As we did last year, the Free For All is Resolving to Read (more…different….) in 2019, and tackling the 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.  We haven’t been terribly good about posting our selected titles thus far this year, we know….however, the nice thing about New Year’s Resolutions like this is that there is always room and time to begin, and begin again, and start anew.  So in the hopes of encouraging you to broader your literary horizons along with us, here are some suggestions for books that fall within the categories of the various challenges.

Today’s Challenge: Book Riot 2019 Read Harder Challenge
Category: A novel by a trans or non-binary author

Everyone is made up of stories, dear readers.  We all have experiences that shape us, relationships that mold us, and revelations that change our perspectives in wonderful and unique ways.  But it’s critically important to remember that the stories that make us look very different.  They are seldom traditional narratives, and are seldom neat, organized, or rational.  It’s critically important for us, as readers and as people, to recognize how many different kinds of stories, narrators, and protagonists are really out in our world.  And that is why reading books by authors whose lives are not like our own is so necessary to our development.  They offered critical insight into the way the world works, the different struggles and triumphs that it holds, and how we as individuals, can assist each other to make the best world possible.  Today, we celebrate the stories that trans and non-binary authors have to share with us, and offer a selection of just a few of the titles you can try here.

For those looking to learn more about this category, according to the  website of the Trans Student Educational Resources, the word “Trans” is an encompassing term of many gender identities of those who do not identify or exclusively identify with their sex assigned at birth. The term transgender is not indicative of gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, or how one is perceived in daily life.  The word “Non-Binary” (or “Nonbinary”) is an umbrella term for all genders other than female/male or woman/man.  It is used as an adjective (e.g. Jesse is a nonbinary person). Not all nonbinary people identify as trans and not all trans people identify as nonbinary. Sometimes (and increasingly), nonbinary can be used to describe the aesthetic/presentation/expression of a cisgender or transgender person. To learn more, please feel free to visit the Trans Student Educational Resources webpage!

And now, on to the books!

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee:  A high-energy mashup of fantasy and hard science-fiction, and social/political thriller tropes, the beginning of Lee’s Machineries of Empire series features Captain Kel Cheris, who has suffered disgrace as a result of her unconventional tactics.  In order to save her position and reputation (not to mention the survival of all those under her command and protection), Captain Cheris decides to ally the undead tactician Shuos Jedao.  But the alliance carries its own risk: Shuos Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own.  How far can Cheris trust Shuos Jedao before becoming his next victim?  This series opener won rave reviews from reviewers and readers, including the New York Times, who called it “A tight-woven…breathtakingly original space opera.”

The Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan: Part mystery, part character-narrative, this novel falls into the “crimes of the past coming back to haunt the future” stories that have been proving incredibly popular recently.  On a warm August night in 1980, six college students sneak into the dilapidated ruins of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, looking for a thrill. But it’s not long before they realize they are locked in—and not alone. When the friends get lost and separated, the terrifying night ends in tragedy, and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences reverberate through the survivors’ lives. As they go their separate ways, trying to move on, it becomes clear that their dark night in the prison has changed them all. Decades later, new evidence is found, and the dogged detective investigating the cold case charges one of them—celebrity chef Jon Casey— with murder. Only Casey’s old friend Judith Carrigan can testify to his innocence.  But Judith is hiding secrets of her own, and saving Casey will most likely mean destroying the live that she has worked so hard to build.  While the mystery aspect of this story isn’t as strong as some others, the powerfully-drawn characters and impressive insight that Boylan provides here earned a starred review from Booklist, who called it “a Shirley Jackson–like haunting, a secret-laden murder tale featuring an ensemble cast, and an eye-opening glimpse of the complex choices transgender people face.”

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead: This novel tells the story of a Native American/Indigenous character who defines their gender as Two-Spirit, in the tradition of their people.  Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living.  But when Jonny must return to the reservation in order to attend his step-father’s funeral, he finds himself trying to cope with the hardships of his present day life and left-behind past together, assembling the pieces of his identity to form a coherent whole.  This is a novel that offers a fascinating and sympathetic perspective of one individual’s unique journey, but also provides a glimpse into the various lifestyles Jonny inhabits, making it a radical and critically important book.  Booklist hailed Whitehead as ” A radically original new voice” in their praise for this novel.

Nevada by Imogen Binnie: Darkly comic and heartfelt, this novel tells the story of Maria Griffiths, a young trans woman living in New York City and trying to stay true to her punk values while working retail. When she finds out her girlfriend has lied to her, the world she thought she’d carefully built for herself begins to unravel, and Maria sets out on a physical, mental, and emotional journey that will change her thinking, her feelings about life and the world around her, and, ultimately, Maria herself.  Though bleak, and with a surprisingly tough ending, this book, which Imogen Binnie described as “a story about trans women that was intended for an audience of trans women,” has inspired other trans authors to begin writing in their own voice, which is the best kind of reaction to a book we can imagine.

And just to remind you, for those of you interested in talking more about these books, our good friends over at the Beverly Library have an LGBTQ Book Group that is held on the 3rd Monday of the month from 7-8:30 PM.  Take a look at their reading lists, and think about signing up!

As we mentioned here previously, we here at the Library are Resolving to Read (more…different….) in 2018, and tackling both Book Riot’s and Scholastic’s 2018 Reading Challenges.  In the hopes of encouraging you to broader your literary horizons along with us, here are some suggestions for books that fall within the categories of the various challenges.

Today’s Challenge: Book Riot Read Harder 2018 Challenge
Category: Read A Book of Social Science

So, first and foremost, what the heck is “social science,” you might ask.  And that would be an entirely valid question.  Very broadly speaking, the social science tell us about the world beyond our immediate experience–they explain how humans interact, the communities and network they form, the governments and laws they establish (and what happens to people who break those laws), and the cultures that evolve from those societies.  Social sciences can also tell us about how people express their ideas and emotions, the significance of the games they play, and their familial interactions.   Specifically, the social sciences involve the fields of history, language, sociology, criminology, anthropology, education, economics, politics, international affairs, social work…and more!

So, in terms of picking a “social science” book, you’re going to be a bit spoiled for choice.  But in this post, we hope to introduce you to some books that combine fields, use the tools of social scientists to shed unique light on some aspects of the world around us, or that are so delightfully quirky in their research or approach that they will leave you gasping and eager for more!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Mary Roach is a master of cross-disciplinary research work.  Her focus is so often on the stuff that grosses us out–but also fascinates us in a uniquely human way (check out her book on the human alimentary canal if you don’t believe me!) .  For two thousand years, cadavers―some willingly, some unwittingly―have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings.  This book is the history of the use of the human body; as tools of learning for medical students, as test subjects in car crash analyses, and as test subjects in studies about decay.  As gruesome at it might sound, Roach’s history/science/economic/industrial mash-up is told with a wonderful sense of humor and a light touch that makes this book as compelling as it is educational.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time: David Edmonds and John Eidinow are a sensational writing duo who revel in the stories you thought you knew well.  In this book, they use the historic competition between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky to analyze the fraught nature of the Cold War, the role of espionage in those tensions, the history of chess itself, and the complex, occasionally downright bizarre behavior of both Fischer and Spassky, before, during, and after the match.  The final section is a review of Fischer’s FBI file, which reveals some even more intriguing information about the players in this incredible drama.  This is a book that will appeal to history buffs, fans of international relations and politics, and chess aficionados–as well as those who just love realize that the truth really is stranger than fiction.

The  Other Wes Moore:  One Name, Two Fates: Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in Baltimore within a few years of each other. One Wes Moore grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader.  But when he learned about the other Wes Moore, who was serving a life sentence in prison, he began an investigation into what really differentiated the two of them.  This book is part memoir, part journalistic investigation, and an in-depth study of the class, familial, personal, and institutional issues that separated the two Wes Moores.  This isn’t an easy-to-read book, but it’s a vitally important one that questions much about the economic, legal, and social strictures at play in our world today.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer: Siddhartha Mukherjee’s study of cancer is a stunning, powerful, and utterly humane look at cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.  A cellular biologist by training, Mukherjee is able to explain the scientific ins-and-outs of cancer–but he never loses his human understanding of what cancer does to people, to families, and to those who are tasked with treating it.  In addition to dealing with the history of cancer treatment, from ancient history to the first recipient of radiation in the 19th century, and also offers a glimpse to the treatment of cancer in the future, providing plenty of food for thought for humanists and scientists alike.