Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Bella Books (2011), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 264 pages
Description
Fiction. Romance. LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.) HTML: The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible circumstances that bring Diana Holland and Lane Christianson together in this passionate novel of first discovery.Originally published by Naiad Press in 1983, Bella Books is proud to bring the bestselling romantic lesbian novel of all time back to print. With multiple printings and translations worldwide, Curious Wine is an enduring classic and on everyone's list of the very best in our literature..
User reviews
LibraryThing member arsmith
Oh, gawd! I thought I’d give this author another chance, but here we go again. Cliché after cliché. Stereotype stereotype stereotype. Blah blah blah. All the reviews are so good, I was fooled. This story is extremely dated and irrelevant to our lives today. Not believable. Somewhat puritan.
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Very self-conscious. Basically, everything i hate about lesbian fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member ehough75
This a classic as far a lesbian novels go. In 1983 you would be hard pressed to find a book that was as open and honest as this book is. It is true that it is full of cliche after cliche and sterotype after sterotype but in 1983 what would expect. A book would have to be written so that is was
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something people to relate too. Great job. Show Less
LibraryThing member LoveIsInTheHouse
This is an out -of-date lesbian romance novel. This novel is a pretty thin, easy read. I thought it was a sweet story and touched on a few things adult women who are first realizing their romatic feelings for other women may have. However, this novel is very predictable and if you are someone who
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enjoys some suspence, I wouldn't recommend this book. If you are looking for any easy read though, go for it! Show Less
LibraryThing member Kymmie
Such a cliche and the lesbians were so stereo typical.
Okay, for early 80's I suppose.
Okay, for early 80's I suppose.
LibraryThing member mariabiblioteca
I read this classic lesbian romance in one sitting on a Sunday afternoon. The plot was fairly predictable, but I still enjoyed the story very much.
LibraryThing member sumariotter
I haven't read this in years but it is just the classic Naiad Romance--one of the first lesbian fiction novels I ever read.
LibraryThing member LesRead
“Nothing interesting can possibly happen in a cabin full of women.” So ends the first chapter of Curious Wine, Katherine Forrest’s classic novel of the early 80’s in which 6 women bring their personal issues to a beautiful Tahoe cabin for a weeks skiing in an era when encounter groups were
Diane is depressed about breaking up with her boyfriend. As she meets the group she instantly bonds with the gorgeous but cool Lane, high powered lawyer with a trail of downtrodden men. The remaining four women are led by Liz, the angry and bullish “first wife”, Chris her uptight and narrow-minded spinster sister, Millie the aging hippy and Madge who’s too scared of the truth to find out if she is being betrayed. Add into the mix a large quantity of alcohol and some grass; a meltdown is bound to happen.
Needless to say the encounter games don’t go to well, feelings of pain and anger get out of hand and rather than bonding the group ends up hurting each other with truths they don’t want to know. Out of which the sensitive Diane reaches out to Lane for comfort. One thing leads to another and suddenly they are on the verge of a sexual encounter.
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Let me start by saying I LOVE THIS BOOK. Yes its short and obvious and so unrealistic.. but i love the characters, the story is so sweet, and i can fogive the dated games, clothes and behaviour because of what it represents.
Curious Wine was Katherine V. Forrest’s first novel, published in 1983 and is without a doubt a classic. It is one of the groundbreaking novels of its generation, it moved away from the pulp fiction into romance, was solidly about women and was written by a lesbian for lesbians.
Today many reviews criticize it for the soppy and cheesy sex, the paucity of terminology and the unlikelihood of two ‘straight’ women having sex, falling in love and deciding to live happily ever after in 3 days. People – normally women who probably were barely born in 1983 – complain about the ridiculous encounter games, the dated fashions and the shallow plot and characterisation.
But to do so is to take the book out of context. This is a first novel written in a virtual vacuum of lesbian romance. In 1983 women did try to bond in stupid games, they were this nasty to each other – they thought they were ‘helping’ when in retrospect they were destroying each other. At that time there was virtually no current lesbian fiction – the pulp fiction of the 50’s and 60’s was homophobic and frequently written for a sleezy male audience. And the sexual norm of the day was either Deep Throat style porn or uptight bosom heaving Mills and Boon.
If you want to read an novel full of deep characters agonizing over coming out, or compare this to modern sexplicit girl on girl action you will be disappointed. But it is a great novel. It is well worth the read – at 160 pages it wont even take too long. And it deserves the title classic for its groundbreaking exploration of a woman’s reaction to her first lesbian encounter.
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in, padded shoulders were the norm and lesbian romance was definitely still in the closet.Diane is depressed about breaking up with her boyfriend. As she meets the group she instantly bonds with the gorgeous but cool Lane, high powered lawyer with a trail of downtrodden men. The remaining four women are led by Liz, the angry and bullish “first wife”, Chris her uptight and narrow-minded spinster sister, Millie the aging hippy and Madge who’s too scared of the truth to find out if she is being betrayed. Add into the mix a large quantity of alcohol and some grass; a meltdown is bound to happen.
Needless to say the encounter games don’t go to well, feelings of pain and anger get out of hand and rather than bonding the group ends up hurting each other with truths they don’t want to know. Out of which the sensitive Diane reaches out to Lane for comfort. One thing leads to another and suddenly they are on the verge of a sexual encounter.
————————————-
Let me start by saying I LOVE THIS BOOK. Yes its short and obvious and so unrealistic.. but i love the characters, the story is so sweet, and i can fogive the dated games, clothes and behaviour because of what it represents.
Curious Wine was Katherine V. Forrest’s first novel, published in 1983 and is without a doubt a classic. It is one of the groundbreaking novels of its generation, it moved away from the pulp fiction into romance, was solidly about women and was written by a lesbian for lesbians.
Today many reviews criticize it for the soppy and cheesy sex, the paucity of terminology and the unlikelihood of two ‘straight’ women having sex, falling in love and deciding to live happily ever after in 3 days. People – normally women who probably were barely born in 1983 – complain about the ridiculous encounter games, the dated fashions and the shallow plot and characterisation.
But to do so is to take the book out of context. This is a first novel written in a virtual vacuum of lesbian romance. In 1983 women did try to bond in stupid games, they were this nasty to each other – they thought they were ‘helping’ when in retrospect they were destroying each other. At that time there was virtually no current lesbian fiction – the pulp fiction of the 50’s and 60’s was homophobic and frequently written for a sleezy male audience. And the sexual norm of the day was either Deep Throat style porn or uptight bosom heaving Mills and Boon.
If you want to read an novel full of deep characters agonizing over coming out, or compare this to modern sexplicit girl on girl action you will be disappointed. But it is a great novel. It is well worth the read – at 160 pages it wont even take too long. And it deserves the title classic for its groundbreaking exploration of a woman’s reaction to her first lesbian encounter.
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LibraryThing member kmmsb459
Pretty cheesy but it was the first lesbian fiction I read, so it holds a special place in my heart.
LibraryThing member Othemts
Someday I need to start keeping track of where I find out about the books I put on my reading list, because this is definitely not the typical book for me to read. Which is a good thing, so thank you random person who recommended it to me.
Curious Wine is the story of a women's retreat at a cabin at
This was one of the first mainstream romance novels about a lesbian relationship by a lesbian author. The novel goes to great lengths to add "respectability" to the relationship by having two white, professional women who've previously had relationships with men as the protagonists who then put a lot of effort into making sure no one can consider their love "just a phase." This was certainly necessary in the early 1980s but feels awkward now. Nevertheless it is a sweet and honest story with well-developed characters.
Curious Wine is the story of a women's retreat at a cabin at
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a Lake Tahoe ski resort, and through encounter games and various intimate conversations share a lot about themselves. Two of the women, Diane and Lane, form a bond that leads to a sexual relationship. The problem is that up to that point they had considered themselves straight and have a lot of things to navigate in order to continue the relationship.This was one of the first mainstream romance novels about a lesbian relationship by a lesbian author. The novel goes to great lengths to add "respectability" to the relationship by having two white, professional women who've previously had relationships with men as the protagonists who then put a lot of effort into making sure no one can consider their love "just a phase." This was certainly necessary in the early 1980s but feels awkward now. Nevertheless it is a sweet and honest story with well-developed characters.
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Language
Original publication date
1983
Physical description
264 p.; 5.24 x 0.59 inches
ISBN
9781594932557