Scan barcode
argyledinosaur's reviews
210 reviews
The Future by Neil Hilborn
5.0
If you like Neil's style, then you're going to like this collection of poems. I love his style, and I own all of his books, so of course I love this.
Skirting Gender: Life and Lessons of a Cross Dresser by Vera Wylde
5.0
First I would like to say that there were numerous typos, but I'm going to overlook that because this isn't a book written by someone that had the backing of a huge editing team or publisher or anything like that. It was self published, and frankly, the typos weren't terribly distracting. Having said that, let's move on. Also, I'll be referring to the author as Vera, because that's the persona, I guess, that wrote it and published it, and I'll be using feminine pronouns when needed.
I heard about this book through one of Nathaniel's videos and I ordered it literally as soon as it was announced. I paused the video to order this book. I got the book a few days later and I have been reading it since. It's so hard to put down because I love hearing about other people's stories. A large part of why I was so intrigued is because I am gender-fluid, and I love learning more about how other people experience it. The first time I saw Nathaniel take his cap off I was literally mind blown like "holy cow I identify with this."
This book covers so many topics, a lot of which I don't really have any experience with because I'm a biosex female, so I don't have to "tuck" or contour to appear more feminine. But there's also a lot in this book that I can identify with, especially when it comes to Vera talking about exploring her gender expression. There's a nifty section of the book that gives definitions for different terms used in the book, which I found helpful, even though I already had a pretty good idea what most of the terms meant.
The part of the book that I found the most interesting, personally, was the section on personal experiences, because as I've said, I find people's stories to be vastly interesting. The section that went over some philosophical aspects of cross dressing was also very intriguing, and while I did enjoy the section about practical advice for how to cross dress, it obviously didn't have a lot that I could identify with, which is totally fine and didn't take away from my enjoyment of it.
If I'm being completely honest here, I'm biased. That's it. I am gender fluid and I really don't get a lot of representation anywhere, but here I have a book that was written by a gender fluid person, where she talks about her experiences and practical advice and philosophical aspects and it's something that I'm just really happy exists. I love this book, and it's one of my favorites that I own simply because of what it is.
I heard about this book through one of Nathaniel's videos and I ordered it literally as soon as it was announced. I paused the video to order this book. I got the book a few days later and I have been reading it since. It's so hard to put down because I love hearing about other people's stories. A large part of why I was so intrigued is because I am gender-fluid, and I love learning more about how other people experience it. The first time I saw Nathaniel take his cap off I was literally mind blown like "holy cow I identify with this."
This book covers so many topics, a lot of which I don't really have any experience with because I'm a biosex female, so I don't have to "tuck" or contour to appear more feminine. But there's also a lot in this book that I can identify with, especially when it comes to Vera talking about exploring her gender expression. There's a nifty section of the book that gives definitions for different terms used in the book, which I found helpful, even though I already had a pretty good idea what most of the terms meant.
The part of the book that I found the most interesting, personally, was the section on personal experiences, because as I've said, I find people's stories to be vastly interesting. The section that went over some philosophical aspects of cross dressing was also very intriguing, and while I did enjoy the section about practical advice for how to cross dress, it obviously didn't have a lot that I could identify with, which is totally fine and didn't take away from my enjoyment of it.
If I'm being completely honest here, I'm biased. That's it. I am gender fluid and I really don't get a lot of representation anywhere, but here I have a book that was written by a gender fluid person, where she talks about her experiences and practical advice and philosophical aspects and it's something that I'm just really happy exists. I love this book, and it's one of my favorites that I own simply because of what it is.
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
5.0
I have so many thoughts racing through my head after reading this. A lot of my thoughts are heavily focused on the last chapter of the book, all about Trevor's mother and her life, or how it must be almost frustrating to grow up where he did, and how he did, to move to the states, where things are supposed to be better, and be faced with everything that's going on right now.
A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
4.0
I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy this book as much as the first one, but those worries were totally unfounded. This book was just as incredible, just as enjoyable, as the first one. I loved that we got ot learn so much more about Helene's character and personality and her inner struggles in this book. There were aspects I didn't like, including unnecessary character deaths, and underdeveloped villains, but over all, I still really enjoyed the book. I didn't see some of the twists and turns that occurred and others I kind of expected, but it didn't at all deplete my enjoyment of the book.
In Paris with You by Clémentine Beauvais
4.0
I enjoyed this book a lot, actually, even though I didn't care for the character Eugene. I really like the juxtaposition between the love interests as teens, and as adults. I really liked the way that it's written as a long form poem, basically, and I think it makes it flow really well and matches the genre of book quite nicely. It takes place in modern times, so the protag is my age, living in this era, and that's actually really cool, as I haven't seen technology so integrated into an adult book before. This a really refreshing change of pace and a really good addition into the romance genre, and I would say the New Adult genre.
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
5.0
This got me right In the feels. I thought it stayed true to the original stories and we even got a new friend. Definitely something I'll be revisiting time and time again.