One of my New Year's resolutions was to finally read some of the physical books that have been roosting on my shelves. One bad thing that has come from Goodreads use is that I am constantly being exposed to new and shiny things I want to read, and the books I already own get dustier and dustier, essentially acting as a decorating theme. So I started with the short stories pile, and for the second time in two days I am abandoning a collection early on and consigning the books to the giveaway pile. Yesterday I got three stories in to Drinking Coffee Elsewhere before I cut bait without a rating. Today I got only two stories into A Safe Girl to Love before crying uncle but this time I am including a star rating. That first book had some moments, some beautiful sentences, that egged me on to keep reading, that told me the writer had real talent, but perhaps lacked the bravery necessary to write great things. This book did not tell me that I was in the hands of a potentially good writer. What it did tell me is that I was in the hands of an adult with the emotional life of a 12 year old. The first two stories in the book are terrible. I hate to say that, but seriously, they are awful. The prose is bad, the narrative voice is consistently put-upon, angry and whiny with a soupcon of martyr complex. There are some good reviews here, and presumably they are not all friends of Ms. Plett. That said, perhaps I would start with her later book(s) in the hopes that she has improved with time. ( )

I read this book in one sitting because it was perfect.

2014. Bleak, but beautiful stories of trans women trying to survive and find love. There’s an undertow of darkness that is impossible to escape, but you can swim with it instead of drowning, for a while anyway. ( )

A little too real for this enby. Would recommend especially to anyone who wants to learn something about the experiences of trans people, but not my jam.

Included in a blog post and resource list at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2019/06/10/non-fiction-about-gender-and-trans-e... ( )

A lot of these stories made me feel some very specific emotions that I had forgotten about because it was around when i started transitioning or even years before that. I think it's pretty impressive to tap into those so efficiently, at least I was impressed, but I dont really enjoy being reminded of those feelings because so much of it was trauma LOL

I maybe shouldn't have read it all in one sitting bceause a lot of the stories were very samey, like they needn't have been broken up into short stories because they all seemed to be about the same person (though I went nuts over the fact that "Portland" and "Not Bleak" appear to take place in the same universe, easter egg). but no seriously not every trans person lives in the north, works in a bookshop, and is into bdsm...

a few of the stories rlly shone though. "Portland Oregon" definitely stood out from the rest becuz it was different but it was without a doubt my favorite, 5 stars for that one it was devastating. "not bleak" and "winning" were also very captivating. those are the 3 that I would revisit or recommend. ( )