A random collection of over 1994 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.
Original title: "Mi Cofre del Tesoro: Un viaje para encontrar la llave de mi felicidad" (My Treasure Chest: A Journey to Find the Key to My Happiness) by Paola Elena Flores.
In Mi Cofre del Tesoro: Un viaje para encontrar la llave de mi felicidad (My Treasure Chest: A Journey to Find the Key to My Happiness), Paola Elena Flores invites readers to embark on a deeply personal exploration of what it means to live authentically after years of conforming to roles imposed by family, faith, and culture. The book opens with a haunting question: what if the key to your happiness has always been in your own pocket, but you were taught to use everyone else’s? From this starting point, Paola builds a powerful metaphor that frames the entire memoir. Each of us, she suggests, is born with a treasure chest filled with joy, hope, and extraordinary moments, yet the chest is locked. Those around us, parents, teachers, and spiritual leaders, offer their keys, promising fulfillment if we follow their path. But for many, those borrowed keys fail to open the chest. Instead, they lead to guilt, shame, and a persistent feeling of not belonging.
Paola’s story is set against the backdrop of a strict fundamentalist Christian upbringing in Mexico, where faith dictated not only behavior but identity itself. From a young age, she was taught that happiness lay in obedience, sacrifice, and adherence to spiritual authority. As a youth pastor and seminary student, she tried to embody the perfect servant of God, a devoted husband and father who lived according to scripture. Yet beneath that façade was a deep and growing dissonance, an unspoken truth about who she really was. Her memoir unfolds as a battle between the person she was told to be and the person she always knew she was inside.
2025,
Mexico,
Paola Elena Flores,
Spanish,
Full title: "My Treasure Chest: A Journey to Find the Key to My Happiness" by Paola Elena Flores. The book was originally published in Spanish under the title "Mi Cofre del Tesoro: Un viaje para encontrar la llave de mi felicidad".
In her deeply moving memoir My Treasure Chest: A Journey to Find the Key to My Happiness, Paola Elena Flores invites readers into an intimate exploration of identity, faith, and self-discovery. Originally published in Spanish under the title Mi Cofre del Tesoro: Un viaje para encontrar la llave de mi felicidad, the book opens with a simple but profound metaphor. Each of us, Flores explains, arrives in this world with a treasure chest brimming with joy, hope, and happiness. Inside are the things that make life meaningful: love, connection, creativity, and purpose. Yet this chest is locked, and to access its riches, we need the right key.
In her narrative, Flores examines the ways we often inherit keys from others. Parents, teachers, pastors, and relatives, acting out of love and good intentions, hand us their versions of happiness. They tell us that their faith, traditions, and lifestyles will unlock our own chests. We believe them, because we trust them, and we try to make their keys fit. Sometimes they open a small corner of the lid, revealing a glimpse of what lies within, but more often they do not work at all. Flores captures the heartbreak of realizing that the tools given to us by others cannot always open the lock meant for us.
2025,
English,
Mexico,
Paola Elena Flores,
