Publisher's Weekly Review
Musician, scholar, and trans rights activist Lester tours the history, activism, and common experiences of people whose sense of gender falls outside of the binary of "male" and "female" in this winning collection of essays. The author offers perspective and clarity on issues that, time and again, are stumbling blocks to trans acceptance and celebration of human gender diversity, such as the conflation of sex and gender in everyday forms of speech or, more pointedly, when people use arguments about XX/XY chromosomes to invalidate trans people. Lester addresses the caricatures of trans people in mainstream media, the disproportionate harassment and violence trans people face, and the pressure to conform to gendered expectations. Lester, who identifies as nonbinary, draws on personal history including more than a decade "experiencing life at the margins of sex and gender," as well as pop culture. In one essay, Lester recounts reading the 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall and recognizing a shared experience in the novel's "murky and complex" descriptions of gender. While the work is clearly written with a nontrans audience in mind, this book will likely also be an affirming read for many trans people, especially young ones, who may find in its pages recognition from a fellow traveler. Agent: Laura Macdougall, United Agents. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Lester's lucid, insightful book arrives at a time when trans people and issues are much in the news think celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner or trans people in the military or the current transphobic controversy about bathroom laws, all of these rooted in considerations of gender that they (the author employs the gender-neutral pronoun) address cogently and comprehensively. The most personal parts of Lester's story, those that describe what it is like to be trans in the context of their own lifes, are those that invite the most empathy but also offer the most accessible information in a book that also addresses more abstruse topics such as sex and gender or the broader, more philosophical issues of feminism and being trans. These require especially careful reading but are rewarding in shedding light on essential topics. In addition, the author addresses trans history, the existence of gender-nonconforming children, and more. The book is cautiously optimistic about the future of the trans experience, auguring a positive future that will surely be hastened by such important works as this one.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2018 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
A CARNIVAL OF LOSSES By Donald Hall. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25.) Hall, who died on June 23, left behind a rich collection of poetry that earned him a National Medal of the Arts and a term as poet laureate of the United States. In his last memoir, he writes of life as he approached 90, with all its joys (like solitude or the ability to speak one's mind fully) and its losses (like the death of his wife, the poet Jane Kenyon), the battle for paradise By Naomi Klein. (Haymarket, paper, $9.95.) Hurricane Maria left more than destruction in its wake. There is now a brewing political conflict over how to rebuild Puerto Rico, the subject of Klein's investigation in this slim book. On one side are what she calls the "disaster capitalists" looking for a profit, and on the other, local communities, the william h. gass reader By William H. Gass. (Knopf, $40.) A doorstop that celebrates the life of the experimental writer, this collection brings together over 50 examples of Gass's work - essays, criticism, short stories and novels. All heady and mysterious, trans like me By CN Lester. (Seal Press, paper, $16.99.) A British transgender rights activist and singer-songwriter, Lester uses these witty essays to help undermine some persistent myths. For example, Lester finds a long history of the use of "they" to describe a person who doesn't fit into one gender or another, with examples dating to Shakespeare and Jane Austen, lacks self-control By Roy Sekoff. (Big A, $25.) Sekoff was the founding editor of The Huffington Post and here writes of a life of mischief and high jinks, from a teenage visit to a Times Square porn store to his attempt to nab a tissue containing Oprah's tears. "I have begun reading the POWER BROKER in a grand pursuit to be the type of person who reads 'The Power Broker.' Robert Caro's obsessively detailed, 1,336-page tome about Robert Moses and the power he wielded over New York City's infrastructure can pad out any Brian Lehrer episode or Metro investigation: There is no better foundation to learning about how our city came to be. Caro renders Moses as larger than life, then cuts him down to human size. His intellect is vast, his hubris ghastly and his gall has made me gasp aloud twice so far. ft's all 1 talk about at every party, brunch or summer jam; and, let · me tell you, my upper arms are stronger already." - JAZMINE HUGHES, EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE LABS, ON WHAT SHE'S READING.
Library Journal Review
In their debut work, composer Lester sets out to answer many questions about the trans experience and how society accepts or rejects trans individuals. From how and whether to treat transgender children to the impact of trans celebrities and the press's treatment of trans people, Lester provides arguments using research that ranges from social to hard science. Lester is consistently empathetic and therefore sometimes seems less than confident as they both defend their point and concede that other, conflicting experiences are equally valid. As a result, plenty of the discussions are left open to debate. In one instance, regarding the concept of sex vs. gender, Lester contradicts themselves in a later chapter. Still, they cover a significant amount of material, making this a great sampler for broader study. While the subject is an important one and Lester writes with sensitivity, this work struggles to take a firm stand, except in the notion of the importance of acknowledging the plurality of transgender experiences. VERDICT Despite its flaws, this work is accessible for both scholars and readers interested in trans rights and a useful companion to Charlie Craggs's To My Trans -Sisters.-Abby Hargreaves, Dist. of Columbia P.L., © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
