Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders

A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love.

Jamie is the average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, generational trauma, and an esoteric dissertation proposal. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch.

Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories.

Jamie’s busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path.

Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.

Charlie Jane Anders is one of my favorite authors. I will read everything she publishes! This is a great book with fully formed characters. Read it today.

Anders, Charlie Jane. (2025). Lessons in Magic and Disaster. New York: Tor. 

Detransition, Baby

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is a tour du force novel about womanhood, family and so much more. This is one of the best books I have read this year.

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Buy this book today. Then read everything else Torrey Peters ever publishes, she is that good a writer and storyteller.

Peters, Torrey. (2021). Detransition, Baby. New York: One World.

Rainbow Black

Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash is a novel set in one of the latest US witch hunts, the Satanic Panic of the 1990s.

Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. 

Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.

 As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.

 Rainbow Black is an addictive, searing, high-octane triumph, an imaginative tour de force about one woman’s tireless desire to be free.

Thrash, Maggie. (2024). Rainbow Black. New York: Harper. 

Maybe This Will Save Me

Maybe This Will Save Me by Tommy Dorfman is a memoir that is at times heartbreaking, at times hopeful, but always reads as an honest look at her life.

For years, Tommy Dorfman turned her back on her thoughts and emotions, hoping they’d simply go away.

After a lifetime of confusion, she finally gained clarity around her gender and began to transition.

But there were still parts of herself she’d locked away, elements of her story that she needed, for the first time, to fully confront.

Maybe This Will Save Me is Tommy's story, told the cards of that tarot pull. For the first time, she opens up about: growing up the youngest of five children while grappling with her identity; the turbulent she spent as a teenager, numbed by drugs and alcohol; her early aspirations of stardom and the hard fought path she forged to get there;  the long night that led her to finally seek treatment for addiction; her breakout role in 13 Reason Why; the relationships that shaped her.

Dorfman, Tommy. (2025). Maybe This Will Save Me. Toronto: Hanover Square.

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color

So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro de Robertis is a book queer folks have been waiting for!

So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world. This singular project collects the testimonies of twenty elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very trailblazers.

De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new, and that young trans and nonbinary people today belong to a long lineage.

de Robertis, Caro. (2025). So Many Stars. New York: Algonquin Books.

A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee is a steamy queer romance. 

Elisheva Cohen left New York eight years ago when she was kicked out of her Orthodox Jewish community. She has just moved from LA to NYC for an art school program with her favorite mix media artist. She just got off of the plane and is going to meet her new roommates. She is not sure how it will feel to be back in NYC, but feels unlikely to ever visit Brooklyn again.

Luckily, her roommates turn out to be great. Though she starts class in the morning, they insist on taking her to a queer club tonight to celebrate. 

Wyatt Cole is from a North Carolina military family. He is an artist who is gaining fame, but most people don't know what he looks like. He is very private. He has been invited to teach a course on mixed media art at a prestigious NY art school. 

Lee has written a romance story with two very real-feeling characters. Both Elisheva and Wyatt have things in their past they have not completely made peace with. And both are in recovery. And when they meet at a queer dance club, they will have no idea they are about to become teacher and student...

Lee, Victoria. (2023). A Shot in the Dark. New York: Dell.

And She Was

Dara Baker lives in a small town in upstate New York with her mother Millie. Dara just graduated high school and is about to enter the professional tennis circuit. She has to play enough tournaments to get ranked so she can work her way up.

When her mom is at work, Dara searches the house for her birth certificate so she can get a passport. But neither of the two people she sees listed as her parents is called Millie Baker. When her mom gets home, Dara confronts her and is shocked to find out that Millie is transgender and is biologically her father.

Reeling, Dara sets off on a road trip in search of her grandparents with her best friend Sam. A trip that will garner many answers, some she doesn’t even know to ask.

Verdi’s book is a beautiful book about being true to yourself. It takes Dara on an emotional journey as she comes to realize that what Millie did was the right thing for both of them. Read this book – especially if you do not have any trans folks in your life.

Verdi, Jessica. (2018). And She Was. New York: Point.

Light from Uncommon Stars

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a breathtakingly beautiful story and a special treat for musicians.

Shizuka Satomi is a violin teacher with a reputation of training masterful musicians who die young. That is because she has made a deal with a demon - she has to deliver the souls of seven violists in exchange for her own life.

Katrina Nguyen is a teen runaway staying with an acquaintance in the San Gabriel Valley, California. She is a mostly self-taught violinist who prefers to play gaming music. 

Shizuka meets Katrina in the park. Katrina is playing and Shizuka has returned home after many decades away. The neighborhood has changed a lot. One thing that Shizuka is pleased to see is that the giant donut still exists. 

Lan Tran and her family run Starrgate Donut. Captain Tran and her family traveled through galaxies to find Earth. Now they are setting up a stargate using the giant donut.

These three characters, plus a brilliant luthier, come together in interesting ways in this beautiful story. This is one of the best books I have read this year (a year of wonderful books)! Buy one for yourself of any musicians in your life.

Aoki, Ryka. (2021). Light from Uncommon Stars. New York: Tor.

You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death and Transition

You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death, and Transition by Chase Joynt and Mike Hoolboom is a memoir of two lives. Written in letters and responses, Chase and Mike tell of their childhood, coming out, transitioning, and second lives in this beautiful biographic novel.

Chase and Mike are, among other things, both film makers who are fans of the cinematographer Chris Marker. The first meet at the Orly airport in Paris where diehard fans gathered to mourn his passing.

Instantly taken with each other, they quickly decide to do a project together - a book of letters, the original style of novel. The result is a beautiful book of two interwoven tales. One of a trans man finding his way. And one of a man who finds out he is HIV-positive.

Chase or Mike begin a topic, and the other either tells his story, or comments on what was written by the first. Both are excellent writers able to capture feelings in words.

This is a beautiful book. Read it.

Joynt, Chase and Mike Hoolboom. (2016). You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death, and Transition. Toronto: Coach House Books.

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamout Sellout

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamout Sellout by Laura Jane Grace and Dan Ozzi is an autobiography of my favorite punk singer, the front woman of Against Me!

Laura Jane Grace is as famous for being transgendered as she is for her music. But it took her a long time to come to terms that she was born into the wrong body. There were hints in her music along the way, but it was a long time before she could admit to herself who she really was. And a long road from there to coming out and transitioning.

This is a raw, wide-open, memoir. Laura has kept journals since elementary school. With the help of Dan Ozzi, she puts her story down on paper, not skipping the hard parts - including drug abuse, being called a sellout for signing with a record label, and becoming a parent.

She chose the title as a statement. Very punk of her, but as it is a bigoted slur, she now cringes to hear others used the word that has not yet been fully reclaimed by the trans community.

This may be the most honest memoir you will ever read. Also, LGJ is flawless on stage - born to play the guitar for a crowd of screaming fans. She is also the author of one of my all time favorite albums: New Wave by Against Me!

Grace, Laura Jane. (2016). Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Sellout. New York: Hatchet Books.

Dreadnought (Nemesis #1)

Dreadnought by April Daniels is a superhero with a twist.

Danny Tozer, age fifteen is trapped in the wrong body. She can only show who she really is in private. She is behind the mall about to pain her toenails when a superhero – villain fight breaks own down the street. Everyone knows that it is dangerous to be in the area when there is a fight.

The most powerful superhero in New Port City, Dreadnought, comes crashing through the alley and lands near Danny. Dreadnought has been killed. With his dying breath he passes his superhero mantle to Danny. Which transforms Danny into her best self – a girl.

While Danny is thrilled to finally match on the inside and out, she is not sure how her friends and family are going to react. She will lose some friends but gain others, including a free running, gun toting Calamity. Danny will have to decide what kind of superhero she wants to become.

Daniels has written a sweet, young adult book about a transgirl finding her way in a strange world.

Daniels, April. (2017). Dreadnought. New York: Diversionbooks.  

If I Was Your Girl

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo is a beautiful story of a young woman becoming who she is meant to be.

Amanda is moving to a small time outside of Atlanta. She will be living with her father for the first time since her parent's divorce six years ago. She is ready to start a new school - one where no one knows her. Her plan is to keep her head down and finish and get into a good college in a big city.

Amanda makes friends on her first day of school. Grant asks her out for his friend Parker. Amanda thinks that he is tricking her - she is not used to good attention. She does not think she is pretty - but her new classmates seem to think so. At her last school, Amanda was passing as a boy - the body she was mistakenly born into. Most of the attention was focused on shoving her into lockers. But now, after hormone therapy, starting over, she is starting to feel like herself.

After missing the bus home - due to a rather unscheduled art period - Amanda is picked up on her walk home (6 miles in 113 degrees) by three new classmates. Layla, Anne and Chloe are a group. They want to get to know the new, pretty girl, and add her to their group.

Readers will follow Amanda through a school year and her decision about whether to tell people about her past - her new friends and her first boyfriend. Amanda is a great and sympathetic character - she was written to be appealing to a wide audience in that she fits in as a girl (no trouble passing) who has had access to medical therapy (very expensive and hard to get so early in development) and she is straight. These choices Russo made do not make Amanda a less realistic character. She has obviously worked hard to get where she is at the beginning of the story. This book is a great introduction to a trans character.

Russo, Meredith. (2016). If I Was Your Girl. New York: Flatiron Books.

The Art of Being Normal

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson is the story of two students who

David Piper is an outsider. He has two good friends and not many others. The popular kids have picked on him for years. His parents think he is gay and keep hinting that it is okay. But he is not gay. He was born into the wrong body. He is a girl trapped inside a boy.

Leo Denton is new to Eden Park School. He transferred from the rough school in town. Rumor has it that he got kicked out for cutting off the finger of a teacher. But the truth is that he transferred for a chance to have a better life and a shot at university.

David wants Leo to join him and his friends Zoe and Felix for lunch, but Leo is convinced that it is better to be invisible and not have any friends. He wants to keep his secrets to his self. But David is persistent and so is a beautiful girl that Leo has trouble ignoring.

Williamson has written a sensitive and compelling novel about a transgender teen and the struggle to get others to see you as you see yourself.

Available in May 2016 in the US.

Williamson, Lisa. (2016). The Art of Being Normal. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

What We Left Behind

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley is a book about first love and finding oneself.

Toni and Gretchen fell in love the night they met - at a Homecoming dance. Toni walked into the dance a local celebrity after winning a lawsuit against the all girl's school allowing Toni to wear pants. Gretchen came to the dance with a family friend after moving to town the day before - it was her introduction to her new school.


Toni and Gretchen are a couple that everyone envies. They are completely in love, never fight and are going to college in the same city. Except they are not. Gretchen tells Toni the night before they leave that she will not be in Boston because she will be going to New York University.

They are both sure that, though they will be a few hours apart, their relationship is strong enough to make it. Toni starts Harvard, making new friends and joining one of the queer groups on campus. Meeting new friends, including some trans people, has given Toni the idea that maybe instead of being genderqueer, maybe Toni is actually trans.

Gretchen starts at NYU. She meets a couple of new friends and runs into someone she competed against in debate all around the country. She is sad about the distance between herself and Toni, but excited to be back in New York where she grew up.

Talley has written a story of first love, expanding horizons and self discovery. Her debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, established her a brilliant storyteller whose characters are people we would want in our own lives. Her portrayals, both race and queer issues, are thought-provoking and spot on. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. If you haven't yet read either of her books, start one now.

Talley, Robin. (2015). What We Left Behind. New York: Harlequin Teen.

Just Girls

Just Girls by Rachel Gold is an amazing book that highlights many of today's civil rights issues and the ongoing need to push for equality - all in the guise of a coming of age, first year of college novel.

Jess Tucker is in line in her college cafeteria at the beginning of the school year when she overhears someone behind her saying she saw a memo about a trans woman in the dorms. The girl goes on to say pretty negative things about "him" and before Tucker can think anything past some poor woman has to deal with this crap all of the time, she outs herself as trans and confront the girl and her friends. Tucker thinks that she got through high school as an out lesbian, this will be similar.

What Tucker doesn't count on is the level of transphobia being much higher than that toward gays and lesbians. She tells her friends in the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex and Allies) student club what she did and they back her up. But when someone spray paints her dorm room with anti-trans slurs, her girlfriend decide Tucker should move in with her.

Ella Ramsey is the trans woman who Tucker is protecting. They have never met and only a couple of people in administration know she was born into a boy's body. She has a two suite dorm to herself as a result.

When Ella sees the paint on Tucker's door she stops and stares. Tucker catches her and is surprised she is not there to add insult to injury. After a short talk, Ella invites Tucker to move to her extra room so she can start over.

This is Gold's second novel featuring trans characters. Claire and Emily from her book Being Emily appear in this book, too. Gold creates real characters who readers will want to befriend. Her books are great. Buy a copy of each and start reading today.

Gold, Rachel. (2014). Just Girls. Tallahassee, FL: Bella Books.

Being Emily

Being Emily by Rachel Gold is a coming of age tale about a young woman trying to be herself.

On the outside Chris looks like the typical high school junior. He is on the swim team, has a girlfriend and does well in school. On the inside he is a she. Since a very young age Chris, would would like to be called Emily, was confused when people kept saying she was a boy. She never felt like a boy and always got in line with the other girls in school - but the teacher always moved her to the boys line. Eventually, Emily decided to pretend to be a boy to stay out of trouble.

But now, at seventeen, it is time to tell Claire, Chris's girlfriend. Claire is the most unique person at school. She dresses goth, quotes famous poems and the Bible, and is an out bisexual. Chris is scared to tell Claire the truth and risk losing the most trusted person she has, but knows she has to talk to someone.

Gold has written a loving account of one young woman's struggles to find the courage to be herself in a small town in the Midwest. The book is factual and informative as well as a great novel. This is an important book for people who are not trans to begin to understand some of what it is like to have to fight to be your own gender.

Gold, Rachel. (2012). Being Emily. Tallahassee, FL: Bella Books.

Gracefully Grayson

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky is the story of a  girl who is trapped in the body of a boy. I believe it is the first middle grade novel to deal with a transgender protagonist.

Grayson Sender lives with his aunt, uncle and two cousins in Chicago. He is in sixth grade and does well in school - at least as far as grades go. He does not have any friends. He has isolated himself from others because he has a secret.

Each morning after Grayson gets dressed he imagines himself wearing other clothes. His pants become a shirt or a dress. It used to be that the image lasted longer, but now it fades by mid-morning and he is wearing boy clothes again.

Grayson is sure that if his classmates knew how he feels they would make fun of him. But his true self is trying to break through. When a notice goes up to audition for the school play, Grayson signs up - and tries for the lead of Persephone.

Polonsky has written a beautiful book exploring what makes a person one gender or the other.  Grayson is a wonderful character readers will love. Read this book today.

Polonsky, Ami. (2014). Gracefully Grayson. New York: Hyperion.

Almost Perfect

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher just won the 2011 Stonewall Book Award - awarded for the best GLBT books of the year.

Logan Witherspoon is a high school senior in a small town in Missouri. He has been adrift since his girlfriend of three years broke up with him. But when the new girl, Sage Hendricks, walking into his biology class his focus changes.

Sage is not like the other girls at the school. She is outgoing and bold - the opposite of how a new student usually acts - and she is beautiful. Logan immediately stops thinking about his ex and starts thinking about Sage.

When he asks her out to a movie in the college town 30 minutes away, Sage says she would love to but cannot. She is not allowed to date. She has been home schooled since seventh grade and is only in public school now because she is 18 and her parents couldn't really stop her.

By sneaking out and meeting Logan, Sage and Logan start to date. But when Logan tries to kiss her, Sage runs away. Because Sage has a secret. Although she is a girl, she was born in the body of a boy. After an initial freak out when he finds out, Logan attempts to understand what Sage is telling him.

Katcher has created a realistic story of one woman's difficult journey to becoming who she was meant to be. There are definitely painful parts of this novel, but there would have to be for the story to be authentic. Katcher's book is beautiful and raw and an important piece of literature for our time.

Katcher, Brian. (2009). Almost Perfect. New York: Delacourte Press.

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan is the story of a man named James who becomes a woman named Jenny.

This memoir of the author traces the life on one person becoming a woman and is an interesting look at what makes a gender. How much of gender is biological - based on hormones - and how much is societal projection?

This is a touching story of how one family deal with the fact that the father is becoming a woman - a change that is not as shocking to some as you might think. At one point, her son said since she is a dad and a mom she should be called "Maddy."

This is a detailed look at transition from within a loving family - a nice change to some of the overly depressing stories of other Trans people.

Boylan, Jennifer Finney. (2002). She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. New York: Broadway Books.

Parrotfish

Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger is about a transgendered teen. Angela, mistakenly born into a girl's body, changes her name to Grady, taking the first outward step to claiming his true self.

But as all 16 year olds, he still has to go to school and deal with other people's reactions.

"People changed lots of other personal things all the time. They dyed their hair and dieted themselves to near death. They took steroids to build muscles and got breat implants and nose jobs so they'd resemble their favorite movie stars. They changed names and majors and jobs and husbands and wives. They changed religions and political parties. They moved across the country or the world - even changed their nationalities. Why was gender the one sacred thing we weren't supposed to change?"

Wittlinger, Ellen. (2007). Parrotfish. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.