Gender pronouns

Awhile ago when we got new nametags, we were encouraged to include our preferred pronouns (she/her/hers; he/him/his; they/their/theirs). I didn't want to, so didn't. In the past few days, I've been able to articulate more about this. My initial post about my thoughts is at: 
https://quakerlibn.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-androgynous-journey.html.

I definitely don't feel male, yet not totally female either, and not plural. Not cisgender or transgender. Identifying as androgynous, liking the pronouns per, per, pers (as in person), where does that leave me? It seems like when groups are trying to learn, being taught by transgender folks, there isn't always as much breathing space for people who, like me, don't really have a set of pronouns they use.

I've been told there are a lot of conversations in the online world about this but I haven't seen them.

Today I chose to annotate one of my email signature files with "we, our, ours" pronouns. Feels ok. Will see how it goes. (Note: lasted one day.)


4/1/19

I've still been struggling with the pronoun thing - I use "I/me/my" to refer to myself. When people address me, I expect "you, your, yours" unless you are a Plain Quaker, and then I listen for "thee, thy, thine." When we're discussing something, I hope for "we, our, ours." I don't feel plural "they, them, theirs," but I don't constantly think of gender either. I often think of myself as other, in-between but singular - androgynous - in my roles. If I want to direct how people refer to me when I can hear them (because I really don't care when I don't know), I'm ok with "she, her, hers" although the abbreviation for person works "per, per, pers" too. I wanted to make it clear that it isn't easy, cut-and-dried, for many of us, and the constant question about how I want others to refer to me is more bothersome.

Futher conversation welcome, here or elsewhere.

Adventures in Australian fiction

I have been reading mostly Australian writers.

Picture books:

Gibbs, May. Found Tales from the Gum Tree sickeningly cutesy.

Lester, Alison, Elizabeth Honey, and the children of Gununa. Our Island is great! The children did the artwork, using crayons and food dye.

Oliver, Narelle. Fox and Fine Feathers was fantastic, gorgeous artwork.

Owen, Lindsey, ill. by Matteo Grilli. Poss in Boots was funny, about a young possum who tap dances on the roof of a house of jazz musicians.

Found the book about the Aboriginal cricket team in the 1800's illuminating.

Juvenile:

Brinsmead, Hesba: lovedThe Honey Forest

Hall, Leanne: Iris and the Tiger - set in Spain but with an Australian protagonist - really terrific!   

Lindsay, Norman: I read about half of The Magic Pudding - it is funny.

Pascoe, Bruce: Mrs Whitlam (Aboriginal, girl and horse) was ok but the writing wasn't that good.

YA:

• Brinsmead, Hesba: I felt that Isle of the Sea Horse was boring, sort of an Aussie retelling of Swiss Family Robinson so didn't finish it.
• Fitzpatrick, Deb. Have you Seen Ally Queen?  I guess I'm tired of sad YA novels: didn't finish it.
• Gough, Erin: I found The Flywheel by (lesbian) difficult and sad until the very end, when it came round right.
• Winch, Tara June: Swallow the Air (Aboriginal) was beautifully written but so very sad.
• Wrightson, Patricia: liked A Little Fear and A Wisp of Smoke. Did not finish Shadows of Time.

Adult:

Slatter, Angela. I just finished the compelling Vigil (urban myth, Brisbane setting) and have been thinking about it ever since. Corpselight was also compelling! Next is Restoration, due out in 2018.

Greenwood, Kerry. Enjoyed Earthly Delights - loved it right up until the ending! Next is Heavenly Pleasures, only in print format at KDL (as are the others in this Corinna Chapman series). I placed a request for the large print of Devil's Food (#3) from Brisbane Library.

Hodgson, Anthea. The Drifter -  not your typical Western Australia romance - an excellent story!

Nunn, Judy. Enjoyed Spirits of the Ghan - historical and contemporary fiction, set in cities and the Outback.  

Fergus, Lara. Tried to read My Sister Chaos (about a lesbian cartographer with OCD, obsessed with mapping her house, and her twin) but couldn't stand it.

Hawthorne, Susan. Falling Woman is about a lesbian with epilepsy, told in 3 ways - as a child, Stella, as an adult with her partner, Estella, and there's a mystical part with Estelle. I'm enjoying it and am simultaneously bored with it.

Mears, Gillian. Foal's Bread. 2012. - fiction about a young woman, set in New South Wales between WWI and WWII. Great writing but sad, and I didn't finish it.

Van Neerven, Ellen. Read Heat and Light (Aboriginal, lesbian short stories); it too was beautifully written but sad.

Kristin Hogan

The GVSU Library partnered with Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies to bring Kristen Hogan to campus - professor/librarian and author of The Feminist Bookstore Movement : Lesbian Antiracism and Feminist Accountability.

An interview with her about her book:

https://dukeupress.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/qa-with-kristen-hogan/

Chapters and an article:

We Collect, Organize, Preserve, and Provide Access, With Respect: Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Life in Libraries, in Beyond Article 19 : Libraries and Social and Cultural Rights, with Loriene Roy

Balancing Access to Knowledge and Respect for Cultural Knowledge: Librarian Advocacy with Indigenous Peoples’ Self-Determination in Access to Knowledge, in Libraries Driving Access to Knowledge

Women’s Studies in Feminist Bookstores: “All the Women’s Studies women would come in,”  Signs Journal of Women in Culture and Society.

My thoughts:

Hogan's writings about Indigenous peoples helped me think about access to sacred knowledge in a different way - that sometimes there are good reasons for limiting access to information or artifacts (e.g., to certain seasons of the year) or to certain population segments (e.g., women vs men, indigenous or non-indigenous).

Hogan refers to the Feminist Bookstore News, which we have in the Independent Voices database, so I looked up Kalamazoo Pandora and read the articles about River Ardz's bookstore, which I think was open 1981-1999. While I went there, it was infrequently, and I felt like I missed out on a lot of River's wisdom, until Amy reminded me that I should be gentle with myself about the past and living in Kalamazoo.

Radical Teacher, Lesbian Herstory Archives

Radical Teacher: A Socialist, Feminist, and Anti-Racist Journal on the Theory and Practice of Teaching

open access, of course!

http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher/issue/archive

Lesbian Herstory Archives

http://lesbianherstoryarchives.org/supmater2.html : is this where my diaries & letters should go after my death or while still alive if I become demented?

The donation form is here: http://lesbianherstoryarchives.org/dfsc.html and must be printed out.

Anishinaabe reading

I read Dirty Copper by Jim Northrup. It is mostly narrative, but an interesting read - about an Ojibwe man, Vietnam vet, who became a police officer first on the reservation, then in an urban area.

Next, I read Ogimawkwe Mitigwaki (Queen of the Woods) by Simon Pokagon (Pokagon band, Potawatomi). He lived from 1830-1899, and this is named as the 1st Anishinaabe novel, an autobiographical novel about colonialism and its effects, set in southwest Michigan. It contains many Anishinaabemowin words and phrases, but apparently Pokagon used a mixture of Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Ojibwa, and the new edition published by Michigan State University Press standardized the Anishinaabemowin. I read the 1899 edition, but even so, recognized words I have seen and heard in other contexts. I enjoyed the descriptions of life and wildlife in the woods but felt the negative effects of white society on Native Americans keenly.

I  also read parts of the nonfiction book Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago, by John N. Low(with bits about Michigan), including a chapter on Leroy Wesaw, born in Michigan but moved to Chicago for work, who created the Chicago Canoe Club. Chapter 1 explains the history of the Pokagon band, why some Potawatomi were able to stay in Michigan, and mentions Julia Wesaw, a well-known basket weaver. Chapters 1-2 also discuss Simon Pokagon's life and novel.

Reading a few poems by Margaret Noodin, Weweni, in both Anishinaabemowin and English. Noodin is also the editor of the new edition of Queen of the Woods.

Came across this title, which looks fascinating. A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby. Have requested it.

Gender Justice, Transgender Day of Remembrance

Cael Keegan spoke on "What Now? Gender Justice and the LGBTQ Movement After Marriage."

In 2014 there were 12 transgender people murdered. In 2015, there have been 22 transgender people murdered so far. Despite the news media focus on transgender issues, awareness is not at the "tipping point." Where is the coverage of the increasing transgender "eradication!" Why is it missing?

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance that would have protected classes of people from discrimination based on 15 characteristics including gender identity and sexual orientation failed to gain enough votes because of an anti-trans ad campaign which focused on sex offenders in bathrooms. Cael named this an part of a continuity of anti-trans rhetoric and cited Michael Warner's book The Trouble with Normal and Susan Stryker's work, in which she makes the point that the abililty for transpeople to marry doesn't bring security: it is not equal to transgender rights and privileges because the marriages can be challenged and legally dissolved against the will of the married couple.

Cael pointed to neoliberalism and the current silence about the AIDS crisis, a silence which is "pointed and performative," having the power of preventing action. Lisa Duggan's book The Twilight of Equality? neoliberalism, cultural politics, and the attack on democracy states that since Reagan, the reduction of public health, welfare, etc., comes from the idea that the only "public good" is wealth and that those who fail have failed to manage their lives as if they were investment portfolios.

Prior to this time, there were 2 positives: Roe v Wade made abortion legal in 1973, and homosexuality was removed from the DSM. However, in 1976 the death penalty was reinstated, transgender was pathologized by being added to the DSM as "gender dysphoria" in 1980 and in 1981 was excluded from Medicare coverage. In 1985, gay men could no longer be blood donors. From 1986-96, sodomy laws were upheld, people with HIV+ status couldn't emigrate, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" became military policy, and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed; however these 4 were overturned from 2003-2015. In 1994, ENDA failed to be passed, and in 2007 GENDA, a trans-inclusive version of ENDA, failed. In 2008, there were 81,542 deaths from AIDS: where is our memorial, our permanent structure for public mourning and recovery? Why has no one been held accountable for this medical neglect?

The drive for marriage equality divided transgender people and people of color from lesbians and gays; it seems to have come as a direct response to AIDS, institutionalizing and removing radicalism. The erasure of AIDS became the erasure of brilliant and creative activists. Publicizing trans-positive organizations such as Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, the Critical Media Project, and Fierce, helps to reverse silence and denial. Cael stated that we need larger societal reforms: prison reform, decriminalization of drugs, removing the death penalty, de-capitalization of the state, and de-gendering institutions which help people.

Gender Fluidity: sex, gender, & orientation

This morning I did my 2nd talk plus Q&A for 2 sections of Social Work 300 taught by Mirta Paola León, who is also the photographer of the exhibit Paya Lliklla, Las Tejedoras de Chari, Peru: Reweaving Tradition in the 21st Century. I was really nervous before the 1st one - preparation anxiety led me to do some research to answer student questions before the classes, combined with "coming out" anxiety. Both sections went well - I used the students' questions to prep, emphasized the suspension of judgment, lifelong learning, love. At the beginning of the 2nd section, the prof showed a 7-minute video from the MSU LGBT Resource Center on Sexuality and Gender 101. Really informative. (I thought, "but don't we have one from GVSU like that?" I found the GVSU LGBT RC YouTube channel, but most of the relevant videos are long, over an hour.)

I drew definitions from Gender Spectrum and Catalyst. I drew from my own life experiences, and referred to friends who have undergone sex reassignment. The prof talked about labelling transgender as "gender dysphoria" in the DSM V and we both talked about health needs, issues with choosing an intersex baby's sex/gender, lack of insurance coverage. I used some photos to give some visual understanding of fluidity and transition, historical norms and current cultural fashions. I answered questions, acknowledged the perspectives shared by students, and was, although nervous, unashamedly myself. Sex-assigned-from-birth as female and preferring pronouns she, her, hers, although identifying as androgynous; lesbian; married to another woman - never having believed that this would happen in my lifetime. Sometimes wearing men's shirts, sometimes women's - the differing quality of cloth and colors along with button placement and the stupidity of women's pants being side-zippered on the left. The difficulty of coming out, the changes in GVSU culture, challenging what "conservative Christian" means. The importance of introducing oneself with preferred name and pronouns as an opening to provide safe space for sharing self-identification instead of making assumptions or labelling. And today, about the Michigan Secretary of State's decision on changing gender on driver's licenses as backward, not inclusive. Derogatory vs in-group language and labels. Drawing inward physically and emotionally in order to hide from others, paralyzing anxiety, rage, suicidal depression about being different. And the stupidity of labelled bathrooms - I asked if any of them had grown up in a house or apartment or whatever with labelled, separate bathrooms. None had. So why do we have them in institutions? And as a British friend observed, why hadn't U.S. engineers designed bathroom stalls which truly allowed privacy instead of big gaps between frame and door, between floor and bottom of the door? Wow.

Afterward, I attended a talk by Adrienne Keene about stereotyping, colonizing/assimilating, and appropriating Native American culture - so many of the issues are so very similar to gender issues.

SPA Spanish Sabbatical Prep: to read

Lesbian realities/lesbian fictions in contemporary Spain. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2011. http://library.catalog.gvsu.edu/record=b3394827

Robbins, Jill. Crossing through Chueca: lesbian literary culture in queer Madrid. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. http://library.catalog.gvsu.edu/record=b3171970

My androgynous journey

From the time I was very young, I never felt comfortable with "girl" clothes or activities. Skirts and dressed were uncomfortable, showed my legs, were impractical, but pants were for boys/men. I always felt alone, different, scared. I clearly was not a boy but a tomboy - and that term was often used pejoratively. I was athletic but cried easily. As a 9- and 10-year-old, I ran a mile every day before school, and ran the 50-yard dash for the school track team. When I wore shorts in the summer, my dad asked why my legs were so big - my runner muscles deemed "ugly." I never liked wearing shorts again in public until recently. Both growing up and as a young adult I only ever felt safe outdoors and alone, where I could be just me, no one watching or judging.

Puberty was a nightmare. I didn't have any role models. My flannel shirts hid my femaleness but also led to others mistaking my gender--I didn't like either "miss" or "sir." Being female meant I was vulnerable to rape: a constant lack of safety. Being "lesbian" meant I was afraid that every girl/woman would think I was trying to hit on them. I feared being victimized if I outwardly expressed femininity or masculinity.

Being post-hysterectomy is so much better. Even though I have gained weight and look more clearly female, I am happier now with my body. But, having survived childhood sexual abuse, I still have to set clear boundaries with others over and over.

In high school I started reading LeGuin, which helped me understand gender differently, especially The Left Hand of Darkness. In university, I read Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, which used the androgynous "per" (short for person?) instead of he or she. That made sense to me. Later, Minnie Bruce Pratt's S/he and Barrie Jean Borich's My Lesbian Husband also helped me place myself.

When I came to work in GR in 1990, I was told by one lesbian not to come out until I was tenured, as her resignation had been demanded when she was publicly out(ed). She refused and fought to retain her position. One of my librarian colleagues told our director before he hired me, "You know she's a lesbian" in her judgmental and denigrating way, but he respected my privacy until I chose to tell him myself. In 1991, the university was discussing multiculturalism, which only included African-American issues, not other races/ethnicities and certainly not religion or lgbt. I asked to speak at the Faculty Forum and was reluctantly put on the agenda. The first few speakers were all white men who read their speeches (mostly anti-multiculturalism). I only had a few notes on one index card and spoke about the lack of representation of an invisible minority, both in books and in classroom discussions, passionately pleading for lesbians and gay men to be included in this definition of multiculturalism. The white man who followed me stood up and began to sing "Homo on the Range." No one stood up; no one called him on it; no one protested.

In the early 1990's, I volunteered at the LGBT Network of West Michigan. One of my friends came out as a female-to-male transgender man. I valued this friend, his confidence in me, and I learned through our conversations what this meant, as he learned himself. I learned to address and refer to him differently. I witnessed the difficulty he had with the medical system, without insurance, trying to get the right hormones. When he had the double mastectomy, I brought food and changed his drains, squeamish though I am, because he didn't have money for nursing care. When I read about feminist separatism, it did make some emotional sense to me, but not at all practical sense, as I had so many men friends. Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's policy of admitting women-biologically-born-women only was hateful to MTF transgender women, and it did not fit my views on equality. I joined Allies & Advocates at work, the LGBT Fungroup and later iteration Faculty & Staff Association. I became a convinced Quaker partly because of their views on the equality of all people and social justice activism trying to make the world better for all. When my wife and I became a couple, I experienced coming out all over again. But I faced my discomfort and fears, worked through them. Finally, these groups gave me a sense of safe community, where I am accepted as I am. And I keep learning, though other transgender friends, through my reading.

Lately I experienced an act of emotional/verbal violence in what was supposed to be a safe place and discussion, by someone who knows nothing of my story but who exercised his priviledge and power to label me, incorrectly, as "cisgender," i.e., born biologically female and identifying as female. His labelling was an act of aggression, trying to silence me. By labeling me instead of asking me to identify myself or asking for more of my story, he engaged in de-legitimizing and implicitly denying my perspectives, experiences, understanding, beliefs. No one stood up; no one called him on it; no one protested. And that motivated me to write some of my story here.

So here I am, an androgynous lesbian, an activist for most of my life. Setting boundaries, taking care of myself (with the help of wife, friends, therapist, psychiatrist), and hoping to challenge this man to learn to communicate nonviolently and facilitate difficult discussions without reacting with emotional/intellectual violence.

Indigenous North America

On December 3, 2014, I attended a forum on Gi-gikinomaage-min, a GVSU-Grand Rapids project of recording urban Native American experience, co-sponsored by the Kutsche Office of Local History and the University Libraries/Archives. I'd like to be a volunteer interviewer. This spurred me to continue learning:

 

In late December I watched a 3-part sports documentary, Iroquois Lacrosse, about the Iroquois Nationals (Haudenosaunee) playing in the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships, and then the dramatized version, Crooked Arrows, about the original, ancient game and contemporary players coming together as a team, developing both skills and Haudenosaunee character. The Nationals were not allowed to go to the Olympics because their sovereign passports were not accepted by Great Britain.

I just finished reading Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous Thoughts Concerning the Universe by MariJo Moore and Trace A. Demeyer, a 2013 compilation. Interesting, thought-provoking pieces. I loved "Tangled" by Kim Shuck, would like to read more by Odilia Galván Rodríguez, Doris Seale (a librarian who compiled books like A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children), and Susan Deer Cloud, who has several books of poetry out. Update 3/1/15: I've read 2 of Deer Cloud's chapbooks: The Last Ceremony, and Braiding Starlight. She wrote a poem of local interest, called Stuck in Grand Rapids Airport, Our Words Make Peace Cranes.

I came across the book above when I met Siobhan Senier via some friends during Thanksgiving weekend. She is an English prof who specializes in New England Indigenous literature (e.g., Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England and its accompanying website Writings of Indigenous New England). She recommended the author Tomson Highway, a Canadian First Nations writer, and said that I might start with Kiss of the Fur Queen (GVSU 4th floor PR9199.3.H472 K57). She also recommended David Treuer's Hiawatha (MEL). David and Anton Treuer are brothers, Ojibwe from Minnesota. I had already read Anton's Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, a greatly informative book, because he had visited GVSU in the fall semester but I had missed his talk. I had also already sampled pieces from Voice on the water: Great Lakes native America now edited by Grace Chaillier and Rebecca Tavernini; it is an Anishanaabe (Ojibwe) anthology project from Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies in Traverse city.

I would like to read at least portions of In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-year History of American Indians by Jake Page (GVSU 2nd floor E77.P14 2003), perhaps "We are still here": American Indians since 1890 by Peter Iverson and Wade Davies (2015) and That dream shall have a name: native Americans rewriting America by David L. Moore, Centering Anishinaabeg studies: understanding the world through stories (search for urban), Living with animals: Ojibwe spirit powers by Michael Pomedli, Anishinaabe ways of knowing and being by Lawrence W. Gross, and most definitely The queerness of Native American literature by Lisa Tatonetti. And Fighting colonialism with hegemonic culture: native American appropriation of Indian stereotypes by Maureen Trudelle Schwarz. Look for Michigan in Encyclopedia of Native American music of North America. Look at the last chapter of Imagic moments: indigenous North American film.

I read: Unsettling America: the uses of Indianness in the 21st century by C. Richard King. Amazing book, eye-opening. He discussed Blue Corn Comics' Peace Party, and from there, I found Newspaper Rock, a forum subtitled, "Where Native America meets pop culture."

Here is a searchable in English or Ojibwe pronouncing Ojibwe People's Dictionary, from Minnesota, Ontario, Wisconsin.

March 7: Reading The queerness of Native American literature by Lisa Tatonetti. Based on the film chapter, I looked for and watched several documentaries from this organization: Basic Rights Oregon (BRO), Our Families “Native American LGBT Two Spirit”
Discovered filmmaker Carrie House. And website Native Out.
Next to read: Sovereign erotics : a collection of two-spirit literature

Amish Inspirational Fiction

Green means best in my opinion, purple means I have it, yellow means I would like to have it (a.k.a. wish list), turquoise means look for it to read.


I've been thinking about the Amish romances I have enjoyed, those I haven't, & how nonfiction studies about the Amish have influenced my feelings/thinking. My usual criteria apply: there are those that are well-written, fairly true to what I understand about the culture, and tell a good story.

• Bender, Carrie (pseudonym). She is an Amishwoman (Old Order) given permission to write under a pen name. Her series are light and joyous. I have 3 of her series.
• Bradford, Laura. An Amish Mystery series. Enjoyed book 1, Hearse and Buggy.  Disliked book 2, Assaulted Pretzel, as she used way too many descriptors, and had the protagonist constantly repeating the last words of the previous speaker as a question, making her sound both stupid and out of it.
• Byler, Linda. Another Amish writer. I didn't like the Lizzie Searches for Love series, but I did enjoy Keeping Secrets, book 2 in the Sadie's Montana series. Byler's writing seems very immature but is improving. Enjoyed The Little Amish Matchmaker and A Horse for Elsie: An Amish Christmas Romance. Read A Second Chance - okay. Finished The Healing (2018)- interesting, different, about a young man who gets Lyme disease, its effects on him and on the family. Tried Hope Deferred (2020) but it was awful! Preachy and stilted, narrative instead of conversation and action. Maybe I'll try the Buggy Spoke series.
  
• Cameron, Barbara. Her series The Quilts of Lancaster County are fascinating books: requested Annie's Christmas Wish, book 4, but was very disappointed with it - flying in a plane, everyone carrying cellphones, unrealistic. Loved Her Restless Heart: Stitches in Time Book 1 too; enjoyed Heart in Hand (Stitches in Time 3). Also read Twice Blessed: Two Amish Christmas Stories about twins. The Amish Roads series sounds familiar, as if I have already read them. Return to Paradise (#1): The Coming Home series, was ok; Seasons in Paradise (#2) and Home to Paradise (#3) were good.
• Chapman, Vannetta. Loved A Promise for Miriam, A Wedding for Julia, and A Home for Lydia; enjoyed The Christmas Quilt and the Amish Bishop mysteries: What the Bishop Saw (1); When the Bishop Needs an Alibi (2), and Who the Bishop Knows (3). To read: Plain and Simple Miracles series, Brian's Choice (e-novella, prequel), Anna's Healing (bk 1), Joshua's Mission (2), and I read Sarah's Orphans (3), which was very good. Amish Christmas Memories was intriguing, and I enjoyed An Unlikely Amish Match. While I enjoyed the story "Mischief in the Autumn Air" in An Amish Harvest set in Shipshewana, I'm not as sure about the Shipshewana Amish mysteries: 1: Falling to Pieces; 2: A Perfect Square; 3: Material Witness. I enjoyed the Amish Village Mystery series even though the Amish are not the protagonists: Murder Simply Brewed, Murder Tightly Knit, Murder Freshly Baked. Her novella "Where Healing Blooms" in An Amish Garden was lovely! Listened to A Courtship for the Amish Spinster, part of the Indiana Amish Market series - oddly, there were mistakes that other writers make about the Amish, so it was ok but not great.
• Clipston, Amy. Her writing has improved - enjoyed her story in An Amish Christmas Bakery. But An Amish Singing wasn't very good. "Love and Buggy Rides" in An Amish Harvest set in Shipshewana was terrible - first, the idea that the driver of a wagon that was rear-ended by a car was at fault, when in MI at least, it's always the driver of the vehicle doing the rear-ending who is at fault - then other stupid things in the story too.
• Cramer, Dale. I have his Paradise Valley, which is the best of the Amish romances! Well-written, historically accurate, & with an excellent romance. The others were sadder, though.
• Drexler, Jan.  (The Amish of Weaver's Creek trilogy) The Sound of Distant Thunder, about the Civil War, The Roll of the Drums, and Softly Blows the Bugle. Well-written, interesting stories about Ohio during and just after the Civil War. Next series: Journey to Pleasant Prairie: #1 Hannah's Choice - it was so slow! Like Hemingway, almost. Finally skipped ahead and read the ending.
• Duerksen, Carol and Maynard Knepp. Runaway Buggy. An excellent young adult novel about Knepp's youth (he grew up Amish). Although self-published, it is well-written, informative, enjoyable. Not truly an inspirational romance, it does have romance in the story, and doesn't sugarcoat the costs of rumspringa. There are many books by this pair, and also several by Carol Duerksen and other authors.
• Fisher, Suzanne Woods. Stoney Ridge Seasons series beginning The Keeper kept my attention & I have the 3rd in this series: The Lesson. I also have The Letters (The Inn at Eagle Hill series). I enjoyed the rose mystery in Christmas at Rose Hill Farm: An Amish Love Story. However, Fisher's writing in The Imposter (The Bishop's Family series #1) and The Quieting (The Bishop's Family series #2) is that of a junior-high-school girl showing off her vocabulary, and she has her characters doing things like doffing their hats and bowing. Please, enough already! Except...I'm willing to try the Amish Beginnings series, starting with Anna's Crossing (didn't enjoy it: boring). Second is the Newcomer. A stand-alone novel I did enjoy was Anything but Plain (2022), about ADHD and learning ways to manage it.
• Flower, Amanda. She's a librarian who hasn't done quite enough research (Amish praying aloud) but whose Appleseed Creek series' protagonist is a director of IT at a small college in central Ohio.  They're light fun, not great. I enjoyed A Plain Disappearance.
• Fuller, Kathleen. Has decent stories: "The Treasured Book" in An Amish Heirloom, one in An Amish Christmas Bakery, and "A Quiet Love" in An Amish Harvest set in Shipshewana - about a woman who stuttered and a farmer who was on the Autism spectrum. "Flowers for Rachel" in An Amish Garden was fine. Also has a good story in Amish Christmas Miracles.
• Good, Rachel J. Several series, added one to Wishlist.
• Gould, Leslie. Adoring Addie - like Saloma Miller Furlong. The series Neighbors of Lancaster county, #1 Amish Promises was all right; #2 Amish Sweethearts was excellent! Less idealistic than most inspirational romances, more realistic. Book 3 was just ok - too much narrative - Amish Weddings. Then a new series, The Sisters of Lancaster county, #1 A Plain Leaving (very good, different - shows the harshness of those who don't forgive), #2 Simple Singing (I'm noticing a trend of Amish leaving for the Mennonites, grr). #3 is A Faithful Gathering was mostly narrative about a young woman who leaves the Amish to become a nurse (not Mennonite). Also, in the Women of Lancaster County series, book 5 is wonderful: The Amish Quilter. Enjoyed the 3 novellas in An Amish Christmas Kitchen - "An Amish Family Christmas" by Gould, "An Amish Christmas Recipe Box" by Jan Drexler, and "An Unexpected Christmas Gift" by Kate Lloyd. Amish Memories trilogy: read #2 first, This Passing Hour - pretty good, about Amish/Mennonite families and WWII, then the 1st one, A Brighter Dawn. Really enjoyed the 3rd, By Evening's Light: excellent historical fiction about Amish and Mennonites at the end of WWII, the Russian takeover of East Berlin, the beginning of the Cold War, refugees then and now.
• Goyer, Tricia. Big Sky series: like Marta Perry, Goyer is able to tell a good story while not idealizing the Amish. The Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series--loved the Promise Box; the Kissing Bridge was so-so. Enjoyed her novella "Seeds of Love" in An Amish Garden, set in West Kootenai, MT. Also, she has an excellent story in An Amish Second Christmas ("The Christmas Aprons") as does Ruth Reid, "Her Christmas Pen Pal." Read Made with Love (Pinecraft Pie Shop series): it showed a more relaxed Florida community but like Lewis preaches evangelical as better than Old Order Amish; Planted with Hope, the 2nd, and Sewn with Joy, 3rd in the series were also good. The Buggy before the Horse (Hoopla audio book) is next. 
• Hoff, B. J. The Riverhaven Years books are about the Underground Railroad, so I enjoyed that aspect. These are the only 3 Hoff has written about the Amish. I have the 3rd book, River of Mercy.
• Irvin, Kelly. Has a decent story, "The Midwife's Dream" in An Amish Heirloom, one in "A Christmas Visitor" in Amish Winter, and a good one in An Amish Christmas Bakery. Odd novel set in Montana ("Big Sky" series), with Native American characters: A Long Bridge Home (Amish of Big Sky Country #2); #1, Mountains of Grace was ok. 3rd was Peace in the Valley, borrowed audiobook-another odd novel about an evangelical group whose mission was to convert Old Order Amish to being evangelical and in the world. Another series is Every Amish Season; #1 is Upon a Spring Breeze (didn't like this book - too much grief).
• Kertz, Rebecca. Loving Isaac. all right. Also read Her Amish Christmas Gift (Women of Lancaster County).
• Lauer, Rosalind. A Simple Winter (Seasons of Lancaster series) -- I enjoyed the story, which seemed to draw upon some of David Kline's work, but Lauer doesn't seem to know that children don't usually learn English until they go to school and some other typical things about Amish culture. I enjoyed A Simple Spring & A Simple Autumn. I also read the Lancaster Crossroads series: A Simple Faith, A Simple Hope, A Simple Charity.
• Lighte, Carrie. Amish Triplets for Christmas - pretty good story.
• Lillard, Amy. Katie's Choice (Clover Ridge series). Loved it! Wells Landing series: read Caroline's Secret; did not like Courting Emily, Lorie's Heart, Titus Returns, or Marrying Jonah. Seems like Lillard is going in the direction of Lewis with Courting Emily, Lorie's Heart, and Just Plain Sadie (didn't read but summaries indicate they leave the Amish for the Mennonites or English). Maybe skip A Wells Landing Christmas, but I really enjoyed Loving Jenna. Next: Romancing Nadine, and A New Love for Charlotte (Hoopla ebooks).
  
• Newport, Olivia. Amish Turns of Time series: 1) Wonderful Lonesome. About a failed Amish community in Colorado; Abbie seems unrealistically blindly optimistic. However, the 2nd book, Meek and Mild, about the formation of the Beachy Amish, was very good! The 3rd book, Brightest and Best, about the state of Ohio versus the Amish way of education, was also excellent. 4) Hope in the Land, was different - set in the 1930's Great Depression, about the Dept of Agriculture study on Amish and non-Amish farms & farmwives' successes/failures. Book 5) is Gladden the Heart, about the Great Awakening and an Amishman who had frontal temporal epileptic preaching episodes.

Valley of Choice series: Loved 1) Accidentally Amish, about a high-powered woman business-owner who was drawn to the peacefulness of a different kind of life - and also the history of the author's ancestors who emigrated from Germany/Switzerland to Pennsylvania and bought land from William Penn's sons - so a link to Quaker history too. Then 2) In Plain View and 3) Taken for English made up the trilogy. 

• Perry, Marta. Perry seems to have a solid understanding of the Amish and Mennonite, is a good writer, and mostly tells a good story. My favorites so far in the Pleasant Valley series are the 1st & 5th: Leah's Choice & Katie's Way (I have both). Leah's Choice deals with those who choose to leave the Plain community, their interactions with those they left behind, and the common birth defects among the Amish. Katie's Way shows the negative effects of gossip in small communities & positive interactions between Amish & "Englisch." I've read all: Naomi's Christmas is #7 and the last pair in the series are The Lost Sisters of Pleasant Valley: Lydia's Hope, and Susanna's Dream. I also read Amish Christmas Blessings. Perry has piggy-backed on Pura's story of WWII in The Forgiven: Keepers of the Promise book 1, which I liked very much, and book 2 was about allowing the Amish not to send their kids to high school: The Rescued: Keepers of the Promise. Book 3 wasn't as good: The Rebel. Brides of Lost Creek series: book 1 is Second Chance Amish Bride - enjoyed it, book 2, The Wedding Quilt Bride, 2018, and book 3, The Promised Amish Bride. Book 4 is The Amish Widow's Heart (nice!) and Book 5 is A Secret Amish Crush - pretty good. Read 2 other series: River Haven (1: Amish Outsider, 2: Amish Protector - 2020, and 3: Amish Secrets - I didn't like the "woman in jeopardy" theme) and Promise Glen (1: A Christmas Home, 2: A Springtime Heart, and 3: A Harvest of Love (didn't like it). The Second Christmas, pt 1, and Thanksgiving Blessing, pt 3 of the Amish Holiday series, were awful - in that Perry used "Ach" and "Ain't so" in almost every sentence, and sometimes both in one sentence - distracting, and probably not how people really talk.
• Reid, Ruth (A Miracle of Hope). Other than overuse of "amble," pretty good story set in the UP, MI. Reid, Ellis (Mary) & Wiseman are collected together in a set of 3 novellas: An Amish Miracle.
• Roper, Gayle. Undecided...Amish are background, not the focus of her stories.
• Schmidt, Anna. Enjoyed A Groom for Greta (Amish Brides of Celery Fields #3), didn't read Hannah's Journey (#1) as reviews were bad; felt #2 Family Blessings (set in 1932) was historically inaccurate as they addressed each other as "Herr," "Frau," "ma'am," and "sir" and said "Guten Morgan" instead of "Guder Mariye." Tried to read Second Chance Proposal but it was boring! http://www.booksbyanna.com/books.php
• Senft, Adina. Whinburg Township Amish series: 1) The Wounded Heart had an interesting story line about MS (multiple sclerosis), & I loved the closeness of the 3 women friends. The 2nd: The Hidden Life and 3) The Tempted Soul. I would like to get these. Second trilogy: Healing Grace (4: Herb; 5: Keys of Heaven; 6: Balm of Gilead) - really enjoyed them. Third trilogy, 7): The Longest Road, which was sad, about the daughters kidnapped and raised by a non-Amish couple. Book 8 is The Highest Mountain, then 9) The Sweetest Song, and there's a short story in Amish Christmas Miracles (KDL ebook, in my For Later list). Get the whole series?  (books 8-9 not in KDL or MeL).  The latest series is the Montana Millers (started #1, The Amish Cowboy; enjoyed book 5, The Amish Cowboy's Makeover).
• Wallace, Yolanda. Rum Spring - lesbian!
• Wiseman, Beth. She occasionally shows her lack of deep understanding of the culture, but overall writes fairly good romance. Wiseman overuses the word "shuffles"--very off-putting and distracting! Unfortunately, she also uses stereotypical expressions which the Amish don't really use, such as "wunderbaar gut." Home all along was ok. Enjoyed Hearts in Harmony very much! A good story in An Amish Christmas Bakery. The Amish Journey series - Hearts in Harmony and Listening to Love - lots of drama. The 3rd one is A Beautiful Arrangement at KDL - borrowed audiobook 10/16/21, and did not enjoy it - too unrealistic - the couple riding in a limo, eating gourmet food. "Under the Harvest Moon" in An Amish Harvest set in Shipshewana was terrible - again, very unrealistic. In the Amish Bookseller series, I read the Bookseller's Promise - ok but not great. Read A Picture of Love, 2020, in the Amish Inn series. It was a good story, although there are still silly mistakes. #2 is An Unlikely Match. Also enjoyed #3, Amish Matchmakers!  Her novella "Rooted in Love" in An Amish Garden was ok.
• Woodsmall, Cindy - about 2018 her writing improved - or perhaps that was because she started co-authoring with her daughter Erin Woodsmall. Enjoyed A Christmas Haven (2019) and its predecessor The Christmas Remedy (2018), audio books. Not a fan of The English Daughter, though - characters very un-Amish. Yesterday's Gone (2022) was about changing a past event and then dealing with the consequences in the future - a small change resulted in huge differences - the butterfly effect. Until Then (2023) is about time travel to 1822 Ohio and getting involved with the Underground Railroad. It seemed disjointed sometimes, and odd. The Quaker woman from 1822 decides to stay in 1985 and become Amish.  
• In the Fullness of Time (Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries) by Tricia Goyer, Nancy Mehl, Elizabeth Adams, & Elizabeth Ludwig - a little too pious but still an interesting story.
• Amish Christmas Miracles - a nice collection of short stories/novellas, by Jennifer Beckstrand, Lenora Worth, Serena B. Miller, Kathleen Fuller, Rachel J. Good, Jennifer Spredemann, Mary Alford, Laura Bradford, Dana R. Lynn, Adina Senft, Susan Lantz Simpson, Loree Lough, Tracy Fredrychowski, and Ashley Emma. 2020.

OK, the writers I haven't enjoyed so far, though I wouldn't want to keep others from reading:

• Alford, Mary. Poor writing.
• Bayarr, Samantha Jillian. Clearly doesn't know the Amish; bad writing. Self-published.
• Beckstrand, Jennifer. "A Honeybee Christmas" story in The Amish Christmas Candle - ridiculous but funny.
• Brown, Jo Ann. OK, not great writing.
• Brunstetter, Wanda: Amish good, English bad, every time.
• Clark, Mindy Starts & Leslie Gould: Another case of Amish vs. Mennonite vs. English, in which "exciting drama" gets more attention than getting the details of Amish life correct. Although I admit I am going to try their 2nd novel, to give them a fair chance. Leslie Gould's novel Adoring Addie was very good, however.
• Clipston, Amy. Bad writing, using cliches & words repetitively, e.g., "snatched."
• Copeland, Lori and Virginia Smith. No need to read any more of theirs....
• Davids, Patricia. Katie's Redemption - fine, other than a distracting reference to a "wingback chair."  I'm sure I read An Amish Christmas (Love Inspired). A Match Made at Christmas - irritating non-Amish things in the novel, including the pronunciation of the reader ("denjee" for denki). I'd put her in the non-enjoyable writers.
• Eicher, Jerry. Contrived plots, strange details, 1-2 sentence paragraphs....
• Ellis, Mary. The Miller Family series were quite entertaining, yet there are so many inaccuracies that it makes it very distracting. I have The Way to a Man's Heart. I read the Wayne County series. I also have Living in Harmony, the 1st in the New Beginnings series, and read Love Comes to Paradise. A Little Bit of Charm (KY thoroughbreds) was entertaining. I read A Plain Man and the 7th.
• Ellis has also written The Quaker and the Rebel - maybe try - although I can see if the 1st few pages that she has done as little research on Quakers as she has on the Amish (ribbons on her dress, curtseying, using "sir" and "ma'am" and the title of "Miss" to introduce herself. Meh.
• Fisher, Suzanne Woods. Poor plotting, caricatured characters, & trite language with overuse of adjectives (Lancaster County Secrets series).
• Gray, Shelley Shepard. The Promise of Palm Grove, in the Amish Brides of Pinecraft series. Good audio book for falling asleep to, but they are "new" Amish, so there is a telephone in the kitchen, the entire cast of characters gets involved in discussing the romantic lives of the protagonists, and they use the honorific "Miss" or "Mr." to address and refer to some of the characters. Also listened to the 2nd book, The Proposal at Siesta Key, even weirder with evangelizing Amish.
• Hilton, Laura V. Patchwork Dream, Amish of Seymour series: yet another bad writer trying to do the Amish romance.
• Jones Baker, Lisa. "Christmas Candle" short story in The Amish Christmas Candle - very simplistic, not well-written.
• Keller, Cynthia. Caricatures of both English & Amish in An Amish Christmas. But maybe I should try the 2nd novel: A Plain & Fancy Christmas.
• Lewis, Beverly: dislike. The couple of novels I read by her seem to imply that it is better to convert to the more evangelical forms of Christianity than to be Old Order Amish; they seemed preachy and unbelievable.
• Lloyd, Kate. Bad writing, trite language with overuse of adjectives and adverbs.
• Long, Kelly. Odd characters, plotting, resolutions; romance unlike the Amish culture.
• Price, Sarah. Juvenile writing.
• Pura, Murray. Snapshots in History series about Amish during WWI and after, and the Civil War. Good historical information about the wars but not so good on the Amish details. 
• Reid, Ruth. While I enjoyed her 3rd book (see above), her 1st 2 are poorly written, confusing, and definitely not well-versed in Amish culture. It's too bad, since they're set in MI.
• Spredemann, Jennifer. Poor writing.
• Woodsmall, Cindy. I read 5 of her books before giving up. My favorite was The Sound of Sleigh Bells.

Amish-themed mysteries:
Fowler, Earlene's Benni Harper quilting mysteries have Amish characters.
Gaus, P.L.  has several mysteries (definitely not romance!). I read at least one, perhaps more.
Myers, Tamar's mysteries have a very sour protagonist & atmosphere.
Picoult, Jodi. Plain Truth is very dark.
Workinger, Barbara writes cozy mysteries with an Amish protagonist.

Mennonite:
Toews, Miriam. Irma Roth. Hated it.
 
Unknown/to try:
Thomas, Cara S. (A Secret Love): lesbian! (badly written; MI author)

Drexler, Jan (Hannah's Choice) (more ebooks on KDL Overdrive)
Ellis, Marianne (Summer Promise, Autumn Grace),
Kingsbury, Karen.
Lodge, Hillary Manton (Plain Jayne)
Peterson, Tracie.
Rivers, Francine.

Literary fiction:
Lowenthal, Michael. Avoidance, gay man researching shunning.

Children's books:
De Angeli, Marguerite. Henner's Lydia, Yonie Wondernose