What's your top ten list for lesbian and/or bisexual fiction?

Hi, I'm always looking for recommendations. Anyone willing to share their top
10 lists?

I don't tend to have "top 10" lists, as their content would be ever-changing. However, herewith some suggestions:

Rubyfruit Jungle, by Rita Mae Brown (this probably would be a constant on any Top 10 list)
The Well of Loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall (more for its historical than its literary value)
A Letter to Harvey Milk, by Leslea Newman
Baby Precious Always Shines: Selected Love Notes Between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
We came all the way from Cuba so you could dress like this?, by Achy Obejas
The Gilda Stories, by Jewell Gomez

Also, check out pretty much anything by Dorothy Allison, Marjorie Garber (scholarly stuff), Sarah Waters and Sarah Schulman.

Thank you for the suggestions...yes, I agree, my "top 10" lists tend to change over time too...What about Nightwood? I keep seeing references to it...looks interesting.

If you like science fiction I'd try Melissa Scott, Laurie Marks, Nicola Griffith and Delia Sherman

chrisjones

> 3

I'm afraid I haven't read Nightwood, so I can't give you an opinion on it, though it has a good reputation.

I love lists. They'll change, of course, and that's delightful. I'm adding "Trans" to "Lesbian" and "Bi." Then I can make new lists. I'm sure there are tons I'm forgetting right now. These are in no particular order, and I'm just listing fiction.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Cowrie by Cathie Dunsford
Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown
Food and Spirits: Stories by Beth Brant
Push: A Novel by Sapphire
The Woman Who Owned the Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen

Qwofacenosehead already lists several of my favorites. I'd also recommend:

The Salt Roads and really anything else, by Nalo Hopkinson

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

Affinity by Sarah Waters

My top lesbian authors:

Jeanette Winterson
Sarah Schulman
Emma Donaghue
Persimmon Blackbridge
Dionne Brand
Carol Anshaw

some lesbian novels I've liked a lot:
Stone butch blues by Leslie Feinberg
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg
Bird-Eyes by Madelyn Arnold

Wow! I can't believe no one's mentioned Jean Genet yet, so I'll throw that one in ...

Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. Although generally shelved under "Young Adult" it's really for all ages.

This isn't a "Top Ten" list but here are a few that take my fancy at the moment that I haven't seen mentioned here yet:

Empathy by Sarah Schulman
Summer will show by Sylvia Townsend Warner (the lesbian relationship here is implicit rather than explicit but I can't imagine any intelligent reader not "getting" it)
The beautifully worthless by Ali Liebegott
Tipping the velvet by Sarah Waters
The monkey's mask by Dorothy Porter
The American woman in the Chinese hat by Carole Maso (Virtually anything by Maso will have at least a lesbian or bisexual subtext-this is just her best known work)
The Chinese Garden by Rosemary Manning
Mademoiselle de Maupin by Theophile Gautier
What comes naturally by Gerd Brantenberg
The pure and the impure by Colette