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Your Gay Summer Reading Guide: Books By and About Lesbians

Confession: I’m a huge nerd and proud of it. I am a sucker for a good book, especially on, by and/or about gay women. We’re always looking for ways to include more writers, authors and graphic novelists on AfterEllen.com, so we decided to bring you a summer guide to some good queer reading. I can recommend most of these first-hand, and hope you’ll take the time to support some indie publishers and women-owned bookstores by purchasing a copy for yourself (or several for your book club).

All of the books below have been released in the last couple of months up through the current month of June.

Who wrote it: Out food critic for The New York Times.

Why you should read it: It’s an honest, funny and humble story about getting over fears, alcoholism and yourself to succeed in life.

Who will like it: Foodies, women overcoming alcoholism, New Yorkers, writers and gay moms.

Who wrote it: The out director of The World Unseen and I Can’t Think Straight.

Why you should read it: For an insider’s view on what it’s like to be a film director and exclusive photos from the set of her films. Plus 10% of all sales will go to Lisa Ray, lead actress in both movies, to help in her battle against a rare form of cancer.

Who will like it: Fans of Sarif’s work and her frequently updated blog, aspiring directors, working lesbian moms and women who enjoy Lisa Ray (she also wrote the book’s intro).

Who wrote it: Director of Center for Women’s and Gender Studies at USC Upstate

Why you should read it: It’s a beautifully written account of her struggles with borderline personality disorder and how it has affected her life and relationships. She refers to herself as a “psycho girlfriend.”

Who will like it: Women interested in reading first-hand accounts of living with a mental disorder, fans of United States of Tara, lesbians who have been in dysfunctional relationships or like reading about them.

Who wrote it: A Minnesota-based lesbian mom who writes about her experiences for several publications.

Why you should read it: It’s an insider’s view of being a non-biological lesbian mother and what it’s like to pass as the birth mom, deal with legal issues and how raising a child can change your relationship with your partner.

Who will like it: Lesbian moms, aspiring lesbian moms, and lesbians who want to know what it’s like to have a pregnant partner.

Who wrote it: Bisexual Jamaican-American writer who hasn’t penned a new novel in 17 years.

Why you should read it: It’s an avante-garde tale of bizarre sexual and familial relationships based in Jamaica, Europe and the United States.

Who will like it: Bisexual women, ex-Patriates, fans of Cliff’s previous works. (Fun fact: Her life partner is poet Adrienne Rich.)

Who wrote it: A young adult writer who enjoys musicals and has moved from Canada to France to Japan to Brooklyn.

Why you should read it: Two hipster teen girls fall in love while working on a musical together.

Who will like it: Fans of Glee, teen lesbians, bi-curious girls, drama nerds, and anyone who has ever put on a play in her basement.

Who wrote it: An out science-fiction author and professor.

Why you should read it: It’s her first collection of short stories and it’s full of fantasy, foreign lands, nuns, gay cowboys, drag queens, witches, goddesses and more!

Who will like it: Followers of Xena and Legend of the Seeker, queer girls and their gay boy best friends, people with imaginations.

Who wrote it: A San Fransisco-based writer who based her book on time spent living in Japan.

Why you should read it: It’s about a young woman who has a minor freak out after following her girlfriend to another country and trying to survive on her own.

Who will like it: Lesbians who wished Eat, Pray, Love wasn’t about a well-off straight woman, women who like Japan or hope to visit some day, people who enjoy traveling without leaving the couch.

Who wrote it: An accomplished novelist who enjoys cold weather and traveling in it.

Why you should read it: It’s a breathtaking story of three different women involved in each other’s lives because they’re all together at a station in Antarctica.

Who will like it: Women who enjoy traveling, lesbians that have lost their partner, people who want a big change in their lives.

Who wrote it: A documentary filmmaker-turned-author.

Why you should read it: It’s her first novel and it’s enthralling. It’s about a young girl from London moving to the country to live with a family during WWII. She falls for her best friend, Grace.

Who will like it: Lesbians of all ages, women who grew up during the war, anyone who knows what it’s like to fall for a straight girl.

Who wrote it: Chronicler of LGBT history and people.

Why you should read it: It features profiles of Dorothy Allison, Kate Clinton, Lillian Faderman, Tammy Baldwin and other out women who have influenced gay culture.

Who will like it: Members of the LGBTQ community who want to know about gay people in history, anyone who doesn’t like to use Wikipedia/the internet to read facts or interviews.

Who wrote it: An out Irish novelist/journalist/playwright.

Why you should read it: It’ll give you a lot of old-school out-of-print reading material to go after in bookstores.

Who will like it: Fans of lesbian subtext, readers of classic literature, Shakespeare adorers, those who enjoyed Terry Castle’s The Literature of Lesbianism: A Historical Anthology From Ariosto To Stonewall.

Who wrote it: Out licensed clinical psychologist who has done major research on same-sex couples.

Why you should read it: It’s educational about all facets of being in a lesbian relationship, including ideas about developing your emotional, physical, and psychological intimacy.

Who will like it: Lesbians with partners, lesbians who want a partner, women who might want to become partners with another woman.

Who edited it: The out director of the Sabes Foundation Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival.

Why you should read it: Contributors include Temim Frutcher of the rock band The Shondes, professor Joy Ladin and “the pseudonymous Ex-Yeshiva Girl.”

Who will like it: Jewish lesbians, ex-Jewish lesbians, lesbians who date Jewish women, those interested in religion and how it affects sexuality.

Who edited it: Queer moms who also write.

Why you should read it: Because, unless you’ve lived through it, you don’t know how it works when you have a sperm donor that you know personally – or if he should be invited to holidays.

Who will like it: People who are excited about The Kids Are All Right, lesbian moms, anyone with gay parents.

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