Welcome to Litsy!

I'd be surprised if the first words that come to mind have not been used many times before to descirbe this work: Powerful, heartbreaking, infuriating, a nuanced and needed perspective, a must read.
It is enervating that the battle for transgender people to be seen, respected, understood, fully embraced, needs to continue in the face of much prejudice and hate, but I'm glad to experience such a vital voice as Vivek's pushing the conversation 1/?

Of Boys and Men is included on Obama‘s summer reading list. I snagged this audiobook immediately, as it was new to me and I‘m over here trying to raise a couple of boys. At 7 hrs, it‘s a doable look at how men and boys are caught between two narratives: “the problem” or ignored by the left and toxic culture/manly man weirdness of the right. It‘s political but also focuses on policies that could help-like red shirting boys in kindergarten.

302 pages about a SUV salesman negotiating a worldwide pandemics impacting men's testosterone levels, & therefore their sense of self. Toxic masculinity & avocado (the testicular fruit 😂) consumption on the rise. I found the art hard to follow, & I realised v. quickly that I wasn't the intended audience. Not my type of humour, but its heart is in the right place. It's read now and I can return it.

Avocado tastefully placed to hide a NSFW bit.

About to start this graphic novel about a future where men's testosterone levels drop. Was slightly embarrassed by the cover when the librarian handed the book to me 😅

A must for any man or boy!

From the perspective of a man living in the Western world, I recognize that initiation rites into maturity (for males and females) are essentially non-existent. Society has forfeited its role to government and the result has been none to kind. We do not have mentors, there is no great wisdom being passed down from one generation to another, but thankfully we do have a few select books that can at least point the way.

This is a tenderly funny look at a bunch of middle aged men who gather each year to reenact the football game where Joe Theismann‘s thigh was snapped. Bachelder did a great job of giving each man a distinct personality in a very short space. I rarely read a book that gives a group of men such emotional depth. #roll100

#tlt @dabbe

(This is off the top of my head, there are too many to sort through.)

1. Philip Marlowe from...well...nearly every Raymond Chandler novel.

2. Stevens from Remains of the Day

3. Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Tag @RaeLovesToRead @cbee @ImperfectCJ @BarbaraBB @IndoorDame

I don‘t think there was a single passage that didn‘t go right to the gut: Shraya, a Western Canadian, writes directly and beautifully about her young experience of being forced into masculinity, and the impact a masculine-dominated culture continues to have on her as a woman. She questions binary structures and stereotypes, and shifts from second-person “you” to “me” writing part way through.

#Nonfiction2023 #LikeAVirgin

#Booked2023 #Transgender

When I was learning to be a man, I wish that instead of the coaching I received to take up space, I had been taught to be respectful of space, to be ever conscious of and ever grateful to those whose sacred land I inhabit, to be mindful of the space and bodies of others, especially feminine bodies, to never presume that I‘m permitted to touch the body of another, no matter how queer the space, to give up space when I‘m afforded more than others.

Consumption is a key to masculinity. I observe what foods men chuck into their carts and fill mine with the same, hoping to eat my way to a body like theirs. I lift weights despite recurring injuries. What would my body look like if I didn‘t want affection from gay men and protection from straight men? What would my body look like if I didn‘t have to mould it into both a shield and an ornament? How do I love a body that was never fully my own?