kittyreadsandquotes

| in search for beautiful literary & lgbtq fiction ] [ bi 🏳️‍🌈] slow reader |📚 : 9/30 | 아미 // cr: the female eunuch]

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[juneacademia]

fuck literary gatekeeping, read whatever you want.

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[kittyreadsandquotes]

"Who deliberately shared their pain? It might escape and wreak havoc. Or, even worse, after having shaped her identity over so many years, it might evaporate and leave her completely hollow, an empty husk."

- Deborah Challinor (The Jacaranda House)

[kittyreadsandquotes]

"No human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice. Almost any house, caught unexpectedly or at an odd angle, can turn a deeply humorous look on a watching person; even a mischievous little chimney, or a dormer like a dimple, can catch up a beholder with a sense of fellowship; but a house arrogant and hating, never off guard, can only be evil." -Shirley Jackson (The haunting of the hill house)

[rainypd]

Me: I want compliments and attention Someone: * gives me compliments and attention* Me: *trembling slightly* what the hell

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[kittyreadsandquotes]

[thefallenauthor-deactivated2023]

"I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there."

-Oscar Wilde

[kittyreadsandquotes]

Sadie is a YA thriller, set in Cold Creek, that revolves around two girls who have had a hard life without proper parenting. The story is narrated in Sadie's point of view and a sequence of a podcast show trying to find missing Sadie and the mystery behind Mattie's (Sadie's sister) murder. The writing is quite engaging and keeps the reader hooked throughout. The language is easy and very easy to follow. I listened to the audio book and it made the podcast style of narration even more interesting. The cast for the audio book is commendable, although I did find Sadie's voice unpleasant at first. But you get used to it.

The story is plot driven and deals with a lot of sensitive issues. Since I dived into the book blind, there were a lot of instances that surprised me and I was intrigued to know what Sadie was after. If you were to read a little bit about the book beforehand, I think you wouldn't be able to enjoy the book as much because a major portion of the mystery would be dissolved if you just read the trigger warnings. And since it is important to know what you are getting into, I think it's a drawback for the book that there is not much to the thriller aspect of it.

Still, I enjoyed the book quite a lot and I finished it in one go. I think the plot is quite original and the writing very concise. The book is fast paced so, it will be a good read if you are in a reading slump. As I said, the story is quite plot driven, so, do not jump into the book expecting character depth or development. The ending is very ambiguous but I was satisfied with it. It is a very entertaining book, overall and I recommend it to crime fiction/thriller lovers. Rating: 4⭐/5

Qotd: What is your favorite thriller novel?

[kittyreadsandquotes]

Undoubtedly, it is one of the best books I have read this year. Trans like me by CN Lester is a collection of arguments that questions and dismantles misogyny, transphobia, patriarchy and societal gendered norms and expectations. Lester carefully puts down their thoughts into 15 brilliant chapters that touches upon every aspect of being trans.

In every chapter, I found myself thinking and learning. Lester argues that it is not merely the absence of knowledge that keeps the truth from being widely known and accepted, it is the active production of ignorance that alters the truth in a way that even silence could not. They talk about the importance of language and terms and the importance of learning them as we go.

The recent arguments presented by JK Rowling can be easily debunked with the narrative Lester presents. Why are you trans? To this Lester says, "I don’t have a quick and easy answer as to why I’m trans, no more than as to why I’m a pianist, or how I experience the colour blue. I don’t have to know every why of who I am to know the truth of my existence, and know that I can only find happiness by embracing that truth."

The argument that trans people are just confused since there are numerous transgender folks who de-transition is proven false with extraordinary evidence by Lester. Lester argues that there are very small number of people who de-transition and even when they do so, it is mostly because they don't identify within the gender binary and are unsatisfied with the results or they need more surgery to feel more like themselves. There are rarely any trans people who regret their transition unless the results were not what they wanted or if the results were not the destination they were thinking of.

Lester talks about the famous movie "Danish Girl" and how it distorted the reality of Lily Elbe and how it contorted facts to present a much oppressive trans narrative. They beautifully explain the historical context of Lily Elbe's real story and the relationship Lily had with her wife and how Danish Girl failed to portray the reality of their loving, lesbian relationship by presenting a ruined marriage due to transition instead.

The book talks about sex and gender and the role of chromosomes in predicating the realness of trans people. Lester argues the importance of intersectionality in feminism and quotes South African activist and artist Gabrielle Le Roux -

"...a struggle for gender equality founded on the idea that we are struggling for equity between men and women is also profoundly flawed. Having worked as a feminist activist for two decades with so many issues and such diverse women, for us not to have engaged with transgender issues as gender issues made me feel cheated. Gender is the connection between transgender and feminism – I feel strongly that until we engage with transgender and intersex inclusively as gender issues, our feminisms are stuck."

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