No One Tells You This: A Memoir | 
pickI found it engaging to see someone come to the same conclusion from a different angle than I did.
The idea that a full life does not require partner or offspring has solidified for me in the last five years or so, and 40 is still on the horizon, though approaching fast, so my epiphany is not as dramatic as a self-confrontation marked by a 'milestone' birthday. 1/?
Patriarchy (gender roles) suck(s): a realization compilation.
“And when it came to hard and valuable things, I preferred my version.“
“...I understood the appeal. And the danger.“
Yes, more president head piñatas, please.
It's a proximity thing. Those downstairs neighbours....🇨🇦😛
“...going through life making decisions on what I might possibly feel in a future that may or may not come about was a bad way to live “
Identifying with the text so hard right now.
This woman is inside my brain!
bailedGuys - I‘m bailing on this one. While the book sounds promising (40 year old woman discovering it‘s fine to be single without kids), I just didn‘t fall in love with the story. There‘s just something about this I‘m not connecting to...I‘m approaching 40 single and without kids and have also been in conversations where people told me that “there‘s still time” or “he will come along soon.”
Here‘s my advice: be happy living how you want to live!
“Men, it occurred to me, perhaps for the first time in my life, did not need to be a goal.”
While this memoir so far has not been as engaging as I had hoped, little nuggets like this come through the author‘s discovery that it is okay to be single at forty, with no expectation for a “happily ever after” with a husband and kids. I‘m approaching 40 in a few years...while I‘m depressed about a lot of things, being single is not one of them!
Caturday morning with #Zeke and my current read. #catsoflitsy
I‘m intrigued by this...as a woman without a husband/boyfriend and without children, I frequently receive comments on my lack of something in my life. Patrons helpfully tell me I‘d be a lot happier with a husband and kids. I‘m also a few years away from 40. Let‘s see if I agree with this book...
The question at the center of this memoir is whether you can be happy as a single, childless woman over 40. I'm really enjoying MacNicol's voice, which is both humorous and relatable.
I was 34 when I met my husband, and am now approaching 40 and childfree. I struggled for years with the question of whether my childless life would have meaning. I'm now happy with my decision not to reproduce, but still relate to the struggle of women's worth.
pickThis is a terrific memoir by an author who finds herself at 40 years old to be successful, single and childless. Everyone should read this.
“My life, precisely as it was—the product of good and bad decisions—began to come into focus for me. Sitting there, I could see it for the first time as something I‘d chosen. Something I‘d built intentionally, and not simply a makeshift thing I‘d constructed as a for-the-time-being existence until something came along that would make me as a whole person in the eyes of the world.”
Tagged my favourite book of the year, I am happy about my reading life, and looking forward to 2019. Not too sure about my challenge for next year...yet.
so-soVery realistic bio - some hilarious moments and some super boring; alas such is life
so-soFrightfully close to pan from me. Oddly disjointed and jumpy, I wouldn‘t actually class this as a memoir. Part whinge, part lifestyle cheerleading, it‘s an angsty assessment of the author‘s life the year she turned 40 sprinkled with on trend feminist musing and paid jaunts to Iceland and the South of France. The 3rd of the book that dealt with her mothers decline from Parkinson‘s was the strongest but an unfortunately minor note. Also kitty 😻
I‘m not having much luck with Memoir at the moment (halted Lands of Lost Borders for this one but am just finding it angsty and slightly obvious) but I did adore this line in a chapter headed with a Katherine Hepburn quote “Don‘t foresake Those duties which keep you out of the nuthouse” & who can but love such a line from such a woman? 😊
I made myself say it out loud ‘I might always be alone‘ it sounded less overwhelming against the noise of the breaking waves. I laughed. Fuck off, I thought, I‘m done feeling bad. And then aloud: ‘I can do whatever I want.‘ - friends I absolutely loved this book so much. It was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ took this pic in July on the beach in Tofino BC 🖤
Chillin at Starbucks between classes this afternoon. Just finished kudos!!
pickLoved this. The memoir switches between Glynnis MacNicol's perceptions/apprehension toward being single & childless at 40, and her urgent need to place her mother in a nursing home as her Parkinson's causes a quick decline in mental function. There were moments of levity and discomfort as MacNicol dates, travels, visits her parents, and helps her newly single sister take care of her 2 kids in the weeks following the birth of her third child. 👇🏻
Doing a little #audiobaking this fine fall afternoon. Who wants some apple cake?
Also this book is ?! MacNicol asks what is a woman if she chooses not to be married, not to be mother? What is there left to be? Where do we find our worth? With honesty, kindness, and humor she examines her life and her choices. I've said "amen" more than once! ?
pick🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
At 40 Glynnis MacNicol is single and childless. Instead of being pitied because of this she sets out on a journey of self discovery. With distinction and open-mindedness Gylnnis has written a memoir that a lot of women can look up to in this day and age. Very Empowering!
#memoir #bookreview #bookblogger #booksandcoffee
We need more books about single women doing great things with their lives! This is a great memoir ❤️
1- In fits and starts...trying to do at least 1 a month.
2- F 80 vs NF 20
3- I love nature writing, obscure micro histories and some true crime
4- Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
5- tagged
#hellothursday
pickInteresting.
pickI feel very seen by this book. Thank you Rebecca at Book Riot and Doree and Kate from the Forever35 podcast for telling me to read it.
pickAs a childless woman over 40 this memoir jumped out at me. What does it mean to be a woman who doesn't want to / can't have children, or conform to one of the roles both society & our mothers might have drawn us towards.
At the beginning her questions seem too ‘current'. As she shifts her questions towards "Who am I, if I don't want to be a New Yorker? I felt she'd found what she really wanted to discover and her authentic voice came through.
so-soMacnicol‘s life is interesting. I wanted to connect to the material but couldn‘t. Maybe this just wasn‘t for me?
pickA fabulous memoir about a newly 40, childless, single woman in New York learning to struggle, be proud of, regret, love, question, and live the life she has. A truly resonating memoir about being a woman today and finding happiness in being true to oneself.
“I was struck again by who had actually built the country and who had received credit and how both these things .... were the direct result of who got to tell the stories and how they were told”.
MacNicols, on a cross country road trip reflects on women pioneers and the impact Laura Ingalls has had on her world view. #sundaymorningquiettime
“And I knew the simple act of reading would give my mind a certain sort of peace nothing else could”
Total agree - many a time I‘ve turned to books to regroup, add stillness and perspective - especially when life starts getting too crazy.
Back on track with my #onenonfictionamonth
“And I knew the simple act of reading would give my mind a certain sort of peace nothing else could”
Total agree - many a time I‘ve turned to books to regroup, add stillness and perspective - especially when life starts getting too crazy.
Back on track with my #onenonfictionamonth
“And I knew the simple act of reading would give my mind a certain sort of peace nothing else could”
Total agree - many a time I‘ve turned to books to regroup, add stillness and perspective - especially when life starts getting too crazy.
Back on track with my #onenonfictionamonth
Perfect campfire snacks courtesy of @Mdargusch - cheddar cheese and caramel popcorn Ohio style. 👍🏼 #hometownswap
1. Space Jam
2. French fries 🍟
3. Contemporary Christian Music
4. No One Tells You This
#FRIYAYINTRO @jesshowbooks
That‘s the best think about your local Indie bookstore- every time you go, something random, outside of your vision takes your fancy and comes home with you!
This is a memoir written my MacNicols‘s during her fortieth year reflecting on the roles, expectations, pigeons holes created for women along with her own adventures and experiences of womanhood.
Happy Booklovers day ! ❤️📚❤️
⚠️parent with chronic illness, dementia, mental health concerns, animal death, mention of miscarriages, stillbirth, death of a parent 2mo