Welcome to Litsy!

Apparently Lena Dunham is a fan of this book. I‘m not

Starting a #poutinepenpalschristmasswap read from @pigeonsandcrows AND getting a pedicure the first time of forever 🎉 Happy Fri-YAY

It started out sort of funny, moved fairly quickly to weird (beyond quirky), and then again to unsafe/unhealthy. Bailed @ 33%.

First off, if you are not a fan of the dark humor & twisted sensibilities of Alissa Nutting & Ottessa Moshfegh, then this book is not for you. Single professional Cheryl Glickman's life is upended when Clee, the daughter of her co-workers, crashes her unusual ordered world. As Dunham blurbed, "Miranda July's ability to pervert norms while embracing what makes us normal is astounding." This is a quirky book, with moments of emotional heft.

I had a great first week for #bfc mainly as I had several days out the office, some long train trips and I'm in the Lakes for the weekend - here with my dad on today's walk. We will see whether I manage to do as well with a more normal week next week!

8000 steps a day DONE
70000 steps a week DONE
2 books read DONE (finished Fates and Furies, The First Bad Man, The Unquiet Dead)

@wanderinglynn

A work day in Bristol meant lots of walking and lots of train reading time - WIN!! Enjoyed this odd little book!

#bfc

This wasn‘t my favorite by MJ, but there was interesting character development and the ending was a bit unexpected for me. Not short of cringe worthy moments. 😯

Won this book from a giveaway that I entered and unfortunately, I didn‘t enjoy it at all 😭
⭐️⭐️ 2/5 for me

11.17.18 Happy Saturday, everyone! I‘m so happy that there‘s snow on the ground and that I can spend the weekend keeping cozy and relaxing at home. Starting The First Bad Man by Miranda July today, in between working on homework and cleaning. What is everyone up to this weekend?
#bookshark #booksharks #booksparks #saturdayreads #weekendreads #thefirstbadman

Starting this book tonight. Won this from a giveaway and it‘s been on my tbr ever since!
#bookshark #booksharks #booksparks

Cheryl is an awkward, middle-aged woman filling her life with fantasies (some are very dirty). But fantasy gives way to reality in the form of an unexpected, unconventional love and the desire to take care of another human being. Humorous, tender and peculiar, it‘s like a coming of age story for a very late bloomer.

I‘ve been in a terrible reading slump lately, setting aside book after book — until this. Wow, I‘m hooked! So weirdly relatable, I can‘t wait to see where this is going.

Is it a coincidence that the books I wanted were all black and white? Hmmm... #judgingabookbyitscover

Has anyone else read this? It was so super weird but I kinda loved it. I definitely need to reread this one, but the main character was just so messed up and compelling. I just wanted to know how it was going to end and what else would happen. So strange, but honestly so good.

I absolutely loved this absurd book. It is a surrealist meditation on motherhood, the human body, aging, and loneliness. It was hysterical and so well crafted. When I wasn't in awe of the eeriness of the dreamlike prose, I was laughing. I went in expecting weird and I sure as hell got it. The most thought provoking book I've come across in a long time. Amazing.

Ok wow I mean ... like many of us ... I‘ve read a lot of books in my life. This was the weirdest one. Definitely. I don‘t think that I loved it as a novel but as a piece of performance art about love and loneliness, absolutely. If you‘re going to do this book, I‘d say you almost have to do the Miranda July-performed audio version. I loved every sentence but what even happened here. Just, wow.

Sometimes I looked at her sleeping face, the living flesh of it, and was overwhelmed by how precarious it was to love a living thing. She could die simply from lack of water. It hardly seemed safer than falling in love with a plant.

1. The First Bad Man, I guess. I'm not that impressed with anything I've read so far this month.
2. Most of the time
3. 78 degrees
4. Pirates
5. Off to meet people!
#friyayintro

I'm about halfway through this book and I have no idea whether I'm hate-reading it or genuinely enjoying it.

Despite the well developed characters and universal themes of search for love, belonging and acceptance, the main thing I'm left thinking after finishing this book is how strange loneliness can leave you. So much of the plot happens inside the main character's head. Watching the characters unfold and discover themselves was fascinating. I'm still wondering if the shock value of this book added or distracted from the overall story.

I went into this book not knowing what it was about at all. I liked it, but it was also very strange. I didn't really connect with it that much. I did quite like the ending though, it felt like a full circle.
Overall I'd say three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks for the tag @candority! This is my entry for #BookColorTag. It was surprisingly hard to find black and white books! Perhaps not surprising is the fact that all of these are queer.

It's been the longest week and I'm finally on my couch (see post below 🛋) with a glass of wine and the book I started yesterday. I've been eyeing it for months and it was finally available at the library 🙌🏽 I'm about a third in and it's crazy and I like it!
Happy weekend, Litsy friends ☀️

Breakfast and my second read through this amazing book!

What a strange, strange book. But I wasn't expecting anything less from Miranda July. I didn't love this to death like I did her short story collection but it was a weirdly wonderful book that got me thinking a lot, about love and motherhood and loneliness and the absurdity of life. I'm glad Cheryl Glickman got a happy ending.

This book is super weird but super good. Also this picture turned out weird cause it unintentionally caught my partner's hand reaching for my leg.
Also: "I wondered how many other women had sat on this toilet and stared at this floor. Each of then the center of their own world, all of them yearning for someone to put their love into so they could see their love, see that they had it.

This book was not for me. There were so many times during reading that I stopped, looked up and said "what am I reading?"
I still have so many unanswered questions.
Don't even get me started on the sexual scenes, I mean I read some graphic stuff but come on! Incest? Why?
I'll stop now, I'm just ranting. I will read just about anything, I actually love really bad books. But this one, whole new category of strange.

I read almost this entire book in one sitting; there's about 30 pages left to go. I found myself looking up from the book an saying out loud "what am I reading?" So many times but, I couldn't put it down. Now, I can't pick it back up. I'm so confused by the main character, I'm confused by the "contracts" and the fighting. Can someone who read this enlighten me?

It's been raining forever. So blanket, couch, glasses and a book for me! Perfect Friday 😁😁😁

I didn't like this book, but I kept reading it to see if it got crazier... 🍌👖 (It did)
#unreliablenarrator #maybookshowers

Ornella: "The story is about women, motherhood, relationships, and love – and a little bit about men. I'm a German multimedia artist and I admire that Miranda July does everything – she's a filmmaker, performance artist, a writer. My work plays with kitsch, like NASA imagery. Pictures of nebulas are taken via telescope and the light travels for such a long time that what we see might not exist anymore. I like that. It's all interpretation." #nyc

I loved this cover... Because nothing could hint at what it was about. Simple and it stood out. #marchintoreading #judgedbyitscover

#LitsyAtoZ #J @BookishMarginalia
Book number 7 is done. It was an unexpected read...I was going to bail, but gave it one more chapter. Couldn't put it down...

So if you want something unexpected, perhaps this is the read for you. Enjoy!

I'm not too sure about this book yet. I'm halfway through and not too invested in the characters, who are all warped in some fundamental way. Warped deeply. Hence my confusion. Do I care enough to finish or bail? Maybe one more chapter...

I can see why this is such a polarizing book. Every three or four pages I was making a face and going "what the fu..." But I could not tear myself away from Cheryl's rocky inner landscape -- in a small way I was reminded of Rose in The Other Typist, another totally messed up introvert that doesn't really know herself for all the time spent inside her own head.

#LitsyAtoZ #LetterF #F

Both kids are napping and Mama's enjoying a long overdue bubble bath with a new book.

Meh. What a weird cast of characters .

In her intricately plotted debut, July takes the reader on a twisty ride that cumulates in a place we never see coming. She examines uncomfortable realities and taboo topics with a smoothness that will at times have you both cringing and laughing out loud. Suddenly, before you realize it's happening, you'll be rooting for love in the most unexpected of places.

Full review: http://tinyurl.com/jz7963p

#nowreading and loving it just pages in.

So weird...

I felt tricked when I read this, partially because the plot was twisty, and partially because it was another of those thrillers where there wasn't one character I liked or could relate to. It was definitely not for me.
#trickedortreated #octphotochallenge
@LibrarianRyan

I honestly had no clue what I was getting into with this book, but I'd heard people say they loved it and it was available as an audio download, so I did it. What a ride! Claire was definitely an unforgettable character, and just when I thought I had her figured out, July would throw another curve ball. I kept vacillating between feeling sorry for Claire and wanting to strangle her. Her quirks were definitely intense. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Try not to base your decision on this room, it isn't representative of the whole word. Somewhere the sun is hot on a rubbery leaf, clouds are making shapes and reshaping and reshaping, a spiderweb is broken but still works."

Good morning, Litsians! I'm starting this refreshingly cool Labor Day (it's 65 degrees out right now!) with coffee and my book. Only a chapter or two left and am hoping to finish by the time I've imbibed my requisite 3-4 cups of morning coffee. #biblioweekend

Hmm. Read a few more chapters, and am suddenly enjoying it more. I've read almost 80% at this point, so I'm definitely planning to finish. #biblioweekend