Written on the Body | 
I called Winterson a genius earlier, which she may well be, but I'm clearly not. Got to page 47, but it was by pushing myself hard. The writing is very good, but I'm not connecting with the narrator. Got to listen to the heavy feeling in my gut (why should a book cause that? 🤔), pass on this and maybe dip into that library pile.
Alice Coltrane still delivered, though 😊
“Poor me. There's nothing so sweet as wallowing in it is there? Wallowing is sex for depressives.”
27th August is the birthday of both Alice Coltrane (1937) and Jeanette Winterson (1959), and as this book was already near the snow-capped summit of Mount TBR, it seemed appropriate to go with the flow of this confluence of awesome female genius, so here I am again, ignoring my library books in favour of my own stacks!
#BooksAndMusic
pickI am not smart enough for most of this. There were pages (many, some in a row) I did not understand. But what I did was gorgeous. I love how groundbreaking it was, to have a main character with no gender before non-binary was commonly used vernacular.
It is interesting how Wintson wove past and present and the relationships of the main.
The front door to my house has this window that throws pretty light prisms and sometimes when I am reading on the couch it is beautifully distracting.
I don't think I am smart enough for this book. But this quote made me smile -
"I had bought a new flat to start again from a nasty love affair that had given me the clap. Nothing wrong with my organs, this was emotional clap. I had to keep my heart to myself in case I infected somebody."
pickTake love poetry that is passionate and desperate, mold it into a novel, and you have Written on the Body. The result isn't exactly romantic. Love is under a microscope in some ways: we witness the main character's obsession in a new light, not even knowing their gender. This choice distinguished it from any other love story I've seen, removing the distraction of male-female or female-female dynamics. It's daring, uncomfortable, brilliant stuff.
pickPortions of this book were incredible, but I can‘t help feeling that either something was missing in the execution somewhere, or that perhaps I simply don‘t fully relate to Winterson‘s depiction of the kaleidoscopic complexity of love. The section that enumerated different tissues and cells also felt out of place to me. Nevertheless, rating Pick for ambition and many exquisite and highly quotable passages.
pickMoving and emotional story of love and loss... definitely not one to read if you‘ve recently lost someone. Told through reminisces of relationships past, and the one that was just right and you lost.... and can you go back and right the wrongs, even as everything reminds you of what you‘ve lost.
#Reading1001
🔥🔥🔥 #WomanontheCover A very interesting read!
#ReadingWomenMonth
@thereadingwomen @Weaponxgirl @Andrew65
Poetry is not really my bag but I tried to create a Haiku:
“Any human heart
a place of greater safety
written on the body “
#riotreads #spinepoetry
A pretty great reading month for me - and no bad reads! 🎉✌️
pick"Why is the measure of love loss?"
And thus begins a short novel that reflects on love, passion, trust, sex, guilt, loss, beauty, and the consequences of our acts... The narrator is genderless and nameless, which allows the text to explore love in a more universal manner, surpassing gender limits. A very interesting, poetic, and accessible text which I highly recommend. This has been my first Winterson and will not be my last!
There are, too, simple picnics on the beach which only work when you‘re in love because otherwise you couldn‘t bear the sand in the brie.
“She was a committed romantic and an anarcha-feminist. This was hard for her because it meant she couldn‘t blow up beautiful buildings.”
Sharing this one to finish catching up on #ReadingResolutions in March! A bit late! This #bookquote from one of my current reads is referring to films but it made me think of the relation between characters in books and the reader as well.
Mini used bookhaul from @BetterWorldBooks ! 😍😍 Two required readings for this upcoming semester.
Bone of my bone. Flesh of my flesh. To remember you it's my own body I touch. Thus she was, here and here. The physical memory blunders through the doors the mind has tried to seal. A skeleton key to Bluebeard's chamber. The bloody key that unlocks pain. Wisdom says forget, the body howls. The bolts of your collar bone undo me. Thus she was, here and here.
pickHappy Eid to all of you who celebrate!
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This is such a good book, if you haven't read it yet you definitely should!
Easily one of my favourite first lines of all times! #booktober #greatfirstlines #queerbooks
I felt like a seed in a pomegranate. Some say that the pomegranate was the real apple of Eve, fruit of the womb, I would eat my way into perdition to taste you.
#shadesofblue
#somethingforseptember
#queerbooks
Re-reading one of my favorite books while preoccupied with assigned readings for lit classes 😻❤️😻
