The Written Nerd

Shop Indie Bookstores Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Allison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin) (Bonus: mad hipster queer indie cred!) Before she became a literary hero with her memoir Fun Home , Allison Bechdel spent a couple of decades writing a comic strip. But in the hands of someone so talented, a comic strip became a combination of an astute weekly political column and an endless Victorian novel. I spent weeks obsessed with the fates of the hilarious, smart-mouthed queer women and men of all stripes in the world of The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For -- it's a juicy soap opera, smart social commentary, and insight into the mind of a writer. Worth spending some time with, whatever you're watching out for.