#17: Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary.

[Book Riot]

Use this space to discuss books you’re reading or that might fit the 17th Read Harder task. Sign up for our new Read Harder newsletter to get recommendations for each task delivered straight to your inbox! https://bookriot.com/newsletter/read-...

[Heather]

Finally going to get to This One Looks Like a Boy: My Gender Journey to Life as a Man. The author is a former police officer whose work was crucial to catching serial killer Robert Pickton, and he has a separate memoir about that, but this one focuses on his transition from female to male.

[Elizabeth]

I'm thinking about maybe finally doing Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More or maybe Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir. I'm not sure yet.

[Ron]

I decided to stretch this out a bit and include biographies. One that I've read in the past has been Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family . I have been wanting to read it again for a while so now category helps so I can hopefully do so.

[Laura]

Finally going to read The Natural Mother of the Child.

[Dani]

I’ll probably reread Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens for this prompt. I find I don’t enjoy memoirs that focus mainly on one aspect of their life, so if anyone has any recommendations for something like Izzard’s memoir I’m very interested!

[Arlene]

Highly recommend Trans: A Memoir for this.

[[deleted user]]

I'm reading Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness who is nonbinary.

[Meredith]

Dani wrote: "I’ll probably reread Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens for this prompt. I find I don’t enjoy memoirs that focus mainly on one aspect of their life, so if anyone..."

I'm also hoping to find a memoir for this task where the author gets to explore multiple identities in their book. I've found some possibilities -- most aren't coming out until 2022!

Woman Enough: How a Boy Became a Woman and Changed the World of Sport (trans + professional athlete)
The Natural Mother of the Child (non-binary + expectant parent)
Burn the Page: A True Story of Torching Doubts, Blazing Trails, and Igniting Change (trans + state representative)
Untitled Memoir (trans + Army intelligence analyst)
This Time for Me: A Memoir (trans + actor + activist)
Diary of a Misfit (trans + investigative journalist)

[Emily]

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

[Joshua]

M to (WT)F: Twenty-Six of the Funniest Moments from My Transgender Journey has been in my audible account for a while, so I'm going to give this a read.

[Heather]

I highly recommend Tomboy Survival Guide by nonbinary author Ivan Coyote. It is just fantastic!

[[deleted user]]

Out of curiosity... does anyone know a title that might be appropriate for an 8 year old precocious reader. He'll turn his nose up at "I am Jazz" because it's a picture book. However, "Being Jazz" is just a little past his developmental stage.

Suggestions?

Otherwise I'm punting and going with the fictionalized biography Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan for my son.

My pick for myself is Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

[Kailey]

Emily wrote: "Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout"

Loaned this book to a friend the year it came out, and he finally gave it back a few months ago, so I'm certainly going with this as well!

[Beth]

Margaret wrote: "Out of curiosity... does anyone know a title that might be appropriate for an 8 year old precocious reader. He'll turn his nose up at "I am Jazz" because it's a picture book. However, "Being Jazz" ..."

Ooh, that's a challenging one. They Call Me Mix/Me Llaman Maestre might be the right level, but might look too much like a picture book, despite having quite a lot of text.

[Erin]

Meredith wrote: "Dani wrote: "I’ll probably reread Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens for this prompt. I find I don’t enjoy memoirs that focus mainly on one aspect of their life,..."

'm just not an autobiography/memoir person. But this one looks promising!
Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen

[Rick]

I just found this one on Amazon, only $1.99 for Kindle, and it actually looks good.

Before I Had the Words: On Being a Transgender Young Adult

[Jenny]

Can anyone let me know if any of the books recommended are overall postivie and happy? My Girlfriend if trans, so I don't think I could emotionally cope with a memoir mostly about someone trans being persecuted and/or bullied. I'm sure there are plenty of memoirs that focus on the positive aspects of transition, I'm just not sure which are

[Joshua]

Jenny wrote: "Can anyone let me know if any of the books recommended are overall postivie and happy? My Girlfriend if trans, so I don't think I could emotionally cope with a memoir mostly about someone trans bei..."

Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me seems like it might be a good fit? If you don't mind short story memoirs, Gender Euphoria also seems to work.

[Jenny]

Thanks! I'll look into them!

[Ketutar]

Doesn't "trans" mean transgendered people, people who were assigned a gender at birth that doesn't fit their actual gender identity? Not cross-dressers.

[Chloe]

I've gone with Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story for this one.

[Olive]

Actually read quite a few that would've counted for this one this past year. A couple of my favorites I've read are Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, and Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs (which is not explicitly about transness but is so good)

[Judith]

My husband bought me the final book by the late Jan Morris for Christmas. I'm not entirely sure if it's a memoir and if it's not I will read the same author's Conundrum which I've been meaning to read for ages.

[Laura Cort]

I read Conundrum. Really insightful

[Megan]

I've had Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place by Jackson Bird on my TBR for a couple of years, so I might read that one.

[Bonnie G.]

Ketutar wrote: "Doesn't "trans" mean transgendered people, people who were assigned a gender at birth that doesn't fit their actual gender identity? Not cross-dressers."

I am sure you didn't mean it as such, and I don't want to sound as if I am scolding, but this question uses outdated, and for many problematic language (even for me - a middle-aged cishet woman) and relies on a gender binary, a concept that has no scientific support. I don't think the term cross-dressers has been used in many years but people who lead the majority of their lives modeling traditionally male behavior and attire identifying as male, but who dress and behave as women when the opportunity arises, would be nonbinary and certainly might be trans.

[Beth]

I definitely second Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout, Laura is awesome and it's a great book.

Also, All Boys Aren't Blue! George M. Johnson came out as NB after publishing the book.

Additionally, The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures is perfect if you want a graphic memoir.

[Sarah]

Emily wrote: "Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout"<

I've just added Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout to my list! Thank you for the suggestion :)

[Theo]

Ketutar wrote: "Doesn't "trans" mean transgendered people, people who were assigned a gender at birth that doesn't fit their actual gender identity? Not cross-dressers."

Almost there... trans is short for transgender (transgendered is not used.) Crossdressers are gender non-conforming, but not trans.

[Theo]

Megan wrote: "I've had Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place by Jackson Bird on my TBR for a couple of years, so I might read that one."

This one was really good!

I also liked Transmission: My Quest to a Beard

[Liza]

Adding to the heap of people saying Laura Jane Grace’s book is excellent!

[Lisa]

Just started Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.

[Mandie]

I read Julia Kaye's My Life in Transition: A Super Late Bloomer Collection for this prompt.

[JessicaMHR]

I'm reading Diary of a Drag Queen for this.

[t ♡]

I read Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man! I really enjoyed it and will reread.

[Ron]

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family

Even though it's not a memoir, I'm choosing to use this since it's about someone who is trans.

[Ashley]

Does anyone know of a book that meets the criteria that happens to be available on Kindle Unlimited? I've searched tons of titles from my online library and have had NO luck whatsoever.

[James]

Ashley wrote: "Does anyone know of a book that meets the criteria that happens to be available on Kindle Unlimited? I've searched tons of titles from my online library and have had NO luck whatsoever."

This Time for Me
is on Kindle Unlimited now

[Ashley]

thank you James!!

[Megan]

I read Gender Queer written and illustrated by Maia Kobabe and colorist Phoebe Kobabe. I read it during Banned Books Week since it was the top challenged/banned book last year.