Amy | Lost in a Good Book

Happy Trans Day of Visibility

31 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in General Tags: #TransDayOfVisibility, lgbt, LGBTQIA, trans day of visibility, transgender

Instead of posting a review, I thought I’d provide a list of books and authors you can read to help celebrate Trans Day of Visibility. There are a lot of trans authors, a lot of books about being trans and the trans experience, but also great fiction works that are written by trans authors in a range of genres. There are also a tonne of websites and lists curated by bookshops and queer sites and organisations to help promote some great books by trans authors or that tell of the trans experience and provide information. I have compiled a list of starting places to find books as well as essays and short stories.

Transgender Short Stories

Trans Stories by Trans Writers

Best Transgender Fiction

Trans Reads

There are other specific LGBTQIA focused websites that have a list of trans authors or categories to filter through too. LGBTQ Reads is one of my favourites.

If you’re looking for certain age groups of book types here’s a quick selection of book lists for a range of audiences to see a few titles that might pique your interest.

Kids

20 Children’s Books about Transgender and Non Binary Issues

14 Children’s Books Starring Trans or Gender-Nonconforming Kids

Young Adult

Booklist for Trans Teens

Trans and Non Binary Reads for Teens

Adult

Trans Reads for Adults

Transgender Reading List for Adults

Books by Trans and Genderqueer Authors

All Ages and Genres

Trans and Nonbinary Fiction for 2025

20 Trans and Nonbinary Reads in 2025

Queer and Trans Books in 2025

All in all there are so many available books and websites and information portals out there to find and celebrate trans stories. Whether it’s through buying books, going to the library, or talking with friends there are so many amazing stories out there you’re sure to find one that suits your reading mood.

Fairest (#3.5) by Marissa Meyer

27 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy, Young Adult Tags: Audiobook, four stars, marissa meyer, rebecca soler, the lunar chronicles, young adult, young adult fantasy

Published: 27 January 2015 (print)/8 May 2017 (audio)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends/Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Pages: 272/5 hrs and 33 mins
Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told…until now.

This is a bridge book between Cress and Winter, books three and four in the Lunar Chronicles, and the story explores Levana’s childhood and how she became the ruler we know.

It was amazing to see her use of her powers and read about the normal Lunar life as natural and as every day. Given our only perspective before has been through Cinder and other character’s perspectives, it was great to be able to see the regular lives of Lunars and how their gift is used among the community. It also shows us how the events in her past affected who she’s become and all those references and secrets in the previous three books are answered and it was absolutely fabulous.

There is a hard line being balanced where you feel sorry for Levana and her life growing up, but at the same time you know that there are different paths she could have taken and different decisions being made. Narrative bias is also a key factor and it was intriguing to see Levana justify things to herself and how, while she is leaving out certain things, she does show the reader a darker side to herself, one that gives a glimpse at what she is truly capable and how the young girl in this story becomes the queen we see later on.

In showing us a younger Levana we also see a glimpse of the younger counterparts of other characters as well, those who lived in the palace with her. I enjoyed seeing the younger versions of the key characters, from babies to children and beyond. It wasn’t their story but through Levana’s perspective you can see how they circled her world and were in her life in different ways. This is also true for characters only mentioned such as Queen Channary or Winter’s father. It’s a great connection to the main books and connects the series together really well.

Levana is both a victim and a villain and having these conflicting emotions when we see such a one sided view of her previously was a bizarre feeling. Not to justify bad childhoods for being a terrible adult, but Meyer makes us see that there is a lot more to Levana’s story than it first appears and the trauma and pain she’s suffered were bound to have an effect on her one way or another.

The story is third person but Meyer gets us inside Levana’s head and we see everything she thinks and feels, a clever move on Meyer’s behalf. We’re able to see that she is shameless in her actions but she also shows a lot of passion and pride, even hopelessness and loss which are interesting choices. Ironically it humanises her and you see the malice within but also the girl starved of attention and love. I loved this story a lot, it was great to see the rise to power and the changes Levana makes, something we can see even as she edits herself and we can’t entirely trust her thoughts.

This definitely works to be read between books three and four, but it is something I came to after finishing the series and it gave me a reflective enjoyment about the events in Winter and the relationship Levana has with the characters I had fallen in love with.

You can purchase Fairest via the following

Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

How to Be a Giraffe by Thea Baker

21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: children's picture book, picture book, thea baker, three stars

Published: 7th September 2021
Publisher: Little Genius Books
Illustrator: Thea Baker
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Joffrey might have horns, a tail and a long neck, but his stripy fur is causing quite the stir. Everyone knows that giraffes have spots! But if Joffrey isn’t a giraffe, what could he be?

First things first, I’m ashamed to say it took me a while to realise what the problem with the giraffe on the cover was until the story pointed it out, it didn’t click that giraffe don’t have brown stripes but honestly it’s a cute look.

Basic giraffe anatomy aside, this is a fun book. Joffrey is born different and while he isn’t exactly cast out from his herd, he is made to feel weird and Not Like The Rest enough that he chooses to leave. Clearly Joffrey doesn’t have a Mrs Jumbo in his life that defends their kid the second their born from the rest of the mean herd.

The story follows Joffrey as he tries to find who he is, if he isn’t a giraffe then what could he possibly be? I love his attempts at being different animals – from bees, to crocodiles, to elephants. All of them not the right fit.

The narrative rhyme is simple and flows well as you read either aloud or to yourself. The illustrations and the text work well together as readers build anticipation with page turns and fun expressions.

The illustrations are sweet, the designs are simple and the colours are gorgeous in full and partial pages. The creative geometric designs used in the background design as well as some of the other animals is clever and add great texture to the page. I also loved the small details like a spotted zebra which goes to show that others might not match their community either but it doesn’t need to mean anything.

I like that when Joffrey goes home, the other giraffe realise they were wrong. His leaving made them understand they’d made a mistake which is a great apology to show. Joffrey didn’t have to be the one to be proud of who he is without the community knowing they’d been wrong as well. There’s no point being proud of who you are while everyone else thinks you’re weird and shouldn’t be there. That’s not fair to Joffrey and he’d be better off staying away.

It is a good message wrapped around a cute and humorous story and one I think a lot of people could learn from.

You can purchase How to be a Giraffe via the following

QBD | Blackwell’s

Wordery | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

18 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fiction Tags: Audiobook, cassandra morris, fiction, four stars, gabrielle zevin

Published: 9 September 2005 (print)/11 October 2005 (audio)
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/Listening Library
Pages: 275/7 hrs and 3 mins
Narrator: Cassandra Morris
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvellous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

Despite being well before The Good Place, this is a beautiful story that captures what I adored about that show: an afterlife that is still a life where you can grow and think and love before starting the cycle again.

There is a wonderful structure to the Elsewhere world while also being mystical. There’s rules and guidelines, there are things still bound by reality in terms of what is possible, but there is also a touch of the unknown, the magical, and the unexplained. The Benjamin Button aspect of the universe was really well conceived and I loved how Zevin ties that into relationships, living situations, and jobs.

We get to see Liz’s perspective mainly but around halfway through Zevin branches out and we see aspects of other characters like Betty and other key characters. I liked this balance because Liz’s story is what we want most, but the small additions of the other voices gives unique insights and great additions to the story without overshadowing Liz.

Stuck at 15 is a hard age, and I understand Liz’s fear at never growing up. She has a strong obsession with her breasts which was interesting, as well as never getting to take her driving test. I liked that despite being in an afterlife situation, she still felt bound by the fact she couldn’t accomplish life goals like getting her driver’s license. The exploration of the stages of grief and the yearning to return to the living, to live vicariously through them, to keep the connection alive is explored in subtle but powerful ways. I loved the gentle way Betty interacts with Liz, as well as Thandie and other characters who are often far more accepting of their fate than she is.

One interesting thing is, and isn’t a spoiler, but I doubt the reality of Marilyn Monroe being there given my understanding of the aging and rebirth system. Even with a vague setting of when this book takes place I think it is still unlikely Marilyn is still in Elsewhere and hasn’t been reborn. Just a curious observation. Other than that I do love the concept of Elsewhere. I love how jobs are viewed and how family reconnects, even the respect and ceremony of rebirth and the regulations around contact with the living is cleverly done. Zevin has created a beautiful story that is light-hearted but still explores the weight of grief, death, and what it means to be alive.

You can purchase Elsewhere via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Long Lost Review: Night Swimming by Steph Bowe

13 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Australian Women Writers, LGBTQIA, Long Lost Reviews, Young Adult Tags: #llr, long lost review, Long Lost Reviews, loveozya, steph bowe, three stars, young adult

Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all.

Published: 03 April 2017
Publisher: Text Publishing
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
★ ★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars

Imagine being the only two seventeen-year-olds in a small town. That’s life for Kirby Arrow—named after the most dissenting judge in Australia’s history—and her best friend Clancy Lee, would-be musical star.

Clancy wants nothing more than to leave town and head for the big smoke, but Kirby is worried: her family has a history of leaving. She hasn’t heard from her father since he left when she was a baby. Shouldn’t she stay to help her mother with the goat’s-milk soap-making business, look after her grandfather who suffers from dementia, be an apprentice carpenter to old Mr Pool? And how could she leave her pet goat, Stanley, her dog Maude, and her cat Marianne?

But two things happen that change everything for Kirby. She finds an article in the newspaper about her father, and Iris arrives in town. Iris is beautiful, wears crazy clothes, plays the mandolin, and seems perfect, really, thinks Kirby. Clancy has his heart set on winning over Iris. Trouble is Kirby is also falling in love with Iris…

I read this book in 2017 and unfortunately I recall absolutely nothing of it. So much so that every time I see my draft review for it (which literally only contains the blurb, not even a single note or thought) I think I need to reread it because I can’t even summon up any recollection at all. This has obviously not improved as the years went on and I still recall nothing and the hope of suddenly remembering pieces of plot diminished further. I should reread it, but for now I am making it a Long Lost Review because if these are for anything it is for those book we read in 2017 and remember nothing of it whatsoever.

I also feel given the passing of Steph Bowe that I should reread. And I may. But for now I will say I read it, gave it 3 stars, and nothing in the blurb sounds even remotely familiar. At a stretch I could say it was one of the earliest F/F books I’d ever read. Maybe the first? Seems like a hard thing to pin point but I do recall that being a stand out reading the blurb.