Ashton's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:14:38 -0700 60 Ashton's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The End of Policing 35403039 The problem is not overpolicing, it is policing itself

Recent years have seen an explosion of protest against police brutality and repression. Among activists, journalists and politicians, the conversation about how to respond and improve policing has focused on accountability, diversity, training, and community relations. Unfortunately, these reforms will not produce results, either alone or in combination. The core of the problem must be addressed: the nature of modern policing itself.

This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.

In contrast, there are places where the robust implementation of policing alternatives—such as legalization, restorative justice, and harm reduction—has led to a decrease in crime, spending, and injustice. The best solution to bad policing may be an end to policing.]]> 272 Alex S. Vitale 1784782912 Ashton 4 politics, race 4.18 2017 The End of Policing
author: Alex S. Vitale
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: politics, race
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume 1]]> 325785 Capital, one of Marx's major and most influential works, was the product of thirty years close study of the capitalist mode of production in England, the most advanced industrial society of his day. This new translation of Volume One, the only volume to be completed and edited by Marx himself, avoids some of the mistakes that have marred earlier versions and seeks to do justice to the literary qualities of the work. The introduction is by Ernest Mandel, author of Late Capitalism, one of the only comprehensive attempts to develop the theoretical legacy of Capital.]]> 1152 Karl Marx 0140445684 Ashton 4 4.28 1867 Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume 1
author: Karl Marx
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1867
rating: 4
read at: 2018/10/28
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: on-my-shelves, politics, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems (Folger Shakespeare Library)]]> 41732828
The authoritative edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Poems from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Full explanatory notes conveniently linked to the text of each sonnet and poem
-A brief introduction to each sonnet and poem, providing insight into its possible meaning
-An index of first lines
-Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the sonnets

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.]]> 805 William Shakespeare Ashton 0 on-my-shelves 4.30 Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems (Folger Shakespeare Library)
author: William Shakespeare
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: on-my-shelves
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Ashton 4 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/25
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis]]> 59366209
In a vivid and revelatory journey through history, Proulx describes the fens of 16th-century England, Canada’s Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia’s Great Vasyugan Mire, and America’s Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. She introduces the early explorers who launched the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and writes of the diseases spawned in the wetlands—the Ague, malaria, Marsh Fever.

A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is “an unforgettable and unflinching tour of past and present, fixed on a subject that could not be more importantâ€� (Bill McKibben).

“A stark but beautifully written Silent Spring –style warning from one of our greatest novelists.â€� â€� The Christian Science Monitor]]> 208 Annie Proulx 1982173351 Ashton 4 3.63 2022 Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
author: Annie Proulx
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/03
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves:
review:
3.5 � lots of tangents, but they are for the most part related and relatively enjoyable. my only real complaint is that saying indigenous people are like the contemporary henry david thoreau feels incredibly disrespectful and eurocentric and just as a whole a real weird decision, tbh.
]]> <![CDATA[Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)]]> 52397
Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.]]> 345 Octavia E. Butler 0446675504 Ashton 5 4.21 1993 Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/14
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: abolition, all-time-favs-fiction, death
review:
sad to be done reading this, such an adventure !!! only my second fiction read of this year, i missed reading Butler’s stuff and i am thrilled to finally read this series. absolutely lives up to how loved it is, eagerly awaiting the next book from the library :)
]]> <![CDATA[The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America]]> 51542229
In 1957, Frank Kameny, a rising astronomer working for the U.S. Defense Department in Hawaii, received a summons to report immediately to Washington, D.C. The Pentagon had reason to believe he was a homosexual, and after a series of humiliating interviews, Kameny, like countless gay men and women before him, was promptly dismissed from his government job. Unlike many others, though, Kameny fought back.

Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War is the story of what followed. This book is an assiduously researched history of an early champion of gay liberation, one who fought for the right to follow his passion and serve his country in the wake of Joseph McCarthy's Lavender Scare. We follow Kameny as he explores the underground gay scenes of Boston and Washington, D.C., where he formulates his arguments against the U.S. Government's classification of gay men and women as "sexual perverts." At a time when staying in the closet remained the default, he exposed the hypocrisies of the American establishment, accelerated a broader revolution in sexual morals, and invented what we now know as Gay Pride.

Based on firsthand accounts, recently declassified FBI records, and forty thousand personal documents, The Deviant's War unfolds over the course of the 1960s, as the Mattachine Society of Washington, the group Kameny founded, became the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. It traces the forgotten ties that bound gay rights to the Black Freedom Movement, the New Left, lesbian activism, and trans resistance. Above all, it is a story of America (and Washington) at a cultural and sexual crossroads; of public battles with Congress; of FBI informants; murder; betrayal; sex; love; and ultimately victory.]]> 494 Eric Cervini 0374139792 Ashton 0 4.29 2020 The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America
author: Eric Cervini
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/09
shelves: on-my-shelves, all-lgbtq, queer-history, currently-reading
review:

]]> Paradise Rot 39216527 A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imagery

Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh.

This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.]]> 160 Jenny Hval Ashton 4 all-lgbtq 3.49 2009 Paradise Rot
author: Jenny Hval
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: all-lgbtq
review:
bizarre little tryst. i think i liked it. not as much piss as the reviews led me to expect. enjoyed a lot of the imagery and the overall haunting vibes!
]]> The Pervert 36963203 160 Michelle Perez 1534307419 Ashton 0 to-read 3.92 2018 The Pervert
author: Michelle Perez
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It]]> 61783798 A hilarious and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy

Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast forward the tape and you’ll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man only to discover he’s been living in another closet his whole life: he has cerebral palsy. Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall’s wellspring of wit and wisdom.

Leg is an extraordinarily funny and insightful memoir from a daring new voice. Packed with outrageous stories of a singular childhood, it is also a unique examination of what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change, a moving portrait of a family in crisis, and a tale of resilience of spirit. In Marshall’s deft hands, we see a story both personal and universal—of being young and wanting the world, even when the world doesn’t feel like yours to want.Ěý]]> 304 Greg Marshall 1419763601 Ashton 3
the author uses both “bipolarâ€� and “schizophrenicâ€� in improper and stigmatizing ways. especially in the front half of the book, there’s a LOT of internalized ableism that doesn’t feel like it’s been entirely broken down, including some that is externalized and leads to borderline-cruel descriptions of other disabled people that made me feel bad to read. ]]> 3.93 2023 Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It
author: Greg Marshall
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/16
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves:
review:
2.5 ⭐️â€� this book was disappointing in an odd way â€� there’s a lot i enjoyed abt it, a lot of really genuinely interesting reflections on disability, death, family, and gay experiences. but there was a lot that made me uncomfortable in a someone-very-invested-in-disability-justice way.

the author uses both “bipolarâ€� and “schizophrenicâ€� in improper and stigmatizing ways. especially in the front half of the book, there’s a LOT of internalized ableism that doesn’t feel like it’s been entirely broken down, including some that is externalized and leads to borderline-cruel descriptions of other disabled people that made me feel bad to read.
]]> The Lacuna 6433752 The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.

Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.

Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.

With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.]]> 508 Barbara Kingsolver 0060852577 Ashton 5 politics 3.80 2009 The Lacuna
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: politics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Making Love with the Land: Essays]]> 60782874 A moving and deeply personal excavation of Indigenous beauty and passion in a suffering world

The novel Jonny Appleseed established Joshua Whitehead as one of the most exciting and important new literary voices on Turtle Island, winning both a Lambda Literary Award and Canada Reads 2021. In Making Love with the Land, his first nonfiction book, Whitehead explores the relationships between body, language, and land through creative essay, memoir, and confession.

In prose that is evocative and sensual, unabashedly queer and visceral, raw and autobiographical, Whitehead writes of an Indigenous body in pain, coping with trauma. Deeply rooted within, he reaches across the anguish to create a new form of storytelling he calls “biostory”—beyond genre, and entirely sovereign. Through this narrative perspective, Making Love with the Land recasts mental health struggles and our complex emotional landscapes from a nefarious parasite on his (and our) well-being to kin, even a relation, no matter what difficulties they present to us. Whitehead ruminates on loss and pain without shame or ridicule but rather highlights waypoints for personal transformation. Written in the aftermath of heartbreak, before and during the pandemic, Making Love with the Land illuminates this present moment in which both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are rediscovering old ways and creating new ones about connection with and responsibility toward each other and the land.

Intellectually audacious and emotionally compelling, Whitehead shares his devotion to the world in which we live and brilliantly—even joyfully—maps his experience on the land that has shaped stories, histories, and bodies from time immemorial.]]> 232 Joshua Whitehead 1517914477 Ashton 5 4.07 2022 Making Love with the Land: Essays
author: Joshua Whitehead
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves:
review:
almost made me cry multiple times which is a feat that deserves five stars
]]> <![CDATA[Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir]]> 150246160
When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don’t use their correct pronouns, and hordes of "well-meaning" but patronizing people offering unsolicited advice as they navigate rocky personal relationships and share their story online.

But this experience also deepens their relationship to their ancestors, providing added support from another realm. Walela's diagnosis becomes a catalyst for their self-realization. As they fill out forms in the insurance office in downtown Los Angeles or travel to therapy in wealthier neighborhoods, they begin to understand that cancer is where all forms of their oppression Disabled. Fat. Black. Queer. Nonbinary.

In Bless the A Cancer Memoir , the author details a galvanizing account of their survival despite the U.S. medical system, and of the struggle to face death unafraid.]]> 400 Walela Nehanda 0593529499 Ashton 0 to-read 4.30 2024 Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir
author: Walela Nehanda
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Case for Sanctions Against Israel]]> 10116415 This essential intervention considers all sides of the movement including detailed comparisons with the South African experience and contains contributions from both sides of the separation wall, along with a stellar list of international commentators.
Contributors: Merav Amir and Dalit Baum, Ra'anaan Alexandrowicz, Hind Awwad, Mustafa Barghouthi, Omar Barghouti, Joel Beinin, John Berger, Angela Davis, Nada Elia, Marc Ellis, Noura Erakat, Ran Greenstein, Neve Gordon, Ronald Kasrils, Jamal Khader, Naomi Klein, Mark LeVine, Ken Loach, David Lloyd and Laura Pulido, Haneen Maikey, Ilan Pappe, Jonathan Pollak, Lisa Taraki, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Michael Warschawski, Slavoj iek."]]> 256 Audrea Lim 1844674509 Ashton 0 currently-reading 3.81 2011 The Case for Sanctions Against Israel
author: Audrea Lim
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World]]> 62790909 Bestselling journalist Antony Loewenstein uncovers the widespread commercialisation and brutal deployment globally of Israel’s occupation-enforcing technologies.

For more than 50 years, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has given the Israeli state invaluable experience in controlling an ‘enemyâ€� population, the Palestinians. It’s here that they have perfected the architecture of control, using the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they then export around the world.

The Palestine Laboratory shows in depth and for the first time how Israel has become a leader in developing spying technology and defence hardware that fuels some of the globe’s most brutal conflicts â€� from the Pegasus software that hacked Jeff Bezos’s and Jamal Khashoggi’s phones, and the weapons sold to the Myanmar army that has murdered thousands of Rohingyas, to the drones being used by the European Union to monitor refugees in the Mediterranean who are left to drown.

In a global investigation that uncovers secret documents, based on revealing interviews and on-the-ground reporting, Antony Loewenstein shows how, as ethno-nationalism grows in the 21st century, Israel has built the ultimate tools for despots and democracies.]]> 320 Antony Loewenstein 1922310409 Ashton 4 politics 4.46 2023 The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World
author: Antony Loewenstein
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: politics
review:

]]> This Is Your Mind on Plants 56015023 This Is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs--opium, caffeine, and mescaline--and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings?]]> 288 Michael Pollan 0593296907 Ashton 4 enviro 3.86 2021 This Is Your Mind on Plants
author: Michael Pollan
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/03
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: enviro
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants]]> 17465709 Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.]]> 408 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1571313354 Ashton 5 4.52 2013 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/03
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: all-time-favs-nonfic, politics, enviro
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet]]> 123627807 A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and Editors' Choice � A Science News Favorite Book of 2023 � A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 � A Smithsonian Staff Favorite of 2023 � A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 � Finalist for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism � Finalist for the Reading the West Award � Finalist for the Colorado Book Award � Winner of the Banff Mountain Book Competition in Environmental Literature � Winner of the Sierra Club's Rachel Carson Award for Excellence in Environmental Writing

An eye-opening account of the global ecological transformations wrought by roads, from the award-winning author of Eager. Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they’re practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet. A million animals are killed by cars each day in the U.S. alone, but as the new science of road ecology shows, the harms of highways extend far beyond roadkill. Creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; invasive plants hitch rides in tire treads; road salt contaminates lakes and rivers; and the very noise of traffic chases songbirds from vast swaths of habitat. Yet road ecologists are also seeking to blunt the destruction through innovative solutions. Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for California’s mountain lions and tunnels for English toads, engineers deconstructing the labyrinth of logging roads that web national forests, animal rehabbers caring for Tasmania’s car-orphaned wallabies, and community organizers working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon American cities. Today, as our planet’s road network continues to grow exponentially, the science of road ecology has become increasingly vital. Written with passion and curiosity, Crossings is a sweeping, spirited, and timely investigation into how humans have altered the natural world―and how we can create a better future for all living beings. 20 illustrations]]> 384 Ben Goldfarb 1324005890 Ashton 5 politics, enviro 4.42 2023 Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
author: Ben Goldfarb
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/08
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: politics, enviro
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives]]> 60784614 The revelatory New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller, shortlisted for the Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year Award.

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation―and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposĂŠ of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt.

Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo―because we are all implicated.]]> 288 Siddharth Kara 1250284309 Ashton 0 harrowing, but necessary. 4.36 2023 Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
author: Siddharth Kara
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: death, disability, politics, race, enviro
review:
harrowing, but necessary.
]]> <![CDATA[The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves]]> 54870131 Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet—but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping.

We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma.

The economy says we must always consume even the slightest drop in spending leads to widespread unemployment, bankruptcy, and home foreclosure.

The planet says we consume too much: in America, we burn the earth’s resources at a rate five times faster than it can regenerate. And despite efforts to “greenâ€� our consumption—by recycling, increasing energy efficiency, or using solar power—we have yet to see a decline in global carbon emissions.

Addressing this paradox head-on, acclaimed journalist J. B. MacKinnon asks,ĚýWhat would really happen if we simply stopped shopping? ĚýIs there a way to reduce our consumption to earth-saving levels without triggering economic collapse? At first this question took him around the world, seeking answers from America’s big-box stores to the hunter-gatherer cultures of Namibia to communities in Ecuador that consume at an exactly sustainable rate. Then the thought experiment came shockingly the coronavirus brought shopping to a halt, and MacKinnon’s ideas were tested in real time.

Drawing from experts in fields ranging from climate change to economics, MacKinnon investigates how living with less would change our planet, our society, and ourselves. Along the way, he reveals just how much we stand to An investment in our physical and emotional wellness. The pleasure of caring for our possessions. Closer relationships with our natural world and one another. Imaginative and inspiring,ĚýThe Day the World Stops Shopping will embolden you to envision another way.]]> 336 J.B. MacKinnon 0062856022 Ashton 4 politics, enviro
another instance of “i’m just too radical to be impressed by this bookâ€� / “could’ve been more anti-capitalistâ€� / “enjoyed butâ€�..â€�

also, thumbs-down for multiple uncritical mentions of israel.]]> 4.17 2021 The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
author: J.B. MacKinnon
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: politics, enviro
review:
3.5 â€� interesting, touches on a lot of really cool ideas and topics and things people are doing, but doesn’t imo get down to the core root of consumerism. i think so so much of consumerism-as-culture comes down to capitalist propaganda and it’s also very tied to anti-communist american values etc etc. i have so many thoughts on this that i wish this book had gotten closer to, but it felt very much like its imagination was stifled by capitalism, despite its gentle critiques of it.

another instance of “i’m just too radical to be impressed by this bookâ€� / “could’ve been more anti-capitalistâ€� / “enjoyed butâ€�..â€�

also, thumbs-down for multiple uncritical mentions of israel.
]]> <![CDATA[Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses]]> 87040 Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.

Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

Gathering Moss will appeal to a wide range of readers, from bryologists to those interested in natural history and the environment, Native Americans, and contemporary nature and science writing.

]]> 168 Robin Wall Kimmerer 0870714996 Ashton 5 enviro 4.39 2003 Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: enviro
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America]]> 62918429 A former Rookie contributor and creator of the popular blog Effing Dykes investigates the disappearance of America’s lesbian bars by visiting the last few in existence.

Lesbian bars have always been treasured safe spaces for their customers, providing not only a good time but a shelter from societal alienation and outright persecution. In 1987, there were 206 of them in America. Today, only a couple dozen remain. How and why did this happen? What has been lost—or possibly gained—by such a decline? What transpires when marginalized communities become more accepted and mainstream?

In Moby Dyke, Krista Burton attempts to answer these questions firsthand, venturing on an epic cross-country pilgrimage to the last few remaining dyke bars. Her pilgrimage includes taking in her first drag show since the onset of the pandemic at The Back Door in Bloomington, Indiana; competing in dildo races at Houston’s Pearl Bar; and, despite her deep-seated hatred of karaoke, joining a group serenade at Nashville’s Lipstick Lounge and enjoying the dreaded pastime for the first time in her life. While Burton sets out on the excursion to assess the current state of lesbian bars, she also winds up examining her own personal journey, from coming out to her Mormon parents to recently marrying her husband, a trans man whose presence on the trip underscores the important conversation about who precisely is welcome in certain queer spaces—and how they and their occupants continue to evolve.

Moby Dyke is an insightful and hilarious travelogue that celebrates the kind of community that can only be found in windowless rooms soundtracked by Britney Spears-heavy playlists and illuminated by overhead holiday lights no matter the time of year.]]> 319 Krista Burton 1668000555 Ashton 2 all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir 3.79 2023 Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America
author: Krista Burton
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/04
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir
review:
this idea had so much potential but it really, really wasn’t for me. i didn’t like this book much at all but i don’t even care enough to explain why â€� check out its other low-star reviews, i agree with many of them
]]> <![CDATA[Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation]]> 59893962 What if everyone was family?

We need to talk about the family. For those who are lucky, families can be places of love and care, but for many they are sites of pain: from abandonment and neglect, to abuse and violence. In this urgent, incisive pamphlet, leaving feminist critic Sophie Lewis introduces the idea of family abolition as a question of universalizing and generalizing the good things about our families.

In this short and exhilarating text, Sophie Lewis takes the reader through the various histories of family abolition, from utopian socialists to queer, Black and indigenous feminists and into the future, imagining what life might be like after the family. Radical and utopian as it undeniably is, family abolition is the real movement working to undo the care austerity that fundamentally structures life under racial capitalism.

The argument for family abolition has become even clearer under COVID 19 where the myth of the nuclear unit has been seen to be a fiction. We were told to keep a 'social distance' (from everyone... except family). Consequently, those without family were left alone, isolated and abandoned. There is no justice in these rules, which keep loved ones from being with one another, treat children like property, and shore up wealth (or poverty) within a class. What is the alternative?]]> 122 Sophie Lewis 1839767197 Ashton 0 to-read 3.71 2022 Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation
author: Sophie Lewis
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion]]> 55574552 392 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 0807036293 Ashton 3
my main frustration is the author calling settler-colonial logic a “deep psychosis.â€� invoking mental illness to describe bigotry is! not! it! i will never accept people defaulting to ableist language as a way of describing right-wing views. it isn’t accurate, it isn’t kind, and it certainly isn’t revolutionary.

i also wasn’t expecting the book to start off by deconstructing Hamilton. everything i’ve ever heard abt that musical has been against my will and i understand it’s used to discuss how many USAmercians view history but i justâ€�. i personally struggle to care at all about hamilton. I know it sucks, i’ve always known it sucks, i’m tired of it.

i read the audiobook, and this is just personal preference, but i strongly dislike when narrators do impressions of the people they quote. that happens a LOT in this book.

the book is also repetitive at times, i.e. the idea of arrivants was introduced and defined twice, which felt unnecessary.

if you don’t understand the depth of the USA’s settler-colonial nature, this may be a good starting point, but it just wasn’t for me.]]> 4.34 2021 Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
author: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/16
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves:
review:
3.5 ⭐️ â€� i agree with the overall thesis, but this book didn’t reveal anything new to me personally and it did feel a little disorganized.

my main frustration is the author calling settler-colonial logic a “deep psychosis.â€� invoking mental illness to describe bigotry is! not! it! i will never accept people defaulting to ableist language as a way of describing right-wing views. it isn’t accurate, it isn’t kind, and it certainly isn’t revolutionary.

i also wasn’t expecting the book to start off by deconstructing Hamilton. everything i’ve ever heard abt that musical has been against my will and i understand it’s used to discuss how many USAmercians view history but i justâ€�. i personally struggle to care at all about hamilton. I know it sucks, i’ve always known it sucks, i’m tired of it.

i read the audiobook, and this is just personal preference, but i strongly dislike when narrators do impressions of the people they quote. that happens a LOT in this book.

the book is also repetitive at times, i.e. the idea of arrivants was introduced and defined twice, which felt unnecessary.

if you don’t understand the depth of the USA’s settler-colonial nature, this may be a good starting point, but it just wasn’t for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad]]> 59491459
Some days—or weeks, or months, or even years—being trans feels bad. Yet as Hil Malatino points out, there is little space for trans people to think through, let alone speak of, these bad feelings. Negative emotions are suspect because they unsettle narratives of acceptance or reinforce virulently phobic framings of trans as inauthentic and threatening.Ěý In Side Affects , Malatino opens a new conversation about trans experience that acknowledges the reality of feeling fatigue, envy, burnout, numbness, and rage amid the ongoing onslaught of casual and structural transphobia in order to map the intricate emotional terrain of trans survival. Trans structures of feeling are frequently coded as negative on both sides of transition. Before transition, narratives are framed in terms of childhood trauma and being in the “wrong body.â€� Posttransition, trans individuals—especially trans people of color—are subject to unrelenting transantagonism. Yet trans individuals are discouraged from displaying or admitting to despondency or despair.Ěý By moving these unloved feelings to the center of trans experience, Side Affects proposes an affective trans commons that exists outside political debates about inclusion. Acknowledging such powerful and elided feelings as anger and exhaustion, Malatino contends, is critical to motivating justice-oriented advocacy and organizing—and recalibrating new possibilities for survival and well-being.]]> 224 Hil Malatino 1517912091 Ashton 5 4.32 2022 Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad
author: Hil Malatino
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves: all-lgbtq, disability, politics, queer-radicalism, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place]]> 59249732
Another AppalachiaĚýexamines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more,ĚýAnother AppalachiaĚýmixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.]]> 171 Neema Avashia 1952271428 Ashton 4 4.23 2022 Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place
author: Neema Avashia
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/04
date added: 2024/01/05
shelves:
review:
as a whole, i liked this! some parts felt a little superficial, but there were a lot more reflective moments that did balance that out. my main critique is the discussion of addiction felt like it lacked a certain care/sensitivity about it. it felt self-cantered and i was disappointed that she called the cops, but maybe not surprising because of the self-ID as a liberal.
]]> <![CDATA[Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through]]> 42372517 152 T. Fleischmann 1566895472 Ashton 5 4.03 2019 Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through
author: T. Fleischmann
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/31
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: abolition, all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:
one way i judge a good book is if i finish it and immediately want to read it again. this one definitely falls into that camp
]]> <![CDATA[How to Keep House While Drowning]]> 60139504 How to Keep House While Drowning will introduce you to six life-changing principles that will revolutionize the way you approach home care—without endless to-do lists. Presented in 31 daily thoughts, this compassionate guide will help you begin to get free of the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.

Inside you will learn:
¡ How to shift your perspective of care tasks from moral to functional;
¡ How to stop negative self-talk and shame around care tasks;
· How to give yourself permission to rest, even when things aren’t finished;
¡ How to motivate yourself to care for your space.]]> 151 K.C. Davis 166800285X Ashton 4 4.22 2022 How to Keep House While Drowning
author: K.C. Davis
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power]]> 26195941 The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth.

Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets," where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification."

The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit--at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future.

With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future--if we let it.

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION
1. Home or exile in the digital future

I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM
2. August 9, 2011: Setting the stage for Surveillance Capitalism
3. The discovery of behavioral surplus
4. The moat around the castle
5. The elaboration of Surveillance Capitalism: Kidnap, corner, compete
6. Hijacked: The division of learning in society

II. THE ADVANCE OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM
7. The reality business
8. Rendition: From experience to data
9. Rendition from the depths
10. Make them dance
11. The right to the future tense

III. INSTRUMENTARIAN POWER FOR A THIRD MODERNITY
12. Two species of power
13. Big Other and the rise of instrumentarian power
14. A utopia of certainty
15, The instrumentarian collective
16. Of life in the hive
17. The right to sanctuary

CONCLUSION
18. A coup from above

Acknowledgements
About the author
Detailed table of contents
Notes
Index]]> 691 Shoshana Zuboff 1610395697 Ashton 3 politics
cons: felt way longer than necessary. sometimes repetitive. more anti-surveillance than anti-capitalism, which was often very bizarre because zuboff would write things that came off as pro-capitalism or capitalism-neutral?? (I don’t know how one could read marx and the dozens of others she mentions without. yknow. becoming an anticapitalist.) i think it would’ve been a stronger book, too, if it’d delved more into the PIC and MIC as enablers and profiteers of surveillance, rather than focusing entirely on tech companies. ]]> 4.05 2018 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
author: Shoshana Zuboff
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: politics
review:
pros: definitely some important topics! some parts that felt compelling and well-written, definitely thoughtfully researched.

cons: felt way longer than necessary. sometimes repetitive. more anti-surveillance than anti-capitalism, which was often very bizarre because zuboff would write things that came off as pro-capitalism or capitalism-neutral?? (I don’t know how one could read marx and the dozens of others she mentions without. yknow. becoming an anticapitalist.) i think it would’ve been a stronger book, too, if it’d delved more into the PIC and MIC as enablers and profiteers of surveillance, rather than focusing entirely on tech companies.
]]> <![CDATA[Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls]]> 63018965 What happens when we imagine loving the people--and the parts of ourselves--that we do not believe are worthy of love?

A transformative collection of intimate and lyrical love letters that offer a path toward compassion, forgiveness, and self-acceptance.

"Required reading."--Glennon Doyle

Kai Cheng Thom grew up a Chinese Canadian transgender girl in a hostile world. As an activist, psychotherapist, conflict mediator, and spiritual healer, she's always pursued the same deeply personal mission: to embrace the revolutionary belief that every human being, no matter how hateful or horrible, is intrinsically sacred.

But then Kai Cheng found herself in a crisis of faith, overwhelmed by the viciousness with which people treated one another, and barely clinging to the values and ideals she'd built her life around: justice, hope, love, and healing. Rather than succumb to despair and cynicism, she gathered all her rage and grief and took one last leap of faith: she wrote. Whether prayers or spells or poems--and whether there's a difference--she wrote to affirm the outcasts and runaways she calls her kin. She wrote to flawed but nonetheless lovable men, to people with good intentions who harm their own, to racists and transphobes seemingly beyond saving. What emerged was a blueprint for falling back in love with being human.]]> 176 Kai Cheng Thom 0593594983 Ashton 0 to-read 4.16 2023 Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
author: Kai Cheng Thom
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spirit Bares Its Teeth 89144437 Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.

London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing.

After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its rotten guts to the world—as long as the school doesn’t break him first.]]> 399 Andrew Joseph White 1682636186 Ashton 0 to-read 4.48 2023 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth
author: Andrew Joseph White
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> trans girl suicide museum 48703727
drawing its source material from chance encounters--wordless interactions in basements or bathrooms or hotel rooms--to archives of 20th century critical theory, sleepover secrets exchanged between old friends, rhetorical barbs deployed in the classrooms of elite universities, arguments on the phone with your parents across timezones, the nonverbal codes of high and low fashion, and scribbled notes on the backs of receipts for medicines you don't know how they work, TGSM is a morbid yet strangely hopeful meditation on the possibilities and meanings of gender variation in our time.]]> 144 Hannah Baer 1948434067 Ashton 0 to-read 4.45 2019 trans girl suicide museum
author: Hannah Baer
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Masker 30245843
From Torrey Peters comes a dark new Novella about online sissy culture, forced-femme erotica, female-masking, internalized transmisogyny, and crossdressing.]]> 72 Torrey Peters 1532929757 Ashton 0 to-read 4.01 2016 The Masker
author: Torrey Peters
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)]]> 46161306 200 Hazel Jane Plante 0994047193 Ashton 0 to-read 4.27 2019 Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)
author: Hazel Jane Plante
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity]]> 22514020 Ěý
Along the way, he reveals the untold story of Hans Asperger, the father of Asperger’s syndrome, whose “little professorsâ€� were targeted by the darkest social-engineering experiment in human history; exposes the covert campaign by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner to suppress knowledge of the autism spectrum for fifty years; and casts light on the growing movement of "neurodiversity" activists seeking respect, support, technological innovation, accommodations in the workplace and in education, and the right to self-determination for those with cognitive differences.]]> 477 Steve Silberman 158333467X Ashton 1 disability
History books can be very politically powerful, and I think the best history books include strong analysis and discussion of the topics at hand alongside their historical context. This book has little to none of that and it's bizarre and unfortunate. Silberman provides a lot of historical information but doesn't DO anything with it. Nearly every chapter and section felt like it deserved elaboration on how it related to wider trends in autism knowledge at its time, discussion of how language and terminology have changed since its time, questions about ethics, conversation about how autistic people today are still impacted by historical trends, etc etc etc. Compared to the things i know I and my autistic circles could say about the history presented in this book, the author’s lack of practically any analysis made the history feel flat, hollow, and disconnected.

Silberman entirely dismisses Hans Asperger’s connections to Naziism, despite the fact that his actions directly caused the deaths of thousands of disabled people in the T4 program. This exclusion felt incredibly misguided especially as the contemporary opinion of many autistic people (INCLUDING MANY OF THOSE WHO HE REFERENCES NEAR THE END OF THE BOOK!) is that using Asperger’s name has deservedly fallen out of fashion.

There’s a substantial amount of history regarding ABA, but there is no acknowledgement that many A/autistic people who have been through ABA found it traumatizing and abusive. Although Silberman writes about various practices that, imo, SHOULD be viewed as abusive, i.e. electroshock, food and water deprivation, spanking and hitting, etc; he takes no stance on the morality of any of these practices. The most he does is call ABA controversial. So much for listening to Autistic people, many of whom condemn ABA as the abusive practice that it is.

I keep noticing two diverging categories of autism acceptance / inclusion. People seem to either argue that autistic people deserve support/recognition/love/etc because every single person does, or they heavily imply that autistic people deserve these things because “autism makes us better as a societyâ€� or “leads to innovationâ€� or “some autistic people are, in fact, really smart!â€� I feel like the latter argument is majorly flawed. You should want to accept and love autistic people regardless of our intellect or contributions to the world â€� I do not believe that a marginalized group’s liberation should be contingent on how “usefulâ€� said group can be. Unsurprisingly, this book often makes arguments that fall into this latter category, and I found it really exhausting.

I did learn a few things about the history of autism, sure. But overall, so much of this book felt flat and devoid of any nuanced analysis that I KNOW an Autistic researcher would’ve been able to bring to it.

I don’t think many a/Autistic people would get much out of reading this. I certainly didn’t. Mostly, I’m frustrated that so many allistic people love this book, but it makes sense why they do â€� because it doesn’t actually make you think about the implications of the history at all! you can read it guilt-free!]]> 4.27 2015 NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
author: Steve Silberman
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2023/12/28
date added: 2023/12/28
shelves: disability
review:
I wanted to like this book but I find myself deeply disappointed by it. I just don't think a book like this should've been written by an allistic (non-Autistic) person and I could go on forever about how many little bits rubbed me the wrong way. Here are a few things I noticed.

History books can be very politically powerful, and I think the best history books include strong analysis and discussion of the topics at hand alongside their historical context. This book has little to none of that and it's bizarre and unfortunate. Silberman provides a lot of historical information but doesn't DO anything with it. Nearly every chapter and section felt like it deserved elaboration on how it related to wider trends in autism knowledge at its time, discussion of how language and terminology have changed since its time, questions about ethics, conversation about how autistic people today are still impacted by historical trends, etc etc etc. Compared to the things i know I and my autistic circles could say about the history presented in this book, the author’s lack of practically any analysis made the history feel flat, hollow, and disconnected.

Silberman entirely dismisses Hans Asperger’s connections to Naziism, despite the fact that his actions directly caused the deaths of thousands of disabled people in the T4 program. This exclusion felt incredibly misguided especially as the contemporary opinion of many autistic people (INCLUDING MANY OF THOSE WHO HE REFERENCES NEAR THE END OF THE BOOK!) is that using Asperger’s name has deservedly fallen out of fashion.

There’s a substantial amount of history regarding ABA, but there is no acknowledgement that many A/autistic people who have been through ABA found it traumatizing and abusive. Although Silberman writes about various practices that, imo, SHOULD be viewed as abusive, i.e. electroshock, food and water deprivation, spanking and hitting, etc; he takes no stance on the morality of any of these practices. The most he does is call ABA controversial. So much for listening to Autistic people, many of whom condemn ABA as the abusive practice that it is.

I keep noticing two diverging categories of autism acceptance / inclusion. People seem to either argue that autistic people deserve support/recognition/love/etc because every single person does, or they heavily imply that autistic people deserve these things because “autism makes us better as a societyâ€� or “leads to innovationâ€� or “some autistic people are, in fact, really smart!â€� I feel like the latter argument is majorly flawed. You should want to accept and love autistic people regardless of our intellect or contributions to the world â€� I do not believe that a marginalized group’s liberation should be contingent on how “usefulâ€� said group can be. Unsurprisingly, this book often makes arguments that fall into this latter category, and I found it really exhausting.

I did learn a few things about the history of autism, sure. But overall, so much of this book felt flat and devoid of any nuanced analysis that I KNOW an Autistic researcher would’ve been able to bring to it.

I don’t think many a/Autistic people would get much out of reading this. I certainly didn’t. Mostly, I’m frustrated that so many allistic people love this book, but it makes sense why they do â€� because it doesn’t actually make you think about the implications of the history at all! you can read it guilt-free!
]]> <![CDATA[Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity]]> 25942967 *Named as one of 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time by Ms. Magazine*

In Whipping Girl, biologist and trans activist Julia Serano shares her experiences and insights—both pre- and post-transition—to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.

Serano's well-honed arguments and pioneering advocacy stem from her ability to bridge the gap between the often-disparate biological and social perspectives on gender. In this provocative manifesto, she exposes how deep-rooted the cultural belief is that femininity is frivolous, weak, and passive.

In addition to debunking popular misconceptions about being transgender, Serano makes the case that today's feminists and transgender activists must work to embrace and empower femininity—in all of its wondrous forms.
]]> 392 Julia Serano 1580056229 Ashton 0 4.33 2007 Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
author: Julia Serano
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/15
date added: 2023/12/28
shelves: all-lgbtq, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars]]> 32279708 Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom is the highly sensational, ultra-exciting, sort-of true coming-of-age story of a young Asian trans girl, pathological liar, and kung-fu expert who runs away from her parentsâ€� abusive home in a rainy city called Gloom. Striking off on her own, she finds her true family in a group of larger-than-life trans femmes who live in a mysterious pleasure district known only as the Street of Miracles. Under the wings of this fierce and fabulous flock, Dearly blossoms into the woman she has always dreamed of being, with a little help from the unscrupulous Doctor Crocodile. When one of their number is brutally murdered, the protagonist joins her sisters in forming a vigilante gang to fight back against the transphobes, violent johns, and cops that stalk the Street of Miracles. But when things go terribly wrong, she must find the truth within herself in order to stop the violence and discover what it really means to grow up and find your family.]]> 188 Kai Cheng Thom 0994047134 Ashton 5 4.26 2016 Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars
author: Kai Cheng Thom
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/15
shelves: all-lgbtq, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals, Women, a Passion]]> 759505 258 Melissa Holbrook Pierson 0393322661 Ashton 4 3.5 ⭐️ 4.00 2000 Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals, Women, a Passion
author: Melissa Holbrook Pierson
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves:
review:
3.5 ⭐️
]]> Trans Like Me 33939408 What does it mean to be transgender? How do we discuss the subject?

In this eye-opening book, C.N. Lester, academic and activist, takes us on a journey through some of the most pressing issues concerning the trans debate: from pronouns to Caitlyn Jenner; from feminist and LGBTQ activists, to the rise in referrals for gender variant children -- all by way of insightful and moving passages about the author's own experience.

Trans Like Me shows us how to strive for authenticity in a world which often seeks to limit us by way of labels.]]> 224 C.N. Lester 0349008612 Ashton 4 4.27 2017 Trans Like Me
author: C.N. Lester
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/09
date added: 2023/12/09
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:
4.5, solid 101, definitely not written for me (but that’s okay!)
]]> <![CDATA[Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World]]> 138505710
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.]]> 416 Naomi Klein 0374610320 Ashton 5 politics 4.21 2023 Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
author: Naomi Klein
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/08
date added: 2023/12/08
shelves: politics
review:
what a bizarre and fascinating adventure this one is
]]> Living a Feminist Life 29771377 Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed shows how feminist theory is generated from everyday life and the ordinary experiences of being a feminist at home and at work. Building on legacies of feminist of color scholarship in particular, Ahmed offers a poetic and personal meditation on how feminists become estranged from worlds they critique—often by naming and calling attention to problems—and how feminists learn about worlds from their efforts to transform them. Ahmed also provides her most sustained commentary on the figure of the feminist killjoy introduced in her earlier work while showing how feminists create inventive solutions—such as forming support systems—to survive the shattering experiences of facing the walls of racism and sexism. The killjoy survival kit and killjoy manifesto, with which the book concludes, supply practical tools for how to live a feminist life, thereby strengthening the ties between the inventive creation of feminist theory and living a life that sustains it.]]> 312 Sara Ahmed 0822363046 Ashton 4 4.33 2017 Living a Feminist Life
author: Sara Ahmed
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/05
date added: 2023/12/05
shelves: all-lgbtq, disability, politics, race
review:
I enjoyed this more than i assumed i would!! especially enjoyed the reflections on affect, disability, and intersectionality writ large. unfortunately cannot give this five stars because of the white fragility reference � i thought everyone knew that author/book was very much not to be trusted.
]]> <![CDATA[Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us]]> 29663074 320 Kate Bornstein 1101973242 Ashton 4 4.03 1994 Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us
author: Kate Bornstein
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/03
date added: 2023/12/03
shelves: trans-lit-by-trans-folks, all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, politics, queer-history, queer-radicalism
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Palestine: A Socialist Introduction]]> 55853564 Palestine: A Socialist Introduction systematically tackles a number of important aspects of the Palestinian struggle for liberation, contextualizing it in an increasingly polarized world and offering a socialist perspective on how full liberation can be won.

Through an internationalist, anti-imperialist lens, this book explores the links between the struggle for freedom in the United States and that in Palestine, and beyond. It examines both the historical and contemporary trajectory of the Palestine solidarity movement in order to glean lessons for today’s organizers, and compellingly lays out the argument that, in order to achieve justice in Palestine, the movement has to take up the question of socialism regionally and internationally.

Contributors include: Jehad Abusalim, Shireen Akram-Boshar, Omar Barghouti, Nada Elia, Toufic Haddad, Omar Hassan, Remi Kanazi, Annie Levin, Mostafa Omar, Khury Petersen-Smith, and Daphna Thier.]]> 250 Sumaya Awad 1642592765 Ashton 4 politics 4.36 2020 Palestine: A Socialist Introduction
author: Sumaya Awad
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/29
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: politics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity]]> 56269264
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.]]> 692 David Graeber 0374157359 Ashton 4 disability, politics 4.20 2021 The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
author: David Graeber
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
shelves: disability, politics
review:

]]> Hijab Butch Blues 61111274 A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this daring, provocative, and radically hopeful memoir.

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher--her female teacher--she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can't yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don't matter, and it's easier to hide in plain sight. To disappear. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: when Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. Could Maryam, uninterested in men, be . . . like Lamya?

From that moment on, Lamya makes sense of her struggles and triumphs by comparing her experiences with some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing on the faith and hope Nuh needed to construct his ark, begins to build a life of her own--ultimately finding that the answer to her lifelong quest for community and belonging lies in owning her identity as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant.

This searingly intimate memoir in essays, spanning Lamya's childhood to her arrival in the United States for college through early-adult life in New York City, tells a universal story of courage, trust, and love, celebrating what it means to be a seeker and an architect of one's own life.]]> 284 Lamya H. 0593448766 Ashton 5 4.5 ⭐️ 4.47 2023 Hijab Butch Blues
author: Lamya H.
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/17
date added: 2023/11/17
shelves:
review:
4.5 ⭐️
]]> Dracula 17245 You can find an alternative cover edition for this ISBN here and here.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This Norton Critical Edition includes a rich selection of background and source materials in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijkstra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.]]> 488 Bram Stoker 0393970124 Ashton 4 horror, vamp 4.02 1897 Dracula
author: Bram Stoker
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1897
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/13
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves: horror, vamp
review:

]]> <![CDATA[There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness]]> 55842783
“[A] thought-provoking mixture of criticism, memoir, and advocacy." â€� The New Yorker

There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind.â€� For millennia, blindness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faithâ€�), irrationality (“blind rageâ€�), and unconsciousness (“blind evolutionâ€�). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil).

Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture (from King Lear to Star Wars ) with a study of the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural history.

A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity’s understanding of itself and the world.]]> 352 M. Leona Godin 1524748714 Ashton 4 disability, politics 4.28 2021 There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness
author: M. Leona Godin
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/03
date added: 2023/11/03
shelves: disability, politics
review:
overall, really great!! i learned a lot especially about history and literature and i can definitely see a lot of sighted people getting a lot of of this book. i do have a few minor criticisms that i can’t type out now because i have to go to work, but altogether i would definitely recommend this.
]]> <![CDATA[Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color]]> 43253257 256 Gilbert Baker 1641601507 Ashton 4
I was surprised by how much I liked Baker’s voice and writing style, I loved learning more about 80s-90s queer organizing and enjoyed hearing another perspective on the people involved (especially those that I already knew about like Cleve, ACT UP folks, etc)! the best parts imo were the thoughtful and reflective discussions on how art and politics intersect. i LOVE queer art and i very much think that art and politics belong together and every time i read stuff by people who have similar thoughts, I’m very inspired by it. I especially loved Baker’s obvious appreciation for the interplay between arts and crafts, reading about his love of flagmaking and sewing and fabric arts was delightful as a fellow fiber artist.

-1 star just bc I don’t feel right giving it five stars? as important as Baker is, a lot of his politics don’t sit right w me in terms of how much he seems toâ€� like/appreciate/make excuses for the u.s.? as a country? it is sometimes weird and can be off-putting to read stuff by people you artistically and queerly admire only to confront the fact that not every queer shares the most radical of politics. nonetheless, i think Baker had his heart in the right place.]]> 4.09 Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color
author: Gilbert Baker
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/13
date added: 2023/11/03
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, politics, queer-history
review:
I always love reading historical queer autobios. Baker’s work is undeniably important in queer history and I’m honestly pretty surprised that this book didn’t get more attention.

I was surprised by how much I liked Baker’s voice and writing style, I loved learning more about 80s-90s queer organizing and enjoyed hearing another perspective on the people involved (especially those that I already knew about like Cleve, ACT UP folks, etc)! the best parts imo were the thoughtful and reflective discussions on how art and politics intersect. i LOVE queer art and i very much think that art and politics belong together and every time i read stuff by people who have similar thoughts, I’m very inspired by it. I especially loved Baker’s obvious appreciation for the interplay between arts and crafts, reading about his love of flagmaking and sewing and fabric arts was delightful as a fellow fiber artist.

-1 star just bc I don’t feel right giving it five stars? as important as Baker is, a lot of his politics don’t sit right w me in terms of how much he seems toâ€� like/appreciate/make excuses for the u.s.? as a country? it is sometimes weird and can be off-putting to read stuff by people you artistically and queerly admire only to confront the fact that not every queer shares the most radical of politics. nonetheless, i think Baker had his heart in the right place.
]]> <![CDATA[Something Wicked This Way Comes]]> 34466883
For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes . Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.]]> 337 Ray Bradbury 1501167715 Ashton 0 to-read 3.85 1962 Something Wicked This Way Comes
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity]]> 58537365 Celebrating special interests Cultivating Autistic relationships Reframing Autistic stereotypes And rediscovering your valuesIt’s time to honor the needs, diversity, and unique strengths of Autistic people so that they no longer have to mask—and it’s time for greater public acceptance and accommodation of difference. In embracing neurodiversity, we can all reap the rewards of nonconformity and learn to live authentically, Autistic and neurotypical people alike.]]> 304 Devon Price 0593235231 Ashton 5 overall this book is incredibly well-put-together. it seamlessly blends academic knowledge with personal experiences and interviews, and has a really strong voice that’s readable and informative while not being “tooâ€� academic.

I wish I’d had this to read five years ago, I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. however, I would especially recommend it to anyone that’s new to realizing they’re autistic and to anyone who has a masking autistic loved one, or anyone who wants to learn more about masking and/or autism as a whole!

I do have some minor critiques:
- I wish the author had engaged more with disability justice as a framework/movement. it’s pretty clear that DJ is not the /basis/ of Dr. Price’s understanding of disability or autism, but it definitely feels as if the book aligns with DJ in a LOT of ways, and I feel like it deserves more than a couple passing mentions!! I feel similarly about other more radical ideas, like abolition â€� it was mentioned, but I wish more time had been afforded to it, and I think this book could’ve been a good venue to get more people interested in DJ and abolition, and I wish they’d taken advantage of that!
- I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the medical and social models of disability were presented, the explanation felt a bit overgeneralized to me and I didn’t feel like the medical model was described or critiqued entirely accurately.
- I also would’ve liked more high-support-needs voices to have been interviewed/included. I understand that the book focuses on autistic people who mask which is often those with lower support needs, but especially as Dr. Price emphasizes that unmasking can be a political goal that furthers acceptance of all autistic people, not just those who mask, I think it would’ve benefited the book overall to invite more people with high support needs into the discussion.

All that said, keeping in mind I’m a relatively critical reader especially when it comes to things I care a lot about, this book is really great as a whole!! I feel like I came out of it with a little more knowledge of myself, even though I’ve known I’m autistic for years and feel relatively knowledgeable about autism and autistic communities as a whole. I hope others get something valuable out of it, too.]]> 4.38 2022 Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity
author: Devon Price
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/06
shelves: all-lgbtq, disability, politics
review:
4.5 stars!
overall this book is incredibly well-put-together. it seamlessly blends academic knowledge with personal experiences and interviews, and has a really strong voice that’s readable and informative while not being “tooâ€� academic.

I wish I’d had this to read five years ago, I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. however, I would especially recommend it to anyone that’s new to realizing they’re autistic and to anyone who has a masking autistic loved one, or anyone who wants to learn more about masking and/or autism as a whole!

I do have some minor critiques:
- I wish the author had engaged more with disability justice as a framework/movement. it’s pretty clear that DJ is not the /basis/ of Dr. Price’s understanding of disability or autism, but it definitely feels as if the book aligns with DJ in a LOT of ways, and I feel like it deserves more than a couple passing mentions!! I feel similarly about other more radical ideas, like abolition â€� it was mentioned, but I wish more time had been afforded to it, and I think this book could’ve been a good venue to get more people interested in DJ and abolition, and I wish they’d taken advantage of that!
- I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the medical and social models of disability were presented, the explanation felt a bit overgeneralized to me and I didn’t feel like the medical model was described or critiqued entirely accurately.
- I also would’ve liked more high-support-needs voices to have been interviewed/included. I understand that the book focuses on autistic people who mask which is often those with lower support needs, but especially as Dr. Price emphasizes that unmasking can be a political goal that furthers acceptance of all autistic people, not just those who mask, I think it would’ve benefited the book overall to invite more people with high support needs into the discussion.

All that said, keeping in mind I’m a relatively critical reader especially when it comes to things I care a lot about, this book is really great as a whole!! I feel like I came out of it with a little more knowledge of myself, even though I’ve known I’m autistic for years and feel relatively knowledgeable about autism and autistic communities as a whole. I hope others get something valuable out of it, too.
]]> <![CDATA[We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan]]> 49844098
We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan narrates the inner life of a gay trans man moving through the shifting social, political, and medical mores of the second half of the 20th century. Sullivan kept comprehensive journals from age eleven until his AIDS-related death at thirty-nine. Sensual, lascivious, challenging, quotidian and poetic, the diaries complicate and disrupt normative trans narratives. Entries from twenty-four diaries reveal Sullivan’s self-articulation and the complexity of a fascinating and courageous figure.]]> 440 Lou Sullivan 1643620177 Ashton 5 4.76 2019 We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
author: Lou Sullivan
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/24
date added: 2023/09/24
shelves: on-my-shelves, all-lgbtq, all-time-favs-nonfic, autobio-memoir, queer-history, queer-radicalism, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:

]]> All the Living and the Dead 58724737
We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?

Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.]]> 288 Hayley Campbell 1250281849 Ashton 4
also, side note, as someone who consumes a lot of death nonfiction books/videos/etc, why is everyone so into bentham’s head? i swear everyone wants to talk about it all the time]]> 4.25 2022 All the Living and the Dead
author: Hayley Campbell
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/25
date added: 2023/08/25
shelves:
review:
as a whole, good book!! i love multifaceted exploration of death and this is certainly that. my central dislike is the lack of any nuanced or meaningful critique of the multiple corrupt systems the book interacts with (most notably police, prisons, and the death sentence). i think this would’ve been a stronger book if it was less apolitical and journalistic. however, there’s still a lot of valuable conversations! i also rly love that she included maternal death / bereavement ward workers in this, definitely an overlooked aspect of the death industry and death care.

also, side note, as someone who consumes a lot of death nonfiction books/videos/etc, why is everyone so into bentham’s head? i swear everyone wants to talk about it all the time
]]> <![CDATA[Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender]]> 60099237 A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity Ě�

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives. Ěý
Ěý
Before We Were Trans  illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans  transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century  Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures. Ěý]]> 343 Kit Heyam 1541603087 Ashton 5 4.29 2022 Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
author: Kit Heyam
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/10
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves: all-lgbtq, politics, queer-history
review:
wonderful wonderful complex and nuanced discussions of not only history itself but /doing/ trans history and the multifaceted implications and impacts it has. nothing i love more than a personal and political nice history full of care and love. (plus, more widely accessible academic writing!!!!)
]]> <![CDATA[What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)]]> 58724626 From the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruravia.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.]]> 165 T. Kingfisher 1250830753 Ashton 5 all-lgbtq, death, horror 3.86 2022 What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/06
shelves: all-lgbtq, death, horror
review:
this hooked me and was a beautiful and gross delight. lives up to the cover art!! i’m glad the author mentioned Mexican Gothic at the end bc they certainly share a very specific theme, but they both do it very well.
]]> Stonewall 3957308 330 Martin Duberman 0525936025 Ashton 4 3.78 1993 Stonewall
author: Martin Duberman
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/02
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves: all-lgbtq, on-my-shelves, politics, queer-history, queer-radicalism
review:
for the age of this book i’m Very Impressed at how well-rounded it is, like a snapshot of stonewall and a variety of the folks involved and the organizing that happened directly before and after. definitely some outdated language, definitely drags at times, but overall a great resource and really important history.
]]> <![CDATA[Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space]]> 45010932
By examining the ways that fairy tales have shaped our expectations of disability, Disfigured will point the way toward a new world where disability is no longer a punishment or impediment but operates, instead, as a way of centering a protagonist and helping them to cement their own place in a story, and from there, the world. Through the book, Leduc ruminates on the connections we make between fairy tale archetypes—the beautiful princess, the glass slipper, the maiden with long hair lost in the tower—and tries to make sense of them through a twenty-first-century disablist lens. From examinations of disability in tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen through to modern interpretations ranging from Disney to Angela Carter, and the fight for disabled representation in today's media, Leduc connects the fight for disability justice to the growth of modern, magical stories, and argues for increased awareness and acceptance of that which is other—helping us to see and celebrate the magic inherent in different bodies.]]> 253 Amanda Leduc 1552453952 Ashton 4 4.08 2020 Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space
author: Amanda Leduc
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/01
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: autobio-memoir, disability, politics
review:
this wasn’t written for me (because i already know a lot abt DJ/disability in general and i don’t even like fairy tales or disney or superheroes) but i can definitely appreciate it for what it is!! and for anyone looking to learn more abt disability through a unique and informed lens, i could definitely see this book being really lovely!
]]> <![CDATA[We Were Always Here: A Queer Words Anthology]]> 43196875
We Were Always Here is a snapshot of current LGBTI+ writing and a showcase of queer talent.

Contributors: Alice Tarbuck, AndrĂŠs Ordorica, April Hill, AR Crow, Bibi June, BD Owens, Callum Harper, Christina Neuwirth, Ciara Maguire, Elaine Gallagher, Elva Hills, Eris Young, Etzali HernĂĄndez, Felicity Anderson-Nathan, Freddie Alexander, Garry Mac, Gray Crosbie, Harry Josephine Giles, Heather Parry, Heather Valentine, Jack Bigglestone, Jane Flett, Jay G Ying, Jay Whittaker, Jonathan Bay, Jo Clifford, Kirsty Logan, Laura Waddell, Lori England, MJ Brocklebank, Rachel Plummer, Ross Jamieson, Sandra Alland, Shane Strachan, Zoe Storrie.]]> 211 Ryan Vance 1912489147 Ashton 0 4.01 2019 We Were Always Here: A Queer Words Anthology
author: Ryan Vance
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: all-lgbtq, politics, queer-radicalism, to-read
review:

]]> Dead Collections 58065212 A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel.

When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who's come to donate her wife's papers, there's an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the "vampire disease."

Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.]]> 256 Isaac Fellman 0525508406 Ashton 5 3.60 2022 Dead Collections
author: Isaac Fellman
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: all-lgbtq, disability, vamp, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:
4.5 � will review later if i have time :)
]]> Fine: A Comic About Gender 58085208 Washington Post � 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022

A vibrant and informative debut with “great documentary powerâ€� (Alison Bechdel), Fine is an elegantly illustrated celebration of the transgender community.

As graphic artist Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in which they eagerly approached both friends and strangers in their quiet Midwest town for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, this project exploded into a sweeping portrait of the intricacies of gender expression with interviewees from all over the country. Questions such as “How do you Identifyâ€� produced fiercely honest stories of dealing with adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns―and how these experiences can differ, often drastically, depending on culture, race, and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own story of growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager, and ultimately finding themself through art―and by creating something this very fine. Tender and wise, inclusive and inviting, Fine is an indispensable account for anyone eager to define gender in their own terms.

Two color throughout]]> 319 Rhea Ewing 1631496808 Ashton 4
the framing of self-reflection paired with interviews was really effective and enjoyable for me, but i could see others finding it boring if you’re completely uninterested in gender. as a book for beginners, though? definitely up there on my list of recommendations for 101s.]]> 4.27 2022 Fine: A Comic About Gender
author: Rhea Ewing
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/21
date added: 2023/07/21
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, comics, politics, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:
4.5! this is a really refreshing gender comic bc it’s so diverse, open-ended, and non-prescriptive. i do wish it got a little more political with it, but I always feel that wayâ€� overall, really solid, enjoyable, and would definitely recommend especially to anyone who feels a little confused about gender.

the framing of self-reflection paired with interviews was really effective and enjoyable for me, but i could see others finding it boring if you’re completely uninterested in gender. as a book for beginners, though? definitely up there on my list of recommendations for 101s.
]]> <![CDATA[An Illustrated History of Ghosts]]> 59894057
Get to the heart of the unexplainable in Adam’s third addition to the “llustrated Historyâ€� series filled with private seances and ectoplasm to spiritual mediums and spirit photography galore. Fans of conspiracy and strange phenomena will transport themselves across the centuries through diagrammatic illustrations paired with well-researched facts about exorcism, mediums, ghost photos, talking boards, and connections to after life.

Whether you are a ghost fanatic or simply piqued by curiosity, you’ll get a robust deep dive into the experiences of paranormal occurrences, alternative explanations for these occurrences, and our culture’s fascination with them. Prepare to embark on a strange journey that allows skeptical inquiry, or perhaps the possibility of believing in the afterlife!]]> 128 Adam Allsuch Boardman 1913123073 Ashton 4 3.88 An Illustrated History of Ghosts
author: Adam Allsuch Boardman
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/24
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Dumb: Living Without a Voice 36321854 Dumb tells the story of how an urban twentysomething copes with the everyday challenges that come with voicelessness. Webber adroitly uses the comics medium to convey the practical hurdles she faced as well as the fear and dread that accompanied her increasingly lonely journey to regain her life. Her raw cartooning style, occasionally devolving into chaotic scribbles, splotches of ink, and overlapping montages, perfectly captures her frustration and anxiety. But her ordeal ultimately becomes a hopeful story. Throughout, she learns to lean on the support of her close friends, finds self-expression in creating comics, and comes to understand and appreciate how deeply her voice and identity are intertwined.]]> 196 Georgia Webber 1683961161 Ashton 4 comics, disability 3.35 2018 Dumb: Living Without a Voice
author: Georgia Webber
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/17
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves: comics, disability
review:

]]> Fangs 54911057 A love story between a vampire and a werewolf by the creator of the enormously popular Sarah's Scribbles comics.

Elsie the vampire is three hundred years old, but in all that time, she has never met her match. This all changes one night in a bar when she meets Jimmy, a charming werewolf with a wry sense of humor and a fondness for running wild during the full moon. Together they enjoy horror films and scary novels, shady strolls, fine dining (though never with garlic), and a genuine fondness for each other’s unusual habits, macabre lifestyles, and monstrous appetites.

First featured as a webcomic series on Tapas, Fangs chronicles the humor, sweetness, and awkwardness of meeting someone perfectly suited to you but also vastly different. Filled with Sarah Andersen’s beautiful gothic illustrations and relatable relationship humor, Fangs has all the makings of a cult classic.]]> 115 Sarah Andersen Ashton 4 comics, on-my-shelves, vamp 4.21 2020 Fangs
author: Sarah Andersen
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves: comics, on-my-shelves, vamp
review:
3.5 â€� this was fine? cute, gorgeous art, but the story didn’t really have a conflict and the characters weren’t super interesting or anything. maybe i expected too much out of a short comic, but what can i say
]]> Content Warning: Everything 56163236 Freshwater, PET, The Death of Vivek Oji, and Dear Senthuran—imagines a new depth of belonging. Crafted of both divine and earthly materials, these poems travel from home to homesickness, tracing desire to surrender and abuse to survival, while mapping out a chosen family that includes the son of god, mary auntie, and magdalene with the chestnut eyes. Written from a spiritfirst perspective and celebrating the essence of self that is impossible to drown, kill, or reduce, Content Warning: Everything distills the radiant power and epic grief of a mischievous and wanting young deity, embodied.]]> 64 Akwaeke Emezi 1556596294 Ashton 0 to-read 3.93 2022 Content Warning: Everything
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 168646 Ěý
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time
Ěý
Slaughterhouse-Five , an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.â€�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.â€� George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.â€�

More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 215 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0440180295 Ashton 4 on-my-shelves 4.08 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves: on-my-shelves
review:

]]> Mimosa: A Graphic Novel 60310672
Best friends and chosen family Chris, Elise, Jo, and Alex work hard to keep themselves afloat. Their regular brunches hold them together even as the rest of their lives threaten to fall apart. In an effort to avoid being the oldest gays at the party, the crew decides to put on a new queer event called Grind—specifically for homos in their dirty 30s.

Grind is a welcome distraction from their real after a messy divorce, Chris adjusts to being a single parent while struggling to reconnect to their queer community. Elise is caught between feelings for her boss and the career of her dreams. Jo tries to navigate the murky boundaries of being a supportive friend and taking care of her own needs. And Alex is guarding a secret that might change his friendships forever. While navigating exes at work, physical and mental exhaustion, and drinking way, way too much on weekdays, this chosen family proves that being messy doesn’t always go away with age.]]> 272 ArchieĚýBongiovanni 141975243X Ashton 0 to-read 3.67 2023 Mimosa: A Graphic Novel
author: ArchieĚýBongiovanni
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking]]> 6320398 251 Tim Dean 0226139395 Ashton 0 to-read 3.92 2009 Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking
author: Tim Dean
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last White Man 58885796 From the New York Times -bestselling author of Exit West , a story of love, loss, and rediscovery in a time of unsettling change.

One morning, a man wakes up to find himself transformed. Overnight, Anders’s skin has turned dark, and the reflection in the mirror seems a stranger to him. At first he shares his secret only with Oona, an old friend turned new lover. Soon, reports of similar events begin to surface. Across the land, people are awakening in new incarnations, uncertain how their neighbors, friends, and family will greet them. Some see the transformations as the long-dreaded overturning of the established order that must be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders’s father and Oona’s mother, a sense of profound loss and unease wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different a chance at a kind of rebirth--an opportunity to see ourselves, face to face, anew.
Ěý
In Mohsin Hamid’s lyrical and urgent prose, The Last White Man powerfully uplifts our capacity for empathy and the transcendence over bigotry, fear, and anger it can achieve.]]> 192 Mohsin Hamid 0593538811 Ashton 4 death, race 3.43 2022 The Last White Man
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/07
date added: 2023/05/23
shelves: death, race
review:

]]> Bitter (Pet, #0.5) 58558604 From the critically acclaimed author of Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji, Bitter, a companion novel to Pet, takes a timely and riveting look at the power of youth, protest and art.

Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the town of Lucille.

Bitter's instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus . . . but her friends aren't willing to settle for a world that the adults say is "just the way things are." Pulled between old friendships, her creative passion, and a new romance, Bitter isn't sure where she belongs - in the art studio or in the streets. And if she does find a way to help the revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: at what cost?]]> 272 Akwaeke Emezi 0571371205 Ashton 5 4.12 2022 Bitter (Pet, #0.5)
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/05
date added: 2023/05/05
shelves: abolition, all-lgbtq, all-time-favs-fiction, disability, politics
review:

]]> Stone Fruit 55678434
At turns joyful and heartbreaking, Stone Fruit reveals through intimately naturalistic dialog and blue-hued watercolor how painful it can be to truly become vulnerable to your loved ones � and how fulfilling it is to be finally understood for who you are. Lee Lai is one of the most exciting new voices to break into the comics medium and she has created one of the truly sophisticated graphic novel debuts in recent memory.
]]> 231 Lee Lai 1683964268 Ashton 5 4.07 2021 Stone Fruit
author: Lee Lai
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/18
date added: 2023/02/18
shelves:
review:
i tore through this in one afternoon and it was delightful. the art is super pleasing, the dialogue and characters are natural and relatable, the story is heart-wrenching and i was immediately invested. deals with heavy themes � religion and trauma, race, family, queerness, kids � in really delicate and tender ways. i love queer comics that tell a story in this particular way, with moodiness and love and delightful, flawed characters you can imagine as friends.
]]> <![CDATA[Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body]]> 52167161
Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.

Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life.

Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.]]> 256 Rebekah Taussig 0062936794 Ashton 4 4.43 2020 Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body
author: Rebekah Taussig
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/03
date added: 2023/02/03
shelves: autobio-memoir, disability, school-reading
review:
overall this was really solid! sometimes i wished there was a bit /more/ in terms of politics and connections, but i think i was a little spoiled by alice wong’s memoir. i also wanted to hear more about her phd years!! i liked the somewhat nonlinear and reflective nature of the memoir as a whole, but some things felt slightly repetitive while others felt like they could’ve used some expansion. i would absolutely recommend this to nondisabled people looking for a comprehendible and enjoyable intro to disability topics!
]]> <![CDATA[A Body, Undone: Living On After Great Pain (Sexual Cultures, 8)]]> 27558378 A compelling account of recreating a life through writing, memory, and desire

In the early evening on October 1, 2003, Christina Crosby was three miles into a seventeen mile bicycle ride, intent on reaching her goal of 1,000 miles for the riding season. She was a respected senior professor of English who had celebrated her fiftieth birthday a month before. As she crested a hill, she caught a branch in the spokes of her bicycle, which instantly pitched her to the pavement. Her chin took the full force of the blow, and her head snapped back. In that instant, she was paralyzed.

In A Body, Undone, Crosby puts into words a broken body that seems beyond the reach of language and understanding. She writes about a body shot through with neurological pain, disoriented in time and space, incapacitated by paralysis and deadened sensation. To address this foreign body, she calls upon the readerly pleasures of narrative, critical feminist and queer thinking, and the concentrated language of lyric poetry. Working with these resources, she recalls her 1950s tomboy ways in small-town, rural Pennsylvania, and records growing into the 1970s through radical feminism and the affirmations of gay liberation.

Deeply unsentimental, Crosby communicates in unflinching prose the experience of "diving into the wreck" of her body to acknowledge grief, and loss, but also to recognize the beauty, fragility, and dependencies of all human bodies. A memoir that is a meditation on disability, metaphor, gender, sex, and love, A Body, Undone is a compelling account of living on, as Crosby rebuilds her body and fashions a life through writing, memory, and desire.]]> 208 Christina Crosby 1479833533 Ashton 4 4.00 2016 A Body, Undone: Living On After Great Pain (Sexual Cultures, 8)
author: Christina Crosby
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/01
date added: 2023/02/01
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, death, disability, school-reading
review:
while certainly a /good/ memoir, this didn’t give me everything i wish it did. it did, however, make me want to talk to christina so, so badly.
]]> Skip 60317679
As Bloom and Gloopy skip through dimensions and encounter weeping giants, alligator islands, and a topsy turvy 2D world, they find comfort in each other and learn that sometimes, your greatest fear reveals where your strengths lie. Great for fans of Black Mirror.

"Skip is a flurry of bold and vivid cartooning that pulls you through this tender story of friendship at heart-wrenching speeds. Molly layers every page with such a dense whimsicality that it left me wanting to go back and re-read so I could sink my eyes into the details again and again."
--Sloane Leong, creator of Prism Stalker]]> 168 Molly Mendoza 1913123065 Ashton 5
the story was simple and dreamy and easy to follow despite its abstract otherworldliness, and the characters were just delightfully designed. the color and overall art is beyond gorgeous, the way mendoza weaves together abstract and concrete is really really beautiful! there are a bunch of pages from this that could just. go in a museum. i definitely understand the critiques of it being hard to follow, but i tried not to overthink it and let myself absorb the artwork and dialogue, and i really enjoyed it!

i also love a little story where gender simply doesn’t exist ]]> 4.00 2019 Skip
author: Molly Mendoza
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/30
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: comics, on-my-shelves, all-lgbtq
review:
disclaimer, this was sent to me by nobrow press!

the story was simple and dreamy and easy to follow despite its abstract otherworldliness, and the characters were just delightfully designed. the color and overall art is beyond gorgeous, the way mendoza weaves together abstract and concrete is really really beautiful! there are a bunch of pages from this that could just. go in a museum. i definitely understand the critiques of it being hard to follow, but i tried not to overthink it and let myself absorb the artwork and dialogue, and i really enjoyed it!

i also love a little story where gender simply doesn’t exist
]]> <![CDATA[The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide]]> 57693593 From preeminent LGBTQ scholar, social critic, and journalist Steven W. Thrasher comes a powerful and crucial exploration of one of the most pressing issues of our times: how viruses expose the fault lines of society.

Having spent a ground-breaking career studying the racialization, policing, and criminalization of HIV, Dr. Thrasher has come to understand a deeper truth at the heart of our society: that there are vast inequalities in who is able to survive viruses and that the ways in which viruses spread, kill, and take their toll are much more dependent on social structures than they are on biology alone.

Told through the heart-rending stories of friends, activists, and teachers navigating the novel coronavirus, HIV, and other viruses, Dr. Thrasher brings the reader with him as he delves into the viral underclass and lays bare its inner workings. In the tradition of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, The Viral Underclass helps us understand the world more deeply by showing the fraught relationship between privilege and survival.]]> 352 Steven W. Thrasher 1250796636 Ashton 0 to-read 4.24 2022 The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
author: Steven W. Thrasher
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mooncakes 44774415
Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers' bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.

One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.

Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.]]> 243 Suzanne Walker 154930304X Ashton 5 all-lgbtq, comics, disability simply delightful 3.82 2019 Mooncakes
author: Suzanne Walker
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/30
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: all-lgbtq, comics, disability
review:
simply delightful
]]> Stuck Rubber Baby 156703
Ginger introduces him to a lively and diverse group of civil rights activists, folk singers, and night club performers—men and women who live authentically despite the conformist values of their hometown. Emboldened by this new community, Toland joins the local protests and even finds the courage to venture into a gay bar.

No longer content to stay on the sidelines, Toland joins his friends as they fight against bigotry. But in Clayfield, Alabama, that can be dangerous—even deadly.]]> 216 Howard Cruse 1563892553 Ashton 0 to-read 4.04 1995 Stuck Rubber Baby
author: Howard Cruse
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror]]> 60708721
Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,â€� body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world.

"It Came from the Closet" features twenty-five original essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on "Jennifer’s Body", Jude Ellison S. Doyle on "In My Skin", Addie Tsai on "Dead Ringers", and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.]]> 298 Joe Vallese 1952177790 Ashton 5 4.16 2022 It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror
author: Joe Vallese
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/30
date added: 2023/01/30
shelves: all-lgbtq, autobio-memoir, death, disability, horror
review:
oftentimes when i review anthologies, i say there were ups and downs, but this book ranges from B++ to A+ all the way through. some essays were more to my taste than others, but all of them were so well-written and well-organized that i can’t help but be overall impressed. if you’re looking for a diverse theorization about queer appreciation for the horror (film) genre, look no further!
]]> <![CDATA[Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life]]> 59900658 From the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, and the editor of the acclaimed anthology Disability Visibility, a genre-bending memoir in essays offers a glimpse into an activist's journey to finding and cultivating community and the continued fight for disability rights.

In Chinese culture, the tiger is deeply revered for its beauty and ferocity and symbolizes power, bravery, and protection. That same fighting spirit resides in Alice Wong.

Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique voice and talent to share a raw and multifaceted impressionistic collage of her life as an Asian American disability rights activist, community builder, and media maker. From her love of good food and pop culture to her unwavering commitment to speaking out against the often complex and overlooked ways inequities and injustices play out in an ableist society, Alice tells her story and creates a space to hear from other disability activists through enriching conversations. From a world-class activist and storyteller, Alice's Year of the Tiger offers humor and wisdom, and encourages us to do better.]]> 376 Alice Wong 0593315391 Ashton 5 4.24 2022 Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life
author: Alice Wong
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/26
date added: 2023/01/26
shelves: abolition, autobio-memoir, death, disability, politics
review:
anyone who knows my reading habits knows that memoirs that are interwoven with politics and advice and liberation are my absolute favourite, and alice wong unsurprisingly does it beautifully. i can’t even pick a favourite section or two because it’s all done so well, but some highlights for me were the introduction, “just say nopeâ€� and activist wisdom, the discussions of straws, tech, and the internet as access tools, access is love, storytelling as activism, choreography as care, and all the reflections on the current pandemic. i look forward to someday rereading it.
]]> <![CDATA[The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison]]> 58951004 This singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window into the policing of queerness and radical politics in the twentieth century.

The Women’s House of Detention, a landmark that ushered in the modern era of women’s imprisonment, is now largely forgotten. But when it stood in New York City’s Greenwich Village, from 1929 to 1974, it was a nexus for the tens of thousands of women, transgender men, and gender-nonconforming people who inhabited its crowded cells. Some of these inmates—Angela Davis, Andrea Dworkin, Afeni Shakur—were famous, but the vast majority were incarcerated for the crimes of being poor and improperly feminine. Today, approximately 40 percent of the people in women’s prisons identify as queer; in earlier decades, that percentage was almost certainly higher.

Historian Hugh Ryan explores the roots of this crisis and reconstructs the little-known lives of incarcerated New Yorkers, making a uniquely queer case for prison abolition—and demonstrating that by queering the Village, the House of D helped defined queerness for the rest of America. From the lesbian communities forged through the Women’s House of Detention to the turbulent prison riots that presaged Stonewall, this is the story of one building and much more: the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired.]]> 357 Hugh Ryan 1645036669 Ashton 5 4.46 2022 The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison
author: Hugh Ryan
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/21
date added: 2023/01/21
shelves: queer-history, politics, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> The Left Hand of Darkness 25837084 Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

A lone human ambassador is sent to Winter, an alien world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants can change their gender whenever they choose. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 320 Ursula K. Le Guin Ashton 0 to-read 4.14 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Felix Ever After 45359713
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle....

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.]]> 368 Kacen Callender 0062820273 Ashton 5 4.38 2020 Felix Ever After
author: Kacen Callender
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/09/05
date added: 2023/01/13
shelves: trans-lit-by-trans-folks, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man]]> 130312
The first fictional memoir ever written by a black person, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man influenced a generation of writers during the Harlem Renaissance and served as eloquent inspiration for Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright. In the 1920s and since, it has also given white readers a startling new perspective on their own culture, revealing to many the double standard of racial identity imposed on black Americans.

Narrated by a mulatto man whose light skin allows him to "pass" for white, the novel describes a pilgrimage through America's color lines at the turn of the century--from a black college in Jacksonville to an elite New York nightclub, from the rural South to the white suburbs of the Northeast.

This is a powerful, unsentimental examination of race in America, a hymn to the anguish of forging an identity in a nation obsessed with color. And, as Arna Bontemps pointed out decades ago, "the problems of the artist [as presented here] seem as contemporary as if the book had been written this year."]]> 212 James Weldon Johnson 0809000326 Ashton 3 race 3.92 1912 The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man
author: James Weldon Johnson
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1912
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2022/12/28
shelves: race
review:
3.5 stars? certainly a lot of outdated ideas, but really interesting nonetheless.
]]> <![CDATA[The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs]]> 60199447 Care Work with The Future Is Disabled. Piepzna-Samarasinha writes about the last two years of surviving COVID-19 as a disabled femme of color in an ableist world that isn’t interested in protecting disabled folks. They also discuss mutual aid and disabled joy in the face of isolation and discrimination.

The pandemic has been incredibly difficult for disabled people who have been asked to “take one for the teamâ€� by wider society. Piepzna-Samarasinha writes encouragement to disabled folks, relishing in our community’s creativity in our fight for survival. They also mourn those lost in the pandemic and the care crisis so many of us still face.]]> 333 1551528916 Ashton 5 4.45 2022 The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs
author: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2022/12/28
shelves: abolition, all-lgbtq, death, disability, politics, queer-radicalism
review:
beautiful, wonderful, incredibly meaningful and impactful. maybe(?) easier to read than Care Work for anyone looking to get into disability justice, but still contains in-depth, nuanced, and crucial conversations. there’s so much i love about this book. the way leah references and cites other DJ writers and thinkers really reinforces how broad and interconnected DJ work is, plus it leaves the reader with a lot of jumping-off points to dive deeper. some standout chapters to me include: chapter 1: we were maybe not going to save the world, but we were going to save each other - how disabled mutual aid is different than a led mutual aid, chapter 9: i wanna be with you everywhere (and i am) - disability justice art as freedom portal, chapter 11: autistic long-form, short-form, no-form, exchotextia: autistic poetic forms, and the entirety of part three (the disabled future.) there are so many points i highlighted in this book and will undoubtedly be coming back to. highly recommend.
]]> Kisses for Jet 59647211
In 1999, when most people think that the world is about to end with the Y2K crash on the eve of the new Millennium, Jet is just trying to get through high school. When their Mom moves to another country to work on fixing the Millennium bug, Jet is forced to stay at a boarding house while they finish the school year, and they’re not pleased about it.

But something’s not quite right, and it’s not just the out-of-control kids that Jet has to live with, or the staff who look after the boarding house who act super suspiciously. As Jet slowly starts to feel overwhelmed by their peers, they begin to notice that they don’t feel like the other girls in their class. As new feelings start to emerge, Jet slowly begins to realise that they may be more of a boy than a girl.

Is that even possible? And who do they talk to about these feelings when there’s not even any internet around, and cell phones are barely used?

This coming-of-gender graphic novel debut from trans creator Joris Bas Backer is an enlightening and often hilarious tale that casts light on what it was like to be transgender before information and help was more accessible and widespread.]]> 208 Joris Bas Backer 1913123030 Ashton 4
i went in with no expectations and enjoyed this a lot! it felt like a perzine-gone-comic, which was definitely relatable and not overly explanatory or moralizing. i do wonder how much was lost in translation, as there are a few bits of dialogue that are confusing or seem like they could’ve been mistranslated, but i didn’t find it hard to follow at all. i do wish some of the threads were resolved more conclusively â€� the fatphobia, threats/assault, and lesbian plotlines felt abandoned instead of concluded. at the same time, coming-of-age stories like these that use the author’s experiences but are not /memoirs/ tend to do that, and it isn’t necessarily negative â€� just not my favourite. the setting was well-developed and i found the characters realistic, if not well-developed. i thought the art style was very consistent and easy to understand, and the visual depictions of dysphoria and dream/imagination sequences were really great! solid 4/5.]]> 3.50 2022 Kisses for Jet
author: Joris Bas Backer
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/24
date added: 2022/12/24
shelves: all-lgbtq, comics, on-my-shelves, trans-lit-by-trans-folks
review:
disclaimer � this was sent to me by nobrow press!

i went in with no expectations and enjoyed this a lot! it felt like a perzine-gone-comic, which was definitely relatable and not overly explanatory or moralizing. i do wonder how much was lost in translation, as there are a few bits of dialogue that are confusing or seem like they could’ve been mistranslated, but i didn’t find it hard to follow at all. i do wish some of the threads were resolved more conclusively â€� the fatphobia, threats/assault, and lesbian plotlines felt abandoned instead of concluded. at the same time, coming-of-age stories like these that use the author’s experiences but are not /memoirs/ tend to do that, and it isn’t necessarily negative â€� just not my favourite. the setting was well-developed and i found the characters realistic, if not well-developed. i thought the art style was very consistent and easy to understand, and the visual depictions of dysphoria and dream/imagination sequences were really great! solid 4/5.
]]> A Curious History of Sex 50773748
The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatise particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow � hopefully for the better � but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from.]]> 353 Kate Lister Ashton 4 all-lgbtq, queer-history 4.16 2020 A Curious History of Sex
author: Kate Lister
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/23
date added: 2022/12/23
shelves: all-lgbtq, queer-history
review:

]]> Sexuality: A Graphic Guide 54785417 From the dream team creators of Queer: A Graphic History and Gender: A Graphic Guide

Sex can seem like a house of horrors â€� full of monsters and potential pitfalls. We often live with fear, shame and frustration when it comes to our own sexuality, and with judgement when it comes to othersâ€�. Sex advice manuals, debates over sex work and stories of sexual ‘dysfunctionâ€� add to our anxiety.

With compassion, humour, erudition and a touch of the erotic, Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele shine a light through the darkness and unmask the monsters in this illustrated guide. From sexual identities to having sex, to desire, consent and relationships, we’ll explore the invention of sex as we know it and imagine sex as it could be. Along the way, we’ll move past thinking of sex as meaning just one thing, defined by the genders of those doing it, instead making space for lots of different types of attraction, desire, relationship and act.]]> 176 Meg-John Barker 1785786539 Ashton 3 comics, queer-history review to come 4.18 2021 Sexuality: A Graphic Guide
author: Meg-John Barker
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/23
date added: 2022/12/23
shelves: comics, queer-history
review:
review to come
]]> <![CDATA[Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage]]> 270008 448 Stephanie Coontz 067003407X Ashton 0 3.95 2005 Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage
author: Stephanie Coontz
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2022/12/13
date added: 2022/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> An Essay on Liberation 349622 One-Dimensional Man argues that the time for utopian speculation has come. Marcuse argues that the traditional conceptions of human freedom have been rendered obsolete by the development of advanced industrial society. Social theory can no longer content itself with repeating the formula, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," but must now investigate the nature of human needs themselves. Marcuse's claim is that even if production were controlled and determined by the workers, society would still be repressive—unless the workers themselves had the needs and aspirations of free men. Ranging from philosophical anthropology to aesthetics An Essay on LiberationĚýattempts to outline—in a highly speculative and tentative fashion—the new possibilities for human liberation. The EssayĚýcontains the following chapters: A Biological Foundation for Socialism?, The New Sensibility, Subverting Forces—in Transition, and Solidarity.]]> 108 Herbert Marcuse 0807005959 Ashton 0 3.82 1969 An Essay on Liberation
author: Herbert Marcuse
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at: 2022/12/13
date added: 2022/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Transgender Studies Reader Remix]]> 59943143 The Transgender Studies Reader Remix assembles 50 previously published articles to orient students and scholars alike to current directions in the fast-evolving interdisciplinary field of transgender studies.



The volume is organized into ten thematic sections on trans studies' engagements with feminist theory, queer theory, Black studies, science studies, Indigeneity and coloniality, history, biopolitics, cultural production, the posthumanities, and intersectional approaches to embodied difference. It includes a selection of highly cited works from the two-volume The Transgender Studies Reader, more recently published essays, and some older articles in intersecting fields that are in conversation with where transgender studies is today. Editors Susan Stryker and Dylan McCarthy Blackston provide a foreword, an introduction, and a short abstract of each article that, taken together, document key texts and interdisciplinary connections foundational to the evolution of transgender studies over the past 30 years.



A handy overview for scholars, activists, and all those new to the field, this volume is also ideally suited for use as a textbook in undergraduate or graduate courses in gender studies.]]> 620 Susan Stryker 1000606651 Ashton 0 to-read 4.75 The Transgender Studies Reader Remix
author: Susan Stryker
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Transgender Marxism 49019120
No one is spared gendered enculturation, but the contributors to this collection argue that transgender people face particular pressures, oppressions, and state persecution. The first part of the book explores particular movements, and lives, through a Marxist lens. The second section emphasises the 'Marxism' in Transgender Marxism, exploring the particular experience of surviving as trans in light of the totality of gendered experience under capitalism. The contributors also consider how the particular case of transgender life offers opportunities to revise and renew Marxist theorising more generally. The final part twins Marxism with other schools of thought, such as psychoanalysis, mainstream psychology, phenomenology, and Butlerian performativity, to offer clearer insight into transgender experience.]]> 320 Jules Joanne Gleeson 0745341667 Ashton 0 to-read 3.92 2021 Transgender Marxism
author: Jules Joanne Gleeson
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brown Trans Figurations: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Chicanx/Latinx Studies (Latinx: The Future Is Now)]]> 52591376
Brown Trans Figurations presents a collection of representations that reveal the repression of brown trans narratives and make that repression visible and palpable. Galarte examines the violent deaths of two transgender Latinas and the corresponding narratives that emerged about their lives, analyzes the invisibility of brown transmasculinity in Chicana feminist works, and explores how issues such as transgender politics can be imagined as part of Chicanx and Latinx political movements. This book considers the contexts in which brown trans narratives appear, how they circulate, and how they are reproduced in politics, sexual cultures, and racialized economies.]]> 200 Francisco J Galarte 1477322132 Ashton 0 to-read 4.23 2021 Brown Trans Figurations: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Chicanx/Latinx Studies (Latinx: The Future Is Now)
author: Francisco J Galarte
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Trans Care 53336058
Trans Care is a critical intervention in how care labor and care ethics have been thought, arguing that dominant modes of conceiving and critiquing the politics and distribution of care entrench normative and cis-centric familial structures and gendered arrangements. A serious consideration of trans survival and flourishing requires a radical rethinking of how care operates.]]> 72 Hil Malatino 1517911184 Ashton 0 to-read, all-lgbtq 4.34 2020 Trans Care
author: Hil Malatino
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lana and Lilly Wachowski (Contemporary Film Directors)]]> 39808891 216 CĂĄel M. Keegan 0252083830 Ashton 0 to-read 4.06 Lana and Lilly Wachowski (Contemporary Film Directors)
author: CĂĄel M. Keegan
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable]]> 55889444 200 Eric A. Stanley 1478014210 Ashton 0 to-read, all-lgbtq 4.25 2021 Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable
author: Eric A. Stanley
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> Black Trans Feminism 57326169 Black Trans Feminism Marquis Bey offers a meditation on blackness and gender nonnormativity in ways that recalibrate traditional understandings of each. Theorizing black trans feminism from the vantages of abolition and gender radicality, Bey articulates blackness as a mutiny against racializing categorizations; transness as a nonpredetermined, wayward, and deregulated movement that works toward gender’s destruction; and black feminism as an epistemological method to fracture hegemonic modes of racialized gender. In readings of the essays, interviews, and poems of Alexis Pauline Gumbs, jayy dodd, and Venus Di’Khadijah Selenite, Bey turns black trans feminism away from a politics of gendered embodiment and toward a conception of it as a politics grounded in fugitivity and the subversion of power. Together, blackness and transness actualize themselves as on the run from gender. In this way, Bey presents black trans feminism as a mode of enacting the wholesale dismantling of the world we have been given.]]> 304 Marquis Bey 1478017813 Ashton 0 to-read, all-lgbtq 4.30 Black Trans Feminism
author: Marquis Bey
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Poetic Operations: Trans of Color Art in Digital Media (ASTERISK)]]> 56685095 240 Micha CĂĄrdenas 1478015039 Ashton 0 to-read, all-lgbtq 4.61 Poetic Operations: Trans of Color Art in Digital Media (ASTERISK)
author: Micha CĂĄrdenas
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read, all-lgbtq
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wild Things: The Disorder of Desire (Perverse Modernities)]]> 50395673 240 J. Jack Halberstam 1478011084 Ashton 0 3.84 Wild Things: The Disorder of Desire (Perverse Modernities)
author: J. Jack Halberstam
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: to-read, all-lgbtq, queer-history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction]]> 395906 The Technology of Orgasm, Rachel Maines offers readers a stimulating, surprising, and often humorous account of hysteria and its treatment throughout the ages, focusing on the development, use, and fall into disrepute of the vibrator as a legitimate medical device.]]> 208 Rachel P. Maines 0801866464 Ashton 0 school-reading 3.92 1998 The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction
author: Rachel P. Maines
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/31
date added: 2022/10/31
shelves: school-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Capital in the Twenty First Century]]> 18736925 Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality.

Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality—the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth—today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.]]> 685 Thomas Piketty 067443000X Ashton 0 to-read 4.04 2013 Capital in the Twenty First Century
author: Thomas Piketty
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair]]> 29363252 299 Sarah Schulman 1551526433 Ashton 0 to-read 3.84 2016 Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair
author: Sarah Schulman
name: Ashton
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Abolition. Feminism. Now. 53657256 An urgent, vital manifesto of intersectional, internationalist, abolitionist feminism, from leading scholar-activists Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, and Beth E. Richie.

As a politic and a practice, abolition increasingly shapes our political moment—halting the construction of new jails and propelling movements to divest from policing. Yet erased from this landscape are the central histories of feminist organizing—usually queer, anti-capitalist, grassroots, and women of color—that continue to cultivate abolition. Also erased is a recognition of the stark reality: abolition is our best response to endemic forms of state and interpersonal gender and sexual violence.

Amplifying the analysis and the theories of change generated from vibrant community based organizing, Abolition. Feminism. Now. surfaces necessary historical genealogies, key internationalist learnings, and everyday practices to grow our collective and flourishing present and futures.]]> 150 Angela Y. Davis Ashton 0 to-read 4.29 2022 Abolition. Feminism. Now.
author: Angela Y. Davis
name: Ashton
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>