Books by LBGTQIA+ Authors

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, by Jennifer Finley Boylan 

I’ve read a number of books by trans authors, and this was not the best one but it was one of the earlier ones. Boylan wrote this book several years ago and reissued it on the 10^th anniversary with new content. Overall, it was a good book and no doubt helpful when it was first published…but I found it lacking. 

 

Very little was shared about her inner life and struggles. As she is an east coast academic, the book was full of academic references and name dropping (and her constant references to “Russo”)…and at times I thought she just needed a good editor. The most memorable thing about this book was the extreme unhappiness between her and her wife. They claim they are happily married, but Boylan’s wife does not even use the word “wife” about her partner…and they have a sexless relationship. It just seems terribly sad all around.

 

Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman, by Abby Stein 

Fascinating memoir about a woman who was raised to become a rabbi; she was descended from generations of rabbinical tradition. She left the Orthodox Jewish community, where men thank God each day for not being born a woman…and then she transitioned into becoming a woman. Pivotal in her coming out was seeing her baby boy get circumcised. A lot got left out in the telling…the book races to the end and we don’t really know what kind of relationships she has now with her family, especially her son and ex-wife.

 

Playing with Myself, by Randy Rainbow 

I was an early convert to Randy Rainbow. I started watching his videos before the fateful 2016 election. We attended his show several years ago when he toured to Portland. He’s a delight! So it was great fun to read his memoir.

 

And yes, Randy Rainbow is his real name.

 

Me, by Elton John 

I happened across this book in a Little Free Library and it was the perfect vacation read! I got my first Elton John album from my boyfriend in junior high. I’d also loved “Rocket Man,” which is based on this book. It doesn’t fail to entertain, and I learned a ton of new things about Elton John as well. Good fun amidst the heartbreak.

Recent great fiction by Black authors

 I've been neglecting my book reviews so I'm terribly behind! Here's my first brain dump of reviews!

Lakewood by Megan Giddings

Lakewood was a chilling read. It helps to have background knowledge about the ways white people have conducted medical experiments on Black people and have just generally treated them like nonhumans. For example, the Henrietta Lacks cell line or the syphillis study at the Tuskegee Institute. Read here for more historical background: https://blog.primr.org/medical-mistrust-and-the-historic-role-of-sickle-cell-testing-in-the-african-american-community/

Giddings builds off this history with her story of Lena Johnson, who agrees to be part of a mysterious study for the promise of the money her family desperately needs. It is creepy and disturbing, but lacks a satisfying conclusion at the end...probably on purpose.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

I'm not usually drawn to short stories. I prefer novels where I can really sink into the characters and the story. Girl, Woman, Other felt like a series of interconnected short stories about the lives of various British Black women. Some of the stories drew me in more than others, but overall it was a beautiful book. My only regret was not taking notes about each woman throughout the book...because I couldn't always remember who they were when they popped up again! Evaristo is a gifted, adventurous writer...this book did not follow typical grammatical practice, so that took a bit of getting used to. But so much of this novel will stay with me.

I read Embers on the Wind not long after Girl, Woman, Other, and at times I was actually confusing myself!! Both novels were created with interlocking short stories. Most of the characters were connected to someone else in the novel, but each had her own story. Once again I regretted not taking notes and writing down names because at times it got confusing when a new character was introduced!

With that said, I highly recommend this novel if you're comfortable with ghost stories and reading about trauma. It delves deeply into generational racial trauma, and Rosenberg does a beautiful job weaving together the stories of the runaways with Black, white, and biracial people today. Wonderful book...although I definitely want to read some chronological novels after the last two...where I can keep better track of all the characters!

There Is Nothing for You Here, The Last Grand Duchess, and Good Talk

There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century, by Fiona Hill 

If you're like me, you hadn't heard of Fiona Hill until you saw her at the impeachment hearing. This book was outstanding, chronicling her life back to growing up in Bishop Durham, a mining village in northern England. 

She talks about how difficult it was for her to access resources in Thatcher's England, and how unlikely it was for her to be able to climb out of poverty and the working class to earn a Ph.D. 

As a Russia expert, Hill draws stunning similarities among the UK, the U.S., and Russia. It's one of the best sociological treatises I've read, written in a highly engaging and fascinating way. Definitely will be one of my top books this year.

Note: Russia seems to be all over my life now...I read this book before Putin invaded the Ukraine, my husband is learning Russian on Duolingo and writing a book about Russia, and we are immersed in "The Americans" (a show about Russian sleeper spies in the 1980s). Russia seems to be everywhere at the moment.

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, by Mira Jacob

I listened to Good Talk instead of reading it, not realizing until I had started that it was a graphic novel. Oops! But I actually enjoyed listening instead of reading because Jacob narrates it with a cast of others. 

Good Talk is Jacob's memoir about being an American, and it was inspired by her son's questions about what it means to be Black and brown and immigrant in America. 

She shares the deep conversations she has with her family, including her white Jewish husband, and the challenges of being a first-generation American. 

When Jacob was growing up in India, her family discounted her because of her dark skin...so she also shares the travails of being a daughter of India. Excellent book! 

The Last Grand Duchess, by Bryn Turnbull 

I heard the author speak on a webinar, and the topic--about Olga Romanov and the Russian revolution--intrigued me. First I tried the author's first book (The Woman Before Wallis) on audio, and I just could not get into it. At first I thought it might have just been the fact I find it hard to do audio fiction...but I don't think that was it.

My mother-in-law's family fled Russia around the time of the Russian revolution. Her name is Olga. I had a great-aunt Olga (my family incidentally is from Bukovenia, which is now the Ukraine). So I wanted to like this book. I love historical fiction. But I found it lacking, sadly, and it's hard to pinpoint why.

Part of the problem is that each chapter flips back and forth between the years. There's far too much jerking around. 

I also got tired of all the excess, frankly (similar feelings as Turnbull's previous book), and couldn't help but think about the oligarchy and autocracy in Russia right now. Also, although Turnbull qualifies the rule of the czar in her notes at the end, I couldn't get away from the horrible things the czar did during his reign.

There was just something about the writing style that didn't pull me in.

I know some people are drawn to stories of wealth, glamour, and royalty, but I suppose at this stage in my life I can't help but see through it all. 

The 1619 Project, The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree, and Here We Go Again

The 1619 Project, a New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

I described this book to a friend by likening it to Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, but focusing exclusively on the way race and racism have drenched and contaminated every aspect of American life, culture, politics, etc.

This book began from an essay by Dr. Nikole Hannah-Jones about how all of our country's sins and structures grew out of that first ship carrying enslaved people from Africa in 1619. Next came The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project," containing 18 essays and 36 poems and works of fiction that explore the legacy of slavery in America. 

The 1619 Project ignited the fears about critical race theory, and over half of states have made some attempt, some successful, to ban it in schools. That's the first reason you should read it!

The second reason to read it is to unlearn everything you have learned about race and racism in the United States and abroad. This is a new origin story for America. Must read. Outstanding and eye opening.

The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree, by Nice Leng'ete

I happened across this book when browsing for a new audio book. I loved it! Nice is a human rights activist who was born in Kenya as a member of the Maasai tribe. When it came time for her to be "cut" (female genital mutilation), she ran away. She knew that girls who got the cut always dropped out of school, and she wanted an education. 

She had to face down her family members and leaders from her tribe to assert her right to get an education and avoid the cut. She went onto become a vocal advocate for girls to have an alternative rite of passage to FGM. She had great sadness in her life, but she has a fierce passion and she learned how to use it.

Nice has an incredibly engaging voice and spirit. She is magnificent! 

Here We Go Again: My Life in Television, by Betty White

I sought this out on audio because I wanted to hear Betty White's voice again! It was published in 1995, so it has aged quite a bit and doesn't include anything from her last 26 years in television.

But for a child of the '60s, I enjoyed hearing about how she got her start in television. She was such a spirited trailblazer!! I also loved hearing about her love story with her beloved Alan and how she met him on Password. 

This won't win any literary prizes, but it was a pleasant listen to hear Betty once again!

Passage West

Passage West, by Rishi Reddi

This was a fascinating read about South Indians in the Imperial Valley in California...many Sikhs and other Indians came from the Punjab to work up and down the west coast in the early part of the 1900s. 

I learned a few years ago about the Ghardar Party, which was founded in Astoria, Oregon, in 1913. According to this informative article from the Oregon Historical Society, 30 million people left India between 1830 and 1930. Men would go off to other British colonies to work and send money back home.

In the early 1900s, they began to go to North America, and this is where our story starts. It's the tale of Ram Singh, who arrives in the United States in 1914. After experiencing racism and violence in Washington, he flees to the Imperial Valley in California, where he finds refuge with other Sikhs. 

He's left behind his wife in India, Padma, and their son, who was born after Ram left India. Over the years he plans to return home, but those years stretch on and on as he hopes to make more money.

The Indians in the United States worked extremely hard and were treated horribly. The white men envied their success and began getting violent to lash back.

And when World War II began, many immigrants joined the U.S. Army to prove their patriotism. A few years later, the U.S. government rescinded their citizenship, disallowing them from owning property, voting, and many other rights.

Many Indian immigrants married Mexican women, especially because if they went back to India to collect their wives, they were unable to return to the U.S. again.

I thought this book was fascinating and heart breaking...another example of our whitewashed history. It was primarily the story of the men, and I would have appreciated hearing more about the women's perspectives. The women in the story seemed a lot more relatable than the men.