So not previously being an avid reader, I've recently been reading a few books involving transgender characters. These were a mix of fiction, autobiography and non fiction.
What books would you recommend which contain transgender characters or are on the subject of transgender?
A few I've started with;
- Conundrum - Jan Morris
- Orlando - Virginia Woolfe
- Transitions - Mara Christine Drummond
- Undercover Girl - Jill Davidson
- Sliders - The dark side of transgender - Aimee Norin
- Kenna - A Transgender Life - Kenna Henderson
- Feeling wrong in your own body - Jaime Seba
My favourite and one I think is an all time classic is Conundrum.
Nevada by Imogen Binnie literally changed my life- it completely altered my perspective on things. It's the sort of book that you want to give to all of your friends and hope that they can get half of what you did out of it.
Whipping Girl by Julia Serano is also amazing, if you'd like a gender studies book.
Quote from: androgynouspainter26 on October 04, 2014, 01:30:11 AM
Whipping Girl by Julia Serano is also amazing, if you'd like a gender studies book.
It's a must-read kind of thing. I didn't agree with everything, but that was part of the point.
Thanks all, I'll see if I can get myself a copy and get reading
Quote from: Natalie on October 04, 2014, 02:09:31 AM
Mine! It comes out in November.
Thanks Natalie, do you know who the author is?
Quote from: Natalie on October 04, 2014, 02:19:49 AM
Ummm, it's my book and it comes out in November so...I'm the author. Just click the little globe under my avatar :)
Sorry Natalie I was having a blonde moment, or mental breakdown :icon_blah:
Love that song by the way
I thought The Transgender Guidebook by Anne L Boedecker was a really thorough treatment of the process of transition.
I also give my full endorsement to Whipping Girl.
Nevada - Imogen Binnie
I've Got A Time Bomb - Sybil Lamb
Nobody Passes - edited by Matilda Bernstein Sycamore
Normal Life - Dean Spade
My Words to Victor Frankenstein - Susan Stryker (which is an essay available for free if you google it, it's really good)
The Empire Strikes Back (I might be getting this title wrong) - Sandy Stone (also an essay, same deal)
Thanks everyone, seems this list is getting quite comprehensive. I had no idea there were so many.
I'm going to add one which is a kids book, may not be on the top of your list but great if your needing to speak to children about gender.
Jacobs New Dress - Sarah Hoffman, Ian Hoffman, Chris Case
There are loads others too.
Oh, before I forget, also: A Safe Girl To Love, Casey Plett? It's short stories, but all of them are quite excellent.
~ Whipping Girl
~ Excluded
both by Julia Serano.
She´s a brilliant writer and her books can be read by someone who´s new to trans related topics as well as by the ones already familiar with trans related topics and without making them feel bored. Honestly, I owe her a lot for writing these books, because it sharpened my mind on the terminology we use and some blind spots I already had by myself. Terminology is crucial and even here in the Forum sometimes terminology messes up. That´s why I can´t recommend these books enough. Anyone Trans* should have read them.
The approach most intriguing to me is, making femnist and queer movements more open and inclusive. An approach worth to fight for, I think. I also frequently visit her website and blog:
http://juliaserano.blogspot.de
Quote from: androgynouspainter26 on October 05, 2014, 12:53:47 AM
Oh, before I forget, also: A Safe Girl To Love, Casey Plett? It's short stories, but all of them are quite excellent.
I just got that one and am excited to actually read it.
http://topsidepress.com/
top side press is a transgender publishing house and they support all my favorite trans authors so check it out!
I loved Janet Mock's book, but I lived in the same part of Hawaii she did - I think I might not have liked it as much otherwise.
"Parrotfish" and "I am J" are really good.
"Stone Butch Blues"
"Transgender Warriors"
both by Leslie Feinberg. I love their perspective.
Both of Helen Boyd's books are good for those of us who are married or struggling with transition and relationships. (My Husband Betty, and She's Not the Man I Married).
Nevada was pretty decent too. Good fiction that isn't "erotic" - pretty much a first for quality transgender fiction that I know about.
Janet Mock's book, Redefining Realness - I can't say I enjoyed it, to be honest. I felt it focused far too much on the sex industry side of things, and if there's one thing trans people don't need, it's more people reading things that make them think we're all just a bunch of ex-hookers. But kudos to her for putting it out there and pushing trans issues front and center - she's still done far more than most to open doors for us all.
Warrior Princess - interesting story, just horrible writing. Painfully bad - clunky, middle-school level writing at best.
Quote from: Brenda E on November 09, 2014, 06:05:48 PM
Warrior Princess - interesting story, just horrible writing. Painfully bad - clunky, middle-school level writing at best.
I can't believe that book got published. It clearly was not even read over once by an editor.
I know no one has said anything on this in ages, but it really enjoyed " the art of being normal" by Lisa Williamson. I hope I'm not overstepping a mark by talking on here when no one has in ages, I'm new please don't find me annoying.
Heather O'malley's 300 Rains is a fantastic book of an anthropologists discovery of a lost tribe he found in the Amazon. His
partaking in a ceremony and subsequent transformation.
This is a must read fiction! You'll enjoy!
You know, I did read Orlando in college. I certainly was interested in the transition the character goes through, but otherwise I don't know that I got much out of it.
I would like to find a new.. Tg fantasy, magic, adventure novel of some length.. And of course in good taste..
Hmmm asking for a little too much??
Trumpet by Jackie Kay is frankly the best novel about trans men in my opinion.
It's obviously debatable because trans men are erased by the lesbian community, but The Well of Loneliness openly states that Stephen is a trans man and it made me accept myself, so yes, The Well of Loneliness.
I'm interested in these books, but at the moment would like to locate some fiction/memoirs with trans boys/men.
Great topic. I'll check out Trumpet.
Quote from: graspthesanity on April 24, 2015, 10:21:32 AM
The Well of Loneliness openly states that Stephen is a trans man
I don't remember this point at all. Are you sure you aren't confusing
Well with another book?
Reading Trumpet right now in my gender theory class. It is constructed a little weird but the story is great.
Quote from: Arch on April 24, 2015, 11:36:39 AM
I don't remember this point at all. Are you sure you aren't confusing Well with another book?
I was looking through because until I came out it was something I heavily identified with and now as a trans man I'm not too comfortable with the whole "screw men, I'm a better choice" paragraphs but I ended up thinking it over a lot. But remember the scene where Stephen's dad left books with definitions of invert and etc? By the dictionary definition "masculine soul with a female bosum" as specifically attracted to other women. You could argue that they were putting it, but... male soul? Heh, I have a male soul. Also it's arguable but the whole story has the whole "Stephen was a man" with the name, the raising and that's what Stephen felt comfortable in and didn't understand what couldn't Stephen give. In general Stephen feels alienated from being a woman and struggles in all aspects with gender. Also Radclyffe Hall went by John and dressed as a man. So it kind of falls under history's usual "lived as a man, identified as a man" LESBIAN FOR SURE, so I'd shamelessly cross Hall out of women.
Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein is my current transgender read. She kind of takes a more non-binary perspective on gender which has helped me calm down a little bit when I get a little frustrated that I'm not femme enough.
How about "Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen" ?
Anyone read a fictional story "charlotts wings"? It bothers me to this day for some reason;)
Quote from: Cynobyte on July 03, 2015, 01:27:40 AM
Anyone read a fictional story "charlotte's wings"? It bothers me to this day for some reason;)
Do you mean 'Winged' by Jenn Reese? It's only a short fictional piece of writing, but very good IMHO. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030303/winged.shtml (http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030303/winged.shtml)
I was wrong again, it was "Charlotte's feathers" by Mathew Fish. I was soo positive of the name:( meds are starting to warp memory. Thanks for asking, ill check into the other story when I wake.. this time I looked at the face of the ebook to make sure..
Im going to mess up one of these days and do something stupid like " you know that president that did a really good job?" And then say something stupid like Bush:( good thing people check up on me:) I dont want to make that mistake! Tnx
Not neccesarily all related to TV/TG/TS alone.
-> "Revolution from Within" - Gloria Steinem
->Sandra Bern "The Lenses of Gender": She sees femininity and masculinity not as opposite poles on a continuum but rather as parallel-running sets of traits. According to her you're neither completely feminine or masculine, you have a little of both or a lot of both. The androgynous person will exhibit high levels of so-called male characteristics (independence, autonomy, dominance) and at the same time feminine traits (warmth, awareness of others' feelings, expression).
Articles by:
Stephanie Tolan
http://www.stephanietolan.com/
Ellen Winner
http://www.ellenwinner.com/
This
http://www.shb-info.org/sexbrain.html
The actual concept of "Gender Roles" was first noted in literature from John Money (David Reimer) with various excerpts in the 50's.
(I am not saying they weren't apparent in earlier history)
If you have any papers from the middle eastern Golden Age, Medieval times and up to 1800's Europe/America, ANY Eastern or Slavic culture revolving gender roles (or the lack thereof) PLEASE do share!
http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/show/id=5020921/langid=42
Centre for Gender and Diversity
I'll see if I can dig up more, i've read a lot but I supressed/forgot a lot the past decade.
*adds whipping girl to ever-growing list of must-reads*
Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, an the Rest of us by Kate Bornstein. Her writings have helped me chill the f*ck out on multiple occasions, and is probably part of the reason why I am still here today.
Quote from: rachel89 on July 04, 2015, 03:07:09 AM
Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, an the Rest of us by Kate Bornstein. Her writings have helped me chill the f*ck out on multiple occasions, and is probably part of the reason why I am still here today.
Thanks Rachel, I'll check her books out when I get paid next week.
It's been mentioned a few times but I just want to throw in some more positive words for Whipping Girl. It's a very good read for anybody in my opinion.
I've added a fair amount of the other books mentioned in here to my read list and hope to get around to them soon.
I must be an outlier. I couldn't stand
Gender Outlaws. I felt...fetishized.
EDIT:
Quote from: Me the Girl on April 12, 2015, 01:56:39 AM
You know, I did read Orlando in college. I certainly was interested in the transition the character goes through, but otherwise I don't know that I got much out of it.
The movie is MUCH better than the book, IMO. They take a few liberties with the timeline and put more emphasis on the transgender angle than the bisexual angle (the book is ultimately a bisexual narrative), but I think they ultimately improved upon it. Made it much more digestible and accessible.
I read an excellent kindle ebook on Amazon.com that includes transgender relationships. The title is "Meet the Sullivans: A Roller Coaster of a Ride!" by Robert F. Johnson II
It is one of the best transgender ebooks that I have ever read, and I would highly recommend reading it.
I have written seven fictions about HIJRA, the third gender of India and recently published a non-fiction book to share my experience/knowledge about HIJRA. If I may I would like to recommend the non-fiction book to you.
Title: Transgendered People of India
Subtitle: Forsaken Tributaries
ASIN: B01606CRPS
Transparent By Cris Beam
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
A Murder Over A Girl By Ken Corbett
I think this book would count that I have read.
It is called "This Book is Gay," by James Dawson. It talks about the LGBT+ community as a whole. The book has sections that talk about stereotypes, discrimination, coming out, what to ask yourself if you are questioning, etc.
I personally enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to everyone! Even my mother who is a cisgendered straight woman found this book to be very educational and interesting.
The book is even funny! The book includes illustrations with amusing captions and sometimes just the way the author words things is absolutely hilarious!
Not sure for people outside the United States, but I found my copy of the book at a local Barnes and Noble. I think you can find a digital e-book but I'm not totally sure.
I tried to read Mock's book. I had trouble with her style--she's a journalist, right?--but the cringe-inducing similes were what did me in. By a few pages in, I was completely turned off by them. Did nobody edit the book?
On the FTM side, I did enjoy Green's Becoming a Visible Man. I think it's quite good. And, although it has many flaws, I read Stone Butch Blues a bunch at one point in my life because it was the only transmale-oriented novel I had encountered at that point. I'd seen a biography or two, but no novels.
I tried to read a book for youngsters--Luna, I think--but was completely turned off when I discovered that the narrator is a sibling rather than the trans character. I had similar issues with the film The Danish Girl, actually--too much of the movie was about the wife character and not about Lili Elbe herself. And we never really got into Elbe's head. Too much of the film focused on the externals. So the movie looks pretty but is, to my mind, superficial.
I haven't been able to get into anything Kate Bornstein has written. I didn't care for Valerio's The Testosterone Files, either; I'm surprised at the high reviews it has received.
I guess I'm just hard to please.
Becomming Nicole
this thread has been bookmarked. please keep the titles and authors coming.
my one and only (so far) favorite was recently suggested to me "she's not there- a life in two genders" by jennifer finney boylan. the paragraph most relatable for me is "girl planet".
---> How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States, by Joanne Meyerowitz
I've read this twice through, and find it both informative and inspiring. It's a history (duh!).
---> The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, and Transgender Rights by Deborah Rudacille
On my second go-round for this one as well. This is about the "why" of the transgender phenomenon.
---> Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
A brilliantly written story of the coming of age of an intersexed boy. Great novel - won the Pulitzer.
(Thanks to those who have posted - great thread!)
If I was your Girl by Meridith Russo.
I never read, but after reading a few pages I was hooked. i adored this book.
Makes me wanna read some more.
If you haven't, definitely read it
Has anybody read the book "I was born a boy, from Venus" ?
Transgender History Susan Stryker
WPATH SOC
The Transexual Phenomenon Harry Benjamin
A Queer and Pleasant Danger Kate Bornstein
I Will Fear No Evil Robert A. Heinlein
I'm a huge fan of Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. It's a nice coming of age story about a transboy who just starting to socially transition the summer after high school while focusing on his goal of being a radio dj.
This might be an odd one because it's not explicitly trans, but I always read some of the characters in Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment as transmasc
it's broadly about women going to war but gives a range of reasons for them doing this -- from looking for a sibling or boyfriend to escaping bad situations, and i like that some of them could be trans and some couldn't, i found it interesting that it didn't only give one interpretation
'The pants project' is a fairly new one that I haven't read but has a good premise
Don't forget " Man into Woman" by Lili Elbe.
Recommended for the historical perspective of the book.
Currently reading Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. She has really put a lot of thought into it. I'll post more about the book in a few days after I have some time to think it over.
Quote from: itsApril on June 28, 2017, 02:25:00 PM
Currently reading Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. She has really put a lot of thought into it. I'll post more about the book in a few days after I have some time to think it over.
I agree, one of the best feminist and trans-feminist works ever. I read it years ago and thanks for the reminder to take another look.
JB
Quote from: JB_Girl on June 28, 2017, 02:28:23 PM
I agree, one of the best feminist and trans-feminist works ever. I read it years ago and thanks for the reminder to take another look.
JB
She has a new edition out in 2016. That's the version I'm reading.
Gender Outlaw - Kate Bornstein
I came across this link to a list of transgender-related reading, on the webpage of the new Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health. Passing along....
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/center_transgender_health/patient_information/books.html
Quote from: itsApril on June 28, 2017, 02:25:00 PM
Currently reading Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. She has really put a lot of thought into it. I'll post more about the book in a few days after I have some time to think it over.
Finished reading
Whipping Girl, and I highly recommend it. There is some theory and polemic about gender politics that went over my head. But Serano is really right on the money about what she calls "transmisogyny" as the motive force for transphobic attacks against trans women, both by everyday homophobes and transphobes in the cis world and also by antagonists within the LGBT movement itself.
Serano offers a biting and very persuasive critique of doctors, psychologists, and gender clinics setting themselves up as "gatekeepers" over HRT and transition. She explains how the gatekeeper mode forced transsexuals into arbitrary and fixed gender roles, reinforcing and rewarding stereotypical behavior. Any deviation on the part of the "patients" was then punished by stigmatizing the trans person or blocking access to treatment and transition. Creepy.
I found Serano's description of her own transition process very interesting. Not a single dramatic event, but rather a gradual process of consolidation of female identity as hormone-induced feminization and increasing experience in the female role took effect. Her thesis: "passing" is governed by a combination of gender presentation in conjunction with the development of female secondary sex characteristics. In fact, Serano doesn't think of herself as "passing" as a woman, even though she is almost universally accepted as a female in everyday life. To the contrary, Serano says she spent the first several decades of her life "passing" as the man she was not . . .
I'm very glad I read this book. MTF folks will relate more strongly to it because they may see a lot of themselves in Serano's description of her own experiences. But I think her theoretical observations about the parallel continua of human variability in sex and gender issues will speak equally well to FTM folks, too.
Bumbling into Body Hair by Everett Marroon.
Auto-biagraphy. I'm about 2/3 through it and I've loved every minute of it. His narrative is so close to my own. He started out identifying as a butch lesbian, then came to realise there was more to it than that. He's also really funny and I'm laughing at something on nearly every page.
Quote from: Dani on June 28, 2017, 06:30:19 AM
Don't forget " Man into Woman" by Lili Elbe.
Recommended for the historical perspective of the book.
I found this very hard to read. For one thing, there are a lot of seemingly homophobic comments in the narrative, and the way it's presented as "two separate people living in one body" just didn't speak to me. Going from what research I was able to do, quite a bit of it might be factually inaccurate (eg. the narrative says that Lily didn't have a sexual/romantic relationship with her wife... but when you see the paintings, some of which are explicit, they suggest otherwise.) It feels to me like it was written the way it was in order to make it more palatable (or publishable?) to cis readers of the era - which is understandable - but it did make a lot of things feel unrelatable. That and the long descriptions of things like train journeys, which are also hard to get through. But you're right, it is interesting from the historical context, I would just caution readers to keep these things in mind!
Quote from: Alissa16 on April 12, 2015, 06:51:34 AM
I would like to find a new.. Tg fantasy, magic, adventure novel of some length.. And of course in good taste..
Hmmm asking for a little too much??
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guinn.
This is a story about a planet where everyone is gender neutral. The book explores this but for the most part it is about the adventure on the planet. I enjoyed it, though I will say it was written in the sixties and some of it may seem a bit outdated now, most of all the fact that all the gender neutral characters are referred to as "he." (Le Guinn herself apologised for the problems, saying that she did her best but found researching the topic a struggle, which I can in the 60's)
Apparently Iaian Banks also did a story about gender neutral aliens, but after reading the Wasp Factory, which I hated, I kinda don't want to read any of his other stuff.
Quote from: gooseberry on August 02, 2017, 08:12:14 AM
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guinn.
This is a story about a planet where everyone is gender neutral. The book explores this but for the most part it is about the adventure on the planet. I enjoyed it, though I will say it was written in the sixties and some of it may seem a bit outdated now, most of all the fact that all the gender neutral characters are referred to as "he." (Le Guinn herself apologised for the problems, saying that she did her best but found researching the topic a struggle, which I can in the 60's)
Yes!
Left Hand of Darkness is a great read! It's a science fiction/adventure story which will keep you engaged while Le Guin makes her points about gender. Most sci-fi writers are just into technical gimmickry, but Le Guin goes deep into personality and culture. (She is the daughter of a famous anthropologist and grew up in an environment of cultural exploration. She has lots of insight into traditional, pre-literate cultures, though that's not at play in
Left Hand.) She is able to write both male and female characters with conviction - something that lots of authors can't do.
I think what Le Guin is doing in
Left Hand is trying to separate out and study the common features that make us all human from the specific gender roles of men and women. That is, what parts of our personalities do we share with others irrespective of gender? In the story, a modified human race is gender-neutral most of the time. Gender only emerges periodically (about monthly) as an episode of "kemmer," sort of like reproductive "heat" in most mammals.
As the gender-neutral folks enter kemmer, they develop distinct sexual organs and secondary sex characteristics and assume a strongly gendered personality for a period of days. As kemmer fades, so do the sex and gender characteristics. These folks can't tell in advance whether they will be male or female at the next cycle. If you were male/masculine in one cycle, you may just as easily be female/feminine in the next, so everyone at one time or another experiences each role.
Maybe I was reading too much of my own feelings into
Left Hand, but I felt that the un-gendered normal everyday personality of this race seemed kind of flat and featureless. I like my whole life female/feminine, thank you very much!
Another great Le Guin novel is
The Dispossessed, which deals with a strongly egalitarian, almost anarchist society struggling to survive on a planet with poor resources. Not as much gender-related content to that one, though.
Kind of what the Left Hand of Darkness is about, "the left hand of darkness is the light" ie. you can't have one thing without the other, so the genderless people are neither gender... and both. Or at least, that's how I interpreted it. I expect lots of people can interpret it lots of different ways! As for the characters seeming a bit flat... I sort of felt like the only one we got to spend any time with was Estraven. The king, though, was a pretty colourful character, even if they aren't very nice :P I'd have enjoyed seeing more of them.
Haven't read the Dispossessed, I did read Lathe of Heaven and loved it, but also read A Wizard of Earthsea and found it a bit meh. Not bad, just... not that great.
I'm working on a scifi novel where all the aliens are gender neutral (in a different way to Left Hand, I made it as different as I could so it wouldn't seem like a copycat thing!) and this thread has me itching to get working on it again!
No one is going to mention Becoming a Visible Man by Jamison Green?
I thought it was fantastic, although I'd really like to hear what the transmen here think about it.
Quote from: Me the Girl on April 12, 2015, 01:56:39 AM
You know, I did read Orlando in college. I certainly was interested in the transition the character goes through, but otherwise I don't know that I got much out of it.
I disliked Orlando. She didn't seem to transition at all. Her gender flips like a lightswitch on the wall, and she never experiences a second of dysphoria in either gender.
Just finished reading
Transgender History by Susan Stryker. She has a PhD in history, but this is not heavy-duty academic stuff. It's very readable and goes fast. The early parts deal with the "prehistory" of transgenderism - like the research and work of Magnus Hirschfeld and others. Then it goes on to the development of the medical approach of Harry Benjamin and others, recognizing their contributions, but also presenting thoughtful criticism of the "gatekeeper" role that medical practitioners adopted.
Along the way, there are great descriptions of trans forerunners like Christine Jorgensen, Virginia Prince, Marsha P. (for "Pay It No Mind") Johnson, and Sandy Stone. Also, two Stonewall-type riots that you've never heard of that happened BEFORE Stonewall.
I liked the parts dealing with the 40s through the 70s best, and felt like I learned a lot. Some of the last part of the book was exotic gender theory that made my eyes glaze over.
I'm glad I read this book! I recommend it. There's a lot to learn here!
QuoteTransgender History
Stryker, Susan (2008)
"Transgender History covers American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today. Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapter 1 covers the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II. Chapter 2 addresses trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s. Chapter 3 focuses on the mid-'70s to 1990--the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years. Chapters 4 and 5 are broken into the gender issues witnessed through the '90s and '00s, respectively. Sidebars highlight quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history, and others will feature brief biographies of key players. First-person narratives from transgender memoirs are excerpted and treatments of transgenderism in popular culture are also discussed."--Publisher's description.
From the Publisher: Transgender History covers American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today. From the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following "World War II to trans radicalism and social change in the '60s and '70s to the gender issues witnessed throughout the '90s and '00s, this introductory text will give you a foundation for understanding the developments, changes, strides, and setbacks of trans studies and the trans community in the United States.
Rae D. Magdon's Tengoku is a wonderful work of fiction with a trans main character. Apparently see has other similar books but I haven't gotten around to reading them.
To be honest one of the best books I've read in a while. Go read it!
I listened to She's Not There by Jennifer Fenny Boyland on audiobook and read by jenny. I enjoyed her story.
Now I'm listening to Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity By Julia Serano. It is the 2016 version read by her. It is a technical discussion of transsexualism and sounds a bit dated as she left more of the book untouched from her original book. If you like a critical look at how transsexuals were (and I'm sure still are in places) then you might find this book interesting. I thought it was.
Gender Outlaws by Kate Bernstein
Becoming a Visible Man by Jamison Green
You'll have to figure out how gender fits into the novel, but
Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon