Good Fiction Guide, Ed. Jane Rogers 2nd ed.
Oxford University Press, 2005

Booklist: Sexual Politics by Maureen Freely
Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1873-7)
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899)
Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (1928)
Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (1928)
Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s Marie (1943; 1997 English translation)
Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955)
James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room (1956)
E.M. Forster’s Maurice (1914; published 1971)
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1985)
Joseph Olshan’s Night Swimmer (1994)
Michele Roberts’ Flesh and Blood (1994)

Eight of twelve: the only other list in the Good Fiction Guide of which I’ve read so many titles was the Canadian Fiction list. “I read a lot of Canlit”: yah, I say that a lot. But I don’t think I’ve ever caught myself saying: “yah, I read a lot of books about sexual politics”. But evidently I do.

I’m not surprised by the inclusion of these three, as I’ve read other works of theirs (Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Michele Roberts’ Flesh and Blood) but I’ve never heard of Joseph Olshan’s Night Swimmer. I am instantly intrigued.

Which of these have you read/enjoyed? Which are already on (or being added to) your TBR list now?

PS Have you already heard me gushing about the number of lines this guide added to my TBR list? ::insert echoed gushing:: Great fun!