Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion
This book is engrossing. It is a fascinating academic work on queer pioneers in the UK and US from the 18th to early 20th century. For a brief moment upon finishing, I had to remind myself I am in the 21st century.
Forty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner
This book is amazing! Written as a memoir and unlike historic textbooks, Nina gave her readers an insight of what life in East Germany was like with an intimate approach. We follow her family story as her mother, Hanna, fled East Germany in hopes of being free, and how Oma and the others dealt with their life behind the Iron Curtains. The book is very sad and depressing but has a happy ending. I cannot recall how many times I’ve cried reading on subways, in coffee shops, and once on a plane over East China Sea. Forty Autumns is emotionally compelling and very enthralling. All the personal stories of Nina’s family members were all very dramatic, making the book even more interesting than plain memoirs.