Happy pride!
I included a few of my June books in the May post, whoops, so this one includes some random comics and nonfiction, which I don’t usually write about.
The Out Side: Trans and Nonbinary Comics (anthology)
For pride month, my comics group picked this anthology of short comics by trans and nonbinary illustrators. Like any anthology, this is a mixture of art styles, stories, and tones.
Most of the stories were similar, focusing on the creator’s journey from dysphoria to the joy of realizing their true selves. Some were abundantly happy, some held notes of tragedy, but all the stories I read were optimistic about the future for themselves and others in the queer community.
A short read, I’d recommend this to folks who may not understand what it’s like to have a non-cis gender identity. It’s not an academic text, so the terms aren’t explained or defined, but each story illustrates a very personal experience with gender dysphoria and might help readers who aren’t familiar with these issues empathize with those who have gone through this type of journey.
Marvel United: A Pride Special (2025)
Both Marvel and DC pride issues are always a mixed bag, with some stories hitting and some missing the mark. This year is no different.
It features Al Ewing, a writer I adore, taking on a bunch of characters I don’t know + Loki. I’m a comics Loki stan now and forever, so am always glad when they show up, even when I have no idea what the rest of the comic was doing. A bunch of queer heroes vs Hate Monger, proudly insisting their right to exist because queer people have always existed. Cue Sam Reich saying, “[We’ve] been here the whole time.” The story was trippy and weird, but pretty to look at.
After that, a retcon via dreaming for Mystique and Destiny, who have a child together but didn’t raise him. And a random matchup between Black Cat and Sera, a very obscure Thor character. I enjoy Thor comics a lot, so was happy to see Sera and Angela again, even if their love story is a bit convoluted.
But the stand out story to me was the one about Captain America’s early friend, Arnie Roth, a canonically gay character introduced in the early 1980s. I had no idea this guy existed until now, but in this retrospective with Cap returning to rescue the friend who’d always stuck up for him as skinny Stever Rogers was genuinely touching.
This isn’t quite a memoir, but it does have a lot of deeply personal writing about Tsui’s relationship with her father. It’s a series of kinda-connected essays about muscles, strength, and how culture and family traditions influence our feelings about who should be strong—and who shouldn’t. It was a bit disjointed, but I learned about some truly fascinating (and strong) women along the way.
After reading the muscle book, I wanted to check out Tsui’s book on swimming, which is perhaps more in my lane (pun intended). Like her other books, this isn’t quite a memoir and isn’t really a scientific book, though it does include a fair amount of anthropology and physiology. It’s a history of humanity through swimming, taking detours to the polar endurance swim of an Icelandic hero, the intense practice of Japanese samurai swimmers, and Indigenous swimmers who rely on their aquatic skills to survive and whose way of life is threatened by climate change.
Like in her other books, Tsui’s writing meanders, but not in a bad way. I learned about interesting people I wouldn’t have otherwise, and appreciate Tsui’s ruminations on the subjects she writes about. I was so young when I learned to swim that I don’t really remember learning. I consider my feelings in the water to be be the closest I’ll ever come to spirituality, and consider swimming to be one of the only ways I can truly feel free in my body. But. Most of my experience is in a nice, safe, warm pool. Even the inspiring stories in this book can’t convince me to do a polar plunge! No thanks. Open water swimming is a humbling, disgusting, difficult, sand-in-your-shorts experience. Although I’m grateful to be able to do swim in lakes and the ocean every now and then, mostly, I think I’ll stick to my lap pool.
Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper
I picked up this memoir without realizing that Christian Cooper, in addition to being a birder and Internet-famous due to an unfortunate incident in Central Park, is also a nerd! And gay! He has led a fascinating life, full of travel and writing and birds. His memoir is carefully written, introspective, and was a fun read. I especially enjoyed learning about his experiences working at Marvel in the 90s.
Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine by Dr. David Kessler
Very well-researched and thorough look at the modern food environment and weight loss, including the new GLP-1 drugs. Although this book is science-heavy, it includes enough plain language, interviews, case studies, and personal anecdotes that increases readability. I skimmed some of the biochemistry sections but still feel like I got enough information.
Mostly, I appreciate that Dr. Kessler a) includes his own weight loss journey, and b) doesn’t hold back from criticizing food companies, pharmaceutical companies, and his former agency, the FDA. He makes it abundantly clear that the modern food environment creates a perfect storm of conditions that lead to obesity and that weight gain is not a personal failing. He is also rightly critical of the fact that there is little to no research on the long-term effects of GLP-1 drugs. That’s mind-boggling to me.
If you have any interest in taking these drugs, or if you’ve lost weight and want to know a lot more about the forces working against you in maintaining that weight loss, this book will provide everything you want to know, and probably more. Dr. Kessler doesn’t demonize obesity or shame people, but is clear headed about the role visceral fat plays in increasing health risks.
I don’t talk often about my experience with weight, because it’s not a unique story, and honestly, it’s exhausting enough just to live with it, let alone talk about it. Welcome to having a body (especially a female one) in America! I grew up in the era of Biggest Loser and Kate Moss. I was very overweight in those eras. I lost about 90 pounds in the 00s, and have kept most of it off for 20 years. Is that an achievement? Sure. Is it fun to talk about? Nope. It’s a lifelong struggle. Once you lose weight, your body is never the same as it might have been. There’s no moral judgment about this—it’s just reality. You can’t eat like people who have never been fat. You have to exercise like people who have never been fat, but it’s harder. Isn’t that just a kick in the pants.
So, yeah. Knowing these drugs let people have a shortcut to weight loss causes me some mixed feelings. Is it a great thing? Perhaps. But it feels a bit like a “too good to be true” scenario. Or maybe that’s just my sour grapes from not having access to these drugs when I could’ve really used them. But if I had, I surely wouldn’t have learned what kinds of exercise I like, how to eat in moderation, and how to cook. Regardless, this book helped me learn more about the forces at work in our bodies that make us want to eat the way we do.
Mel Lake | Writer, etc. 