AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE--2022--APRIL--JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN

Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of nearly 20 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including memoirs, and YA adventures featuring a teenager who is half monster, half human. She has long authored an opinion column for the New York Times, covering a wide range of topics from unrequited love in the Peanuts comic strips to performance anxiety to politics and current events . Currently, she is Professor of English and Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University and is also on the faculty of the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College. She was previously on the faculty of Colby College in Maine, where she was named Professor of the Year in 2000. Much of her work explores questions of identity, and is informed by her own life experiences as a transgender woman. Boylan has written and talked extensively about her coming out, her transition, and her long, successful relationship with the woman who married James Richard Boylan and remains Jennifer’s wife. Her social activism on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community, working with GLAAD, Gender Rights Maryland and The Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender and Reproduction has led to her being regarded as an “expert” on issues of gender identity, but she is emphatic in stating that there is probably no such thing: “If you’ve met one transgender person, well, then you’ve met ONE transgender person…. It’s important that, as people emerge into their identity that they have the freedom to express themselves in whatever way they feel without anyone else having an opinion about it. There is no wrong way to be trans. The diversity of our community is its strength. We are all cool.“ Boylan is a native of Pennsylvania, received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and did her graduate work in English at Johns Hopkins. She plays keyboards, appreciates a well-made martini, and apparently makes a really mean lobstah pizza. You can get a great feel for the person in This conversation with Faith Saley. More links on the author page.

I like that you opened this thread on International Transgender Day of Visibility, Linda. Very appropriate.

I'll see what I can track down from my library and try to join this month.

>2 katiekrug: And I'll pretend I planned it that way, Katie!

My local library has exactly one book by Jennifer Finney Boylan so that is the one I will be reading this month, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs.

>3 laytonwoman3rd: - LOL!

>4 alcottacre: - I think that will be my selection, too.

>5 katiekrug: I hope we both enjoy it!

I decided to read her memoir, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. I saw "Good Boy" at my library, also, so I might add that one (although I have a lot planned for April already!)

Karen O.

p.s. Happy April Fools' Day! And, I'm not kidding!

Nothing at all available by the author in Malaysia. I had a look on Book Depo and there were two books available:

Pulitzer's School which retails at $66.40 and
Revolutionary Lives which retails at $35.22

A bit too pricey for books that don't quite grab me by their subject matter.
>7 klobrien2: The memoir does look jolly interesting though, but sadly unavailable.

I may have to play my wildcard this month.

Wildcard here too > JEWELWEED by a favorite Wisconsin author, David Rhodes...
it's an odd sequel to his memorable DRIFTLESS.

I'm intrigued, my library has She's Not There, and there are no holds. Looks like it's meant to be, so count me in.

>8 PaulCranswick:, >9 m.belljackson: Just a reminder for those using a Wild Card at any time, that we have a thread for sharing those reads too..

Thanks to the AAC for introducing me to a very interesting author! I read She's Not There. My review is available on the book page but I'll post it here as well.




Jennifer Finney Boylan is an English professor currently at Barnard College in New York City and, before that, at Colby College in Maine where Jennifer was initially known as James. She’s Not There describes Boylan’s journey from James to Jenny. It is refreshingly candid, and equal parts humorous and moving.

From a very young age, Boylan was certain of her gender identity but hoped the “problem” would disappear if she found the right partner. The right partner did indeed come along; marriage to Deirdre (known as Grace in the book) and two children followed. But Jenny was still James, struggling with gender identity every single day. The decision to come out to Grace and begin gender transition was both inevitable and unimaginably painful. Likewise, coming out to best friend, Colby colleague, and well-known author Richard Russo.

Transition is a lengthy process involving therapy and medication, and surgery if desired. Boylan was incredibly fortunate to have a healthy marriage and Russo’s deeply loyal friendship, but even those strong relationships faced challenges as the parties reckoned with the changes happening to their loved one. Jenny’s account of her transition concludes with a very moving afterword by Russo and, in this tenth anniversary edition, more recent updates from Jenny and Grace.

As a society, we have come a long way since Jenny’s transition in 2002, and yet gender transition is still an area that is not widely understood and accepted. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more.

>12 lauralkeet: I wish my local library had a copy of that one. I read Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs for this challenge, but felt that there was a lot left out which disappointed me in the end.

>12 lauralkeet: Just ordered this one.

I am reading Growing up Haunted, which has me in its grip. This memoir covers Boylan's childhood and youth (in a haunted house) as a conflicted boy who knew he'd rather be a girl, but had no hope of doing anything about it other than dressing in his sister's clothes behind a locked bedroom door.

Copied from my thread:



Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boyle

I initially had a hard time connecting to and focusing on this audio, as it jumped around a lot and seemed somewhat disjointed. Probably around the halfway mark, I settled in and finally started enjoying it. Boylan is a trans woman who spent nearly half her life denying who she was. I would like to read one of her memoirs about her journey, as the glimpses and small insights provided here were really fascinating. As it is, Good Boy is Boylan's reflections on the lessons and love she received from various dogs throughout her life. As we all know, dogs are The Best, and I love the idea of charting one's life by the faithful friends who shared the journey. I also enjoyed Boylan's occasional sharp wit and self-deprecating snarkiness.

And bonus points for the clever title, a bit of a play on words :)

3.5 stars

>16 katiekrug: I only gave that one 3.5 stars too, Katie. I agree that it was somewhat disjointed and, in the end, found it unsatifying. Like you, I would like to read more about her journey.

I just finished I'm Looking Through You, which I thought was wonderful. Here's my review, what is also on my thread:

Jennifer Finney Boylan's memoir of childhood, adolescence, and some bits beyond centers around the Coffin House (named after people who once lived there, of course), the house where she grew up and which she always felt was haunted. This is a memoir of family and of self (whether there were or were not any actual ghosts in the house is left an open question; the real haunting here was of Jenny haunting herself), and Jenny's hopes and confusions around gender and love as a trans person trying to figure out life and friends and partners and herself are a strong thread throughout. The memoir is masterfully done, with early reflections echoing down the pages to come back stronger, more revealing, chapters later. The sentence-level writing is often a wonder, and Boylan is *funny*, in that slightly off-center way that should be familiar to members of the sorts of families that are proud of their shared, idiosyncratic inside jokes. I felt like I was in the hands of a fair and assured storyteller from page one. Recommended.

Jennifer Finney Boylan is coming to my house. On Friday. I am so excited. Ok, don't get me wrong here. SHE isn't coming. But one of her books is. The one reviewed just above, in post # 18.

>18 lycomayflower: "Boylan is *funny*, in that slightly off-center way that should be familiar to members of the sorts of families that are proud of their shared, idiosyncratic inside jokes." THAT. That's what I wish I'd said. In fact, I meant to, but I left it so long after finishing the book that I just couldn't gather thoughts to say anything coherent.

Just started She's Not there, I can see I will have to read the trilogy! Adding my thanks for putting this writer in front of me.

Just finished She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders and it had me involved all the way through. Such a good writer! with such a compelling story! I'm sure to be reading more Finney Boylan, and I thank AAC for tha.

Karen O.