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Reader reaction
"She offers a snapshot of one person's joys and journey through a profound transition."
—Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2007
"A humorous and challenging journey from boyhood to womanhood."
—California State Assemblyman Mark Leno
"Lannie is stunningly honest and genuinely refreshing in her outlook on life."
—Jamison Green, author of Becoming a Visible Man
"Provocative, amusing, challenging, and so helpful to so many."
—Reverend John Considine of the Unity Church of North Idaho
"Soulful and sparkling! Lannie Rose shares her remarkable story like it's a bottle of fine champagne."
—Richard J. Novic, M.D., author of Alice in Genderland
"Warm, witty and oh-so-charming."
—Misha, Lannie's girlfriend
"...a number of chapters spoke to things I'm currently experiencing in a very profound way."
—Jessica B., The Pragmatic Heretic Show podcast
"I felt like I was reading an engrossing letter from my sister."
—Doug Brown, a reader
More praise...
Preview first four chapters...
Memoir of a sex change
Blam! Crash! Slam! A shocking drunk-driving accident totals Lannie's Buick. Fortunately, she is not hurt. Better still, she is not arrested-because jail is not a nice place for a man in a dress. When he goes out shopping for a new car, he feels compelled to do it in his feminine persona, and he begins to wonder why dressing up as a woman is so important to him. Join Lannie on her funny and extremely personal five year journey as she explores the possibility that she is actually a woman (despite having male genitalia), decides she is, changes her sex, and begins a new life as a woman.
LANNIE! is not yet another transsexual autobiography. This is just the good stuff, focused exclusively on the author's gender transition. The style is upbeat and plainspoken, with a gentle sense of humor. It contains no sexual content or strong language. The reader is left with the impression of a happy, successful woman who has overcome unusual challenges to achieve a normal lifestyle not unlike the reader's own. Because LANNIE! entertains as well as informs, it is interesting not only to the hundreds of thousands of transgender people who have a natural affinity for this subject matter, but also to a wide audience of readers around the world who are curious about this fascinating and titillating topic—and anyone who loves a unique human interest story.
More praise
"Dear Diary, today I woke up, had lunch with a girlfriend, went shopping, and had sex reassignment surgery. Although you won't find that particular sentence in this male-to-female transsexual memoir, it sums up its tone... Overwhelmed with finally being allowed to play with the 'girls, Lannie is like a child lost in a candy store, except that instead of candy, it's shoes, makeup, clothes and breasts... She offers a snapshot of one person's joys and journey through a profound transition."
—Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2007
"In LANNIE! My Journey from Man to Woman, Lannie Rose offers us a look at the sometimes perplexing and often daunting intricacies of the life of a transgender woman. Ms. Rose captures the reader�s attention through her tale of self-discovery in this humorous and challenging journey from boyhood to womanhood."
—California State Assemblyman Mark Leno
"Lannie is stunningly honest and genuinely refreshing in her outlook on life. Her brisk conversational style, sometimes comic, sometimes blunt, and sometimes poignant, opens a window overlooking the male-to-female transition and pulls our gaze forward as we learn to see with her eyes the wonder and excitement of becoming one's self."
—Jamison Green, author of Becoming a Visible Man
"I'm just so grateful we're friends and so thrilled for the courage and success of your book, Lannie. Provocative, amusing, challenging, and so helpful to so many. Thanks, dear friend, for being so much a part of making this a more heavenly world."
—Reverend John Considine of the Unity Church of North Idaho
"Soulful and sparkling! Lannie Rose shares her remarkable story with us like it's a bottle of fine champagne. It tickles your throat and educates your palette while ultimately changing your view of the world and the people around you."
—Richard J. Novic, M.D., author of Alice in Genderland
"LANNIE! captures both the joys and challenges of the transgender woman's experience. At the same time, it offers a much deeper education about transsexualism than I've seen in other trans memoirs. I would recommend this book not only to my transgender clients, but to my friends as well, because it is a fascinating and funny read."
—Judy Van Maasdam, Coordinator, Gender Dysphoria Program, Inc.
"LANNIE! is quite candid and addresses a good range of issues. It is honest (perhaps unwittingly) in a way that exposes many of the vulnerabilities of being transsexual. In addition, its humor, along with an underlying compassion, enables the reader to glimpse what it truly might be like to be a trannie such as Lannie."
—Holly Boswell, transgender author and educator
"Make sure that you have a comfortable seat when you start this one, because you will definitely have trouble putting it down. LANNIE! is a marvelous book, filled with warmth, wit and a protagonist whose charms you can't help but succumb to. Author Lannie Rose regales the reader with her enthralling tale of taking the 'long route to womanhood.' Whether you are transgender yourself, or really have no idea why anyone would change their sex, you are sure to find something to relate to in LANNIE! Poignant and light-hearted all at the same time, LANNIE! is an entertaining read from start to finish. If you've been holding off—trying to figure out which of the myriad transsexual autobiographies on the market is for you—look no further; Lannie's your girl."
—Misha (Truth in advertising: Misha is Lannie's girlfriend)
"LANNIE! was absolutely fascinating! For where I'm at in transition, a number of chapters spoke to things I'm currently experiencing in a very profound way. I actually couldn't put it down and ended up reading it cover to cover in one night. It was really that good."
—Jessica B., The Pragmatic Heretic Show podcast
"I just finished LANNIE! I loved it. I felt like I was reading an engrossing letter from my sister (except neither of my sisters likes to write much). I could hardly put it down. Damn, girl, you sure can write! ... your books got me thinking more about the ways in which I fail to land squarely in so many of society's boxes. Highly enlightening."
—Doug Brown, a reader
"Ms. Rose's transformation from Eddy to Lannie is a story about shedding blinders and facing your deepest desires. Her engaging account reminds us all that we live, love, and laugh to the fullest when we're being true to ourselves."
—Alice Novic, author of Alice in Genderland
"The 42 chapters in Rose's memoir are short and concise, but hardly limited on content or emotion about her male-to-female transsexual journey. She begins with an insider's look at the graphic procedure for sex reassignment surgery (SRS), and from there, provides a play-by-play narration of her amazing transformation form Eddie to Lannie. Lannie had been a cross-dressing man for 10 years, but the female persona began to become more of a comfortable identity. Years of "gender therapy" and medical procedures later, Lannie emerged as a fully-realized entity. The ensuing chapters alternate between the introspective (her family's reaction to the news, spirituality and age issues, her harrowing post-operative ordeal) to the frivolous (splurging on two-hundred-dollar jeans, the pitfalls of makeup, breasts, and dating). At 50, the San Jose-based author seems to be just beginning her new life and this book is an eye-opening testament to the arduous the often blissful road Lannie has traveled to become the person she is today."
—reviewed in ON Magazine, July 2007
Film critic Gene Shalit meets Lannie Rose at Book Expo America 2007