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Pluto Returns: Hex the Patriarchy & Heal the Patriarchy by Lilith Rising

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by Ishani Anwesha Joshi An illustrated memoir focusing on the experience of prolonged illness, medical neglect, cognitive impairment, and institutional abandonment, among others, Pluto Returns: Hex the Patriarchy & Heal the Patriarchy by Lilith Rising, published in November 2024, starkly visualizes the protagonist’s struggles with parasitic infection and vitamin B12 deficiency. As the title suggests, the book uses astrology to tell a two-part story: Season 1, Hex the Patriarchy, is presented as a TV series watched by an anthropomorphized planet Pluto, while Season 2, Heal the Patriarchy, follows as its continuation. In keeping with the book’s title, the author uses… Read More

Trans History—From Ancient Times to the Present Day

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By Martha Cornog   Content advisory: This book/review discusses suicide and sexual violence. The crisis Lifeline number in the U.S. and Canada is 988, in the U.K. it’s 999; and for elsewhere go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines.   Trans History aims to explain the nature of “trans” (also referred to as “transsexual” or “transgender”) by telling the stories of notable likely-trans individuals throughout history, following a sequence from earliest documented times to the present. These brief biographies are intercut with anecdotes about laws and customs that have been applied to such people over the centuries, and commentary about how these individuals fit—or… Read More

My Brain Is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders

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by Soph Myers-Kelley   Monzusu, illustrator and curator of the stories in this book, is a Japanese adult with ADHD as well as a parent of children in the “gray zone of developmental disorders” (2). She created My Brain Is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders, because she had such a hard time finding the stories of regular, neurodivergent people when researching for herself and her children. At the time she wanted “a frame of reference, real examples of how I should raise my sons, and to see stories of people with my condition holding down a job,… Read More