Lesbian Book Club

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After a long winter's nap, we are back with the highly acclaimed Atmosphere by Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo author, Taylor Jenkins Reid! This novel was really the pinnacle of romance for Lauren and Haylie, while at the same time provoking thought about how social structure affects the characters.

Follow us on Instagram @lesbianbookclubpod to keep up, and download our episodes if you'd like to help us out. Thanks for chatting about sapphic literature with us!

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Hey everyone, we have a super cool crossover episode with Lez Hang Out to hold y'all over until we're back from break!

We hope you enjoy!!

Lez Hang Out Show Notes!

Title: 814: Serving Books with Queer Liberation Library
Description:
When you join our Lez Hang Out family on Patreon you will gain instant access to 24 and counting full-length bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, mp3 downloads of all our original songs, an invite to our exclusive Discord channel, and more! You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezmerch and by purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp.

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that wants you to read banned books!

This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with academic librarian Amber and nonprofit witch Lindsay of the Queer Liberation Library (@queerliblib). The QLL got its start in 2023 and has since curated a collection of 2,715 unique LGBTQ+ ebooks and audiobooks accessible to anyone in the United States (regardless of zip code) for the low, low cost of absolutely nothing! Once you sign up (for free!), you will be able to check out ebooks and audiobooks from an ever-expanding collection through Libby. They have everything from popular queer adult fiction to LGBTQ+ poetry, manga, and children’s books. In today’s environment of book bans and censorship, projects like the Queer Liberation Library are more important than ever as they provide access to titles that local physical library branches may not be able to stock.

We talk with Amber and Lindsay about how the Queer Liberation Library got its start, going from “7 friends in a trench coat” with a big dream to create a nonprofit to “7 friends in a trench coat” with an extensive, fully functional digital library. We also talk about how the curation process works, the intricacies of licensing restrictions on book borrowing, and all the little behind the scenes things that make the project possible. One of the best things about QLL is the accessibility. While there are already well-established physical libraries dedicated to LGBTQ+ books (and doing an incredible job!), they are not accessible for someone like a queer or trans youth with unsupportive parents or someone living in a more restrictive state where the physical libraries may have less ability to combat queer censorship. Digital collections like the one at QLL are lifesavers in these cases because they can be accessed for free from anywhere in the US, providing a way around any potential local physical barriers to access.

You can join the QLL today and start borrowing books right away by going to their website. And if you do happen to live in a less queer-friendly location and are in any way nervous about being caught browsing the site, the QLL provides an easy exit button that redirects visitors to weather.com in the blink of an eye. 

Remember, you can give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Find your fav tol and smol hosts Ellie & Leigh at @elliebrigida and @lshfoster respectively.

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We hope you listened to our author interview with Mary Desch, because Tangled Darkness has dropped and we are here to spill! This psychiatric thriller threw us for a few loops, even prompting Lauren to bring in her girlfriend as a consultant. Our conclusion? Michelle should've just worked in dermatology.

This is our last episode before we go on summer break. Try not to miss us too much, and we encourage you to read Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for our return! We will drop a couple of surprises for you before we return for Season 3.

If you enjoy our podcast, please support our return by leaving us a review and sharing!

Insta/TT: @lesbianbookclubpod

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This week on the pod we’re talking all things American in Paris with friend of the pod, Margaret Vandenburg! As always Margaret brings the most thought provoking answers to our questions! We even talk sister wives, polyamory, and gun control! If you want your spirit lifted and your ideas challenged, this is the episode for you! Sadly we missed Haylie during this interview due to the continued nightmare that is the airline systems but she’ll be back next week! Love you guys!

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Author of Tangled Darkness Mary Desch brings us her genuinely joyful stories, special insights into the writing of her debut novel, and nuggets of wisdom in this conversation. She talks candidly with us about the loneliness she has felt at times, in contrast with the queer community she has been able to seek out at different scales throughout her life. We get a window into her writing process, how her career as a psychiatrist influences her character building, and what the feedback process of writing a novel looked like for her. 

Perhaps our favorite, she shares a special moment between her and her Gamma when she was six, and the message that has stuck with her since - "to thine own self, be true." Thank you Gamma, Shakespeare, and Mary. We treasure this conversation.

You can visit Mary's website to purchase a copy of Tangled Darkness, read her blog, and get news about her upcoming work. If the Sisters in Crime interested you as a reader or writer, here is the link to their page. 

Thank you for listening and being a part of our community. If you would like to support us, please leave us a review and download episodes. We are reachable by Instagram, TikTok, or email.

Insta/TT: @LesbianBookClubPod

Email: [email protected]

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This one was a treat, because we got a wholesome Jenny-Shane (Jane? Shenny?) friendship and some comedic relief! Join us this week for nudists, haircuts, and who Haylie thought was Alice's mom. 

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave us a review and download. You can reach out to us on Instagram, TikTok or email.

Insta/TT: @LesbianBookClubPod

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Margaret Vandenburg is back with American in Paris, the prequel to Craze! In this episode, we talk about Henri's confidence in her career vs. her person, gender identity, and her relationships to two powerful salon leaders - and how these factors all shaped her character development. We also get into the difference between the salons of Gertrude Stein and Natalie Barney, their egos, free love, and monogamy. 

As always, thank you for listening! If you enjoy our podcast, please leave us a review. Download and share, and reach out to us on Instagram, TikTok or email.

Insta/TT: @LesbianBookClubPod

Email: [email protected]

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Latinx Book Recommendations:

• Cantores by Caroline de Robertis
• The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernandez
• Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 
• Monstrilla by Gerardo samano cordova
• Fiebre Tropical Julián Delgado Lopera
• Blanca y Roja Anna-Marie McLemore
• Thank you to Drea @DreaReads for these recommendations 

US History Recommendations

• A people’s history of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Kill anything that moves: the real American war in Vietnam by Nick Turse
• Chain of Command: The road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour M Harsh
• Outsourced Empire: How Miliias, Mercenaries, and contractors support us statecraft by Andrew Thomson
• Ghost wars: the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the soviet invasion to Sept 10, 2001 by Steve Coll
• Yemen in Crisis: the road to war by Helen Lackner
• All of this comes from James Ray on TikTok @jamesgetspolitical

Native/Indigenous History Recommendations:

• Native historians write back by Susan A Miller and James Riding
• An American genocide by Benjamin Madley
• Native American history by Captivating History
• This information is from recycledstardust on Tiktok - mohawk native

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Are you in a reading slump and need some TBR inspo, or are just plain nosy about what we read when we aren't reading sapphic literature? You're in luck today, because Haylie is giving you the dirt on her forty-four book-long TBR list. A mix of LGBTQIA+ and other genres, it's an insight into what is on Haylie's shelf.

Thank you to StoryGraph for the great descriptions of all the books, and for storing Haylie's lengthy TBR. This is not an ad or sponsorship, she just loves it.

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave us a review, download and share! You can interact with us on Instagram, Tiktok and email.

Insta/TT: @lesbianbookclubpod

Email: [email protected]

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In this episode, Haylie and Lauren discuss some climatic plot points...mainly the downfall of Bette and Alice's newfound confidence in calling people out. Haylie tries to give an anatomy lesson and there's small insights into Japan's progress (or lack thereof) on same-sex marriage.

Please leave us a review to share your thoughts if you enjoy our podcast! You can reach us on Instagram, TikTok, or email.

Insta/TT: @LesbianBookClubPod

Email: [email protected]