Interest Tags

Favorite Movies/Anime

• This is a lot. Back to the future1&2
• home alone 1&2
• Nightmare before Christmas
• How the Grinch stole Christmas
• breakfast club
• batman (all of them)
• harry potter
• wrong turn
• saw
• daybrakers
• xmen (all but the 3rd one)
• there is so much more but i dont feel like typeing right now.

Favorite TV Shows

• House
• fresh prince
• Walking dead
• Sailor moon
• Bayblade
• Pokemon
• Property Brothers
• Rituals
• Reba
• Rose Anne
• Tim the Tool man
• That 70s Show
• Mew Mew Power
• Power Rangers
• Video on Trail
• Ellen
• America's Top Modle
• Sweet 16
• Party Mamas
• Live @ 5
• Lego Ninjaica
• Dr. Phill
• Victorious
• Drake and Josh
• Winx Club
• Sky Dancrs
• Hello Kitty
• Lost
• full house
• johnny test
• elf

Favorite Reads

• Anne Rice
• The Hobet
• Zombie survival guide
• Walking Dead
• Harry Potter
• Lord of the fly's
• animal farm
• Justin Bieber Never Say Never
• Wish Bone
• Lord of The Rings
• Holy Bible

Favorite Music/Bands

• ♪♫♪♫ Emo: 100. Senses Fail-One Eight Seven
• From The Depths of Dreams(ep)
• 99. My Chemical Romance-Demolition Lovers
• I Brought You My Bullets
• You Brought Me Your Love
• 98. Sunny Day Real Estate-Theo B.
• LP2(Thanks to JTeel for pointing out my blasphemy) 97. The Lyndsay Diaries-Illustrations of Melbourne
• The Tops of Trees Are On Fire 96. Mae-Giving It Away
• Destination Beautiful 95. mewithoutYou-We Know Who Our Enemies Are
• [A--->B] Life 94. Saosin-Seven Years
• Translating TheName(ep) 93. Motion City Soundtrack-The Future Freaks Me Out
• I Am The Movie 92. Texas Is The Reason-Antique
• Demo 91. I Hate Myself-To A Husband at War
• Ten Songs 90. Fugazi-Bulldog Front
• 13 Songs 89. Something Corporate-Cavanaugh Park
• Leaving Through The Window 88. The Early November-Baby Blue
• The Room's Too Cold 87. Thursday-Dying In New Brunswick
• Waiting 86. Taking Back Sunday-Your're So Last Summer
• Tell All Your Friends 85. Say Anything-Every Man Has A Molly
• ...is a Real Boy 84. Jawbreaker-Fireman
• Dear You 83. Motion City Soundtrack-A-OK
• I Am The Movie 82. Texas Is The Reason-Back and To The Left
• Do You Know Who You Are? 81. Joshua Fit For Battle-This Is Me Getting Stronger
• To Bring Our Own End 80. Mineral-Palisade
• EndSeranading 79. The Fall of Troy-Whacko Jacko Steals The Elephant Man
• s/t 78. Copeland-Pin Your Wings
• In Motion 77. Jimmy Eat World-Hear You Me
• Bleed American 76. Off Minor-Staring Down The Barrel of Limited Options
• Inominate 75. mewithoutYou-January 1979
• Catch Us For The Foxes 74. Sunny Day Real Estate-Pheurton Skuerto
• Diary 73. Copeland-Pin Your Wings
• In Motion 72. The Promise Ring-Why Did We Ever Meet
• Nothing Feels Good 71. Funeral Diner-We Become Buried
• The Underdark 70. Mae-Someone Else's Arms
• The Everglow 69. The Get Up Kids-Martyr Me
• Guilt Show 68. Hot Cross-Between Miles and Minutes
• A New Set of Lungs 67. Anatomy of a Ghost-On To Morning Stars
• Evanesce 66. Mineral-Dolorosa
• The Power of Failing 65. Taking Back Sunday-New American Classic
• Where You Want To Be 64. Brand New-Failure By Design
• Your Favorite Weapon 63. Amanda Woodward-Le Temps du Dueil
• Le Decadance a la Decadance 62. Turning Point-Thursday
• 1988-1991 Discography 61. Dag Nasty-Under Your Influence
• Can I Say 60. Mineral-Love Letter Typewriter
• EndSerenading 59. Thursday-Standing On The Edge of Summer
• Full Collapse 58. Joshua Fit For Battle-Contents of An American History Class
• To Bring Our Own End 57. This Day Forward-Abandon The Abbreviated World
• In Response 56. Moss Icon-Guatemala. Lyburnum 55. Texas Is The Reason-A Jack With One Eye
• Do You Know Who You Are? 54. Fugazi-Nice New Outfit
• Steady Diet of Nothing 53. Saetia-Some Burdens Catch No Plauges
• A Retrospective 52. The Juliana Theory-Music Box Superhero
• Understand This is A Dream 51. The Get Up Kids-Holiday
• Something To Write Home About 50. Braid-Never Will Come For Us
• Frame and Canvas 49. Pretty Girls Make Graves-The Grandmother Wolf
• The New Romance 48. At The Drive In-Napoleon Solo
• In/Casino/Out 47. Thrice-Trust
• Illusion of Safety 46. Texas Is The Reason-A Jack With One Eye
• Do You Know Who You Are? 45. Coheed and Cambria-Cuts Marked In The March of Men
• In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3 42. Copeland-Take Care
• Beneath Medicine Tree 41. Funeral For a Friend-Juneau
• Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation 40. Taking Back Sunday-Great Romances of the 20th Century
• Tell All Your Friends 39. The Promise Ring-Somebody's Done For
• 30 Degrees Everywhere 38. Drive Like Jehu-Here Come The Rome Plows
• Yank Crime 37. Thursday-Understanding In A Car Crash
• Full Collapse 36. Motion City Soundtrack-My Favorite Accident
• I Am The Movie 35. Grade-Triumph and Tragedy
• |Under The Radar 34. Say Anything-Walk Through Hell
• Menora/Mejora 33. Turning Point-Behind These Walls
• 1988-1991 Discography 32. Jimmy Eat World-Lucky Denver Mint
• Clarity 31. Braid-Urbana's Too Dark
• Frame and Canvas 30. Jets To Brazil-Resitance is Futile
• Orange Rhyming Dictionary 29. Jimmy Eat World-23
• Futures 28. Rites of Spring-Deeper Than Inside
• End on End 27. Sunny Day Real Estate-Songs About an Angel
• Diary 26. I Hate Myself-Polar Bear Summer
• Ten Songs 25. Sunny Day Real Estate-Shadows
• Diary 24. Brand New-Soco Amaretto Lime
• Your Favorite Weapon 23. Embrace-Can't Forgive
• Self Titled 22. Mineral-Love Letter Typewriter
• EndSerenading 21. Thursday-This Side of Brightness
• Waiting 20. The Promise Ring-Everywhere in Denver
• 30 Degrees Everywhere 19. Jimmy Eat World-Goodbye Sky Harbor
• Clarity 18. Hoover-Pretender
• Lurid Traversal of Rte. 7 17. At The Drive In-Invalid Litter Dept.
• Relationship of Command 16. Jets To Brazil-Cat Heaven
• Perfecting Loneliness 15. Hoover-Regulator Watts
• Lurid Taversal of Rte. 7 14. Texas is the Reason-Nickel Wound
• Do You Know Who You Are? 13. Sunny Day Real Estate-Every Shining Time You Arrive
• How It Feels To Be Something On 12. Rites of Spring-Hidden Wheel
• End on End 11. Fugazi-Place
• End Hits 10. Rival Schools-Used for Glue
• United By Fate 9. Saetia-An Open Letter
• A Retrospective 8. At The Drive In-One Armed Scissor
• Relationship of Command 7. Fugazi-Break
• End Hits 6. Drive Like Jehu-Do You Compute?
• Yank Crime 5. Jets To Brazil-You're Having the Time of My Life. Four Cornered Night 4. Sunny Day Real Estate-Killed By An Angel
• LP2 3. The Juliana Theory-August In Bethany
• Understand This is A Dream 2. Rites of Spring-For Want Of
• End on End 1. Fugazi-Waiting Room
• 13 Songs 00. Rob Sodomy-Shane I Love You Punk! A Day To Remember A Loss For Words Alkaline Trio All The All-American Rejects All Time Low Allister Allstar Weekend Amber Pacific American Hi-Fi The Aquabats[ Army of Freshmen The Ataris The Audition Audio Karate Autopilot Off Avril Lavigne Bayside Beat Crusaders Beatnik Termites Better Luck Next Time Big Drill Car Blink-182 Bodyjar Boris The Sprinkler Bowling for Soup Box Car Racer The Boys Boys Like Girls Bracket Brand New Busted Buzzcocks The Cab Cartel Chasing Morgan Chixdiggit The Copyrights Count the Stars Crash Romeo Crimpshrine Cub Daggermouth The Dangerous Summer David Crowder Band The Dead Milkmen Descendents The Donnas Driving East Dum Dums Eleventyseven Elliot Minor The Ergs! Eve 6 Even in Blackouts Everyday Sunday Faber Drive Face to Face Fall Out Boy Farewell Flatcat Fenix Fight Fair Finley Fireworks Flatfoot FM Static Fonzie Forever The Sickest Kids Four Year Strong Freshman 15[citation needed] From First to last Generation X The Get Up Kids Ghoti Hook Go Betty Go Glop Goldfinger Good Charlotte Goodnight Nurse Green Day Groovie Ghoulies Guttermouth Hagfish Halifax Hangnai Harvey Danger Hawk Nelson Hawthorne Heights Hedley Hey Monday Hidden in Plain View The Hi-Fives The High Court The Higher The Hippos Hit the Lights Home Grown House of Heroes Houston Calls Humble Beginnings The Huntingtons Hüsker Dü Ivoryline The Jam Jawbreaker June Just Surrender Kids in the Way Kiros Kisschasy Koopa Left Front Tir The Leftovers The Lemonheads Lifesavors The Lillingtons Lit Lola Ray Lorene Drive Love You to Death Lucky Lucky Boys Confusion Ludo Lustra Mach Pelican Madcap Magnapop The Maine Man Overboard Manges Marianas Trench Mayday Parade McFly The McRackins Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Melody Fall Mest The Methadones Midtown Millencolin Motion City Soundtrack The Movielife The Mr. T Experience The Muffs MxPx Nerf Herder The New Cities New Found Glory New Years Day No Use for a Name NOFX Noise By Numbers NoWayOut[261] Not By Choice October Fall The Offspring Operation Ivy Orange Over It Paramore Page 44 Panda Panic! at the Disco Patent Pending Pierce the Veil Permanent Me Philmont Pointed Sticks Poor Old Lu Punchbuggy Punchline The Queers Quietdrive Rancid Ramones Red City Radio Reggie and the Full Effect Relient K The Reunion Show Riddlin' Kids Rookie Of The Year Rudi Rufio Run Kid Run Saves the Day Say Anything Scenes from a Movie Screeching Weasel Scuba Dice Set Your Goals Shook Ones Short Stack Showoff Simple Plan Slick Shoes Social Distortion Something Corporate Son of Dork Southcott The Soviettes Sparks the Rescue Spazzys Split Habit SR-71 Stars Don't Fall The Starting Line Stellar Kart Stereos The Story So Far Student Rick Sum 41 Superman Is Dead The Summer Obsession Super s Karamelom Surf Punks Sweet Bab The Swellers Taking Back Sunday Teen Idols Teenage Bottlerocket Ten Second Epic Terrible Things There for Tomorrow These Kids Wear Crowns This Century This Time Next Year Tilt Title Fight Tonight Alive Transit The Travoltas Treble Charger Twenty Twenty The Friday Night Boys Undercover The Undertones The Unlovables Unwritten Law The Vandals Vanilla Sky Verona Grove Wavves Wheatus Wakefield We Are the In Crowd The Wedding Weezer We the Kings The Wonder Years You Me at Six Yellowcard Zatopeks Zebrahead Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer asaur
• amy can't fly
• a sun set diary
• breath electric
• 1-800-zombie
• never shout never
• blood on the dance floor
• black vial brides
• breath Carolina
• cute is what we aim for
• all time low
• finch
• stieros
• faibber drive
• hedley
• fly leafe
• the killers
• 3 doors down
• the johnstones
• sunshine realastate
• kimya dawson
• greenday
• butch walker
• marvelous 3
• mika
• AFI
• jeffree star
• pogo
• thrice
• skillet
• 3oh3
• family force 5
• my chemical romance
• blink 182
• the gitz
• nickel back
• city of color
• owl city
• city of caterpillars
• matchbook romance
• moss icon
• rites of spring
• the cure
• the used
• the rocket summer
• Avril Lavinie
• me in motion
• bread of stones
• latter reign
• news boys
• tomorrows last hero
• senses fail
• hearts that hate
• lady gaga
• Clip the Apex
• Neil Perry
• Ape s**t
• The Khayembii Communique
• I Would Set Myself on Fire For You
• Herbrightskies
• under oath
• P!ink
• soulja boi
• dave matthews
• the hansons
• kayous
• bob marley
• ill Scarlett
• fall out boy
• kuttless
• good charlotte
• the steeve miller band
• jewl
• rancid
• eliton john
• summ41
• david bowie
• queen
• from black to white
• seven dust
• rise agents
• acdc
• spice girls
• lodestar
• Mineral
• Sense Field
• Texas
• Is The Reason
• Jimmy Eat World
• Dashboard Confessional
• Death Cab for Cutie
• Straylight Run
• cursive
• Patrick Wolf
• Beep Beep
• North Of America
• The Driveway
• Cansei de Ser Sexy
• Elliott Smith
• The Summer Obsession
• The Scene Aesthetic
• Bring me the horizon
• Circle Takes the Square
• From first to last
• Saosin
• A day to remember
• Thursday
• Funeral for a friend
• Enter Shikari
• Emanuel
• LoveHateHero
• Jawbreaker
• NOFX
• Billy Talent
• Dirty Little Monkey
• Within Temptation
• Bullet for my Valentine
• Staind
• NightWish
• Anathema
• Avenged sevenfold
• Otep
• Cradle of Filth
• Slipknot
• Hatebreed
• Chimaira
• System Of A Down
• HIM
• Rhapsody of Fire
• Panic! @ the disco
• the beatals
• all american rejects
• the promise ring
• takeing back sunday
• weezer
• the emotions
• the doors
• the atomic roisters
• flash
• back street boys
• beonsay
• onelinedrawn
• the anniversary
• hinder
• brand new
• evenessence
• seven day slumber
• antcey pants
• The Smiths
• The Get-Up Kids
• Bright Eyes
• Saves The Day
• jew
• emery
• saosin
• disciple
• never say never
• k'ammn
• lady gaga
• paramore
• stereos
• roit
• hello kelly
• hello goodbye
• pretty in stereos
• bright lights
• jack off Jill
• Atalanta takes states
• bionic ghost kidz
• J-bigger
• millionaires
• medic droid
• pony pony run run
• scene kids
• teen hearts
• space cow boy
• cascada
• areo drone
• ne-yo
• killers
• broken cyde
• kik da puppy
• lolli dolli
• cloth-set monster
• hinder
• black vail brides
• never shout never
• justin bieber
• joel plasket
• blind mellon
• rob zombie
• acdc
• grand theft bus

Hobbies/Interests

• Music
• Painting
• Colouring
• Sleeping
• Drugs
• Playing the Ukulele
• Drums
• Singing
• Eating
• Gaia
• Computer Games
• Video Games
• Finding new ways to smoke dope
• Making Weed Food
• Movies
• Mind ********
• Making Friends
• salsa
• Google
• pie
• cute
• zebras
• Barbie
• cats
• hello kitty
• music
• porn
• facebook
• dinos
• animals
• movies
• video games
• bambie
• fake meat
• p***s
• whinny the pooh
• mom
• dad
• family
• dresses
• hair
• make up wine (general prefence: old-style
• structured
• European reds
• haughty champagnes
• unoaked white quaffers for summer. I don't like American wine. Don't tell me it's just because I haven't met the right one yet; I've tried everything from Opus One to stuff made in Missouri. I don't like it.) no budget: - bordeaux: Chateau Margaux
• 1977 ('83 was good
• too
• and '73
• and...) - champagne: Krug
• 1968 (any Krug
• really) some budget - Pauillac: Haut Batailley
• 1990 - Ribera Del Duero: Cims
• 1990 (? I forget the vintage exactly...) - Barbaresco: Fontanabianca
• 1996 - Bollinger (various vintages) - various amontillados (the most exciting sherry
• in my opinion) - various Armagnacs (so much more interesting than most cognac) - various old (forty years is good) tawny ports - absinthe (the good stuff is expensive
• but worth it
• because it's not very bitter
• and it's a bit like a very small hit of opium--very smoothing
• but with none of the urge to giggle or eat rubbish that you get from
• say
• hash; and
• even better
• it's legal) very reasonable budget - champagne: Thierry Triolet - methode ancestrale: Cerdon du Bugey (it's sweet--very nice as a summer dessert wine) - cremant: Lucien Albrecht - rioja: Solar Viejo Reserva
• 1998 - nebbiolo: Langhe
• 2004 - white bordeaux: various - a good summer quaffer (it's a Spanish sauvignon blanc): A�oranza
• 2004 chocolate (general preference: I'm old-fashioned when it comes to chocolate; bar milk chocolate is better than dark
• truffles are better than any other chocolates) - Belgian milk chocolate (just itself
• in a bar
• nothing in it
• not infused with any new-fangled flavours) - Butler's Irish Chocolate truffles - Teuscher Champagne truffles - Thornton's truffles - Godiva truffles beer (general preference: bitters for winter
• and pilsners for summer. I don't like American beer
• and don't try to tell me it's just because I haven't met the right one yet; I've tried hundreds: I don't like it. End of story.) winter - Fuller's ESB - Bass - Guinness summer - Oranjeboom - Lindeboom - Stella Artois - Corona (but
• oh
• only if it's fresh--hate that skunky smell when you open the oxidised stuff) restaurant food expensive: foie gras beluga or sevruga caviar (don't mind the blinis-with-creme fraiche or the toast-with-chopped-egg version; love it on and in other things
• too; it's all good) duck venison rabbit inexpensive: Indian: lamb vindaloo
• chicken tikka Thai: larb
• chicken and limegrass soup Greek: roast lamb
• lovely Greek potatoes Italian: almost anything made with un-cured meat and without cheese Mexican: steak fajitas
• with guacamole instead of sour cream and cheese American: fish (tuna
• salmon
• etc.) pub food fish and chips shepherd's pie restaurants (Seattle) fine dining: Rover's
• Harvest Vine (Madison Valley) takeaway: Ta-Won Thai (Fremont)
• Pagliacci (various) India Cuisine (Wallingford) pub: Murphy's (Wallingford) home food general preferences: whole grains (pasta
• rice
• bread)
• very fresh veggies
• olive oil rather than butter for cooking
• very little dairy
• absolutely no cheese (give me cheese and some food colouring and I will redecorate your room) - my vegetarian chili
• with homemade coleslaw and wholemeal pita bread - Kelley's beef marrow stoup (Kelley calls it soup
• I call it stew; "stoup" is our compromise) - whole meal bread with Danish butter (Lurpak) - salad (mixed greens
• avocado
• bean sprouts
• carrots
• chickpeas
• with our special tofu and basil dressing
• yum) - rice and oat flour banana raisin muffins - corned beef hash - portuguese soup (lingui�a
• kale
• potatoes
• carrots
• onion
• kidney beans) - spaghetti bolognese (not from a jar
• homemade) - potato and parnsip soup (with just a hint of cream) - roast chicken
• roast lamb
• roast beef
• roast pork
• roast...well
• anything (K. always does this--I don't have much patience for baking and roasting
• i.e. stuff you have to hover over; I specialise in what in our household we call sloppy glop: stews
• casseroles
• soups) - brightly coloured stir-fry with brown rice - cr�me brul�e (K. makes this) - chocolate cloud cake (I make this) - pavlova (K. makes this
• usually with little mandarin orange segments
• drool) tea and coffee This will have to be a paragraph rather than a list because it's so contextual. In the morning and afternoons
• at home
• I drink Irish Breakfast tea
• with a dab of 2% (semi-skimmed) milk. At night it's de-caf English Breakfast
• again with milk. In both cases it's teabags made by Stash. But if we're staying at a lovely hotel e.g. the Empress in Victoria
• I like drinking a big pot of proper tea i.e. made with loose leaves
• Assam is nice
• and Irish Breakfast blend--I don't much care for the flavoured things like Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong. Sometimes
• if I'm feeling all peaceful (e.g. after yoga) I like green tea or white tea. Sometimes if I'm feeling unwell I like apple tea. After a serious meal I like a shot of espresso (I still miss smoking
• and never more than after
• er
• fine things of the body...). Every now and again
• e.g. after a particularly good lunch out somewhere
• I'll have a latte (a short or a double tall
• full cream milk and very definitely caff). films My personal preference is for films where s**t blows up and people whack each other's heads off with swords. I can't be doing with Serious Films about Anguished People. - Die Hard (oh
• this is a practically perfect film) - Alien and Aliens (though they're pretty different I really like them both) - The Lord of the Rings trilogy - Indiana Jones films - Spiderman II (the first was okay
• but the second was better) - Superman (Christopher Reeve) I
• II (the later ones were awful; I haven't seen the Routh one yet; I expect I'll like it) - X-Men II (like Spiderman
• the first was okay
• but the second better; I haven't seen III yet
• but I will
• you can be sure of that) - animated films with animals
• including early Disney (the Aristocats
• Jungle Book) and Pixar and Dreamworks stuff (Toystory
• Ice Age
• etc.)
• not so keen on people stuff e.g. Polar Express and Sleeping Beauty and Shrek). I'm looking forward to Cars
• and Beyond the Hedge - Galaxy Quest (this is a lovely film: funny
• warm
• bad guys get killed
• fans are heroes
• excellent) - the early Star Wars trilogy - some nicely done lesbian stuff: High Art
• Desert Hearts
• Emmanuel (softest of soft porn
• so sue me; it was lovely for the teenage me) - old Errol Flynn swashbucklers: Captain Blood
• The Seahawkes
• Robin Hood - old Westerns: Shane
• High Noon
• Stagecouch
• They Died with Their Boots On
• etc. - Pirates of the Caribbean - a film I absolutely loathed: American Beauty - a film I found hilarious but which Kelley absolutely loathed: Something About Mary (she saw me giggling helplessly at the cripple gags and her expression was
• "I thought I knew you
• " and then she left the room) TV Okay
• with my TV preferences there is simply no hiding what a total geek I am. love it - Buffy - Firefly - Battlestar Galactica (the Sci-Fi Channel series) - The O.C. (first couple of seasons) - Alien Nation - The West Wing (they went through a boring phase
• there
• but then pulled it out; I'm sorry it's over) - Star Trek: the original series and TNG - Babylon 5 (though
• oh
• I could cheerfully strangle Claudia Christian for leaving and therefore screwing up the whole arc) - Antiques Roadshow - educational programming about history (well
• pre-history
• ancient history
• and early medievel history--basically
• anything before any kind of Parliament) and science (particularly biology
• psychology
• anthropology and geology--never much cared about astronomy or the more abstruse reaches of chemistry or maths) loathe it: - any "reality TV" (oh
• okay
• I made an exception a few years ago for Surf Girls
• because
• hey
• they were mostly naked most of the time; as Kelley points out
• when it comes to some things I am very predictable ) - game shows - teen series (well
• I liked the first couple of years of The OC but that was because I knew there were lesbians coming up) - ordinary stuff (I never understood the appeal of Seinfeld or Ellen) Thirty or Forty Excellent Books A while ago
• I started talking about the Lesbian Canon with listmembers of my Yahoo group and I came to the conclusion that I don't like canons; I don't like the notion of saying
• Hey
• this is what has influenced lesbian culture and if you don't read these books you don't know lesbian culture. But I started thinking of good books
• books that helped make me who I am
• or which I'm glad I didn't miss
• or which have influenced my writing in some way--a personal canon
• if you like. It's mostly fiction
• or at least fictionalised history and memoir
• with some poetry
• because although non-fiction informs me
• it rarely really moves me and rarely
• therefore
• changes me. Included on this list
• then
• are only those books I've seriously enjoyed. This is definitely not po-faced educational reading (at least from my perspective). It starts with lesbian books because that's how the discussion was originally framed. � Dykes to Watch Out For
• by Alison Bechdel (comic strip covering close to twenty years
• now
• of dyke life; if you plan to read this
• begin at the beginning--there are ten or more collections
• I think--and you'll end up with a very clear notion of the history of a certain kind of lesbian community in the US and--with slight differences--UK) � Patience and Sarah (earlier title=The Two of Us) by Isabel Miller (pen name of Alma Routsong)
• lovely romance set in 19th C. America
• full of hardship and love and stubborness. I wept shamelessly (in a cathartic way) thoughout the last chapter. � Olivia
• by Olivia (real name: Dorothy Bussy)
• the semi-autobiographical tale of an English girl sent to a French (I think) finishing school; full of yearnings
• largely unspoken and delicious � Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
• by Audre Lorde (yeah
• memoir is non-fiction
• I know
• but it was my first brush with African American dykeness and I admired Lorde's clear voice) � Fire From Heaven
• by Mary Renault (real name=Mary Challons) (yeah
• I know
• it's about gay boys
• but this is her best; Alexander and Hephaistion's relationship felt familiar and thrilling. I read this book and thought
• If I could write a book as this one day
• I'll know I haven't wasted my life) � (Extra)Ordinary People (short science fiction by Joanna Russ
• with what to me is probably the most fun hey-gender-is-a-game story ever) � Orlando
• by Virginia Woolf (the only fiction of Woolf's I've read and enjoyed--her non-fiction is great--the story of a woman who is a man and a woman and a man etc. and yet manages to remains her(him)self throughout) � Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
• by Jeannette Winterson (a first novel
• and
• in my opinion
• her best--unselfconscious
• committed
• touching
• funny
• and full of Northern English dykeness
• which I'd never seen written about at book-length before) � A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You
• by Amy Bloom (short fiction about love between various people in various situations--much of it lesbian
• but not all) � The Needle on Full
• Caroline Forbes (short science fiction
• written very much from the late 70s/early 80s lesbian feminist milieu and extrapolated therefrom--but wrenching
• in parts
• and fun in others
• and much better written than
• er
• certain US dyke sf of the time) � The Watchtower
• Elizabeth A. Lynn (fantasy
• but no magic
• unless you call love and aikido magic; I think this book influenced the way I write about bodies in the real world; it certainly paved the way for me to learn aikido a few years later) � Benefits
• Zoe Fairburns (this was a very scary book when I read it
• in the early 80s
• much scarier and more realistic than
• say
• The Handmaid's Tale
• but less grim
• too; I enjoyed the book and will reread it one day) � Desert of the Heart
• Jane Rule (this was probably the first Real Fiction by and about a lesbian that I ever read; it made me sit up and think
• "Okay
• this is the goal
• then"--also it has a happy ending) � Trash
• Dorothy Allison (talk about emotionally naked. Wow. As I read I kept thinking
• You can *do* that in fiction?? you're *allowed*?? A good lesson in the outlawry required to Really Go There in writing.) � Moll Cutpurse
• by Ellen Galford (pure fun
• the story of Moll Cutpurse--rogue
• dyke
• slapstick humourist in the sixteenth century: there's love
• gypsies
• theatre
• plague
• and lots of high jinks--and nicely written throughout) � Hothead Paisan
• by Diane DiMassa (angry
• funny
• true
• frightening
• wicked
• delicious comic book about a dyke--and her cat
• Chicken--who has a caffeine-fuelled rage against the world) � Les Gu�rill�res
• Monique Wittig (the first theory-as-fiction I'd read
• and it worked--it changed my understanding of Normal and Other
• and alerted me to the existence of a whole body of theoretical work I'd never suspected) � Woman on the Edge of Time
• Marge Piercy (a sexually friendly utopian novel--or not
• depending on your POV; this was the first Buffy-is-really-in-the asylum novel I ever read) � Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
• a collection of science fiction stories by James Tipree Jr (aka Raccona Sheldon
• real name=Alice Sheldon; some of these pieces will rip your heart out; some will make you think; some will help you see the world anew. Tiptree does love and science
• dire warnings and the real world in equal measure
• and she has no peer.) � Walk to the End of the World
• and Motherlines
• by Suzy Mckee Charnas (all about dykes and gay boys by an ostensibly straight writer--but she gets it right. I couldn't have written AMMONITE if this book
• and work by Tiptree and Le Guin and Russ
• hadn't come first; it's unsettling
• not to say terrible in places
• but not claustrophobic like Atwood's dystopia
• and a ripping good read) � Twilight Girls
• by Paula Christian (two novels about lesbian lurve in the 50s or 60s
• poignant and anguished in that delicious thank-god-it's-not-me way) � The Work of a Common Woman
• by Judy Grahn (I loved the strength of this poetry
• along with the acknowledgement of the possibility of frailty) � The Dialectic of Sex
• by Shulamith Firestone (non-fiction; I've no idea how relevent it would be today
• it's one of the few books on this list I haven't reread
• but it was an early
• elegant
• impassioned and intellectually rigourous--or at least appeared that way to me--headlock forcing me to pay attention to feminism and its underpinnings) � New and Selected Poems
• by Mary Oliver (she writes about nature
• and her response to it
• with awe that inspires awe in me; almost as good as walk in the woods) � My �ntonia
• by Willa Cather (I understood instantly that though this novel of the nineteenth century prairie was ostensibly narrated by a man it was a lesbian novel through and through; it made me yearn for...something
• I still don't know what) � Six of One
• by Rita Mae Brown (this
• I think
• is RMB's best novel--funny (like Florence King
• but without the nastiness) and mature
• with a plot
• and acknowledgement that not all dykes are the same) � E.M. Forster's short fiction (yeah
• gay--and pretty subtextual at that--but it felt like the things I'd felt
• it meant something
• and "The Machine Stops" is an excellent SF cautionary tale on the dangers of shutting out the real world) � Sappho (I've read a zillion versions of these poetry fragments and prefer Mary Bernard's translation; good poetry is like climbing a mountain
• or reaching that ecstatic part of a hymn as the sun is setting and pouring through the stained glass window: it's like understanding the entire world at once
• like swallowing god) � Lord of the Rings
• by J.R.R. Tolkien (the first novel I remember carrying even to the toilet: I wouldn't let it go until it was done; the first novel about which I remember thinking
• "Now if I could do *this*...") � Aubrey/Maturin novels
• by Patrick O'Brian (the books about which I currently think
• "Now if I could do *this*..."
• if you intend to read these
• please start at the beginning with Master and Commander) � the OED (the fount of everything) � Kindred
• by Octavia butler (this is the novel that taught me most
• taught me viscerally
• about race in America--and
• by extension
• the UK; read it) � Sir John Masefield's poetry
• various sagas
• and Homer (I'm a wide-screen kinda gel
• love those epics and exotics
• and this is where I learnt that love) � She
• by Rider Haggard (the next step in exotic adventure
• and
• oh
• I wanted Ayesha
• I wanted her
• all that power and loveliness
• and she was rich
• too) � Brazzaville Beach
• William Boyd (the book that taught me you could ******** with time and POV; Slow River would not exist without this novel) � The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• by Edward Gibbon (I read this when I was ten--most of it went over my head
• of course
• but when I was done I had begun to grope my way towards and understanding of History and how it worked) � A Shortened History of England
• by G. H. Trevelyan (this history was written in the 40s
• way before academics got so careful they wouldn't speculate at all--it's conversational
• stirring
• brilliantly written and
• even though I know parts of it are wrong--moulded my notion of the formation of my native land) � The Exile Waiting
• and Dreamsnake
• by Vonda N. McIntyre (her first two novels
• the ones that showed me real SF could have girls in and not be about romance) � The Golden Strangers
• by Henry Treece--anything by Treece
• really
• I just picked this one at random (his novels are set in England in times past
• anything from the bronze age to the Vikings; he writes of woad and wood
• mist and menhirs; he eschews the Great Man view of history for scrappy
• gritty realism that
• at the same time
• feels majestic and mystical; from Treece I first learnt that history happened--and is happening now--to real people) � The Crystal Cave
• by Mary Stewart (this novel about the formation of Merlin is still one of the best historical-with-fantasy fictions I've ever read; I can smell it
• see it
• taste it
• understand the whys and hows; fabulous) � Asterix the Gaul
• by Goscinny and Uderzo--trans. by Anthea Bell
• though sometimes I read the French (hey
• it's a comic
• it's not hard... pets � cats � large
• well-trained
• smart
• clean
• quiet dogs (e.g. German Shepherd
• Irish Wolfhound
• large mutts--but if it jumps
• if it yaps
• if it smells
• throw it in the tree-chipper) � koi (outside
• in a pond) the great outdoors I'm English
• I like countryside
• not wilderness. The Badlands and mesas and desert canyons of North America are
• to me
• just bare rock: ugly and inimical. Real nature is wood and stream
• fenland and shoreline
• moor and dell. I like silence
• broken by natural sounds: water
• birds. Not dogs
• can't stand the sound of dogs barking. I like temperate climate
• somewhere between 45 and 75. art I like sculpture and paintings
• but don't much care for mobiles or "installations." If I were Empress of the Universe I'd own a few Tang animals
• a bunch of very good paintings (of modern stuff I like April Gornick
• Lu Jian Jun and desperately loathe garbage like Damien Hirst)
• several Roman or Etruscan mosaics
• and maybe one or two fabulous woven textiles (tapestries--and I mean tapestry
• not embroidery--and carpets).