I really enjoyed reading this majority of this book, and I had so many sqee moments and several delightful gut punches. However, the more I think about the ending the more I'm sad and flustered about it? I loved these characters and their messy love triangle, they are flawed and make a lot of mistakes in this book. Part of the flaws include some uncomfortable moments of unchallenged biphobia, despite the (I think) intention of the narrative to validate bisexuality, fluid sexuality and questioning. Stone describes in the afterword that she came to terms with being attracted to both women and men only after marrying her husband, a journey with an arc which matches my own so I love that, and I love that she wrote the book she wishes she had to read as a teen. Anyway while I would love it if all discussions of bisexuality were rendered perfectly in this book, I don't know if that's realistic while writing flawed characters just beginning to grapple with the concept of it. ⁣Anyway like I said for most of this book it was so fun and happy making to read.

Phenomenal collection, these stories are so brilliant and I loved reading Butler's afterwords. Her essays cement Butler as my hero.

Obvs a masterpiece

This series! Love the world so much as it unfolds more.

Phew! I finished Dhalgren and I feel like I have taken quite the journey with this book. My brain is a pleasant mush filled with wonder. ⁣⁣
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I’m not sure I can better describe this book than by calling it an experience. One thing I was struck by was how easy I found it to settle back into the world of this story every time I took a pause and returned. The voice is strong and the story is actually quite easy to follow, what’s not easy is determining all that is being experimented with and explored within. I feel I have a lot still to learn from this book, and it is one I will be thinking about for a long time to come. I’m so glad I read Delany’s masterpiece, and look forward to learning more about and from it in the reading and musing that is to come. ⁣⁣

Psychopomps by Alex DiFrancesco is a deeply personal and profound collection of essays. DiFrancesco writes thoughtfully about being trans, their family, found community, spirituality, and mental illness. I’m struck especially by the deftness with which they explore their feelings of disappointment in the state of the world, threaded with persistent (even when small) hope for a better future. I also loved the way they often observe and illuminate these kinds of real life symbolism, like the way trans people will gift each other the clothing they wore before they were able to present as their true selves, making “the people our friends once were a major part of the people we are becoming.” Also, this is the first book I’ve read where someone talks casually about real polyamorous relationships, and it was really exciting to me to see DiFrancesco normalize this practice so effortlessly. ⁣
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I’m sure each essay stands alone beautifully, but they fit together cohesively in a way essay collections sometimes do not. I would definitely recommend reading this collection straight through as printed; DiFrancesco writes often about their relationships, and familiarity with the people in their life gained from preceding essays enriches the experience as you progress. Highly recommend this moving collection of essays which will sit alongside your soul and nourish you with all the food for thought.

I wasn’t initially that interested in reading this book, but I found I really enjoyed reading it. I learned quite a bit of history and appreciated Traister’s expert ability to distill explanations of the way sexist double standards function in politics and society. I’ve heard this from other reviewers and I want to echo the sentiment that Traister seems to do a good job talking about race. She credits black women who’ve been leaders in fights for civil rights, and I thought her explanation of how white women rely on and as a result seek to uphold the white hetero patriarchy to be very insightful.

It seemed to me to be a miss that Traister never discussed our culture’s oppressive gender binary itself. Trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming folks are often our most vulnerable population, and to talk only about how the patriarchy disenfranchises women without mentioning this group was a weakness in this book for me. You can argue that delving into gender in this fashion was not the target of this book, but I think that with the increase in visibility of non-binary and gender nonconforming people, it will become (hopefully) impossible to write a book that discusses women like this book does without at least mentioning the existence of people who are not women or men.

Absolutely adored this inventive collection of short stories. Hopkinson’s writing is very exciting to me and I look forward to reading more. In this collection she draws inspiration from Caribbean folklore, explores amusing turns of phrase, and turns tropes on their heads. A couple of these stories were surprisingly sexy, but those stories were no less hard hitting than the rest. Some of the stories made me work for them as the reader, but I found the rewards rich each time. Hopkinson crafts wonderful characters, I have all these people in my heart from less than 20 pages each, quite the feat.

Really interesting book.

You (ideally) don't read a novel this long without enjoying it a good amount, but there were many parts of this book that were personally pet peeves and/or extremely frustrating. Not exactly sure what I think, just complained with my husband for a good length about all the things I hated, but overall I am glad I read.