What book are you currently reading?

[Sol]

I read the Fountainhead, @JJ Orange! Granted, I was in like seventh grade when I read it, but yeah I liked it! It's an odd piece with Ayn Rand's unique style, but overall pretty good. There are dubious elements around the mid-late chapters so be on the lookout for that. Nothing explicit, but it was definitely enough to make me do more than one double take.

[JJ Orange]

@Sol Thank you for your answer, friend! I wanted to see what others thought of. I remember having a different book of a different author, reading the first couple of pages, then becoming scared and never finishing it. And that was 8 years ago!

[Marcie Jensen]

Hi @Sol, I read The Fountainhead years ago, as well as Atlas Shrugged. As I look back, I have a couple of thoughts. First, saying that I liked them doesn't seem to do both justice. They are extremely thought provoking books and should probably be required reading. Second, the themes she put forth in both works are particularly apt today in view of current events. Both are well woth the reading.

[Davie]

Transcending: trans Buddhist voices

edited by Kevin Manders and Elizabeth Marston.

[Geona]

Currently reading "Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World, Volume 2" by "Kenichi"; Japanese light novel, overpowered protagonist; it's not bad but its literary merit is somewhere in the negatives.

 

(If you want a really GOOD light novel series, check out Ascendance of a Bookworm.)

 

Just finished: "The Hatchling" by Vyria Durav, high fantasy, which concerns a priest (and healer) who has been tormented by the members of "his" town's hypermasculinised  Hunter's Guild for years, but is forced to accompany them on a hunt for a dragon who has settled nearby. Said dragon turns out to be a longtime friend of Sarric's mother figure, and kidnaps "him". It turns out that Sarric's god is the god of dragons and transsexuals. You can probably guess roughly where it goes from there. Including a literal egg hatching.

 

It's short, reasonably affecting, and spoke to me personally. Obviously the baseline plot wouldn't happen in reality, but I think the emotional development and prior traumas of Sarric / Valora show something genuine.

 

Just before that, read "Gourmet Deviled Egg" by Katie Walker and Natalie Meyers. Lily's succubus heritage is awoken by a F2M trans wizard living downstairs while trying to awaken his own supernatural heritage. A lifetime of abuse by her strictly controlling father has traumatised her, but she finds that despite the inconvenience of red skin and a tail she's much more comfortable in her new body. It's less about Lily becoming comfortable in her new skin than it is about her realising that it's OK to be inside her new skin.

 

Add the Last Channer Alive (converted by the same ritual into a vampire, and horribly against, well, pretty much anybody who isn't a straight male; an angel determined to destroy anybody sharing Lily's heritage; and a really nice, laid-back and accepting cafe. Plus, of course, Lily's truly waste-of-space Dad, whose fate I will not describe but is suitably poetic. Oh, and Gabriel has transitioned to female. (Lucifer has a precinct in Hell for transsexuals, not because they have sinned but because Heaven keeps screwing up how they're handled. They're not punished there, but protected. Lucifer turns out to be a pretty chill nonbinary.)

 

It won't be winning any awards for literature, but it's a readable book with interesting characters and setting where the action moves pretty well, and covers a wide variety of sexual identities. I liked it.

[Charlize]

I'm currently enjoying some old fashioned westerns by Elmore Leonard.  "TheLaw at Randado", "The Bounty Hunters" and "Forty Lashes Less One".  I guess i still love white hats on the good guys and black hats on the baddies.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Vidanjali]

 

I'm reading this. It's riveting. 

[Vidanjali]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:40 PM, JJ Orange said:

Hey friends!

I started to read Atlas Shrugged but I also had the first book of the Dark Tower series. Since I am a huge fan of him, I decided to read the Dark Tower first then Atlas Shrugged later. 

Also, to those who read the Fountain Head, did anyone like it? (No spoilers pls). 

 

I read "The Fountainhead" a few years ago out of curiosity because I had heard it occasionally praised over the years. I thought it was awful, really one of the worst things I ever read. I'm not sure how much I can tell you about why without spoilers. I'll just say that I found the characters, their characterizations, attitudes, motivations, and actions to be at best one-dimensional and at worst, detestable.

 

In later years, I learned Rand is considered a leading thinker in the neolibertarian movement. While I believe in the value of each individual, I believe more deeply in unity and compassion. 

 

Speaking of reads, I found "Democracy in Chains" by Nancy MacLean to be incredibly illuminating on how the concept of "individual liberty" is exploited by the ultrawealthy (they are the "makers", a persecuted minority, whereas all others are "takers") who use their power and means to elevate their own interests at the peril of democratic freedom. Stranger than fiction, indeed. 

 

[Ivy]

1 hour ago, Vidanjali said:

the concept of "individual liberty" is exploited by the ultrawealthy (they are the "makers", a persecuted minority, whereas all others are "takers") who use their power and means to elevate their own interests at the peril of democratic freedom. Stranger than fiction, indeed. 

Yeah.  Kinda seems like the "workers" have a part in it all somehow.

[miz miranda]

I've just finished the following 3 titles, all good reads. I tend to have multiple books going at any one time

 

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb

 

its part of a series that can be read standalone. It present a framework for considering the risk of very improbable events. He is the author of the Black Swan

 

Numbers don't Lie by Vacliv Smil

 

It provides 71 topics in a short form. It provides really interesting and sometimes contrarian analysis on many important issues

 

This is how it always is by Laurie Frankel

 

It is a wonderful story about a family raising a child who is transgender child. I highly recommend it

[MirandaB]

@CharlizeI've been working my way through the Elmore Leonard books I hadn't read yet since covid upped my reading time and I think I've read all those ones you mentioned during that stretch. 

 

What I'm currently reading is Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan and Jodi Picoult, which we know from one of the authors and the PR materials involves a trans character, even though 100 pages in she's not been identified as such in the book so far. 

[Sol]

Just finished "Winter's Orbit" by Everina Maxwell! It's a queer court drama/mystery story and all of its characters are pretty good! 

Heavy warning for mentions and some depictions of abuse though, they are decently detailed in a couple instances.

[Marcie Jensen]

Ladies, I'm impressed by what everyone is reading, and, alas, I hate to admit that I've been indulging in Harlequin romance novels of the most shallow, off the WalMart shelves kind lately. In some ways they remind me of old westerns of the Louis L'Amour/Ralph Compton type--predictable plot, good gal/good guy against bad guy, good wins in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. They're still fun, though 😊

 

And, @JJ Orange, like @Vidanjali, I read The Fountainhead many years ago. I didn't particularly like it. I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand, but I do believe her work is worth the read because of her impact on neolibertarian thought. I think the majority of her work has to be taken as political philosophy and viewed through that lens, as opposed to, say, reading fiction or history. There isn't much more to say about it without spoilers, so I'll stop there.

 

And, @RhondaS, I'm going to check out Mad Honey because of your mentioning there's a trans character in it. There's very little that I've found out there with trans characters, so for that alone I'm interested. Looking back, the first book I read that featured a trans character was Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge. It's kinda old--I read it in high school back in the '70s--and had to purchase it secretly and keep it hidden because of my parents disapproval. (that's another story entirely.) 

 

Sorry to have rambled so much.

Marcie

[MirandaB]

@Marcie Jensen Well, here's a list I made for another site of books I'd recommend

 

NOVELS

Nevada-Imogen Binnie

Detransition, Baby-Torrey Peters

Death of Vivek Oji-Ajwaeje Emezi

Little Fish-Casey Plett

Survivor’s Guilt-Robyn Gigl

MEMOIRS

She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders-Jennifer Finney Boylan

The Body I Wore-Diana Goetsch

Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family-Amanda Jette Knox

Stuck in the Middle With You-Jennifer Finney Boylan

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality- Sarah McBride

As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy after I Transitioned-Paula Stone Williams

-transgender-: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Fairest: A Memoir-Meredith Talusan

Trans: A Memoir-Julia Jacques

[Marcie Jensen]

Thanks, @RhondaS. I appreciate the list. I've read a couple of them--Trans: A Memoir and Survivor's Guilt--but the rest are new to me. Looking forward to the reads.

[Ivy]

3 hours ago, Marcie Jensen said:

alas, I hate to admit that I've been indulging in Harlequin romance novels of the most shallow, off the WalMart shelves kind lately.

I love trashy romance paperbacks!

[Robin.C]

I found an interesting book at the church fete last weekend.

Henry Lawson's life and stories by Joe Wilson, published 1987.

 

Hugs

Robyn

 

[MirandaB]

13 hours ago, Marcie Jensen said:

Thanks, @RhondaS. I appreciate the list. I've read a couple of them--Trans: A Memoir and Survivor's Guilt--but the rest are new to me. Looking forward to the reads.

I forgot to mention I kinda listed them in the order I'd recommend them, best at the top, runners up below, but this list is also cultivated from a larger number of books so they're all worth reading IMO. 

[Marcie Jensen]

10 hours ago, RhondaS said:

I forgot to mention I kinda listed them in the order I'd recommend them, best at the top, runners up below, but this list is also cultivated from a larger number of books so they're all worth reading IMO. 

I kinda figured they were in your preferred order of reading. I tend to do the same thing. 😊

 

I would add that there have been very few books I have read that weren't worth reading, so the "large number" makesperfect sense.

[Davie]

On 2/3/2022 at 11:58 AM, Heather Shay said:

Stumbled across a book at the library of all places and bought a copy of a wonderfully affirming and encouraging book called "To My Trans Sisters" edited by Charlie Craggs, published in 2018 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers and you can get it on Amazon. 85 transwomen write encouraging letters to people like me who is going on my own journey and it is not just for transwomen, it fits the journeys of many across the spectrum.

Thanks @Heather Shay. Looks good for me.

[Davie]

"To My Trans Sisters" edited by Charlie Craggs, published in 2018.

85 transwomen write encouraging letters to people like them, but they're not just for transwomen, they fit the journeys of many people across the spectrum.

[Heather Shay]

Any of the Jennifer Boylan books are good as well.

 

I'm going to re-read "Ismael" by Daniel Quinn. It was an interesting look at humankind through the eyes of Ismael, a full growth gorilla teacher - in other words, a creature outside the human experience, yet similar in some ways.

[Geona]

Drifting away from my usual F/SF fare:

"You and Your Gender Identity: A Guide to Discovery" by Dara Hoffman-Fox LPC.

 

Only just finished the Introductions and Forewords and there's already some penetrating advice. It looks like it's going to be a tough read - in that the contents will require a lot of introspection and reflection.

 

I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to it, as I tend to get pretty negative when introspecting, but I'm hopeful that the sort of introspection involved will the the kind that prompts growth & development rather than plunging down an internal abyss. The text so far is encouraging in that respect. I may drop another note here when I've finished it.

 

Generally I burn through about a book a day. I doubt this one will be so quick. Which should be a good thing. I should probably look at treating it like coursework and trying to cover a chapter a day or something...

[Betty K]

“About a Girl” by Rebekah Robertson, mother of Georgie Stone, who at age 10 became the youngest person ever to be granted puberty blockers by the Family Court of Australia. Then she and her mother fought and overturned the law requiring the Family Court to be involved in such decisions regarding trans minors at all. I can’t read more than a few pages of this book without crying. It really brings home how much a supportive family environment can help a young trans person, and how much and how rapidly society has changed w/r/t attitudes to trans people. Inevitably, it makes me wish I’d had Georgie’s advantages, but I’m also cheating her on, and her family.

 

Also “What it Feels Like for a Girl” by Paris Rees. Autobiographical novel describing a very different and troubled trans childhood in Nottingham, England in the 90s. I like it, and I like Paris Rees.

[Betty K]

Oh god I hate autocorrect! That should say “cheering her on”, iPhone!