Transgender Book Club discussion

In her novel "The Dovekeepers," Alice Hoffman explores gender through the perspective of a young Jewish warrior who was born female, but named, dedicsted, and raised as a boy.

Not all the stories in it are trans, but I really liked the Beyond Anthology, which is a collection of gay and trans short sci-fi and fantasy comics.

Luna

There's an anthology called "So Fey" that's full of queer fairy tales and has a lot of trans stories in it. Good stuff.

So, I spoke about this one tumblr. But, my goal this year, book-wise, is to read as much trans oriented literature as I can. One of the first books I tackled this year was Luna, and now I'm moving onto Becoming Nicole. I'll probably make full fledged reviews of these things over time, but for now, here are my recommendations.

From a non-fiction perspective, I'd recommend Janet Mock's Redefining Realness. Though I had different experiences than Janet Mock, it feels relieving to read about other people's paths as trans and seeing them have similar mind frames, or just in general helping not feeling alone.

If you're into manga, I would give Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) a try. It uses some graphic language and is pretty intense sometimes. But, I had a dead on connection with the main character through most of it and it's incredibly cute and beautiful sometimes.

I think if you're looking for a place to start in trans literature, Luna is a good one. Luna is interesting because I feel like if you're young and reading it, it can be very inspirational. But, as a trans woman who's been transitioning and out for years now, having finally read it, all I can really do is focus on issues within language and reliance on certain premises (the main speaker is Luna's sister, and throughout the whole thing I felt she was shaming Luna for being difficult, something I don't think necessarily floats well with me). I'll end up writing something more in depth and explanatory later on.

But, that said, I think Luna has a place in our literature, and if you're young or wanting to just get really well read into trans stuff, I encourage you to read Luna.

I haven't read it myself yet, but a big one recommended is Nevada by Imogen Binnie. It follows a trans woman lesbian, and I hear transition is irrelevant to the story.

I don't really know any *good* trans books, but I do know my first piece of trans media (and my favorite webcomic), Rain. http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/ The main character is a trans girl going through highschool and most characters are LGBT. It talks about issues such as safety while transitioning, dating, unsupportive family, people from pre-transition and changing friendships, etc. What I really like is that the author is very knowledgeable and the comic includes non-binary, asexual, and other commonly unrepresented parts of the LGBT community, as well as racial diversity without it looking forced or unnatural. It's written by a trans lady, of course, and I feel that the comic accurately represents many parts of being young and trans. *Note: the art style in the beginning is not the best compared to more successful web comic writers, but the story is great and I encourage you to keep reading.

I remember reading Luna when I was in HS. It was the first piece of literature dealing with being trans I ever read, and it had that weird YA-author soft hazy writing. It gave me a warm feeling, but ultimately left no real lasting impression.

As mentioned, the best trans book I've read is A Safe Girl To Love, which is a collection of stories about existing as a trans woman. That's really the most I can say about it. Super visceral, a hard read at times. My personal favourite story is the one about the trans woman who lives with a temperamental talking cat named Gary.

Darius wrote: "I don't really know any *good* trans books, but I do know my first piece of trans media (and my favorite webcomic), Rain. http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/ The main character is a trans girl ..."

I just started reading Rain, and WOW. I absolutely love it, thanks for linking it! It's my first piece of trans media as well, I've been trying to work up the courage to buy a couple trans books (I've been recommended Parrotfish but I'm not sure about it since the main character apparently binds with Ace bandages) except I'm a bit paranoid that it could out me.

Bonedance by Emma Bull has a nonbinary character and other LGBT characters. But TW for graphic violence and rape, But I thought trauma was really handled well. Careful with this one though.
Crokked Words is a really good one with trigger warnings for a lot of things including abuse and binary characters in the table of contents.
Also Dragonoak was recommended to me recently as a lgbt fantasy where being queer is "normal". I love this so far.

On a side note, what is Luna about and who is it by?

For those who read in Spanish, "Trópico mío," a poetry book written by a Chilean trans girl, Mara Rita, friend of mine. If someone wants to read it, please let me know by sending me a message, including an e-mail adress, and then I'll send it to you in pdf format.

Gil wrote: On a side note, what is Luna about and who is it by?
Luna is a story about a trans girl told from the perspective of her younger sister. It's by Julie Ann Peters, who isn't trans. Since it's told from the perspective of a non-trans sibling, there's a lot of referring to Luna by "he" and her old name and stuff like that, and if I recall correctly (I read it about ten years ago), we don't really see inside Luna's mind at all--everything the reader knows about Luna is filtered through the non-trans sibling's understanding and what Luna explicitly says to her sister. It was the first book with a trans character I ever read.

Robins in the Night by Dajo Jago is a book about basically an all girl group of robin hoods! It's maybe 10 dollars to buy a physical copy on amazon and probably about two for a kindle version. I personally haven't read it (yet) and the woman who wrote it is trans and is very delightful and a great writer.

I've had a goal for a while now, to read all the classic LGBT books, and of course, once I came out as trans this became even more important to me.
Unfortunately, I've found more books about being trans that I would never recommend, lol (as far as fiction goes).
The only fiction one I found was Luna-to echo what everyone else said, the language is painful, however, I appreciate that Peters (who's cis) wrote from a cis perspective, rather than a trans one. My biggest problem with Luna though (aside from the "wrong body" rhetoric and outdated language) is that it seems to really push that being trans is difficult on cis people. I felt like the book gave this vibe that being trans is equally hard for cis and trans people, which I find painfully insulting and inaccurate. Then again, it is written from the perspective of a teenager though, so that probably wasn't Peters intention.
Some popular ones I would recommend staying away from are "For today I am a boy" by Kim Fu and "I am Jay" Cris Beam. They're both written by cis women (the first one is about being a trans woman, the second is about being a trans man) and problematic is a million different ways. If you want to know more, message me and I'd be happy to talk about it. I wrote a more in depth review on both.
As far as nonfiction goes, "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano is super good. "Gender Outlaw: The Next Generation" by Kate Borenstein is also pretty awesome. The cool thing about that one is a ton of trans people submitted, so you see a lot of different views and beliefs.
So far, those are all I've got. :(

I haven't read many trans books, honestly. My first one (as many people here) was Luna by Julie Anne Peters, I've also read I am J by Cris Beam, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin (but I'm not 100% sure the last one counts). There's one book I absolutely adored that has one trans character, though the book is not focused in trans issues, it's still worth to mention, the book is Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan. And that's basically it; I'm hoping to read more trans books this year.

I'm dead surprised no one has posted "almost perfect" by Brian Katcher. Tw for major transphobia including one instance of physical violence, but this book is adorable and heartbreaking and beautiful and sage is my favorite book character of all time. Based 100% on the stories of real trans women. Read it.

I didn't read this yet, but I heard about "George" by Alex Gino. It's about an young trans girl who is not out and wants to play a woman character in the school play, but the theater says she can't because "she's a boy". The book seems really cute and Alex Gino is non-binary and sounded really serious about the issue and quite regretful about letting the publisher change the title to "George".
I'm just waiting to have money so I can buy it and see if it's as good and absolutely cute as it seems~

I'm trying to read more trans books but it's hard to read anything at all, and they're hard to get a hold of. So, the number I've read is limited, and a lot of it focuses on trans men since that's what I am and am trying to find things to relate to.

So far, what I've read and really liked was:

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation (Already mentioned by the OP Damian, it is an anthology of non-fiction by trans people of a variety of identities, discussing their trans lives, edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman.

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us (The book that inspired the anthology previously mentioned, it's a mixture of memoir and discussion of gender and sexuality theory, but in a very readable way, not at all like dense academia. I don't always agree with what she says in the book but it's very heartfelt, inspiring, and especially if you fall outside the gender binary in any way, whether through being nonbinary or just not conforming to gender roles and stereotypes. I actually got to see Bornstein speak at last year's Gender Odyssey conference, she is amaaaaazing /bragging)

Two Boys Kissing (It's a YA romance novel about a group of different gay boys who are couples, and one of the boys is trans. There's one small bit I was eye-rolling at, the explanation of being trans, which is the norm for cis authors, but it was the first thing i read with a trans man character who wasn't straight, which is really hard to find even in trans-written works. It's cute and worth reading, though homophobia is a major plot element.)

These are non-fiction works specifically geared at trans men and trans-masculine individuals, especially non-straight ones, that I really connected with and wish more people would read: Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience (REALLY good), From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FTM and Beyond (a mixed bag but mostly good in my opinion)

I really need to try to read more and a wider variety of trans authors this year.

I just stumbled upon a collection of short stories. The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard, edited by Tom Léger. The description says it chronicles transgender narratives.

I have not read it yet.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I recommend "Wandering Son"! Some content and language might be uncomfortable but it's a sweet growing-up story about a trans boy and a trans girl.

I recommend a story I am the author of: Dream Princess, about two eleven old twins, brother and sister, who swap identities. It has a fantasy element as well in that the reader is privy to the princess dreams of the trans-girl. I am working on a sequel. Some budding romance and other age-appropriate scenes.

Nevada by Imogen Binnie is amazing! I wouldn't say transition is irrelevant to the story, but it is not a transition narrative.

Topside Press, the publisher who published Nevada, is awesome!"Topside Press, founded in 2011, is a new independent press with the intent of publishing authentic transgender narratives." I've only been able to read Nevada so far, but I'm saving for more of them.

Also, George by Alex Gino is a middle grade book about a young trans girl.

Also, not a book, but Themlit.com has a free to read online lit journal of work by trans artists.

Nina Here nor There is great too

Hi!
New here, nice to meet you! I'm Kaarna (they/them, please), and I wasn't on the original tumblr group but I thought it might be okay to join still?

I'd like to recommend Rae Spoon and Ivan E. Coyote's Gender Failure. It's not exactly fiction as it is little anecdotes or stories from real life from both of the authors. I could really relate to it, and I think it was a great read.,

I more recently read If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo. It's a very binary, hetero-esque story, but it's fairly good with a very positive story. tbh I think it was a fun read and recommend it.

I would recommend, um, my own books, at Amazon for Kindle. (I apologize if this is considered rude or bad form, but I have a reason for this.)

I began writing because there were so few books that dealt realistically and sensitively with transgender lives. For years, the one great and lonely island in a vast emptiness was Luna, by Julie Anne Peters. The majority of my books are YA, as is Luna, although some feature adults; I do mark if it's YA in the Amazon description.

The reason I'm posting is because of feedback from readers; they've enjoyed my books but most importantly, felt supported and able to better discuss their lives with friends and families. They share the books, and as much as authors love sales, sharing is wonderful!

Karin Bishop

My autobiography (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PE54IZO) has been well-received and sells consistently. It's more pertinent to older transgender readers, but I think it's an entertaining read no matter what your age.

Kenna Dixon

Hello everyone :)

My name is Christina Engela, and I'm transgender. I'm an author who writes LGBT characters into my novels, and while not all my lead characters are LGB or T, most are.

This is a link to an article I wrote about stereotyping LGBT people in fiction, and about how my works go against the grain in that respect.

https://christinaengela.com/2016/10/1...

Please feel free to message me, add me on Goodreads and Facebook and visit my site!

All the best,

Christina Engela

Hello!

I am in the process of serializing my novel online at Wattpad.com.
It is a fantasy novel lead by a nonbinary trans person and a bisexual genderqueer individual.

You can find it here:
http://my.w.tt/UiNb/jcVjhaFZZz

read "if i was your girl" by meridth russo (sorry if my spelling is wrong)

If you'd like to read trans books by trans authors...I myself am a trans author, and I've actually just published my book! There are several trans characters, including a non binary character named Rory. Sorry for the self spon but I really did write this book so people like me could see themselves in books. Anyway, it's called Into The dark, maybe give it a look?

Jaz wrote: "If you'd like to read trans books by trans authors...I myself am a trans author, and I've actually just published my book! There are several trans characters, including a non binary character named..."
i would love to read it, where can i get it?

It's on amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B64WK66

I would recommend Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs. Warning: theres some outdated language. This book is a collection of letters and journals from transgender individuals throughout history, as well as some medical accounts and doctors journals. If youre down for some nonfiction, i would definitely take a look.
Another nonfiction book id recommend is The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone. The author is nonbinary, and the book goes heavily into the relationship between queerness and loneliness.

Hi everyone!

My name is E L Croucher, and I have a self-published transgender novel out, called The Butterfly on Fire: Mind, Body and Soul.


I just wanted to send a quick message to promote it really!
It’s a 'Fantasy / Contemporary' hybrid LGBTQIA + novel and has 41 five stars on Amazon (so far!).


And yes.. it's mostly about me and my transition! (^o^)/

The story follows three narratives. The main focuses on the protagonist Beam, dealing with life after coming out of a mental ward. Parallel to this is a fantasy narrative with the magical Queen Fubuki. War is at her doorstep when a member of her people is suddenly murdered after years of peace. The fantasy realm is based in another world – which is implied to be created by Beam through dreams as a form of escapism from reality. Beam is later revealed to the reader as transgender, taking the new name Fiona. The main story follows her journey embracing her new life, whilst a third narrative of flashbacks to her past self start mid-way through the novel.

The three narrative entwine together, and eventually develop to show the reader what made Fiona decide to attempt suicide in the flashback chapters following Eric (Fiona’s past self). Queen Fubuki discovers what threatens her entire kingdom and, with the help of her Four Guardians and beloved Prince Hikaru, fights for the peace of her realm. Fiona then embraces romance as she runs into her first love as the new her.


Overall, it’s a very empowering novel, and I really hope you all like it.
The Amazon link is here which has a preview:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071DT6XQF


Love to you all! x

E L Croucher

The Butterfly on Fire: Mind, Body and SoulE.L. Croucher

I'm just finishing Rose Tremain's beautiful novel Sacred Country. It's brilliantly written and the main narrative in the novel follows Mary/Martin's journey to assert his male gender identity in a world which assumes he's female.

Tremain isn't trans, but she's treated this really well IMO. The book was written in the Nineties, before the transgender 'revolution' and before it became a bandwagon topic. It makes an intelligent enquiry into what makes things real and who has the authority to say someone's wrong if they see things in a different light from others.

The best 'transgender' novel I've read so far, but also probably one of the better novels I've read. Gorgeous but a little sad.

Alice wrote: "Luna"
Luna is the one example of a trans book I would never recommend to anyone. I hated it, I think the protagonist was an asshole, I hate how the author dealt with trans issues and generally if I could find every copy and burn it I would be doing the world a great service.

Small Beauty by Jia Wilson-Yang is my absolute favorite book that I’ve read re: trans lit. I would also recommend Little Fish by Casey Plett (tw: suicide, internalized transphobia). I Am Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya is another gem. Got lots of gems in our trans canon. It’s fantastic.

If you like fantasy, Peter Darling by Austin Chant is pretty good. The author is trans, and he rewrote the Peter Pan tale with Peter being trans and gay.

I recommend my debut novel "Summer Dreams" - it's an authentic story of the trans community with many of the incidents based on true events. It was inspired by a real incident when I was just 19 and sunbathed on a beach near Bournemouth on England's south coast. But it also reflects the fact that being trans is just one aspect of our lives.

It's available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VDYV5WW

or you can read the first chapter free on my website:

http://www.helendaleauthor.info/25sum...

This provides a link to other books I've written including my autobiography "A Tale of Two Lives"

http://www.helendaleauthor.info/28tal...

I've also included links to other trans authors/ authors of books with trans characters

http://www.helendaleauthor.info/other...

I'm currently reading "Sorted" by Jackson Bird and it's amazing! I also recommend "Coffee Boy" by Austin Chant.

"When the Moon was Ours" is wonderful trans* YA magical realism.

I was born a boy from Venus. I am the author will answer any questions you want.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/099...

“I was born a boy, from Venus.” Transwoman’s memoir brings laughter and tears
Brooke Henderson, Miami Herald

Ella wrote: "I was born a boy from Venus. I am the author will answer any questions you want."

Although I am thrilled when others do it, I always feel recommending my own work to others feels a little ... off.

Yes, I like my own writing and have done my best to make The Reincarnated Prince something others would want to read. But I'm also biased.

Let me know more about your book

Got your book Danny, will read it.

Another good transgender read is It Never Goes Away: Gender Transition at a Mature Age

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Goes-Awa...

Hi, new to this group and looking forward to finding all the good things in this list.

I have mainly read non-fiction, so recently read Shon Faye's book and Christine Burns' book on the British history of trans people.

Want to read more fiction: I have my own series of crime stories featuring a trans woman Detective Inspector https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hes-Gone-Ale...

Breaking Free: 45 Years in the wrong body published by Brainspired Publishing.

https://shop.aer.io/BrainspiredPublis...

You could try my novel "Summer Dreams"

Chapter 1 is on my website so you can see if it's to your taste.

http://www.helendaleauthor.info/25sum...

It's an authentic story of the transgender community and illustrates the wide range of trans people's experiences, the problems, prejudices and fears that they face (and some of their own prejudices) — and the fact that being trans is just one facet of their lives. It was inspired by a true incident when the author was about 19.


But let Vicky tell you about Summer Dreams:


I was David, but now I'm Vicky.

I was sunbathing in sand dunes near Bournemouth in 2003, when Roger found me and changed my life. After spending a heavenly holiday with him as Vicky, I just couldn't face reverting to David. I knew, though, that becoming Vicky permanently was impossible.

There was only one option, I tried to kill myself.

Roger saved me then showed how life as Vicky was possible.

But is it too good to last?

Or my novella "Operation Busted Flush"

The Trump administration’s treatment of transgender people - especially those in the military - made me wonder what would happen if a group of trans veterans decided to take action.

Again, chapter 1 is on my website

http://www.helendaleauthor.info/buste...

if those aren't to your taste, I've linked some other trans authors that I've enjoyed: http://www.helendaleauthor.info/other...

for my non-binary pals I would recommend: I wish you all the best by Mason Deaver. I read it and I absolutely loved it. I myself am a ftm trans and i thought it described dysphoria and all other trans stuff immaculate

For romance, I recommend Lily Seabrooke's Faking It (MtF) and Luc Dreamer's (FtM) Crush.

I also would humbly suggest my own Ransom To Love.