
The Good, The Bad, and The Gorgeous -
A Grave Talent - Lorie King
Murder in the Collective - Barbara Wilson
What Lesbians Read
Virtual Equality - Urvashi Vaid
Water Dancer - Levin
Sea of Light - Levin
The Ship That Sailed Into The Living Room - Sonya ?
Fast Ride With The Top Down - (?)
Loving in the War Years - Cherrie Moraga
Transgender Warrior - Leslie Fienberg
The Sewing Circle - Hollywood Lesbians
The Pure and the Impure - Colette
Nightwood - Djunia Barnes
Accidental Activist - Gingrich
Rat Bohemia - Rita Mae Weems (Sarah Schulman)



Short List of Good Discussion Questions:

  • What were the most important themes of the book?
  • What points seemed most relevant to you personally?
  • Discuss historical context of book, if relevant.




  • Bitchin' Book Links:
  • The Cynical Dog Lesbian Book Salon
  • Spinsters Ink
  • The Book Gallery
  • The Lavender Salon
  • Sapphic Ink
  • Amy Goodloe's Butch-Femme Reader - Annotated Bibliography


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