ita, one book I've heard a lot about is As Nature Made Him. It's a very sad story, not least of all b/c the subject of the bio recently killed himself.

[ETA but I just realized it's not what you're looking for, since David Reimer was born with unambigous male genitalia that were damaged during circumcision.]

Thanks Nutty and Dani.

The surreal thing about Middlesex was that there was no gender dysmorphia at all -- just a change in clothes, hair and walking, switch up some language, but he wasn't a girly boy or a boyish girl. Okay, maybe not the surreal thing, but one that made me wonder about the reality of it all.

Actually, Dani, that is precisely what I'm interested in -- what makes a boy feel like a boy, and a girl like a girl. How did he know he was wrong?

I think I've seen a TV show on that case, and had forgotten the name of the book.

ita, I'd recommend Anne Fausto-Sterling's Sexing the Body as an introduction to both the biological and the psychic/cultural sides of this whole area; the author is trained in both biology and (iirc) sociology, so she's one of the rare people who's able to talk across the usual disciplinary boundaries.

ita, have you read Trans-sister Radio? I can't remember if I got it from you or Kat (?).

I finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife yesterday and I was a mess of tears by the end. I agree with a former poster that it is probably a book with massive b.org appeal.

So put in on the rec list for book club, Megan.

I would if I thought I'd have time to participate in the book club thread but I've been working 60 hour weeks with no end in sight. It would make for a good discussion though.

No need for a commitment Megan. If you think we'd enjoy it just throw it on the list. And that way if it's picked, you don't have to read it to pop in and post about it during discussion.

t /shameless shilling

Something a little different, a request to help me identify a poem I remember from high school. I just tried to Google the last line but came up empty.

The poem tells the tale of a young woman's whose lover convinces her to join him in a suicide pact and they'll meet in hell and love forever. Of course, she believes him and he goes on to marry a rich girl. The girl tells the devil that she is in hell under false pretenses and begins walking across the firey plain towards heaven, and all the damned stop to watch her go. There's something about daffodils or something springing up around her feet, and I *thought* the last line was "And Hell raised a ragged cheer," but that brought me no joy. Oh, and the resolution not to use the phrase "ragged cheer" anywhere in my writing.

It's not world-shattering poetry, but I'd like to find it again.