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caramelcopp

Trans guy trying to get back into reading

1423 points

0% overlap
Level 4
Iconic Series
Winter 2026 Readalong
My Taste
Wuthering Heights
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (The Tithenai Chronicles, #1)
Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)
Frankenstein
Reading...
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
15%
War and Peace
14%
Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America
12%
The Rose Bargain
0%

caramelcopp left a rating...

10h
  • Most Ardently
    caramelcopp
    Mar 18, 2026
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.0
    🏳️‍🌈
    💖
    📚

    I really loved the approach to transness in this novel. As a trans dude, the accuracy of dysphoria and the escalating nature of dysphoria when you’re misgendered after you’ve began to pass was incredible. I would say this is the single most accurate book I’ve read depicting my own trans masc experience (dreams about top surgery included). Besides that, the retelling of Pride and Prejudice was fun, Darcy was actually exactly what I would expect from a slightly younger version of himself and I loved how a lot of elements of the original were remixed. As far as retellings go it doesn’t hit all the same notes as the og (but I didn’t love the og so that’s okay). Regardless it’s a very feel good story representing both queer and trans joy in an atmosphere where we’ve been taught not to expect it. Of course the accuracy isn’t perfect, but in my opinion it’s worth sacrificing some realism in order to bring joy to a place it rarely is seen. There are enough heart breaking tragedies about the realities (and often horrors) of the queer and trans experience in unwelcoming places, and thankfully this is not one of those.

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    17h
  • Most Ardently
    Thoughts from 49% (page 142)

    As a trans dude, I really appreciate how accurate this story is to the experiences of dysphoria and the way that dysphoria increases after a person is used to being gendered correctly and is suddenly misgendered. This might be the most accurate depiction of the trans masculine experience I've ever read (makes sense since the author is a trans dude himself). On another note, I really like how accurate the characters are! Especially Darcy feels very much like a slightly younger version of the original character. Of course it isn't perfectly or even that close to the original (and isn't historically accurate), but as my professor said, there's a place in this novel for trans and queer joy that is simply feel good and that doesn't need to be tainted by the historical realities. Lol I know I'm rambling a bit but I am really enjoying this novel.

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  • Most Ardently
    Thoughts from 49% (page 142)

    As a trans dude, I really appreciate how accurate this story is to the experiences of dysphoria and the way that dysphoria increases after a person is used to being gendered correctly and is suddenly misgendered. This might be the most accurate depiction of the trans masculine experience I've ever read (makes sense since the author is a trans dude himself). On another note, I really like how accurate the characters are! Especially Darcy feels very much like a slightly younger version of the original character. Of course it isn't perfectly or even that close to the original (and isn't historically accurate), but as my professor said, there's a place in this novel for trans and queer joy that is simply feel good and that doesn't need to be tainted by the historical realities. Lol I know I'm rambling a bit but I am really enjoying this novel.

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  • caramelcopp commented on a post

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    Thoughts from 16% (page 68) geography continued

    It has become clear that the author apparently thought in P&P when they walked to Meryton (2 miles) they were walking to London (24ish miles). I love rewrites and adaptations, and I usually don't care about being loyal to source material, but paying attention to the setting basics really feels like the minimum in a story like this where the premise (Netherfield being let at last to Bingley, introducing himself and Darcy to the story) do rely on the period specific mechanics of gentry having country estates far from the city and homes in London for the season. How can Bingley disappear to London causing Jane to doubt their future when that's apparently a minute or two away?

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    caramelcopp TBR'd a book

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    M.T. Anderson

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    1w
  • Frankenstein
    Thoughts from 100%

    I fear I may be in the minority when I say that I actually like Victor’s character…

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  • The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
    Thoughts from 15% (page 59)

    I keep forgetting that in narrating this, Lydia is at most 17. I swear I keep imagining her as like at least 29. More and more just hearing how her life has gone has made me rethink how silly she was in Pride and Prejudice. Of course she was loud and silly- she was 15!

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    The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

    The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

    Melinda Taub

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  • The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
    Thoughts from 9% (page 33)

    I’m reading this for a class on Jane Austen as an extra adaptation to give a presentation on and I know I’m early in but the sheer closeness to the source material so far is impressive. Dialogue is taken from Pride and Prejudice and Lydia is NOT likable despite being the main character (or at least any more likable than she is in the original). Her older self is kind of a whiplash, she’s still silly but also has an air of authority and power that I could never associate with her. However that’s after the events of Pride and Prejudice so I can’t say that it’s really changing anything.

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