Trans Like Me by C N Lester - Review

I've had this book absolutely forever and I think I followed the author on Twitter at one point way back in time and probably ordered this then. I picked this book up as part of my LGBTQ+ reading month in January. I am really glad I got round to it. I don't tend to read a lot of non fiction but enjoyed this. 

C N Lester is non binary and talks in this book about that and their experiences as a trans person, but alongside that are parts where they talk about sex and gender, break down myths about trans people, cite up to date research and so on about trans people. It is at once both personal and clinical, in a was that I really liked. There's no sugar coating reality for trans people, but equally there is a message of hope for the community. 

One thing I did think was, well this book was written a decade ago (it was published in 2017) and really I feel like we've gone back politically for trans people. With pressure groups barring trans women from using the loo in public and people like J K Rowling using their vast wealth to push their backward thinking viewpoints, it feels like we've gone backwards in that decade. I find that upsetting and as always I stand behind my trans siblings in the community. 

I don't have a lot to say about this - I just really liked reading it and am grateful that C N Lester laid their soul bare in such a way. I'm giving this five out of five. 

Welcome to St Hell by Lewis Hancox - Review

I know who Lewis Hancox is from TV and from twitter, but I didn't know he had written a book until my friend Jane visited in February and mentioned this book. I immediately bought a copy on eBay and took it with me on a mini break to the east coast. I started and finished it in the same day because it's really compelling and interesting, and also because as a graphic novel it's easy to read. 

So Lewis is a trans man and has been out since he was nineteen, but before that everyone thought he was a girl and he had previously identified as a lesbian - there's a really funny bit where his dad says he had to come out again as straight when he came out as a man, which I really liked the inclusion of. Lewis has been really brave in coming out with his story and his deadname, I think. He skilfully shows how difficult he found being a teenager, especially in somewhere like St Helens where any kind of difference is seen as odd and often subjected to bullying. I really related to Lewis' depiction of how he tried to fit in as a teenager and how difficult it was. When he went to sixth form college he did start to find himself a bit which was lovely to see. 

The graphics are really nice and there's some inside jokes about them too, like about how Lewis' mum always appears in her dressing gown. Pages that are edged in black are when Lewis himself appears - as older Lewis - when he's trying to tell his younger self something. I liked the artwork. 

I also like the depiction of how hard it was to be a teen and why; I related to this and I think a lot of readers will even if they aren't trans. You still understand not feeling 'right'. This is a brilliant addition to both graphic novels and to queer literature. I really hope Lewis writes/draws something else because I really think he could! I'm giving this five out of five, and I'm also going to be lending it to a bunch of people! 

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom - Review

My friend Lucinda gave this to me for my birthday and said it was really good, so I was looking forward to getting to it. I picked it up one night in bed and ended up reading about a third of it before I went to sleep. It really grabbed me.

Kai is a trans woman and this book is kind of a memoir about her running away from her home town - named only as Gloom - to the big city, where she lands among her trans sisters on the Street of Light and Miracles. She is barely 18, and she finds refuge among women like her. She gets dresses and red shoes, and when another trans woman is found dead, she forms a vigilante gang with other femmes to try to get their own back.

There's poems from her notebook and letters home to her sister. There's some history of her as a teen, but not tons. There are fantastical elements, when things that aren't natural happen, and I found them really interesting, and well written, even though they take this book out of a plain memoir into something else.

It's a short book but I really liked it, and felt like I'd learnt something by the end. Kai has some really lovely descriptions and use of words, and I felt like I could picture the Street of Light and Miracles perfectly. I'm giving this four out of five.

My Dad Thinks I'm A Boy?! by Sophie Labelle - Review

I spied this trans positive children's book on Netgalley and requested it immediately. I've read some of Sophie's Assigned Male comic - I backed it on Kickstarter at some point I think - so was intrigued to see this book which is set when Stephie, star of Assigned Male, is around seven years old. The book notes that the doctors thought she was a boy but that as soon as she could speak, Stephie told her parents she was a girl. Her mother Alice accepts this quickly but her dad - from whom her mother is separated - can't.

Stephie likes bugs and books and spaghetti. Her dad thinks she likes wrestling and fishing - but those are things that he likes. He struggles to see who she really is. I really liked how that is placed solely on him, and not on Stephie. Not on the child trying her very best to be who she really is.

I'm so glad to have read this, it was so uplifting and cute. I really hope it gets into the hands of some trans kids! Five out of five.

My Dad Thinks I'm A Boy?! will be published in February 2020 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. I received an ecopy of this book in exchange for a review but was not otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you!

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it at YALC this year after hearing a lot about it. 

What's it about? Amanda is a trans girl, and is just moving from living with her mum to living with her dad at the beginning of the novel. She is in the south of the United States, in pretty much the bible belt. She has been out for a few years and has had surgery and taken hormones. She hasn't had much to do with her dad in that time, as he struggles to accept her. She quickly makes friends at school, from popular girls Layla, Anna and Chloe, to Bee, who confides that she is bisexual.  Amanda also starts going out with Grant, and wants to tell him about herself, but he has secrets of his own. 

Interspersed within the main narrative are chapters going back into Amanda's past, including when she was very small and living under her previous name, and including her parents dealing with her and each other and their divorce. 

Amanda is a really gorgeous character - I loved her. I was utterly rooting for her at all points. She's very likeable and humanly flawed. I really liked her. I like Grant, too, I liked his issues and his family. 

Meredith Russo is a trans woman herself and there are notes to cis readers and trans readers in the back of the book, which were both lovely. I think it's great to read a book by a trans author and I fully support more diverse authors getting published. 

What age range is it for? 15+, I think

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? Yes, of course. Amanda is trans, and straight. Bee is bisexual and I liked this side plot.

Are any main characters people of colour? It isn't mentioned, so I assume not.

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? No

Is there any sex stuff? Yes, a little, and it is beautifully done and was lovely to read.

Are drugs mentioned or used? Marijuana, but that's it. I liked it, actually, I thought Amanda and Bee sitting on the grass smoking pot was entirely real.

Is there any talk of death? Yes, and trigger warning for suicide/suicide attempts

Are there swear words? A few, and also homophobic slurs.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, god yes. Go, read it now. 

How many stars? Nine and a half out of ten - wonderfully almost perfect

Where is the book going now? I'll keep it, for sure.