"Trip Sheets"

by Ellen Hawley
The publisher's description of "Trip Sheets" as "funny" does a disservice to a thoughtful, realistic novel about desire and uncertainty. When Cath Rahven decides to stop sleeping with men,

Like Bread on the Seder Plate"

by Rebecca Alpert
Not since "Nice Jewish Girls" by Evelyn Torton Beck and  "Twice Blessed" by Andy Rose and Christie Balka has a book so thoughtfully

she hopes that her other meaningless habits will fall away too, and that she can be cleansed of everything she didn't consciously choose. She longs for "an antidote to her entire history"; then she will be able to stop driving cabs and concentrate on writing her mystery novel, her main link with her dying father. This exhilarating sense of starting over fades almost as soon as she begins to sleep with women--one after another, randomly chosen, just like the men--and she is left feeling deflated. What finally pushes Cath into a promising new life won't be what she expects. An accomplished first novel, "Trip Sheets" is dryly humorous and refuses to provide easy answers to its protagonist's dilemma.
Paperback - 200 pages 1 Ed edition (October 1998) Milkweed Editions; ISBN: 1571310215 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.77 x 8.45 x 5.44

explored the difficult balance of living as both a Jew and a lesbian. The title, "Like Bread on the Seder Plate," refers to a tradition that began in the 1980s among Jewish lesbians, whereby they placed a piece of leavened bread on the Seder plate at Passover to evoke their feelings of isolation from Jewish tradition. As one of the first women to be ordained as a rabbi, author Rebecca Alpert asserts a visible place for lesbians within Judaism, reinterpreting the homophobic strictures imposed by the Torah to construct a framework in which Jewish lesbians can feel included and accepted. A brave, accessible, and important book, "Like Bread on the Seder Plate" is sure to inspire many Jewish lesbians to reclaim a cultural and religious life that previously excluded them. --K.L.B.
Hardcover - 224 pages (May 1997) Columbia Univ Pr;
ISBN: 0231096607 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.67 x 9.18 x 6.19
Other Editions: Paperback

"Reel Time"

by Julia Willis
Laney Turner can't say no to women. When her therapist,Roxanne, asks her out, she reluctantly agrees, and when Roxanne deserts her for another woman, Laney lets her strange new housemates send her

Family Outing

From Chastity Bono, daughter of Sonny and Cher, heroine of the gay community, comes the first comprehensive guide to the coming-out process, written from the perspective of both

on a series of disastrous blind dates--one of which ends abruptly when her date is led away in handcuffs by the police.  But no one will introduce her to the woman she really wants to meet the redheaded, dangerous-looking femme fatale who sings for the band Girl Group.  Everyone, it seems, has a hidden past with lovely Ena. Will Laney get her girl?  And if she does, will the mystery woman prove to be another disappointment?  Julia Willis's comedy gets off to a slow start but picks up speed midway, when Laney and her flame-haired paramour begin to strike sparks off each other. "Reel Time" is a well-written first novel, with an unusually rich background of friends and events.
Paperback - 300 pages (September 1998) Alyson Pubns;
ISBN: 1555834515 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.86 x 7.96 x 5.21

OZLICS is sourced and published by Emir Desktop Publishing

gays and lesbians and their parents.
Hardcover - 259 pages 1 edition (October 1998)
Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0316102334
Dimensions (in inches): 0.93 x 9.48 x 6.30

"Empty Without You"

by Rodger Streitmatter
In June 1932, pioneering newswoman Lorena Hickok was assigned to FDR's presidential campaign by the Associated Press. To her surprise, she found Eleanor Roosevelt taking special notice of her. As their friendship grew, Hickok's devotion to the future first lady so overcame her

"Car Maintenance, Explosives, and Love"

edited by Susan Hawthorne, Cathie Dunsford, and Susan Sayer
American lesbians should all be looking further west and south, if this Australian anthology is any indication of theoverall quality of lesbian writing Down Under. The title is drawn from a dramatic

scruples that she sent drafts of her articles to the head of Roosevelt's campaign for approval.  After the election, the women began the passionate correspondence--cheerful and diary-like on Eleanor's side, and stormy on Lorena's--presented here. As suggestive as these letters seemed when they came to light in 1978, they don't demonstrate conclusively whether the women had a sexual affair, only that they became, for three or four years, each other's "dearest." They kissed and caressed each other and dreamt of a life together away from Washington. What is more significant is that these years marked Eleanor Roosevelt's transformation from a supportive wife to an independent political force, and the letters show Hickok's advice and encouragement to be essential to that transformation. Only with Hickok's support did the first lady gain confidence for her remarkable achievements in race relations and expanded roles for women. Good footnotes supplement the text, but the bland introductory notes can be skipped in favor of the women's story in their own words.
Hardcover - 304 pages (October 1998)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684849283 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.23 x 9.60 x 6.70

monologue by Donna Jackson in which a lesbian mechanic praises cars for their simplicity (compared with the greasy mess of relationships). One of the strengths of this collection is its comprehensiveness; without sacrificing a certain wildness that must have been one of the editorial requirements, it includes works from several genres, and from writers of all backgrounds and ages. The best story may be Susan Sayer's odd family history, "Xanthippe," a cross between the fiction of Angela Carter and Kathryn Davis, with its startling images (her father is described as being "as long-tongued as Granny, and she could lick her own eye") and rude, playful language. Even the less successful pieces here give the sense of being starting points for stronger work rather than dead ends. It's an unusually impressive collection, full of experiment and promise. --Regina Marler
Paperback - 300 pages (March 1998)
Spinifex Pr; ISBN: 1875559620 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x 7.86 x 5.16

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