Curious Wine

By: Katherine Forrest

Narrated by: Jane Merrow

Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Curious Wine is a love story set in Lake Tahoe between Diane Holland and Lane Christianson. Beautifully written and intensely romantic, it has been described a masterpiece of lesbian love and set a very high standard for the genre. Award winning author Katherine V Forrest offers a candid portrait of first discovery which is evocatively delivered by actress Jane Merrow.

©2009 Copyright Group (P)2009 Copyright Group

The audio was a let down

The audio book is a real disappointment . I have read the book before and loved the story . When I seen they put it on audio I was looking forward too it until ii listen to it , they took a lot of the book out of the audio. There should be at least another hour on this audio book

Coming Out

Wonderful story for a coming out story for those older than the college age group. Sometimes, it takes a marriage or a few relationships with men to find out what you really do or do not want. And only when you're older do you truly know what you as a woman want. It was a light story that was easy to follow along with during my long commute.

abrevreated

I'm not happy with this abrevreated version of this book. please don't cut stuff out

Good story but narration not so good.

Good story but had a hard time with narration. Just no feeling. The stiff narration only is why I ranked this 4 stars.

Wonderful Story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would absolutley recommend this audiobook to anyone that wants to listen to me. It is a wonderful story a true love story and narrated by the most beautiful eliquient voice in Jane Merrow

What was one of the most memorable moments of Curious Wine?

I love the flow of the book, it was incredibly well written, kept me interested the entire time the love scene was tasteful not sharp and crass as lesbian books can be. Just a wonderful story that should be read by all lesbians at one point in their lives.

What about Jane Merrow’s performance did you like?

Fabulous, what a wonderful reading voice

Who was the most memorable character of Curious Wine and why?

Lane for sure. I love the softness of her character and the full realisations of where and whom she wanted to be in her life.

Nostalgia

This was one of the first books of WLW that I ever read abut 25 years ago, it was wonderful to listen to it... i wish more of Katherine Forrest’s book were on Audible.

A Lesbian Classic

For lesbians over the age of 40 (maybe 50?), the book Curious Wine by Katherine V Forrest is something like the holy grail of lesbian literature. We are so fortunate now to have numerous sources to purchase (or even read for free) stories featuring lesbian characters, but back in the early 80s there were very few publishers that produced it. And people searching for representation had to seek out gay and lesbian bookstores to be able to find stories that reflected our lives. (Keep in mind it would be another decade before Amazon.com was founded.) For many of us, this book was the first lesbian fiction we'd ever read. It's the story of San Francisco attorney (also rare in the early 80s) Lane Christianson who travels to Lake Tahoe to meet up with a group of professional women in a cabin where they planned to enjoy a skiing weekend. There she immediately makes a connection with Diane Holland, a human resource professional, and they are assigned a room together. Diana has never been attracted to a woman before but is immediately drawn to Lane. And Lane had a brief encounter with a woman once but has been with men since. When they meet, their attraction is immediate and strong. This is the story of how their love blossoms. It is SO beautiful and tender. I have lost count of how many times I've read it over the years. And yes - though it's a little dated now, it still holds up quite well. When I saw that an audiobook was produced of the book back in 2009, I decided to give it a try. This audiobook is short at 3 hours and 16 minutes, and is priced accordingly on Audible. The experience listening to it was quite different than reading it. First, the audiobook begins with a snippet from the opera Lakme (The Flower Duet) by Delibes. If you're not familiar with the music, please do listen to it here on YouTube. It's a lesbian staple and absolutely gorgeous. https://youtu.be/C1ZL5AxmK_A The work is narrated by English actress Jane Merrow. She's got a beautiful English accent and reads well, though I'm not sure why she was chosen to do this particular book because the women in the story are from California. It made me wonder. Then at the end of sections of the book, a clip of classical music plays. That made me chuckle and took some adjusting. I would say if you have never read Curious Wine, you'd definitely want to read the book first. It really is a classic and a must-read if you love lesbian literature or the history of it. Then, if you want to listen, go for it. It's not quite as affecting. I couldn't help but think how much improved it would be if Abby Craden or Angela Dawe narrated it. I would love to see a 40th anniversary edition made of it in 2023 - with special features and updated narration.

A Lovely telling of an old classic!

Curious Wine is a classic novel of romance and Jane Merrow does a great job reading it.

Didn’t follow the book at all

I was disappointed that the audiobook didn’t follow the book at all. What a shame.... I wanted to follow along in the book.

Simply Beautiful

This book has became one of my classic faves. The emotion is so strong and the passionate love affair is intense between the two main characters. I’ve read this book a few times since it’s not very long and I plan to read it more in the future. Would highly recommend to someone just looking to read a beautiful love story between two women.