A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Full title: "Through the Jungle: A Traveler's Guide" by Samantha Adams.
""This book is a rare find, sharing all the joys, stresses, desires, and challenges Samantha faced throughout her first three years of transition. Not always easy to read or glamorous, it details one woman's desire to live fully in this world as her true self. It is a shining example of the resilience of the human spirit and is sure to inspire hope in all who read it."
- Kris Keniray, Sexuality Educator."
"Sometimes the greatest adventure a human being can go on is not the discovery of a far-off, distant land. Sometimes the greatest adventure is discovering the secrets that lie within. Through the Jungle: A Traveler's Guide chronicles the story of Samantha's discovery of her true self. Sometimes happy and enlightening, often dark and disturbing, her journey takes you through three years of her life told as it happened through her personal diary."
2004,
English,
Samantha Adams,
Original title: "Zwei Seelen wohnten - ach - in meiner Brust!: Andreas auf dem langen Leidensweg zu Andrea" (Two souls lived – oh – in my breast!: Andreas on the long ordeal to Andrea).
'Andreas, whose female soul is inescapably connected to a male body, experiences the conflict of his feelings after the onset of puberty with violence that plunges him into deepest conflicts.
Temperamental by nature, he enjoys the masculine element to the fullest, but afterwards regularly falls into self-destructive despair and longs more and more violently for the day that frees him from his masculine attributes and constraints and makes him what he always wanted to be: a woman. His dream is within reach, like Phoenix from the ashes he will rise to lead a life as a woman, free from all shackles.'
2004,
Bruno Herr,
German,
Full title: "Ich, Sandy: Running to Normal" by Sandra Clark.
"How do you know who you are? What evidence do you bring to bear: the way others treat you? Do you judge by the mirror-how you look? Does everyone know who they are because of how they were raised?
These are just a few of the questions we all face, yet most of us never ask them. Stewart did. He ran headlong toward 'normal'. He played sports in high school and got high with his friends. He took lead roles in theater and musical endeavors. He succeeded in higher education.
2004,
English,
Sandra Clark,
Original title: "Το ποτάμι γύρισε πίσω" (The river turned back) by Christina Baltzi (Χριστίνα Μπαλτζή)
In her 2011 interview for Tlife.gr, Christina Baltzi shared her feelings about being a transgender woman: 'The first time I realized I was different was when I saw my older sister naked, I went to my room mirror, undressed and said 'Why shouldn't I be like my sister?' Besides, I never felt like I was gay, I always felt like a woman. I could just hide it very well - even in the army where I served - and I didn't give anyone the right to say anything bad about me.'
'I am a woman. The river may turn back, but the course - whether upward or downward - takes you where you were created. I was created to experience the evolution of the species, the mutation, something beyond nature as we know it. In fact, in 30 years I lived 4 consecutive lives.'
2004,
Christina Christos Baltzi,
Greek,
"Bez nje: život u dva spola" (Without Her: A life in two genders) is the Croatian language edition of "She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders" by Jennifer Finney Boylan.
"When she changed genders, she changed the world. It was the groundbreaking publication of She's Not There in 2003 that jump-started the transgender revolution. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Boylan – a cast member on I Am Cait; an advisor to the television series Transparent, and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times -- explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of love and family.
She's Not There was one of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity. Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself: What is it that makes us---ourselves? What does it mean to be a man, or a woman? How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love?"
2004,
Croatian,
Jennifer Finney Boylan,
Full title: "Journal of a Sex Change: Passage through Trinidad". The book was published in 1995 and 2004.
"In July 1991, the author underwent a surgical sex change from a man to a woman. The surgery was performed (in Trinidad, Colorado) by Stanley Biber, M.D., dean of sex change operations. This work begins at the time Ms. Griggs decided to pursue the surgery and continues through her recovery. Though the procedure altered the author's body, poignantly accounted for also is the mental transformation."
"Given the grim and bloody nature of Griggs' 'journal of a surgical sex change,' why do readers need to return to this book now? First, sex-reassignment surgery needs to be recognized as a painful and difficult process rather than the quick fix that it appears to be in idealized accounts….
1995,
2004,
Claudine Griggs,
English,
Stanley Biber,
Full title: "From altar boy to prostitute, from hormone and silicon injections to drastic sex-change surgery, all part of a quest for meaning and self-identity. And then, the greatest change of all... a new person.
Through a life-long struggle with transsexuality, Perry finally comes to understand the source of true love. "I thought God had made a mistake. He must have been playing tiddly winks or something when I was born. He should have pressed the girl button, but he pressed the one for boys instead.
I wanted desperately to be a woman, and to have money, fame and pleasure. On February 9, 1974, I found what Id been looking for all my life ... Dresses only covered my masculinity. Makeup only masked it. Silicone only reshaped it. Surgery only mutilated it. Underneath, in every cell of my body, the truth was recorded ten million times, in every gene. I was a man!""
2004,
English,
Perry Desmond,
Full title: "Niels Hoyer - Man Into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex" by Niels Hoyer.
This is the English language edition of "Wandlung: Eine Lebensbeichte" (Conversion: A confession of life) by Niels Hoyer. The book was published in 1053 and had numerous re-editions, including in 2004, 2016, and 2020.
In 1932, Lili Elbe published the book titled "Ein Mensch Weschselt Sein Geschlecht" (A man changes his sex), edited by Niels Hoyer (a pseudonym for Ernst Harthern).
The book is about Lili Elbe, also known as Lili Ilse Elvenes, a Danish painter and transgender woman, one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery in the world, an experience recounted in her posthumously published memoir, Man Into Woman, and the subject of the 2000 book and 2015 film, The Danish Girl.
In 1954, Niels Hoyer published the same book under his name and with a slightly changed title: "Wandlung: Eine Lebensbeichte" (Conversion: A confession of life).
1953,
2004,
2016,
2020,
English,
Lili Elbe,
Niels Hoyer,
Full title: "Purple Hearts and Silver Stars: Poems, Rants, Essays and Silver Stars Direct from a Trans-Woman's Soul" by Janice Josephine Carney.
"In 1996 I celebrated a year of sobriety and began a journey of rebirth. That year I developed confidence in myself that previously I never experienced. I took my personal collection of notes, diaries, and tapes from my year in Vietnam and begin to organize them into a book."
"In 1998 I legally changed my name from John Joseph to Janice Josephine and my writing now included transgender issues. I felt that I had come to terms with my trauma from the Vietnam War, and I was ready to move on. In 1999-2000 I wrote and performed a play."
2004,
English,
Janice Josephine Carney,
