Ace by Angela Chen

I picked this book up for two reasons. The easiest was, that it's everywhere. It's floated to the top of numerous queer reading lists for good reason. This non-fiction book is informative, complex, and joyous. It doesn't belabor the plight of asexuals in current and modern society but outlines the issues, historically and anthropological, and then highlights people and spaces that have broken the mold.

The second reason I picked this book up was to see if it held some answers to questions I carry about my sexuality. And it did! It helped me to confirm that I'm probably not Ace, I find specific people attractive, but perhaps I'm more on the gray spectrum. The book doesn't go too far into that aspect, staying focused on the plethora of Ace experiences, but now I know where to look next.

As my experience with most non-fiction, it took me a long time to get through this book, not from a lack of inner thought, but probably more from the lack of pace that non-fiction can have. Each chapter was interesting, if long, with lots of topics that I'd find myself falling into thought rabbit holes over.

A wonderful read that will have doubtless impacts on my life. -Ford