Litsy

Transgender 101: A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue | Nicholas Teich

August 2025 Theme: Trans Fantasy

Please vote for what book we will read in August

https://forms.gle/Jm6U9F2nViaGoGAT7

Read at your own pace. There will be a discussion posted on Litsy at the end of the month.

Please tag me in your posts & use #riseupreads

Rise up Reads- reading marginalized voices 🔥✊🏼 If you're not currently tagged & would like to be, let me know.

LitsyEvents

Catsandbooks @LaughterHp @melismatic @julsmarshall @skygoddess1 @Bookwormjillk @lil1inblue @Jadams89 @puddlejumper @Liz_M @mrsV @thebookhippie @lapreader @willaful @cuilin 3d

Catsandbooks @peanutnine @singout @mhillis @light_of_aether @alldebooks @kspenmoll @librarybelle @mimi28 @ElizaMarie @AbigailJaneBlog @DebinHawaii @Kristy_K @IriDas @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian 3d

Librarybelle Voted! 3d

PuddleJumper The ones I can access I've already read 😅 I'll abstain this month 3d

34 likes4 comments

ChaoticMissAdventures

Stone Butch Blues | Leslie Feinberg

Happy Pride Month! Last weekend I did classic, classics of Pride - which because they are older skewed very male. This weekend I want to do some ladies with Modern Classics (published after 1980)
All of these are FANTASTIC and worth the read.
Stone Butch Blues was written by a trans author it is novel about a lesbian that is heartfelt, sad, and for many an informative look at what being Butch in the 50-60s was like. Please check TW
5 ⭐

ChaoticMissAdventures A little bit cheesy but overall a wonderfully told story of new love and finding yourself. Real in the way the other people around them were treating them. The book has been banned from many school libraries and publicly burned in Kansas City, so you know it is worth the read. 4 ⭐

Annie on My Mind

ChaoticMissAdventures Nevada is a cult classic about a trans woman I enjoyed messy Maria. She has been living her truth for ten years and she still doesn't have it all figured out. The books ending is a bit controversial and if you get later versions the author talks about why she did what she did to Maria and James 4.5 ⭐

Nevada

ChaoticMissAdventures A semi-autobiographical book this is a lesbian classic! A woman in a cult starts to minister and falls in love with one of the converts! The writing is obviously studied, and I enjoyed the characters. 4 ⭐

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

See All 7 Comments

ChaoticMissAdventures Sarah Waters is a queer lit icon. this one is one of her most known, I was engrossed the entire time with where Nan was going. Up and down in life. Searching for herself. The synopsis always states it is about her and Kitty and their relationship, but I found that to be such a small part of the book, them together, and the focus instead being on what the life of someone who dresses, and behaves differently than society expects is like.

Tipping The Velvet

Susanita I loved

Tipping The Velvet

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian Love all of these books too, especially Tipping the Velvet and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit! Stone Butch Blues is a tough read but so good too, I learned so much from it. 4w

Kitta Only read Tipping and Oranges from this list! Stone has been on my radar for a while though. 4w

36 likes7 comments

IriDas

Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories about Growing Up Trans | Lilah Sturges, Sammy Lisel

#sundayfunday

Another children‘s book, but that is going to be my emphasis in grad school so it‘s educational. 😊

BookmarkTavern

BookmarkTavern Good luck in grad school! 🍀 Thanks for posting! 1mo

11 likes1 comment

Kerrbearlib

Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy Seal's Journey to Coming Out Transgender | Kirstin Beck, Anne Speckhard, Kristin Beck

Recommended reading this Memorial Day.

Susanita My office did an event about LGBT rights in the military, back when it was still okay to talk of such things. She was the main speaker and gave an interesting presentation. 1mo

21 likes1 comment

RaeLovesToRead

Detransition, Baby: A Novel | Torrey Peters

so-so

I'm conflicted.

The writing is great. Sharp and subversive. Lots of social commentary. Centres trans experiences. Some amusing moments.

But I struggled to root for the characters because they were all so very selfish, and showed such little regard for each others' feelings and needs.

Made me miserable in the same way that All Fours and The Pisces did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kitta I felt the same way about this. Couldn‘t connect in some way. I also disliked All Fours so you aren‘t alone! 1mo

TheBookHippie Yup. Sigh. Although I feel this you gain something a bit - All Fours-no just no. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @Kitta @TheBookHippie I felt All Fours and The Pisces had more to recommend them as literary works, but Detransition, Baby more to offer in terms of expanding horizons. All of them made me feel miserable. 1mo

See All 16 Comments

willaful Oh dear. Think I'll take this off my list. 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead I recommend this with caveat but All Fours never. 🫣😬🤷🏻‍♀️ 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @willaful Don't let me deinfluence you! Peters is a good writer 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie Not even for people who really like interior decorating and infidelity?? Haha 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead 🤦🏻‍♀️ I think it‘s hateful to women. Period. 🤣🤣😫😵‍💫🤦🏻‍♀️ (edited) 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie I think the main character has internalised a lot of societies misogynistic views - the attitude almost taken verbatim from an essay of Susan Sontag's - The Double Standard of Aging (which I read just before All Fours). I didn't find the book hateful per se because it reflects the way a huge swathe of society thinks. But it MASSIVELY bummed me out because it was a reminder that society treats women like that. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie Also, imagine spending all that money on decorating a motel room 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead it was advertised as how women are in midlife 😵‍💫 that was my biggest issue. Using it as truth … I did find it a hateful picture of women, and I think that in itself is problematic for me. I get the point, I just personally don‘t think it‘s productive. Also the privilege reeks out of the pages. Can you imagine!!!! On a motel room ?!?!?! Oy. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie The idea that a woman's value is determined by her sexual desirability is absolutely a hateful concept, and so depressing. When I read it I felt sorry for the MC for buying into that so wholeheartedly, but also angry at her entitlement and the way she treated her family as secondary. And also annoyed that I'm not impervious to society's pressures myself. I saw it as a reflection on misogyny, but it's possible I give too much credit! 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead 😝 at my age I have zero Fucks to give for sure… but I never really did fall for the troupe, not that it wasn‘t used against me in my 20s 30s 40s … etc and now. It was her choice to be that way. That is a problem for me. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie The MC is a problem, but as a book I both loved and hated it. I'm in the minority there though... everyone else on Litsy hated it 😄 I've been told the Kitamura for this year's Camp Litsy has similar vibes so I'm not sure what the debate will be like haha. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie If you ever read The Pisces let me know 🤣🤣🤣 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead will do! 1mo

64 likes1 stack add16 comments

psalva

Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary | Toshio Meronek, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

pick

On Tuesday I facilitated a discussion on this for the Keuka Compass LGBTQ+ Book Club. We had a vibrant conversation about whitewashing, trans and queer misogyny, policing and prisons, and activism. While I still get anxious after events like this from the crash post-socializing, my community groups have been a lifeline recently in addition to powerful books like this one. #stonewall #lgbtqia+ #solidarity

Bookwomble I really liked this book. Miss Major suffers no fools and takes no shit! ✊🏻🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 5d

16 likes1 stack add1 comment

RaeLovesToRead

Detransition, Baby: A Novel | Torrey Peters

"If you are a trans girl who knows many other trans girls, you go to church a lot, because church is where they hold the funerals."

?

TheBookHippie Yup. I‘ve been to two. (Outside the 80s) 1mo

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie I'm so sorry 🫂💔 It's such a hard hitting sentence. The writing on the next few pages is irreverent, direct, and weaves between the political, the personal, and the practical. Torrey Peters is an impressive writer. 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead I got a lot out of this book. Funerals I went to were horrific- a 16 and a 15 year old, who died by suicide. 1mo

See All 6 Comments

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie That's so heartbreaking. Overall I'm not sure how I'd rate the book, but it's got some fantastic writing in it. I've got her new one too - Stag Dance 1mo

TheBookHippie @RaeLovesToRead not sure how to rate it either. I have the new one setting here as well. There‘s good writing and it‘s just good to read experience of others. 1mo

TieDyeDude 💔 1mo

42 likes6 comments

ChaoticMissAdventures

The Chromatic Fantasy | H. a. H. a.

pick

Low pick 3.5 ⭐

An adult comic. The book itself is gorgeous. I love the art and the gold sprayed edges. The book started strong but the language got a bit muddled. I liked the idea of the story but not so much the execution. Still it is very pretty.

35 likes

ChaoticMissAdventures

The Chromatic Fantasy | H. a. H. a.

This gorgeous comic is about a trans boy who has to escape a nunnery, and then becomes a thief.

I love the juxtaposition of the story set in what appears to be medieval times but the artists keeps sneaking in modern things like this page with the cell phone 🤣😍

32 likes1 stack add

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