9. Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Mallory Ortberg
This review is only based on about 3/4 of this book, which is the point where I finally admitted to myself that I hated this book and quit it. It’s a book of essays and have enjoyed this author’s writing elsewhere and his podcast appearances on podcasts I listen to, so I kept hoping that the essays would get better and I would find something to enjoy. I never did. Many of the essays focus on the author’s decision to transition from female to male. A lot of them seem to be somewhat stream of consciousness and they became very repetitive. I get that this was a long process for the author and I don’t mean to diminish it, but I also didn’t need to relive every moment of it along with the author. The essays were also rather esoteric and I found very little to latch onto. I imagine that this book could be a great read for other trans people who are wrestling with their identity, but as this is not my experience I grew bored with the repetitiveness of these essays, and don’t find the Goodreads description of this book to match what I read at all. I give it a 1 out of 10.