This was amazing and I didn't want the story to end. (But I'm blaming Brandon Sanderson for the fact that it ends, as I see it, in medias res. He advised Kowal to split it into more than one novel.) She really did her research — how many novels come with a bibliography?!

Brilliant beginning with the title, "Uncomfortable Labels" is a memoir of the author's overlapping challenges in finding safe and welcoming spaces.

She's autistic, so she has to expend more effort to fit in smoothly with the allistic people around her.

She's English, so fitting in smoothly is of more importance generally. (I should point out that she doesn't speak of being English as a salient challenge, but readers from more gleefully iconoclastic parts of the Anglosphere will project that onto her. I certainly did.)

She's trans, so she missed out on the childhood fun of close female friendships and practical knowledge like sleepover etiquette. And since NHS seems to have zero sense of urgency vis-à-vis the race against the indelible effects of testosterone-dominated puberty (and regards everything but bottom surgery, or 'lower surgery' in UK English, as mere vanity), she's had to make tough choices on a daily basis between what will help her pass (a scarf can keep her safer from transphobes by helping her pass) and what is physically comfortable (a scarf can be sensory hell for an autistic person).

And she's gay, so even on days when she sacrifices enough physical comfort to attain passing privilege as a woman, she's still visibly lesbian if she wants to go out on a date.

What I didn't know about her until after finishing the book is that her beat as a reporter is gamer culture, than which you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Jesus Christ, she's got unobtanium ovaries.

I'm autistic and genderqueer (raised as male), so I found this memoir more personally relatable than a lot of readers might. Even with those advantages, I was still astonished by some of the things I learned — for example, that having trouble hearing one particular voice amid background noise is much more common among autistic people. I'd been thinking it might be a hardware problem, but it's probably in my software! A lot of the symptoms of ADHD can apparently also be part of autism (difficulty directing the direction and depth of one's mental focus; opposite-to-normal reactions to central nervous system stimulants). It's little bits of insight like this that delight me most about the book, and make me particularly grateful to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to have a free early copy of Uncomfortable Labels.

This is a perspective I hadn't encountered before — the voice of a conservative Evangelical Christian who is also a transgender woman. I can imagine this would be a good book for a discussion circle in the kind of church I'd like to attend.

The details have changed (Google Buzz? What was that, Grandpa?), but in all likelihood the marketers have gotten much, much better at knowing us.

I loved [b:Feynman|9844623|Feynman|Jim Ottaviani|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1317793632s/9844623.jpg|14735455], the first graphic-novel biography by Ottaviani & Myrick, and Hawking is just as fascinating. They've found an elegant solution to representing different kinds of speech, which is particularly important to the story they tell, and I came away from the book with a feeling that I had almost known him.

I'd especially recommend Hawking to anyone who likes James Gleick's science writing (such as [b:Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman|98685|Genius The Life and Science of Richard Feynman|James Gleick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320409497s/98685.jpg|191828]) but likes the details to be less technical, or anyone who's still learning about the variety of stories graphic novels can tell. The creators admirably refrain from imposing more order onto their subjects' lives than actually existed, which means they can't make every transition as smooth, every chapter ending as satisfying, as in fictional graphic novels. Keep that in mind as you start to read "Hawking" and you'll enjoy it at least as much as I did!

I'm grateful to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic advance reader's copy.

It's philosophical: "One man's trash is another man's treasure. — Socrates". "I grouch, therefore you scram."

It's inspirational: "Aim for the moon! Maybe you'll make it. Whatever, at least you'll be far away from me." "When one door closes, another one opens. Slam that one shut, too."

And it's perfect for cross-stitchers looking for a motto to enshrine: "They tell me to be more cheerful. Not a chance. How would anybody recognize me?" "Morning people annoy me. So do all other people."

It was terrible. It was cruddy. Five stars!

How wonderful a year this was for her! I'm sorry she didn't get many more. But I'm glad to have been able to share it by reading this book.

Haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I'm hoping to soon! They sound delicious.