Transcending Gender 2012 Reading Challenge hosted by Bibrary Book Lust
This year's challenge is all about reads that transcend gender . . . those that play with stereotypes, blur the gender binary, and challenge traditional gender roles. All genres are fair game, so long as they do something interesting or unique with the concept of gender.
It could be a feminist read that challenges gender stereotypes; a story that features a society where gender roles are reversed; a book with a transvestite, transsexual, intersex, or genderqueer character; a more fanciful/imaginative novel that explores alien or alternative genders; or a story that features some sort of magical transformation or shapeshifting that crosses gender lines.
The scope of the challenge is intentionally broad, and as much about how we perceive a book as it is about the books themselves.
To register for the challenge, please submit your Name/Blog Title and the URL of your Challenge Post in the Link below.
There will be 2 giveaways to celebrate the challenge, one at the end of June and the other at the end of December. Simply signing up for the challenge gets you one entry for each, while every review linked in the first half of the year gets you an additional entry for the June draw, and every review linked in the second half of the year gets you an additional entry for the December draw.
For those of you who have already registered, click HERE to link your reviews.
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I wasn't sure at first, but I coincidentally found a book that fits. Don't really know enough books that qualify, hopefully will pick up a few during the year (suggestions welcome).
ReplyDeleteThanks for organising!
I'm very excited about this! This will greatly help me with a few of my new year's resolutions! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteReview by Samuel Rafael
ReplyDelete"Trevor"
by Kevin Douglas Banks
Amazon.com Kindle text-to-speech
$4.00
I found "Trevor" to be an ingenious and multilevel book about the travails of a male heterosexual cross dresser, just your average family guy, except for his predilection to dress in female attire. We watch, first with mild amusement and then transfixed like a deer caught in the headlights, as our hero begins his inexorable descent from manhood with all the associated male privilege, suffering loss after loss while simultaneously experiencing a full taste of virtually all aspects of womanhood, including both the wonderful and the ghastly. Although this novel begins slowly and one at first wonders where the author is going with it, it soon captures the reader with its diabolical double entandre and the shockingly serendipitous happenstances that catch our main protagonist in an "infernal machine" that moves him in lock step toward his ultimate fate. That's on one level. On another, this book is a diatribe against rape and the archaic laws and investigative procedures associated with this heinous act of power, control and violence. The twist is that the author gets us to see all this from the prospective of the male victim, and while we're at it, we get to a bitter taste of the inequities and prejudices against males who have a need and desire to express their femininity. This is an amazing book that is reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" in that it blows the lid off topics associated with our notions about gender and the prejudices and inequities that our preconceptions produce. It also carries with it Woolf's sardonic humor. In addition, there are brilliant courtroom scenes to experience. Not for every reader though because parts read like a text book or a CSI investigation and sometimes the going is a bit slow and detailed, but all-in-all, a marvelous experience.
What a cool challenge idea! Can't wait to read everyone's reviews.
ReplyDeleteI linked to a review I did last month. It's not a rec for the book (as much as I wanted to like it), but an acknowledgement of one of early works in the current gender-bending genre.
ReplyDelete