Updated 10/1/26

Trans+ Support Initiative is Looking for a Volunteer Book Club Moderator

Are you passionate about strengthening our communities through connection and respectful and stimulating discussion?

Do you enjoy reading? Are you interested in transgender, gender-nonconforming, and queer literature, and in creating welcoming, safe spaces where everyone belongs?

Want to be part of an active, upbeat, grassroots social justice nonprofit making a positive difference in Sullivan and Wayne Counties?

The Trans+ Support Initiative of Sullivan & Wayne Counties (TSI) is currently seeking a volunteer TSI Book Club Moderator to facilitate our monthly community book discussions!

What’s involved:

• Lead monthly virtual/hybrid book discussions exploring trans, nonbinary, and queer authors and/or stories.

• Foster an all-inclusive, empowering, safe space for non-gender-conforming and cisgender persons, loved ones, friends, and allies to connect, discuss, and have fun together.

•With group input, select the books for 2027 (a mix of impactful memoirs, fiction, and non-fiction).

• Time Commitment: 3–5 hours/month. In-person and fully remote options available!

• If you’re interested, we would love to have a conversation. Contacts us at TSIgroup24@gmail.com (in subject line please put “Book Club Moderator Inquiry” – Attn: Paul

Website – TransSupportinitiativeNYPA.org.

April 19

A Strange Sort of Being/The Transgender Life of Lucy Ann/Joseph Israel Lobdell 1829-1912 - Bambi L. Lobdell

Published - 2011
Pages - 239
Cost - $25

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/a-strange-sort-of-being/?srsltid=AfmBOoqhfihEDPx2-K8_XxJvdBrFLko1LBfcA7BeSeVGKKPjZ3nF0dCm

Memoir of a Sullivan County transgender man.

Born in 1829 to a working-class family in upstate New York, Lucy Ann Lobdell was not your average girl. Donning her brother's clothes, she worked on the farm and in her father's saw mill, and demonstrated marksmanship skills that earned her the nickname "The Female Hunter of Delaware County." After leaving home, she moved to the frontier, married a woman, and lived for sixty years as a man named "Joe." Because of nineteenth century social restrictions and gender expectations, Lobdell endured forced marriage, arrest, and incarceration in an insane asylum. Although twentieth-century scholars have labeled her a lesbian, this study incorporates queer theory, analysis of stories about Lucy and Joe, and Lobdell's own writings to reveal that he was actually a transgendered man.

April 19

The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell - William Klaber

Published - 2016
Pages - 288
Cost -22.99

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250087201/therebellionofmisslucyannlobdell/

Novel of a Sullivan County transgender man.

At a time when women did not commonly travel unescorted, carry a rifle, sit down in bars, or have romantic liaisons with other women, Lucy Lobdell boldly set forth to earn men's wages. Lucy Lobdell did all of these things in a personal quest to work and be paid, to wear what she wanted, and love whomever she cared to. But to gain those freedoms, she had to endure public scorn and wrestle with a sexual identity whose vocabulary had yet to be invented. In this riveting historical novel set in upstate New York in the 19th century, William Klaber captures the life of a brave woman who saw well beyond her era.

May 17

Some strange Music Draws Me In - Griffin Hansbury

Published - 2024
Pages - 320
Cost - $19

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324050797

From an award-winning author, this provocative novel tells an emotionally gripping story about friendship, family, and transgender awakening in a working-class American town.

It’s the summer of 1984 in Swaffham, Massachusetts, when Mel (short for Melanie) meets Sylvia, a tough-as-nails trans woman whose shameless swagger inspires Mel’s dawning self-awareness. But Sylvia’s presence sparks fury among her neighbors and throws Mel into conflict with her mother and best friend. Decades later, in 2019, Max (formerly Mel) is on probation from his teaching job for, ironically, defying speech codes around trans identity. Back in Swaffham, he must navigate life as part of a fractured family and face his own role in the disasters of the past.

June 21

Run The Riot Vol 1 - Keito Gaku

Published -2021
Pages 246
Cost - $13

https://kodansha.us/product/boys-run-the-riot-1/

High schooler Ryo knows he’s transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. He can’t tell his best friend, who he’s secretly got a crush on, and he can’t tell his mom, who’s constantly asking why Ryo “dresses like a boy.” He certainly can’t tell Jin, the new transfer student who looks like just another bully… The only time Ryo feels at ease is when he’s wearing his favorite clothes. Then, and only then, the world melts away, and he can be his true self. One day, while out shopping, Ryo sees someone he didn’t expect: Jin. The kid who looked so tough in class has the same taste in fashion as him! At last, Ryo has someone he can open up to—and the journey ahead might finally give him a way to express himself to the world.

July 19

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin, David Mitchell (Introduction), Charlie Jane Anders (Afterword)

First published March 1, 1969
341 pages, Paperback
Cost - $10.59

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44417727-the-left-hand-of-darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

August 16

Transcendent - Laverne Cox

Published -2026
Pages - 256
Cost - $30

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Transcendent/Laverne-Cox/

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Four-time Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox shares her journey as a transgender woman in Hollywood, confronting childhood trauma, shame, gender identity, her transition, body image issues, her search for romantic love, deep-seated feelings of unworthiness, and ultimately, healing.

Laverne Cox is a powerhouse in the fight for transgender rights and representation—but her path from a struggling trans actress to a cultural movement was anything but easy.

Surviving a childhood full of trauma, dealing with depression, and working at a drag restaurant in New York City for seven years, Laverne was turning forty and felt it was time to throw in the towel when it came to being a Hollywood star—then she booked the character of Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black. Her world changed overnight.

She made history as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy, starred in a range of high-profile shows, and became the first transgender person to win a Daytime Emmy as executive producer on Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. A red-carpet fashion icon, podcast host, and fearless advocate, she uses her stardom to champion LGBTQ+ rights, whether on Hollywood’s biggest stages, her personal channels, or at Supreme Court hearings. And she’s only getting started.

In Transcendent, you will experience life in Laverne’s shoes, from her childhood abuse to making her big break, dealing with Hollywood bureaucracy, feeling lonely in a world that is unaccepting, and finding her voice through the chaos of it all. With behind-the-scenes stories and personal reflection, we can heal and fight for equality, right alongside Laverne.

October 18

Transcending -Editor: Kevin Manders, Elizabeth Marston

Published - October 22, 2019

Pages - 296

Cost - $16.95

https://www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/transcending/

A compelling collection of the many voices and experiences of trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary Buddhists
 
Transcending brings together more than thirty contributors from both the Mahayana and Theravada traditions to present a vision for a truly inclusive trans Buddhist sangha in the twenty-first century. Shining a light on a new generation of Buddhist role models, this book gives voice to those who have long been marginalized within the Buddhist world and society at large. While trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary practitioners have experienced empowerment and healing through their commitment to the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, they also share their experiences of isolation, transphobia, and aggression. In this diverse collection we hear the firsthand accounts, thoughts, and reflections of trans Buddhists from a variety of different lineages in an open invitation for all Buddhists to bring the issue of gender identity into the sangha, into the discourse, and onto the cushion. Only by doing so can we develop insight into our circumstances and grasp our true, essential nature.