2021 in Literature
Admittedly, 2021 got away from me, reading-wise. I didn’t finish my goal, didn’t even come close. I came out as transgender, moved several times in the span of a few months before my cross-country move to Washington state (in the middle of winter, during a pandemic, knowing practically no one there before moving), on top of traveling and driving a ton for work, and having to rebuild my business on the opposite side of the country.
Oh yeah, and the whole divorce thing sorta knocked the wind out of me.
Generally just a lot I was dealing with, and when I wasn’t busy running around for work (taking pictures of happy couples getting married) or slaving at my desk (looking at pictures of happy couples getting married) I didn’t exactly feel in the mood to pick up a book.
But… when I did, invariably, they helped. As stories do. Here’s a recap of the ones I read in 2021 in order of read date, plus a few thoughts on each.
This is also around the time I started honing on my writing of Lookout, so a lot of the books I read were to help inform my forestry and wildfire research and writing—in part. I’m also just obsessed with lookout towers.
Thank you to these books and these authors, and the characters too, for helping me make it through the toughest year of my life.
In Reading
In summary…
Reading goal: 25
Books read: 9 — only 36% of goal reached
Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place (A Transgender Memoir) — Jackson Bird
Helped at the time that I read it. A good book to read if you’re having thoughts about gender, specifically for AFAB/transmasculine or transmasc-questioning folks. I also found it hard to relate in a lot of ways to this particular author, since everyone’s story is different, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this book is well-written, informative, and helpful.
3.4/5
Ender’s Game — Orson Scott Card
Even taking the bigotry aside, it just didn’t wow me. Overhyped. And the ending sucked.
1.8/5
Becoming a Visible Man — Jamison Green
Helped me a bit at the time. Likewise found myself not relating to the author. I didn’t always know I was a boy. I feel like the idea that us transgender folks feel our true gender in our bones since birth is a widespread misconception, portrayed in the media for it to make more sense to cis people, but I don’t think it’s all that accurate or ubiquitous. Maybe some transgender folks know early on, but I know even more that didn’t. It actually kinda confused me, to be honest. Still, this book was worth a read, I think.
2.5/5
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail — Cheryl Strayed
A fantastic work: contemplative, raw, messy, beautiful. Everything I want in a memoir. Cheryl Strayed is fantastic.
5/5
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue — Mackenzi Lee
An excellent LGBTQ YA read, if that’s your thing. YA isn’t really my thing, but the gay shit totally is. V cute.
3.6/5
The Overstory — Richard Powers
Oh my god. Wow. Wow.
By chapter two, I had decided this was my favorite book of all time. Despite my eagerness and affection for it, it took me five months to read, partially because I was busy and dealing with a lot in my life between moves and travels and divorce and such, and partially because I wanted to prolong the read. Didn't want the story to end—it seemed too large to try to take in all at once, anyway. Mid-read, I traded out my Kindle copy for a paperback, an irony which is not lost on me, who generally prefers my minimal, lightweight library for reasons both spacious and environmental, to read a book about the precious nature of trees, while holding the remains of a dead one in my hands to do so. During my move, I got rid of all but about a dozen physical books, and this is one of them. I’m going to hold onto it forever. I didn’t know books could be like this.
5/5, because I can’t go higher
Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness — Don Scheese
I love a good lookout journal/memoir. This one’s great, and includes a lot of good commentary on wilderness areas, accounts of what his times were like. Don Scheese is a fantastic writer.
4.6/5
The Monkey Wrench Gang — Edward Abbey
I loved reading this book, but I think I enjoyed reading it more than I ended up liking it. It’s got some problematic things about it (notably, the misogyny), but for what it’s worth I enjoyed the story. I mean, what’s not to love about a little hellraising for the sake of the wilderness? I love Edward Abbey. Honestly, he’s one of my favorite authors, if I can have a favorite love-hate author. Even if I’m not head over heels in love with any of his particular works.
Docking a full star at least for the fact that one of the main characters litters, even though the book at its heart is about the environment? The story’s better than any of the characters, as is the general theme of this one.
3.6/5
Greenwood — Michael Christie
Holy moly. Oh my god. Wow. So of course I read The Overstory this year, which promptly became my #1 favorite book of all time. Shortly after that I read Greenwood, which promptly became my #1 favorite book of all time. Two novels about trees and concentric circles and the fascinatingly intricate ways in which our stories weave. I picked up Greenwood thinking it might be a nice companion for me during a solo weeklong cabin retreat in Packwood, Washington before I officially moved to the Evergreen state. It was the perfect setting. I tore through it, or maybe it tore through me. I can't even begin to describe how I feel about this book.
I wrote in my journal about it: “This morning as I gaze out at the ancient, towering Douglas-firs and western red cedar which surround me and this little cabin, I find myself in that great post-read stupor, the kind of bittersweet, melancholic fog one finds themself in after reading a lifechanging book cover-to-cover, the kind that hangs around and makes you forget who you are for a while—or better yet, calls upon something you'd forgotten, something about yourself, or perhaps about something even deeper.”
The characters are some of the best and most deeply human I’ve ever gotten to know: complicated, messy, problematic, traumatic, beautiful. I related to every single one of them, including the ones you’d probably consider the more antagonistic, like the timber tycoon Harris Greenwood who’s personally responsible for hacking down a significant percentage of the forests in British Columbia. Everett Greenwood especially planted himself deep in my heart, and I’ll never forget the unsung sacrifices he made during his extraordinarily difficult life.
What a way to finish out my year of reading. Holy cow. Seriously, read this book.
5/5, because I can’t go higher
2022 UPDATE: I love this book and this author so much I got a tattoo inspired by it. Also, Michael Christie is such an inspiration and altogether just a really wonderful guy. My love for this story and its characters only grows with time.
In Writing
In summary…
Total projects attempted: 6
Total drafts completed: 1
Total words written: 84,694
Lookout — Editing in progress. Started to sketch out ideas for a trilogy, though it started to write itself off the rails. I scrapped most of it, started fresh, tried to fold in parts from each. I took out a lot of plotlines, characters, tried to get back to the basics of what the story was originally supposed to be.
My Self, In Stead
Unsanctioned NaNoWriMo project, February 2021
What it’s about: Trans youth coming-of-age meets estranged uncle amid mid-life crisis. A book of grieving and bonds.
Genres: contemporary, LGBTQ, coming-of-age
Word count: 18,439 / 50,000
Highest word count day: 5,962
Draft status: incomplete
Will I do anything with it? Likely not, though the adult male character in this keeps resurfacing. Jack will definitely make an appearance somewhere else.
Sanctuary
Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2021
What it’s about: Queer love story, a musician and a lyricist. Tragic with moments of sweetness.
Genres: LGBTQ, romance, literary fiction, historical fiction
Word count: 2,018 / 50,000
Draft status: incomplete
Will I do anything with it? Honestly… maybe. I don’t think I’m done with this one but I wasn’t ready to write it back then.
From the Ashes
A book of poems and visuals I compiled, written mostly between 2020-2021.
Word count: 5,285
Status: Published! You can get a free or pay-what-you-want copy here!
NaNoWriMo, November 2021 — split between two projects
NaNoWriMo word count: 50,006 / 50,000
Highest word count day: 7,854
Finding Yourself in the Woods
What it’s about: Doppelgangers in the woods, set in the rugged wilderness of Idaho. Park rangers going missing.
Genres: speculative fiction, wilderness adventure, urban fantasy, horror/supernatural
Word count: 20,969
Draft status: incomplete
Will I do anything with it? YES. This one is high on my list for what I want to write after Lookout.
Duomyth
What it’s about: A half-memoir, half-fiction tale. Me coming to terms with my trans-ness, transformation, transportation. Through the lens of an extended road trip.
Genres: memoir, LGBTQ
Word count: 33,741
Draft status: incomplete
Somewhere in Between
Unsanctioned NaNoWriMo project, December 2021
What it’s about: Queer cowboy love story, following a young trans man bandit known only as The Ghost, and the bounty hunter that chases him.
Genres: western, LGBTQ, romance
Words written in 2021: 9,527
Draft status: incomplete
Will I do anything with it? Most likely!
