Books recs?

[effex]

A couple months ago I was making noise about starting a local Dallas bookclub - had the blog up, the flyers made, the books picked out, and then it just kind of... fizzled. Curse you, winter months!

So, I'm giving it another go. Today I'm borrowing my sister and we'll go 'round and put the flyers up, next Sunday will be the first, get-to-know-you meeting. Excellent!

But it feels like the book list needs an overhaul. We'll discuss it at the meeting, I hope, but was wondering if any of y'all had suggestions (especially for books by non-western authors). The club will focus on Fantasy and Scifi that are female, queer, and CoC centric, the books need to be SFF that meet at least one (preferably more) of those criteria. Any ideas?

The current list:

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

Fire Logic by Laurie J Marks*

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler*

The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey*

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F Mchugh

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling*

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin


Books I'm thinking about swapping in include Liar (Justine Larbalestier), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Salman Rushdie), and The Twelve Kingdoms, Volume 1: Sea of Shadow (Fuyumi Ono).

Comments

[cimorene]

Have you seen my review of the awesome YA novel Zahrah the Windseeker by Nigerian Nnedi Okorafur-Mbachu (but this is a true YA novel, actually appropriate for preteens or young children. I did enjoy it, but it was a bit juvenile) and John Varley's Titan?

The trilogy Titan, Wizard, and Demon is by an American man, but it's got fantastic female characters and some lesbian romance in it and is definitely a case of writing the other done right in my view. It's not just that, but truly speculative fiction with copious food for thought and discussion on multiple axes.

[effex]

Hmm. I've got a couple of YA books on the list already, so another wouldn't hurt (and I've heard good things about Nnedi Okorafur-Mbachu's work).

Titan sounds interesting. [goes to read your post]

[sinatra]

I cannot recommend the Nevèrÿon series by Samuel R. Delaney enough - I like his scifi, but his fantasy blows me away. They have fantastic female and queer characters of color.

[effex]

Oooh, thank you! I completely spaced on Delant's work and the Tales of Nevèrÿon sounds perfect.

[zanzando]

*gets out notebook*

*adds to "To Read" list*

*slinks off again*

[effex]

Muwahaha. I've read about half the books on the list (The Bone Doll's Twin, Brown Girl in the Ring, The Sparrow, Dawn, Fire Logic, and Un Lun Dun) and definitely recommend them (although Sparrow, in particular, is... strange)! Looking forward to reading the others like woah.

[elspethdixon]

seanchai loves Haroun and the Sea of Stories beyond all reason, so consider that another rec for it.

I really enjoyed both Kushiel's Dart and Bone Doll's Twin, and I'm about 40 pages through Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and really liking it so far. It reads kind of like Tanith Lee with +10 anti-imperialism added, and the world building's both original and interesting.

[effex]

Sweet beans - I've been waiting to read Hundred Thousand Kingdoms for months and am so excited to see the positive reviews popping up. Must. Buy. Book.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a great book. And if you've read Un Lun Dun (also very good), you can combine that awesome and read dhobikikutti's Not One, But Too.

[elspethdixon]

I'm now 2/3rds of the way through Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and can make the tentative "it's awesome so far" a resounding "Yes! Buy it!" It's not the kind of book I get fannish about, but it's gorgeous storytelling and prose and full of twisty mythological awesomeness. It reads like a faerie tale, in the best kind of ways.