You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir | 
Thanks for the tag @AmyK1 ! I might have tagged Educated too but thought I'dchoose another. I know Alexie has fallen from grace. But tagged book is such a powerful memoir, esp. the audio read by him. Hell yeah I vote. I‘m thankful for the beautiful October weather, my dog and that I‘m headed out this weekend to fish and hike along a beautiful wild river. Tagging the universe.
“...living on an Indian reservation was like living inside an Edith Wharton novel-a place where good and bad manners were weaponized...”
panFor the first 100 pages or so, I thought this was a moving & powerful memoir (even though I found the poetry unnecessary & a bit lazy). As the book went on, Alexie relied more & more on repetition without really doing much that was new w/ the repeated passages. What was described as a “quilt” of a memoir felt more like a bundle of cloth scraps—it could be a gorgeous whole, with some craft & some editing—but as it is, it just didn‘t work for me. ⤵️
I thought my August TBR was going to be a little more under control than July was. But no. Here we have two chunksters for book clubs, three leftover from #MakeMeReadIt, two books for my poetry project, and four examples of my inability to control myself at the library.
Any thoughts on the tagged book? It‘s my library‘s book club pick, and I‘m conflicted after having seen the #MeToo accusations about Alexie.
pickA combination of prose and poetry, an amazing memoir. Best book I‘ve read this year. I live on the Spokane Tribe‘s ancestral lands and work to restore salmon so it particularly hit home. I hope that there is some path towards appropriate reconciliation in the wake of the #metoo allegations and Alexie publishes again.
pickAn amazing book! The storytelling and poetry was so emotional on the audiobook. #nonfiction #audiobook
Listening to this heartbreaking memoir as I drive up the Columbia Gorge from Portland to Spokane. I often stop here, at what was Celilo Falls until it was destroyed by Dalles Dam in the 60s. Once one of he most important salmon fishing and gathering places for Northwest Tribes.
Book: You Don‘t Have to Say You Love Me
Author: Ed Yong
Movie: The Year of the Yao 🏀
Food: Yogurt
#manicmonday. #letterY @JoScho
pickNative American author Sherman Alexie writes about the tragic destiny of his mother and the hard life of his parents on the Spokane Indian rez in Washington. Everybody should read Alexie, #TommyOrange and #LouiseErdrich.
pickA book that I almost did not read is “the perfect book for me at the perfect time”, another mystery at work behind the scenes of my life. Sherman attributes many of his issues to being “Indian”. On that, he is wrong. We are from/in the same “tribe.” Sherman: “I am often lonely even in a room full of people that love me...I am not alone in this world”. Me: No, you are not alone and neither am I. Thank you. “This is who I am” and that‘s OK🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I really wanted to finish my book tonight...just saying. I only have 61 pages left. I usually do not even count pages. Its not a novel but I am wondering how it will end. Guess I will have to wait and tell you a bit about it tomorrow. Its after 2 AM and I really want to get an early start. (I almost always say this but do not get up early enough). Night night...
“I used books for self-defense”-Sherman Alexie
This was a book that I was going to BAIL and not read. It seemed too sad although I love memoirs. However, I ended up thinking about it a lot today. Sherman called be back into his life and I am glad.
Relaxing, and hopefully finishing this one tonight. #SaturdayNight #PartyAnimal
pickToday is my boys‘ first shared birthday party! 🎁
Just finished this one. I liked it. Really liked it, but I feel guilty for even listening to it after the news about Alexie‘s behavior. Several women stepped forward, bravely, with #metoo stories about the author. It most definitely colored the way I read this memoir. I wouldn‘t have listened to it, but I had already been on hold for it for months and honestly forgot about it until it had arrived.
Thos book contains so many ironic passages considering the author's #metoo allegation. Nonetheless I still appreciate his works.
pickI listened to the audiobook of this one and Sherman Alexie did the reading. Hearing his words in his own voice was great. His emotions came through in his reading. It felt personal.
I have 2 brackets this year- one with my friends where winner gets $1500... I‘m essentially in last place 😫 (but my husband is in second!🤞🏻) & my #marchmadnesschallenge book bracket. So seeing as I probably have no chance with the first one, I‘m reading to my hearts content in hopes of winning this one! I am currently working through this pile (2 completed) and another 13 holds at the library 🤣 help!
#Ishouldbesolucky
#marchintooz
pickI‘m glad I listened to this one because I‘m not sure I would have finished it in paper form. He does a good job telling the hard time native women have had on the reservation and illuminating our prejudices. I hated that he repeated some phrases over and over and over. I understand he was making a point, but it‘s irritating on audio. I don‘t think Sherman and I would be friends if we met. I don‘t feel very sympathetic towards him.
This book was randomly selected (from NPR best of 2017) to be on our #marchmadnesschallenge bracket.
Given all the recent allegations (and his “acknowledgement”), participants will be allowed to substitute reading/buying this book for any book of your choice. So you can pick it to advance but then read any book.
so-soI did not enjoy this reading experience as much as I anticipated I would. At the heart of it, Sherman Alexie is a great writer, and I learned a lot... about him and his family, about Spokane Indians and about myself. But the writing was fairly repetitive, and I found myself skipping whole chunks of the book to just get back to the main idea.
pickA memoir told partly through poetry, diary and essay forms. The violence, mental illness, substance abuse and poverty are heartbreaking. The chapters on race, culture, appropriation, and Trump are insightful. And it was really interesting to pick up on the inspirations for some of his fictional characters- honestly that was probably my favorite part. I really want to go back and re-read some of his work.
pickIt‘s a Sherman Alexie book so of course it‘s a pick & I recommend it. And yet, this isn‘t a book to “like” as much as it is to read & be thrown into the tumultuous chaos of Alexie‘s grief, anger, love, hate, and, ultimately, limitless sadness over his mother‘s death. Reading this book isn‘t easy—Alexie‘s life as a child wasn‘t easy, his relationship with his mother wasn‘t easy—but there is no denying the power & emotion, good & bad, of his words.
I read this passage and thought there are always layers of meaning to the things we find. Some we know and understand and some, once an object is lost to time, we may never decipher.
Sherman Alexie‘s writing is, as always, powerful and emotional.
When you are reading and learn about the origins of a wonderful picture book in your library...
Going back to nonfiction since I don‘t want to follow In Other Lands with more fiction. (The family wants me to read Ready Player One but I feel very confident in saying if I try to read it now, I won‘t like it. So...) I love Sherman Alexie‘s writing. I‘m expecting a powerful—he actually had to cancel most of his book tour for it because it proved to be too difficult—and emotional book.
pickHeartbreaking and brilliant. #3wordbookreview #bookstagram #reading #read2018 #shermanalexie #youdonthavetosayyouloveme
I bought a new toy for my fat Lola, and she loves it! She's having so much fun, it's distracting me from my book. Love my old kitty. #CatsofLitsy
pickI think I‘m a little obsessed with Sherman Alexie. This book is beautifully written. He is emotionally raw in some parts, hilarious in others. I never knew what life on an Indian reservation was like before reading this book. I am incorporating some of his poems and short stories into my senior course when we fall about race and identity. This is a must-read.
"We fall in love too easily...Or we fall in love with the same boy or girl who was tortured alongside us. We spend our lives with the person who has the same scars in the same places. We make love with the person whose open wounds snap into ours like LEGO pieces. And then, of course, we rage at our neediness...Does any of this sound like love?"
“... it was her touch that brought me back into the world. Her touch gave me back my body. Her touch reintroduced me to the corporeal. Her touch began the healing process.”
What a powerful statement about the importance of human kindness and non-sexual intimacy.
pickA touching, yet difficult memoir. There‘s poetry, prose, and song. It‘s pieced together as a quilt is. The audio is well done.
pickThis book was not perfect, it could have been shorter BUT that didn‘t stop me from fully appreciating and benefiting from Mr. Alexie‘s bravery,honesty, humor & pain. Sherman Alexie says it best “I am in pain. I am always in pain. But I always find my way to the story. And I always find my way home.” 🙌🏻💕 Emotionally draining, nobody can ever know what another human has endured. Thank you,mom & dad for filling my memories with love & warmth💘💘
Yesterday I read a review by @britt_brooke about the Sherman Alexis memoir and while I‘m loving this book, Britt wasn‘t a fan. One of her legitimate gripes was the repetitiveness of the memoir. I came upon this “I repeat the same words, sentences, and paragraphs. That‘s what happens. Great pain is repetitive. Grief is repetitive. And, maybe, this repetition can become a chant inside a healing ceremony.” I believe this helps explain his process
This memoir is fantastic! Painfully honest, with plenty of laugh out loud moments and equal amounts of free flowing tears. A very close friend from the States, dad passed away yesterday, however the burial will be in Israel today. I'm always glad to be able to support my friends & loved ones on this end of the world. How privileged I feel to be able to share in their grief and offer comfort in person. Our friend will sit shiva in my home today💔
pick5/52 -❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️! I have been a fan of his for over 15 years. Reading his memoir was wonderful. I believe it is powerful, painful, poignant, and many times it is profane. He is brutally honest about so many aspects of his life, yet he still has secrets that he hasn‘t shared. It makes me wonder what the secrets are, but like everyone we all have to keep certain secrets. He has persevered against so many odds. We are fortunate that he allows us in.
Only 30 more chapters and 50 more pages to go set up at this wonderful book to bed. The problem is I don‘t want to put it to bed because I look forward to reading it every day.
panWriting about grief can‘t be easy ... but I really didn‘t like this book. Alexie uses incessant repetition as a device. This could‘ve easily been half the length. It‘s an awkward mix of stream-of-consciousness(esque) rambling and a lot of poetry, much of which is prose poetry, which turns out, I don‘t enjoy. I‘m a huge memoir fan, but stylistically this did not work for me at all. #unpopularopinion
pickThis was my last book of 2017. I loved it. Sherman Alexie is honest and raw in his grief. He writes about his life as a kid on the Spokane reservation, some stories of his youth can be found in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This memoir isn‘t just about Sherman but about the loss of his mother and the complicated grief he feels. Lillian Alexie could be difficult and the relationship between mother and son was hard at times. 👇🏻
Page after page & paragraph after paragraph, Sherman tells his story which is beautifully written. He is brutally honest & there are many heartbreaking parts of His story, but he addresses topics that everyone can relate to and shows a level of intelligence and persistence that clearly indicate that he is a highly gifted individual, in my opinion. BTW, I have been identifying giftedness & serving gifted children for over 20 years. ❤️❤️❤️ Sherman!
So many poems about, or referencing, salmon. So many. You guys know I‘m a huge memoir fan, but I‘m not digging this one at all.
Woooohooooo Chapter 100....only 80 more chapters to go!!! It is a very engaging book, not to mention informative. I have always been his fan and will always be his fan.
I couldn‘t wait to get home from work to eat and read. I had no idea that this was the next chapter 😋😋😋. Oh, how I miss my holiday vacation.
I have been sitting on this book for months, just waiting to ring in the new year with what I know will be an amazing read. So excited!
so-soI know. I know that I am in the minority here. I found the tone of this book to be angry and depressing. I picked it after seeing so many rave reviews. Unfortunately, it just wasn‘t something that I needed to read over this joyous holiday season. The book‘s tenor and the way I‘m feeling right now are diametrically opposed. Wrong time/Wrong book. Don‘t hate me because I want happy books!
pickWOW. i think the only way to truly experience this beautiful memoir is on audio. read by the author, it is a mixture of stories, spoken-word poetry, and native american chanting, so the audio gives you the full experience...including several times when he breaks down while narrating. All. The. Feels. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
