Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity – By Julia Serano

Goodreads Synopsis: A provocative manifesto, Whipping Girl tells the powerful story of Julia Serano, a transsexual woman whose supremely intelligent writing reflects her diverse background as a lesbian transgender activist and professional biologist. Serano shares her experiences and observations—both pre- and post-transition—to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.

Serano’s well-honed arguments stem from her ability to bridge the gap between the often-disparate biological and social perspectives on gender. She exposes how deep-rooted the cultural belief is that femininity is frivolous, weak, and passive, and how this “feminine” weakness exists only to attract and appease male desire.

In addition to debunking popular misconceptions about transsexuality, Serano makes the case that today’s feminists and transgender activist must work to embrace and empower femininity—in all of its wondrous forms.

Find on Goodreads and Amazon. 

After reading Stone Butch Blues I’ve decided I really want to read more educational books about the LGBTQA+ community.  This book came recommended to me by an acquaintance and I’m really glad I read it.  Which by the way, if you have any recommendations for me in this area please leave them in the comments!

But back to my review. Whipping Girl is a really interesting read, and Julia Serano makes a lot of really great points.  I found myself feeling really sad as I read some parts. I find it so frustrating that even in the queer community we are trying to push trans people away. It doesn’t make any sense to me.

I think this is a really good book for all people in the queer community to read, it’s very eye-opening.  The book shows you clearly what it’s like to be a trans woman and all that they face. It also has some really good ideas on how to improve things in the queer community.

My one complaint with this book was it felt a little bit repetitive towards the end, I felt like it could have been even 50 pages shorter. But that’s my preference and I know that the author had a lot of good things to say, and honestly what would I have wanted her not to say? I’m not sure. Either way it’s a good read.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

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Professor Marston and The Wonder Women

Last week Grant and I went to go see Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.  Here’s a trailer for the film, so you get an idea of what I’m talking about.

 

My gosh this film though.  It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to see a romance/drama film in the theaters. They aren’t usually my genre. But this film was amazing.  I cried so hard when it finished playing.

Professor Marston isn’t your typical love story, but it’s one that needs to be shown on screen more.  Love doesn’t come in one way, not everyone has one person that is their ”one true love” but we’ve spread this idea around like it’s normal. To the detriment of so many!  But this story shows how more than two people can be in love.

Overall I wished the film could have been just a bit longer, and that they could have explored a few more points in the throuple’s life. I wanted to see more about their children and what they thought about their unusual parents. I wanted to see how they worked out grandparents and holiday’s. Because this film is based on facts I felt like there were a few things we missed out on seeing.  But I understand this film wasn’t a documentary. 😀

I thought this film did a stellar job of showing bisexuality and polyamory. Professor Marston and the Wonder is such a positive movie. I’m so happy that it’s out, and I can’t wait to own it on DVD!

Has anyone else seen it yet, or has plans on going to see it? 

October 1 – Apologies

This was originally posted on my Patreon, you can read this and more once you become a supporter. You’ll also be subscribed to my newsletter and get other fun goodies! Even just $1 helps a lot. Thank you!

Life has been busy for me recently. I keep meaning to get out a writing wrap-up post for last month, but I just haven’t found the time.  My sister is getting married this weekend, it seems crazy to me that she’s old enough to do something like that. It seems crazy to me that all of my siblings and I are growing up and becoming adults. I’ve had a lot of feelings about all of this and yet I can’t seem to put anything into words.

I haven’t been writing much at all this week. Which always adds to my bad mood. When I’m not writing I feel useless, like I’m failing in life.  I know writing comes and goes sometimes but at this point I’ve been writing for almost 9 years. You would think I would be able to push through this shit better.  I guess not.

NaNoWriMo is coming up soon and I am unbelievably excited. I love this writing event, it’s when I do some of my best work for the year.  I also love this time of year. After summer everything seems to come alive again for me.  I look at people and I see stories everywhere. I might be writing some NaNo prep posts in the upcoming weeks, so look forward to that. I’m also going to share some poetry.

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading. 🙂

Venturess – By Betsy Cornwell

Goodreads Synopsis: Nicolette’s Cinderella story is over, and she’s finally living her own fairy tale happy ending. She’s a successful inventor now, free of her horrible stepfamily, and content in her loving friendship with Caro, a palace servant, and Fin, the prince of Esting.

Then she receives a message from her long-lost housekeeper, now a revolutionary, begging her to bring the prince to Faerie for a diplomatic meeting. Nicolette fears a trap, but decides that the chance to end the bloody war waged by their kingdom is worth the risk.

Together with Fin and Caro, she ventures across the monster-filled ocean to the lush continent she’s always dreamed of visiting. There, mechanical armies and dark magic await as they uncover devastating secrets about the past and fight for a real, lasting happily-ever-after for two troubled countries—and themselves. 

Find on Goodreads and Amazon.

I was given a copy of this book by Tara in Digital Marketing and Publicity Specialist with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Which made me super excited because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to read it this soon!  I did a review of the first book in this series earlier in the year, Mechanica, you can find that post here.

Venturess is another fun adventure story from Betsy Cornwell.  Again I found that the writing was a little bit young for the intended genre. Most of the book I found that Nic, Fin and Caro sounded (and sometime acted) like they were closer to 12, than around 17 which is what I thought they were. I found that it made the book hard for me to read, I was a little bit bored I have to admit.  But the characters are still fantastic, and well developed. The plot is good as well. Just don’t go into reading this thinking that you’ll be able to relate to the trio as people on the verge of adulthood.

That said I still think the book was really great! I love the bisexual and polyamorous representation. I loved that Nic loves both Fin and Caro, equally and in different ways. It was also great because they all loved each other, but they never went beyond kissing and sleeping in the same bed. I thought it was great that Venturess doesn’t make sex out to be some huge life-altering deal. They loved each other, supported each other, and their friendship and love was so adorable.

I gave this book 3.5 stars on Goodreads.

 

 

The Goblins of Bellwater – By Molly Ringle

Goodreads Synopsis: Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out.

Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.

Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.

It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.

Find on Goodreads and Amazon.

I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me a little bit to get into, the first 15% was hard to be interested in. We’re introduced to Kit, the liaison between humans and goblins.  I didn’t find him a very interested character until after he meets and starts interacting with Livy, whose character I did really enjoy.  It’s amusing to me that although Kit starts off as the main character, it’s really Livy who ends up saving the day.  Kit himself is rather plain, he’s your average guy who happens to have a weird job. Because he was so average I found him dull.  I found Livy to be an interesting character because of her love for her sister Skye.  Their connection and bond was really well written.  Skye herself spends a lot of the book not actually talking, she was more of a minor character. Same with Grady. The two of them were okay, but nothing super special.

The Goblins of Bellwater is well written, I always had a really clear mental image of what was going on because of the great descriptions. The book made me hungry several times because of the food that Grady cooks.

Overall I didn’t find the book spectacular. It was a little cliche at the end, and I felt like the stakes weren’t quite as high as they could have been. Or maybe it was that they weren’t believable enough. It’s just that I never worried that Livy wasn’t going to save the day and her sister. I knew she would and so I found myself a tad bit bored.

But that said I did enjoy a good quantity of the book. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

 

WWW Wednesday – October 18th

WWW Wednesday is weekly book event hosted by Taking on A World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Current Read: Tempest By Julie Cross. 

I have a lot of books that I’m reading right now, but to make it easy I decided to just post about the one I know I’ll finish soon. This book has been both boring and interesting, and has an awful main character.  I’ll have a review up for this one some point in the month.

Finished Read: All The Things I’ve Done By Gabrielle Zevin.

I finished this book on Monday. I started off really liking the story, but the ending was fairly cliche. That said I think the cover is kinda cool, or maybe I’m just a fan of chocolate. 😉 I’ll be reviving it on the blog soon.

Next Read: A Touch Morbid By Leah Clifford.

I’ve had this one on my TBR for years and years and finally decided to just get it from the library. It’ll be due in a couple days so I plan on reading this book probably tomorrow or the day after. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

That’s all for this week! What are you currently reading? Have you finished any good books this week?