WWW Wednesday

1. What are you currently reading?

• At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender by Shou Arai: autobiographical manga about an intersex person, their trans significant other, and some of their friends and people who sent in questions. I've never done great with the "short strip" style of manga and so it's been a bit of a slog because of that - it's just not a story format that fits my brain well. But there's some interesting stuff in there anyway, especially from a "gender is fluid" way, of people trying to figure out presentation after they've already got the "what's my gender" part answered satisfactorily for themselves. Like "okay this is who I am...how do I look like that/present that to others?"
• The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol. 6 by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat: I forgot how horny this part of the story is.  I seem to have forgotten most of this arc between the fall of Rufeng and the stuff that happens with Nangong Si et al in the next arc.

2. What did you read this past week?

• Fine by Rhea Ewing: nonfiction exploration of gender through interviews. Very interesting book with a lot of perspectives. I could wish maybe the focus was a little less scattered across all the interviewees, it made it a little hard for me to grasp the threads, but that might just be me. Overall I still thought it was great.
• Nirvana in Fire manhua vol. 1 by Hai Yan: I'm having an exhausting stretch of time so I stress-bought this. Overall probably very confusing if one hasn't seen the show, but having seen it, it was enjoyable to see another version of a story I enjoyed. Art is very shiny.
• Transitions: A Mother's Journey by Elodie Durand: this is a lightly fictionalized account about a mother's reactions to her son sharing that he's trans. I had Concerns about it, and while yeah, a lot of those concerns proved founded (TL:DR, the mother handwringing and making this all about herself), I still found it an interesting perspective, though one I can't relate to (as a parent of a trans child) even slightly.
• The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado and Dani: very interesting horror story with a side of wlw. Compelling and scary art. Many trigger warnings, especially related to sexual assault. I could wish the secondary mystery didn't have such a simple origin.
• Guardian vol. 3 by priest: I finished it! Still love these idiots. The later parts were definitely easier to understand when I wasn't reading raw mtl, lol. My first time reading the Shen San extra and it was about as heartbreaking as expected..

3. What are you planning to read next?

My next-up novel is The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. After I didn't enjoy The Goblin Emperor much, I'll own I've been procrastinating this one, but it's short and it's at the top of my pile so Imma try to make it happen. For graphic novels, I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and Super Mutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki. My Libby borrows of the next volumes of Yona of the Dawn and My Hero Academia also expire in the next week so I gotta read those.