LESBIAN BOOK#3 Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

I always find myself entering a second-hand book store without any idea what to find. Frankly, I trust that the beauty of the visit is in that, in the unknown. The likeliness of finding a gem among abandoned, neglected, dilapidated, and sadly, untouched books shelved and stacked upon stacks of opportunities is titillating for me. It's not that mystery is sexy, but it's alluring, that's for sure.

So one dreary and dry afternoon, I visited Book Sale and found a book by Sarah Waters. If you don't remember Sarah Waters, she is the author of Fingersmith, yet another lesbian novel that I posted about earlier this year. When I read Fingersmith, and liked Waters' style, I knew I wanted to read another book by her but just don't know where to find copies. I didn't want to make a request as that would be too eager, so I released to the Universe and boy did it hear me out. I found a copy of Tipping the Velvet for a very affordable price!

Nothing like two overexposed women to get my attention, thank You for my perversion. I couldn't have found this copy if it weren't for my hawk eye attention to details that refer to women, especially when they're undressed.

First, I have to say, that compared to Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet rolled slower down my tongue. It was however easier to translate to typical modern affairs of which I myself experience or witness unfold. Of course, there's nothing more lesbian than a story that opens up to a world of oysters. Granted, I expected a sexual anecdote about how one should eat an oyster right--the chance to apply this anecdote has yet arrived--I still found the bits of metaphors that strained and plucked the issues of finding yourself a lesbian lover, and more importantly, persona (?) believable, endearing and oddly enough, comforting.

Tipping the Velvet is hardly a coming out book but it did chronicle how the process of realizing your orientation yourself sometimes hits where it's most unexpected to strike. Although, one may even see Tipping the Velvet as an example of corruption, I see in it my own take on my path as a lesbian: how on the surface it may seem like a choice you need to make, but down to the very center of the feeling, it isn't. I never felt compelled to choose this road because my attraction to the same sex is as natural as liking music, or humming to the silence of a still night.

Speaking of music, Tipping the Velvet heavily draws mystic upon the allure of the grand and dreamy stage. As a place of worship and despair, I would expect many of you would appreciate (maybe celebrate) the part where Tipping the Velvet may be found on Youtube. As always, the book should be better than the movie, but it surely wouldn't hurt to see the halls come to life. The singing and dancing too.

(Disclaimer: I have not tried watching the entire adaptation online, so I would like to apologize in advance should the video sources on YT be insufficient somewhere down the road; but if you're eager to watch how Kitty and Nan's story turns out, you may peruse the video link below and just head on forward from that first cut)

PS. Like Nan, I helplessly fell in love with Kitty too. Odd how she affirmed how much I hope exes stay away to never reappear, even the slightest.

How did you find out you're a lesbian?