Welcome 📚
The idea behind my newsletter/blog/project is to help you discover under-known/overlooked literary fiction. I’m aiming to create a sort of canon of beautifully written, thoughtful books as an alternative to the standard Western (heteronormative) canon.
What type of literature do I cover? 📚
My project especially emphasis lesbian and translation literature. Much of the literature I cover is historical as well as modern. For the translated works, there’s are authors and works from around the global in here and in my real-life library, but especially French and South Asian works. Most crucially, my project aims to compile the most complete, inclusive list of literature by lesbian ⚢ women authors1.
My reviews go beyond the books I read. I include biographies and deeper analysis of the lesbian authors, and consider historical context in my reviews/essays. Most of my reviews/essays include philosophical and/or social2 and political commentary, especially of the social justice variety. I do not shy away from difficult subjects such as racism or the frequency of sexual assault, and I back my writing with data and information. I welcome civil discourse that’s thoughtful, evidence-based, and reasoned if you disagree with my opinion(s).
I do not include genre fiction my “alternate canon” as that belongs in its own canon(s).
Some authors covered and not covered here 📚
My favorite authors include Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Yasunari Kawabata, Yashpal, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Annie Ernaux, Violette Leduc, and Arundhati Roy.
I often dislike popular writings. That includes very popular authors (Sally Rooney and Donna Tartt particularly rankle), and very popular posts here (usually, the ones the app recommends to me are not fact-checked, and are controversial takes that spread misinformation, which is a disservice to the world writ large). My saying so might feel judgmental to someone who appreciates those; my intent is simply to say I don’t cover them here nor do I enjoy them, which may give a prospective reader insight into whether my project would be interesting to them.
Posting style and frequency 📚
I share several reviews and/or essays per week. Each is about four-to-twelve minute read time. I usually write them relatively fast: in one sitting and I do not edit prior to publication, and I’m typo-prone. I occasionally branch out into favorite artists, such as Romaine Brooks, other intellectual pursuits, or tie literature to my life and learnings. I drink a lot of very good tea, mostly aged puerh, and I’ll sometimes include photos my tea and teaware as well as book photos. If you’re curious about a book or tea, feel free to message me.
Subscriptions are always appreciated :)
Stay up-to-date
Never miss an update—every new post is sent directly to your email inbox.
I include bisexual women authors, eg, Djuna Barnes and Violette Leduc, who have significant relationships with women and/or identify strongly as women-who-love-women in my definition of “lesbian author”. As well, there is a dearth of non-Western lesbian women literature being written and/or published.
This includes socio-economic class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, Western/global majority.
