When I was a kid, there was nothing I loved more than a good book. I read anything I could get my hands on, from the E. Nesbit books to The Mysterious Benedict Society to The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant, so quickly that I started running out of kid’s books to read. I loved these books so much that I spent a good deal of my childhood imagining that I was a character in one.
So it was no surprise that, to understand my sexuality better, I turned to the wonderful world of LGBT YA novels.
The following is a list of 10 relatively well-known books about teenage lesbians, ranked in order of my personal preference. It’s not a list of recommendations so much as my opinions on a few of the books that are out there.
OK, here goes:
So it was no surprise that, to understand my sexuality better, I turned to the wonderful world of LGBT YA novels.
The following is a list of 10 relatively well-known books about teenage lesbians, ranked in order of my personal preference. It’s not a list of recommendations so much as my opinions on a few of the books that are out there.
OK, here goes:
1. "There is the sudden. There is the eventual. And in between, there is the living." Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan - I know what you’re saying and, yes, it’s true. The book doesn’t actually contain any teenage lesbians (in fact it has only one or two teenage girls). So, yes, it’s a weird choice for the best book about teenage lesbians. That said, it is an INCREDIBLE BOOK, and everyone, regardless of age, gender, or sexuality, should read it. In fact, feel free to check out what Andy and I wrote about why Two Boys Kissing is wonderful. |
2. “Every airplane, no matter how far it is up there, I send love to it…This isn’t reciprocal. It’s an outpouring. Because if I give it all away, then no one can control it. Because if I give it all away, I’ll be free.” Ask The Passengers by A.S. King - Hilarious, charming, contemplative – this book is pretty much everything I would want from an LGBT YA novel. It tells the story of Astrid Jones, a large-minded girl in a small-minded town, as she struggles with her sexuality, her family, her friends, the town’s insatiable appetite for rumors, and ancient Greek philosophy. What could be better? |
“I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that my religion of choice became VHS rentals…There was more than just one other world beyond ours; there were hundreds and hundreds of them, and at 99 cents apiece I could rent them all.” The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth – I was going to write a witty description of this book. Then I found out the author did it for me: “Dead parents. Random acts of shoplifting. Girls kissing girls in barns, in twisty slides on playgrounds, in abandoned hospitals. A Victorian dollhouse with all kinds of weird shit glued to it. The way a mountain-toppling earthquake that happened some thirty years before keeps aftershocking our hero: Cameron Post. Yup: it's coming of age, it's coming of GAYge, it's a Bildungsroman, a novel of development, it's all of these things, none of these things, and it would be kick-ass if you gave it a whirl.” It’s a tragic and ecstatic and beautiful book. Read it. |
4. “‘Every time you come near me, you come closer to the end of everything.’ ‘It does not feel that way. It feels like I am coming closer to the beginning.’” Ash by Malinda Lo – One of the few fairy tale novels that actually reads like a fairy tale, Ash is a beautifully crafted lesbian retelling of the Cinderella story. In fact, it captures the style of fairy tales so perfectly that it never uses a single contraction (“can’t” or “isn’t”). I highly recommend it. |
5. “That was, it seemed to her, the best description of this willed group project of freshman year: construction on landfill. A collective confusion of impressions and tendencies, mostly castoffs with a few keepers. What was there to count on in any of it? What structure would remain, founded on what?” Pages For You by Sylvia Brownrigg – Exquisitely written, this novel is the story of Flannery, aspiring writer and first-year college student, who falls desperately in love with her (female) TA. A little doomed, a lot of fun to read. |
“The first day, I stood in the kitchen leaning against the counter watching Annie feed the cats, and I knew I wanted to be able to do that forever: stand in kitchens watching Annie feed cats.” Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden – This was the first LGBT YA book I read, and I’ll always have a soft spot for it. It’s very sweet, verging on cheesy at times, and provides an interesting perspective on society's treatment of gay teenagers in the not-so-distant past. |
9. “The world is inviolable: it has no beginning and no end. Those who seek to change it will be changed.” Huntress by Malinda Lo – I’ve been trying not to include two books by the same author on this list, but I had to make an exception for this one, because I had almost opposite reactions to the two books. I don’t really recommend this book, mostly because of a very stupid thing that it does as it ends. But aside from that, the world and characters are unconvincing, the plot is convoluted and unsatisfying, and yes, the ending is evil. So be warned. |
10. “Oh my god. They’re kissing.” “She passed a table that had a few of the school’s deeply uncloseted students sitting around it… She could sit with Jen Habett, the classic short hair, jeans, and pride chain girl. Or Felicia Clark, the outspoken ‘If you have a pulse I’m interested’ bisexual sex addict.” The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson – Don’t read this book. It’s on this list solely because it inexplicably shows up on a lot of those Top 10 LGBT novel lists, and it really shouldn’t. For a start, the characters are unpleasant, and the author clearly understands them even less than they do one another. The book unapologetically spews stereotypes (check out the bi-bashing above), and has no imagination of the lives of actual teenagers, gay or straight. As far as I can tell, this book exists so that some shallow, straight teenage girls can read it and feel like they’re being accepting. I don’t accept it. |
So there you have it: my take on 10 books about teenage lesbians. What do you think? Are there any books that should have been in this list? Any books you feel differently about?
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