In honor of Women’s History Month, I created a display in the Shapiro Library Lobby with literature and non-fiction about and by trans women. Trans women are women and deserve to be highlighted this month in addition to cis women. Here is the list of titles I found in our catalog, if you are interested, and can’t stop by the display.
But it felt wrong to leave trans men out completely. While they didn’t fit with the theme of the display, I thought I would make a matching blog post with some books about the experiences of trans men.
*books the blog author has read and loved
Fiction:
*Felix ever after / Kacen Callender. “Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many-- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages-- after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned-- Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. He didn't count on his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle.” -adapted from jacket
*Cemetery Boys / Aiden Thomas. Ebook on Overdrive. “When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves.” - Mark Oshiro
*Summer sons / Lee Mandelo. Audiobook on Overdrive. “Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost. Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn't know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him. As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie's death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie's nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble.” -publisher
Sympathetic little monster / Cameron Awkward-Rich. "Poetry. African American Studies. LGBT Studies. Through a combination of lyric, narrative, & fractured essay, Sympathetic little monster attempts to make a space and a shape for the little girl who haunts our cultural/personal narratives about blackness and transmasculinity. As a trans coming-of-age text the work is intensely inward-focused, but it resists the imperative of linear autobiography. Instead, it uses the personal as a tool to explore what kind of thing a "self" is, its relation to trauma and objectification, and its capacity to be multiple." -Amazon
Call me Nathan / [written by] Catherine Castro ; & [drawn by] Quentin Zuttion ; translated by Evan McGorray. graphic novel. “Assigned female at birth, Nathan spends his formative years facing questions without answers. As puberty hits and begins to change his body, it all just feels wrong, and something needs to change for it to feel right. He finds himself at a crucial crossroads. Becoming oneself is the work of a lifetime, no matter our gender, sexuality, or refusal to be limited by such categorizations. For Nathan, his courageous first steps towards discovering his true self happen through transition. Based on a true story, Catherine Castro and Quentin Zuttion explore the tenacity and bravery that such a journey entails while society continues to wrestle with the meaning of identity." -back cover
The prospects : a novel / KT Hoffman. "Gene Ionescu, a gay trans man in his third year in the minors with the Beaverton Beavers, is a solid shortstop, but he's no one's idea of a major league prospect. He's just happy to be here, though, getting underpaid six months of the year to play the sport he's loved since childhood--a game that favors underdogs and optimists. He likes to keep his hopes in the day, inning by inning and game by game. But his plans go awry when Luis Estrada--Gene's rival since their college days--gets traded to his team...and promptly takes Gene's position. After Gene's coach forces him over to second base, he and Luis can't manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it. However, as they grow closer and the Beaverton Beavers gain playoff traction for the first time in over a decade, Gene's private dream of playing in the major leagues becomes a threat to his team's success--as well as his burgeoning relationship." -publisher
Sink or Swim / Tash McAdams. Ebook. “In this high-interest accessible novel for teen readers, trans teen Bass and his girlfriend, Rosie, have to battle the elements to survive.” -publisher
Zhuji yu Aqiu / Ling Yan
Welcome to St. Hell : my trans teen misadventure / Lewis Hancox. "Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this. But she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this ... but she can't quite hear him yet. In [this book], Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be." -back cover
Too bright to see / Kyle Lukoff. “In the summer before middle school, eleven-year-old Bug must contend with best friend Moira suddenly caring about clothes, makeup, and boys; a ghost haunting; and the truth about Bug's gender identity.”
*Self-made boys : a Great Gatsby remix / Anna-Marie McLemore. “Three teens chase their own version of the American Dream during the Roaring 20s in this YA remix of The Great Gatsby." -publisher
Both sides now / Peyton Thomas. "A transgender teen grapples with his dreams for the future and a crush on his debate partner, all while preparing to to debate trans rights at Nationals." - adapted from jacket
Second chances in New Port Stephen : a novel / TJ Alexander. “Returning home to New Port Stephen, Florida, for Christmas after his career goes south, trans TV writer and comedian Eli Ward reconnects with his high school ex and they must decide whether to leave the past in the past or move on together.”
Nonfiction:
Pageboy : a memoir / Elliot Page. - “As he navigated criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, a past that snapped at his heels, and a society dead set on forcing him into a binary, Elliot often stayed silent, unsure of what to do, until enough was enough. Full of behind the scenes details and intimate interrogations on sex, love, trauma, and Hollywood, Pageboy is the story of a life pushed to the brink. But at its core, this beautifully written, winding journey of what it means to untangle ourselves from the expectations of others is an ode to stepping into who we truly are with defiance, strength, and joy.” -publisher
Masculinity in Transition / K. Allison Hammer - ebook. - "Masculinity in Transition traces the roots of "toxic masculinity," showing that while toxic strains of masculinity are mainly associated with straight, white men, trans* and queer masculinities often reiterate similar patterns of behavior. Arguing that these malignant forms of masculinity can be displaced, K. Allison Hammer's bold rethinking lays bare the underlying fragility of normative masculinity." -publisher
Transgender Health : advances and new perspectives / Carlos Miguel Rios-González, editor. ebook. “Trans people suffer from significant health disparities in multiple areas, one of which is public health. Real or perceived stigma and discrimination within biomedicine and healthcare delivery, in general, can affect trans people's desire and ability to access appropriate care, thereby impacting their own health. The biggest barrier to both safe hormone therapy and adequate general medical care for transgender patients is the lack of access to care. Despite guidelines and data supporting the current transgender medicine treatment paradigm, trans patients report that a lack of providers experienced in trans medicine represents the single largest component inhibiting access. Transgender care is not taught in conventional medical training programs and very few doctors have the necessary knowledge and level of comfort. As such, this book provides up-to-date information on the health of transgender people.” -publisher
Oyako wa ikizurai : "toransujendā" o meguru kazoku no monogatari / Katsumata Terumasa ; Sasaki Shōko kaisetsu ; Shimizu Akiko, Tōhata Kaito teidan.
Trans men in the South : becoming men / Baker A. Rogers. "Through the voices of fifty-one trans men, Baker A. Rogers analyzes what it means to be a trans man in the southeastern United States. Rogers argues that the common themes that pervade trans men's experiences in the South are complicated by other intersecting identities, such as sexuality, religion, race, class, and place. This study explores the intersectionalities of a group of people who are often invisible, by choice or necessity, in broader culture. Rogers engages in debates about trans experiences of masculinity, "passing," and discrimination within LGTBQ spaces in order to provide a comprehensive study of trans men's experiences." -publisher
Before trans : three gender stories from nineteenth-century France / Rachel Mesch. "This biographical study of three late nineteenth-century French writers looks at how transgender identities were expressed and understood before the modern category of transgender existed. At once construed as oddities and celebrated for their accomplishments, archaeologist and explorer Jane Dieulafoy (1851-1916), art critic Marc de Montifaud (1845-1912), and novelist and playwright Rachilde (1860-1953) defied the available terms for women who challenged gender norms. The book uses the contemporary lens of transgender to examine the fascinating and very different life stories of these overlooked historical figures, while introducing us to their writing and photography." -publisher
Others of my kind : transatlantic transgender histories / by Alex Bakker, Rainer Herrn, Michael Thomas Taylor, and Annette F. Timm. "An illuminating look at the transatlantic, transgender community that shaped the history and study of sexuality. From the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, a group of transgender people on both sides of the Atlantic created communities that profoundly shaped the history and study of sexuality. By exchanging letters and pictures among themselves they established private networks of affirmation and trust, and by submitting their stories and photographs to medical journals and popular magazines they sought to educate both doctors and the public. Others of My Kind draws on archives in Europe and North America to tell the story of this remarkable transatlantic transgender community.” -publisher
Side affects : on being trans and feeling bad / Hil Malatino. ebook. ‘Some days (weeks, months, years), being trans feels bad. To say so isn’t particularly insightful—it’s merely factic. Yet there’s not much available cultural space for actually existing trans people to think through, let alone speak of, such bad feeling with any degree of nuance or complexity.” -introduction
Continuum / Chella Man. "Fine artist, activist, and Titans actor Chella Man uses his own experiences as a deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish person of color to talk about cultivating self-acceptance and acting as one's own representation." -publisher
Healthy chest binding for trans and non-binary people : a practical guide / Frances Reed, LMT ; illustrated by Ocean Grove. - “Binding is a crucial strategy in many transgender and non-binary people's lives for coping with gender dysphoria, yet the vast majority of those who bind report some negative physical symptoms. Written by Frances Reed, a licensed bodywork and massage therapist specialising in gender transition, this comprehensive guide helps you make the healthiest choices from the very start of your binding journey.”