#lesbian book recs

[so-many-ocs]

yo!

i don't make dedicated posts about my own work on here a ton, however comma!

RADIO APOCALYPSE is FREE in ebook format from october 16 (tomorrow) until october 20th (friday)!!!

my birthday is coming up, and For My Birthday, i would like it very much if more people got to read my writing!

so, if you like:

post-apocalyptic science fiction

cosmic/eldritch horror

radios

lesbians (plural)

eye motifs

audio dramas of Most Kinds

cool book covers (in my unbiased opinion)

crushing existential loneliness. the fundamental, ever-lurking, and unchanging sense of isolation at the pit of your being; the feeling that, no matter what, you will never be closer to those around you, and you can laugh about it, and you can reach out, but the silence is impenetrable. it will outlast you in every way that matters

knitting!

here's how to get RADIO APOCALYPSE for free!!

go to the amazon site for your location

search "radio apocalypse kayleigh gallagher" or something to that effect

go to "ebook"

DO NOT: do not select "read now for free." that will take you to the page for kindle unlimited, which you have to Pay For

instead select the option that says something along the lines of "buy now for $0"

enjoy your free book!

[aloneholy]

hi i love your blog :) & was wondering if you could recommend your favorite/the best sapphic n wlw media like shows books movies please? I have recently come to ... Realisations .. :') I do love picnic at hanging rock btw and also the similar vibes of the media that you tend to reblog. homeorotic energy w out being Explicity Stated it also very welcome <3 thank you if you can and i hope thats okay !!! have a good day :)

hellooo what a lovely question - thank you so much! i’ll happily rec some things i’ve loved, especially that i find homoerotic/wlw media that Compel me much harder to come by - and i agree, picnic at hanging rock is so unique.

books:

- zami: a new spelling of my name by audre lorde - an “autobiomythography” & maybe thee most formative book for me, in terms of wlw reading. i read it for university and it changed me as a person, changed the way i look at loving women. it’s beautiful

- nightwood by djuna barnes - if you like the more unsettling aspects of picnic at hanging rock, something lynchian and modernist, this is a dark and heavily abstract lesbian novel which i really love

- our wives under the sea - a really poignant and lovely soft sci-fi depiction of a wlw relationship, themes of grief, identity, loss etc. some compare it to annihilation though expect much less science fiction

- her body and other parties by carmen maria machado - a lovely (probably my favourite!) collection of short stories which often are wlw-centric or have a vibe. stunning prose in general

- hera lindsay bird by hera lindsay bird - wlw poetry, very fun and contemporary, what i call self-aware poetry

- mary oliver’s poetry!!!

- for biographies, anything about tove jansson….

- anything by virginia woolf will fit the not explicitly stated vibe feeling - mrs dalloway has a really wistful lesbian undercurrent, orlando is a love letter to vita sackville-west. etc. etc.

movies:

- persona (ingmar bergman) - thee movie. it’s Not explicitly stated, it’s feverish and desolate, but it’s both intensely homoerotic and a searing exploration of identity, existential dread etc.

- mulholland drive (david lynch) - again, unsettling vibes. not even gonna elaborate on it - it’s a david lynch - but it’s a must-see

- passing (rebecca hall) - a moody, poignant and beautiful adaptation of nella larsen’s novella (which is on my to-read list) about a relationship between two women

- the favourite (yorgos lanthimos) - recently rewatched with a friend, no notes. a bizarre, obsessive, thrilling story. rachel weisz is to die for in it

- kajillionaire (miranda july) - a tender and strange (affectionate) depiction of a bond between two women in unexpected circumstances

- thoroughbreds (cory finley) - what if murder was homoerotic, what if murder was a metaphor. in a way this is about every codependent friendship between girls that has ever veered towards obsession

- vita & virginia (chanya button) - a biopic abt virginia woolf and vita sackville-west specifically, people have very mixed feelings on it but i personally love it to bits.

tv shows:

- black sails - anne and max’s storyline in black sails is the most visceral and lovely wlw story i’ve seen in tv or film… there are specific tws i would heed for max’s arc in the first season which i’d be happy to elaborate on, but their story is beautiful

- first season of killing eve is still unmatched 😔 second is still quite nice, if not as good. third is hm. the ending scene has whimsy to it. never watch the fourth.

things my gf loves that i still haven’t read/seen:

- portrait of a lady on fire - i just know it will Get to me so i’m waiting for the right mood to watch it

- this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar & max gladstone - same reasoning!

things i’ve started but haven’t had a chance to finish yet:

- little blue encyclopaedia (for vivian) by hazel jane plante - a beautiful (but sad, and also about grieving, hence it’s taking me a while) trans wlw story. quaint and quiet and wistful.

[lonely-wandering-heart]

I read a lot of sapphic books so I am thinking of posting my reviews of them on here and I have very few people I can talk about them to since I’m not out.

Also sapphic book recs please!!!

[batwing00]

i feel like this would be a great place to ask, any good lesbian/sapphic books to read? ive always considered myself more of a nonfiction reader but i am on the brink of finishing “one last stop” by casey mcquiston and it has completely changed my mind. so im interested in nonfiction/history, romance, fiction of any kind, poetry, etc. send all the recs!!

[beeesworld]

[lesbianp1lled]

Some more recommendations for you:

Fletcher DeLancey's Caphenon series is a science fiction series bout three lesbians - one is the leader of an alien planet, the other two are in the army and crashland on the planet.

Silvia Shaw's Imperial Rand is about a lesbian historian is transported to another dimension of matriarchal warrior women when she acquires a mysterious amulet.

They are both series, but I have only read book 1 so that is all I can recommend. I wish there were more books with lesbians only. I remember there was a list going around about lesbian media a while ago, maybe you can find some more recommendations on it?

I really understand your frustation. It makes me so frustrated each time I pick up a "lesbian" book but it's about sapphic/bisexual/queer women instead. I don't want to read about men and it's annoying how much important men and male attraction is given in so called "sapphic" books.

thank youuuu

[maxalotlxl]

Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven

4 Stars.

Wow, It's been over a week since I finished it and I'm still unsure how to talk about what I thought of this book. First off, I don't know if I call this a horror it was more of a paranormal mystery. I loved it. I felt connected somehow to these characters, Catalina in this book was the most sweetest person ever and I wish to have her as my own best friend.

Also it was a beautiful sapphic story, with the trying to explain away romantic feelings for friends, but always wanting for them and their different characteristics constantly coming to mind in tense scenarios making it easier to get through them. *chefs kiss*

The climax to the mystery had me staying up way later than I originally wanted just because I needed to read one more page. Then another. Until I was done with the book.

The actual ending makes me wonder if maybe there will be another to this book?

Now the themes in this book were heavy, eating disorders and societies expectations on young people and their beauty, abuse and parental neglect. I found myself in how these characters explained their history and feelings on these topics as someone who struggles with mental health. So please be careful with the content warnings.

Finished 18th of October.

[positivewlwvibes]

and if yes pls respond/put in the tags with what you’re reading and whether or not you like it i need new books for the new year <3

[mysweetsinfulobsessions]

HIJAB BUTCH BLUES by LAMYA H.

Alright, changing it up a bit with my book stuff but this one hit home with me. The author draws very interesting parallels between stories in the Quran and her experiences as a gay muslim woman that are very interesting. And if you think you can’t be muslim and gay, or wear a hijab and be gay, or even tackle muslim culture and queerness in one, then you’re bound to be pleasantly proved wrong with this one.

[phaedraismyusername]

Happy International Lesbian Day! Here's some super brief book recs to celebrate

Books dealing with love, loss, longing and abandonment

This is How You Lose The Time War is a short but beautifully written epistolary novel between two agents on opposite sides of a time war as they slowly fall in love.

Our Wives Under the Sea is one of the most beautifully written debuts I've ever read about a woman whose wife comes home wrong after they thought she'd died at sea and how it feels to grieve the loss of someone who's still in your home.

Lucky Red is a western novel about a young girl working in a brothel who meets her first female gunslinger and falls head over heels for her, and the consequences that come with loving dangerous people.

Body horror galore

Camp Damascus is about a young woman living in a super conservative christian town built around the worlds most successful conversion camp and the horrors that are uncovered there when praying the gay away fails.

To Be Devoured is about a woman whose fascination with the local vultures turns into obsession and the urge to know what carrion tastes like overtakes her life and leads her down stranger and stranger paths.

Chlorine is about a girl whose entire life revolves around being a competitive swimmer, and how abuse, neglect, and obsession with being the best takes its toll on the young women caught up in these destructive cycles.

Flawed character studies

Big Swiss is about a woman who has a kitchen floor reset in her 40s, moves away and starts a new life as a transcriber for a sex therapist and becomes obsessed with one of his clients before inserting herself into this poor woman's life.

The Seep is a speculative sci-fi set in a future where there's been a quiet alien invasion that has given people the ability to make almost any changes to their own bodies and what that world feels like to someone who doesn't want to partake.

Milk Fed is about a woman in therapy who feels cut off from almost everything until she meets another woman who triggers in her a melding of sex, hunger, and religion and where that takes her. Huge trigger warnings for ED content. It gets tough, y'all.

Fantastical wlw books

Bitterthorn is an amalgamation of fairytales retold as a slow burn sapphic love story between a sad young girl from a cursed land and the evil witch who takes her as a companion in the latest of the generational sacrifices made to appease her.

All the Bad Apples may be set in contemporary Ireland but it is a fairytale following a young girl as she travels across the country looking for a sister she refuses to believe is dead and the people she meets along the way.

Gideon the Ninth needs no introduction on this site but for the sake of formatting - lesbian necromancers in space who find themselves in an isolated murder mystery plot. It's not a romance but it is a love story and this series will change your life if you let it.

Translated novels

Boulder is a short character study following a free spirited woman when she accidentally settles down with the woman she loves and how love and resentment can take up the same space in your chest when life doesn't turn out the way you hoped it would.

Notes of a Crocodile is a cult classic coming of age story about queer teens in Taipei in the 1980s. It was written in the 90s so please keep that in mind if you choose to read it.

Paradise Rot is about an international student studying in Australia and her growing obsession with her housemate as they share a space that allows no privacy. I've never read anything that feels stickier.

[usedgingertwinkhole]

Lumberjanes (2014) was very popular at the time, but I have learned might need further introduction a decade later. A very quirky summer camp series by the creator of Nimona among others, featuring trans and lesbian rep. Check it out!

[lonely-wandering-heart]

Even Though I Knew The End by C. L. Polk review

I personally loved this book, the mix of a sapphic romance with mystery and fantasy was amazing.

I really felt the characters emotions throughout the book making it easy to like her and feel on a slightly more personal level what she was going through.

I do think that for such a short story as some points the background / backstory of the characters / book was a little bit too much.

Having angels inhabit humans was such a cool idea that was quite fun to read and the description of seeing someone else in someone you loves body was brilliant.

The relationship between Helen and Edith did feel a little bit, fake, for lack of a better word. It felt like an old movie type relationship, (I know it is set in the 40s ish but it physically felt like they were reading a script on a set and not ‘real’ people in love).

However, the Novella was still a fun read with an interesting but slightly guessable ending. Reading a sapphic story set reasonably far in the past (a time when people were jailed for loving who they love) is a nice reminder that we have always been around and always will. The novella concluded with a nice bitter-sweet ending that really hit me in the feels.

[batwing00]

hello is there a lesbian pirate book????? pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplea

[wondereads]

Sapphic Book Recs for Pride 2024

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Adult, high fantasy, 4.28 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Adult, sci-fantasy, 4.29 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Young Adult, high fantasy, 3.55 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Young Adult, thriller, 4.27 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Crier's War by Nina Varela

Young Adult, high fantasy, 4.11 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

New Adult, low fantasy, 4.18 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Seven Devils by L. R. Lam and Elizabeth May

Adult, space opera, 4.03 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Malice by Heather Walter

Adult, fantasy romance, 3.97 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Beguiled by Cyla Panin

Young Adult, high fantasy, 3.48 star average (my rating: 4 stars)

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Adult, high fantasy, 4.21 star average (my rating: 3.5 stars)

Ash by Malinda Lo

Young Adult, fantasy romance, 3.57 star average (my rating: 3.5 stars)

We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson

New Adult, horror fantasy, 3.04 star average (my rating: 3 stars)

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Adult, historical fantasy, 3.66 star average

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Adult, historical fantasy, 4.13 star average

Flip the Script by Lyla Lee

Young Adult, contemporary romance, 3.64 star average

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

Adult, high fantasy, 4.07 star average

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Adult, historical fantasy, 4 star average

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 4.17 star average

Tink and Wendy by Kelly Ann Jacobson

Young Adult, low fantasy, 3.4 star average

The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera

Adult, high fantasy, 3.84 star average

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

Adult, horror sci-fi, 4.04 star average

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Young Adult, high fantasy, 3.65 star average

The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector

Adult, high fantasy, 4.23 star average

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Young Adult, historical romance, 4.28 star average

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Young Adult, dystopian sci-fi, 3.92 star average

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

Adult, high fantasy, 3.72 star average

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

Young Adult, contemporary fiction, 4.25 star average

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Adult, gothic fantasy, 3.83 star average

A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson

Adult, gothic fantasy, 4.12 star average

Seven Faceless Saints by M. K. Lobb

Young Adult, high fantasy, 3.5 star average

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 4.11 star average

The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling

Young Adult, paranormal romance, 3.64 star average

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Lin

Adult, mystery thriller, 3.63 star average

Once & Future by Cory McCarthy and A. R. Capetta

Young Adult, sci-fantasy, 3.57 star average

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Adult, high fantasy, 4.1 star average

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Young Adult, sci-fi horror, 3.48 star average

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfled

Young Adult, contemporary fiction/low fantasy, 3.69 star average

[beeesworld]

Sully Morales x Kiskeya Burgos

[cursedyuri]

i’ve pushed myself to read more sapphic literature this year, so here are some of my favs:

mistakes were made by meryl wilsner - spicy! age gap! secret relationship! this was one of the best books i read this year, i devoured it in just a few days. delicious smuttiness

sorry, bro by taleen voskuni - bi girls in love <3 super fun, lighthearted read with beautiful armenian representation.

we do what we do in the dark by michelle hart - this one is a lot heavier and, ahem, darker. another age gap and some angst but there’s a happy ending!

when katie met cassidy by camille perri - this one is about first-time sapphic revelations which i loved, really easy to read too.

one last stop by casey mcquiston - if you look past the occasional cringy millennial quip, this book is so fun and heartwarming. kinda sci-fi too?

honorable mention for the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon - not strictly dedicated to a sapphic love story (it’s a giant fantasy novel first), but so worth a read. one of the queen’s handmaidens is an undercover sorceress sent to protect her and they fall in loooove.