Looking for queer/lesbian books

Hi all,

I'm not sure where to ask this, but I figure that somebody here might know. I'm looking for contemporary queer/lesbian fiction, and I'm having a terrible time finding decent books. YA is fine, adult-focused is fine, mystery or romance or science fiction is fine -- as long as the book is actually written well. I'd prefer something fairly light, which sort of leads me to believe that I really just want chick lit with two females.

I read a lot and am slightly nervous that I've exhausted my options. (But! I can, at least, recommend one: Sister Mischief by Laura Goode. YA and excellent. Also, all of Mabel Maney's books are kind of hilarious.) I've found a fair amount of m/m or trans stuff, but that's not really what I'm looking for.

So! Any recommendations for light queer/lesbian fiction? Or, barring that, dark queer/lesbian fiction? Or just really good queer/lesbian books?

Thanks!
Liralen

The Rainbow Boys series by Alex Sanchez. Very good books!

As far as YA, my favorite one is Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle was the first LGBT-themed book I ever read, and I've reread it a few times over the years and it never loses it's magic, so I'd say that's a good one as well :D

My Favourite is "Keeping You A Secret" by Julia Anne Peters

I've been meaning to read Kissing Kate. I don't have any lesbian recs of my own to make, though. Are you only looking for females?

Have you read Malinda Lo's Ash or Huntress yet? Both are retold fairy tales, the first one being Cinderella [I'm not familiar enough with Chinese fairy tales to tell you what Huntress is a retelling of, I can just tell you that I have a thing for bittersweet fiction and really enjoyed it.]

Here's a loooong list of YA fiction with queer characters: http://tanuki-green.livejournal.com/329393.html

I've been looking through it myself and I've heard good things about The Shattering by Kathryn Lasky...

Any of the Killian Kendall series by Josh Aterovis. I love his work, I have for about 10 years now, and he is a great guy. Downside is his books not being in many stores (unless you're in the New England area, where he lives... then you might be in luck!). They're mystery novels with a gay lead character, starting as a teen and growing through each book. I've read them so much and they still give me goosebumps. You can find them online here!

You know what you might want to read? Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block. Not all of the stories revolve around queer chicks, but its worth a read anyhow. Also by Francesca Lia Block and another book of short stories, Rose and the beast has a story in it that involves queer women.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. The homosexuality isn't the main focus, but it's treated with complete respect, so much that many people just assumed the author Michael Chabon was gay, and he had to "come out as straight."

So stoked i came across this thread, actually have never read or written a book with lesbian characters in it (unless you count fanfiction) lol definately gonna check these out, and maybe write a wrimo with lesbian characters too... hmm lol

Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall is good. Kind of dark, but it's definitely one of my favourites.

Annie on My Mind is my favorite YA book with gay characters. Also, Laurie J. Marks' Logic books are really really good too. She does an awesome job of portraying gay characters as a normal everyday thing.

Sarah Waters has a few beautifully written books (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith, Affinity) that have lesbian themes. Other lesbian-type books I've read are The IHOP Papers (Ali Liebegott?) and Empress of the World.

I second lijewi's recommendation to read Sarah Waters- my favorite is Fingersmith.

Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest and Painted Moon by Karin Kallmaker were two of my favorites when I was a teenager. Kallmaker has written many lesbian novels, but Painted Moon is my favorite.

Pink by Jennifer Harris is excellent, in my opinion. It's written in a sort of stream of consciousness narrative and uses first person future tense, which took me some time to get used to when I read it the first time. I'm re-reading it now and loving it all over again.

These are all going on my list to read when I get home. I think the only queer/lesbian fiction I read has been fanfiction. All though in Holly Black's Tithe the one character is gay. He's a minor important character and has a subplot to the story. He has more story in Ironside which is technically the third book in the trilogy, but you can skip the second as it's sort of a side story and not directly related to the other two. There may have been a lesbian couple in the second one though, which is called Valiant. It's been a long time since I've read it and I didn't like it as much as the first one. I just love the first one because it's such a dark story. The faeries aren't nice, they're cruel and like to mess with humans. Yea, that's kind of all I can offer.

Will Grayson Will Grayson is a good one and I just read about one called Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters which is supposedly a retelling of Cinderella with lesbians. I put an order in through my library so I'm interested in reading that one.

I would recommend anything by Julie Ann Peters. Her books are amazing. My favorite are Rage, Keeping You A Secret, She Loves You, She Loves You Not.
Then there is also Kissing Kate.
There is also a series called Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, feating a lesbian relationship which is done fairly well.