Welcome to Litsy!

I have a complicated relationship with Williamsburg. My sister went to college there, and I was determined to go anywhere else (contrary teenager syndrome) but ended up there anyway. As a #longtimefed I sent colleagues all over the world but never traveled myself, for the first 10+ years.

Then my first work trip was to…Williamsburg! My very last work trip was to nearby Chesapeake, to learn more about processing travel reservations and vouchers.⬇️

Took the youngest to Thomas C. Wolfe Memorial today and purchased Look Homeward Angel and thought of reading You Can't Go Home Again with @Lcsmcat We also visited his graveside and left a pen. I then took her to Jerusalem Market Cafe to get some Shakshuka for #Israel. Next, Pinball Museum.

#TropesInAugust @Klou
ReturnToSmallTown

I thought this classic by Thomas Wolfe was most appropriate for the prompt. Also, choose this one since Wolfe grew up in Asheville my hometown.

By the time I neared the end, I came to the realization that You Can't Go Home Again was written to show how Wolfe's worldview had evolved through his life's experiences. I resented his apparent passivity to racism. I scorned his descriptions of the rich. I was appalled at the mistreatment of his fellow train passenger. He understood his innocence will never return. He saw and lived inhumanity and knew it to be ugly. #wolferead Thank you @Lcsmcat

Thanks to my reading buddy, I made it through the final chunkster of the summer. Wolfe has moments of brilliant prose, interspersed with way too many adjectives. There was real growth in the MC, and many ideas to ponder. It‘s a pick. Now I‘m going to read books of less than 600 pages for awhile. 😀 I‘ll still be checking in with my #wplfereads buddies. I want to hear your thoughts, particularly on Book 7.

P 465 #wolferead @Lcsmcat almost your own words. LOL!!

“And about Hitler‘s Germany he felt that one must be very true. And the reason one needed to be very true was that the thing in it which every decent person must be against was false. You could not turn the other cheek to wrong, but also, it seemed to him, you could not be wrong about wrong. You had to be right about it. You could not meet lies and trickery with lies and trickery, although there were some people who argued that you should.” 👇🏻

I‘m loving Mrs. Pur is‘ anti-George pro-Edward rant, knowing how it all actually turned out. 😂 But I did have to look up the actual date of the abdication. #wolferead

What do you think, #wolferead buddies? True, or Webber/Wolfe‘s mental state talking?

“Baseball‘s a dull game, really; that‘s the reason that it is so good. We do not love the game so much as we love the sprawl and drowse and shirt-sleeved apathy of it.” I have to agree with him here. #wolferead

For the life of me I can't understand Wolfe's purpose in writing a man's death as he gruesomely did in ch 29. The history of America was weaved through the fabrication of his death. It was very disturbing. #wolferead

Up to ch 31 #wolferead. Reading the part how Libya Hill was affected by the Depression really shook me. I don't know why. I've always known NC was affected too. I think this week I am going to research Asheville during the Depression. It also reminded me of Its a Wonderful Life - except the Building Trust is run by unscrupulous men and the blind judge (Mr. Potter) may be who saves the town through evil, cruel ways.

“These were the innumerable small fry who became . . . embattled vegetarians, or believers in salvation through nudism.” 🤣 #wolferead

Ah, if only it had gotten better since 1929. #WolfeRead

The chapters Jack at Morn and Mrs. Jack Awake are quite a shift from previous chapters. The minutiae of his morning routine, the quicksilver changes of mood and wordless conversation between her and her maid Nora. I‘m ready to have George back, please. #wolferead (random picture from the internet to represent Mr. & Mrs. Jack.)

"Their souls we're like the visages of city streets." Ch 4 #wolferead

I liked how Wolfe described NYC's workers. Delivery drivers.

"Each day they faced the perils of the streets with hearts as calm as if they were alone upon a country road."

I‘ve finished Book 1 (about 125 pages) and there‘s no puzzling over where the title came from. He made that very clear. 😆 #wolferead

Joining in with @Lcsmcat and others for the #WolfeRead of You Can‘t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. This is my first time to read Wolfe. I had no idea he died at such a young age (37) and that this book wasn‘t published until after his death. I found this collection of Wolfe‘s works on my Kindle.

I've been wanting to visit Wolfe's home for awhile now. I think I will after I finish reading. I never knew that he was so well known that he was read by Hemingway and Faulkner. I thought it was funny that in the introduction, Gail Godwin wrote it is natural to go back and forth liking and not liking (my words) and I find it to be true. I find I'm cringing then appreciating. #wolferead @Lcsmcat

Repost for @Lcsmcat :
Join us for the #WolfeRead of You Can‘t Go Home Again. Very casual. Some of us are starting this weekend. Read at your own pace; comment on whatever catches your attention.

“And the were sure and certain, forever wrong, but always confident.”
Such a perfect description of 20-something men. #WolfeRead @Butterfinger

Join us for the #WolfeRead of You Can‘t Go Home Again. Very casual. Some of us are starting this weekend. Read at your own pace; comment on whatever catches your attention. @LitsyHappenings

I have my copy. When and how do we start @Lcsmcat I didn't know it was a chunkster. 😊

Any interest in a buddy read of this book? As a native North Carolinian I‘m ashamed to say I haven‘t read it yet. I‘m thinking something very informal, like #magicmountain and #myvodkabromance were, and starting in September? Give me a holler if you‘re interested.

📚You Can‘t Go Home Again
✍️Richard Yates
📽Young Frankenstein
📺Younger(So cute, woman in her 40s stopped working to raise daughter,can‘t get a job in publishing, pretends to be 26.)
Yellow squash
#manicmonday #letterY

My Obvious State quote calendar knows what's up this month (and every month).

Esther glanced at George and saw his face grow twisted as he looked. He wanted to say to her that we are all savage, foolish, violent, and mistaken; that full of our fear and confusion, we walk in ignorance upon the living and beautiful earth, breathing young, vital air and bathing in the light of morning, seeing it not because of the murder in our hearts.