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?

LESBIAN BOOK#2 Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

Do you think there's a wanting of lesbian literature in your country?

Cause from where I'm from, I feel like there is. I live in a country where it is painful to admit, our own literature is most likely in a shadowy corner, than the grander center aisles of a bookstore. And in that shadowy corner, is a more shadowy section of gay literature. I always feel a strong rush of excitement when I see a lesbian book when I search my favorite bookstores. It's that rare. Perhaps, the gay community were steps ahead putting their voices and stories in print than us lesbians, I don't know. All I know is, I want more. I want to hungrily devour whatever lesbian literature I can get my hands on--better if its from a local scene.

With that, let me share with you a pleasant surprise I was blessed with last night. Because something happened post-sex, and by sex I mean something else--I just wanted the drama, I couldn't sleep. I decided to start reading this young adult book that I pulled out for one of my book reviews, Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate.

This book cover inspires me to have black hair.

Fallen in Love is part of the Fallen series, a love story between angels. For Fallen in Love, what we have are back stories of the characters of the Fallen series. Think of it as fan fiction, or the unnecessary author response to the typical reader's question "what happened to characters A, B, C?"

Nonetheless, I have to say, I was pleased to find out that within this young adult "supplementary" book, is a lesbian love story. I am very pleased for various reasons, beginning with 1. Fallen in Love is a book with a young targeted demographic. I really think it's important to incorporate such forms of love, heterosexual and homosexual, in the literature we feed the youth nowadays because the issue between the sexes is more alive than ever in this period to which they're born--even blessed with.

But what truly delighted me was the part where in the lesbian chapters, the romantic conflict the author decided to focus on was in the issue between them being angels, not both girls. I have always dreamed of a community where our sexes and preferences would be taken as a matter of flatly. Where to be in love with the same sex is treated with as much normalcy as being in love with the opposite sex is. The lesbian story line in Fallen in Love fed that fantasy. It wasn't a grand story, Fallen in Love wasn't a grand book, but for that effort, I give it my fondness.

I wish to find more lesbian books/stories to share with you. If you know any, please do share with me too.

LESBIAN BOOK#1 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Give me a book with the word "Fingersmith" as the title and trust that my brain will do the dirty. Fingersmith is a criminal love potion mixed to overcome even the tightest corset to unleash the wildest of chests.

Set in the quiet and in an uptight Victorian background, Fingersmith details a story of betrayal, deceit and a lesbian love story that shares layers of gray meant to cloud a sky of lace. This novel is a must-read, I say, for it is a provocative and twisted tale of push and pull. Just when you thought you've cracked the story open, more locks surface for the picking.

Plot after plot, Fingersmith is a revelation and a becoming of a woman, in the arms of another.