Welcome to Litsy!

I have mixed feelings about Lane‘s story. Her comedic, upbeat delivery is so incongruent with the content of her story. Basically on her own to raise herself as a child, she talks about her loneliness, persistent independence, & ambivalent trust of others that are part of life for her. Not until the final chapter did she have advice for others. I think I was misled by the title. I thought it would have helpful hints during lockdown 🤷🏼‍♀️ 2/5⭐️s

Currently reading (listening)

“And more than anything, feel proud of yourself, because you didn‘t let being other kill you........Either way, you‘ll still be here, living. Sometimes that‘s the bravest thing of all. And if you don‘t believe me, it‘s a line in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and as I and I both know, that show is everything.”

“I've realized that sometimes being alone truly is better than being around people, especially if they're the wrong people. Sometimes you just need time to yourself and it doesn't make you weird or wrong. It's a sign you really like spending time with you, which is health as shit, so good job.”
― Lane Moore

Somehow despite a ton of tragic circumstances, she manages to still be an optimist about friendships and relationships. The extreme honesty and candor are really refreshing since in current “society“ people shy away from awkwardness and realness. Actually embracing vulnerability and being able to talk about the hard stuff is something everyone could benefit from, and I think she demonstrated that in a really funny, heartbreaking & endearing way.

This! One hundred times this! ❤❤❤❤❤

Excellent! As someone who struggles with being alone vs being lonely it was nice to see that I‘m not the only one with ALL THE FEELINGS. While Moore could come off seeming to be kind of whiny at times I was completely with her the whole way. It was weirdly like reading my own story/history.

THIS!!! 👆🏼👆🏼 i always tell people I was raised by wolves because my parents were pretty trash. More often than not though they‘ll say something like, well they must‘ve done something right because you‘re great, blah blah blah. No. I did something right, despite them. Me.

"If you see a woman who is working super hard to become who she‘s meant to be and to achieve the things she wants to achieve, and you have nothing to add to her life or to give back to her in any way, please just leave her the fuck alone."

"No, no, let‘s make this look like something I recognize. Let‘s ruin everything."

"You don‘t have a foundation, so you look everywhere for one, which means the weight of any one connection is so heavy, so important, so delicate. If you lose it, what else will you have? And it has definitely kept me in a ton of awful friendships and relationships because I‘d felt like I had nothing or no one else to fall back on."

"(...) I sometimes wonder if my imagination is so intense because I spent so much of my life imagining this was not my reality."

"I knew them growing up and I‘ve seen their photos in photo albums and I know they know who I am and I know what they do for work. Kind of. But mostly I just see them as people who could‘ve saved me and didn‘t."

"When it‘s not that simple, or you don‘t have any of that information, it‘s that much easier to go your whole life thinking it‘s just you; you‘re too sensitive, you‘re wrong, you need too much, you could fix your relationship with them if you wanted to, if you would just do the right thing, whatever that is, only God knows, but you should die trying."

"I always think she‘ll be mad at me, she‘ll hate me now, she‘ll leave. And she doesn‘t!!! That‘s a thing??? You can be not perfect and still be loved? THAT‘S SO COOL!"

Ehhhh..... it had a lot of potential, but not what I was looking for. Finished it though. Book five of 30

This book has 15 chapters. I only enjoyed two.

A couple of my issues with this book:

1. It feels like this author is whining for 80% of the book.

2.It is hard for me to understand why she stays in relationships that are clearly causing her.

I did thoroughly enjoy the chapter on Jim Harper.

⭐️

Discussing this book (👎🏻) at the Book Club tonight. At least I‘m in a brewery. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Tonight‘s book club pick —at least in audiobook— is a definite run-for-the-hills bail for me. The author reads and I just can‘t stand it (her voice and delivery are fine — it‘s the content that annoys me). I get it, she had a horrible childhood! But omg the whininess. I think it‘s meant to be snarky, but it isn‘t. I might have liked it more in printed form, where I could partake in small doses. Just not for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

“Don‘t be too worried if you want to be alone a lot lately. Bamboo grows underground for three years before it sprouts up to thirty feet tall. Nothing blooms year-round. So if you need to be alone right now, that‘s what you need.”

😭😭😭

Just crying on my lunch break cool cool cool

An incredibly relatable memoir detailing why despite being around friends & family it might be better or more comfortable to be alone instead. The humor fit perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this while walking through a mostly unfamiliar city, alone.

Oh, babe. I want nothing more than to find and consensually hug the author. Essentially raised by no one and having suffered more traumas than she can count, she bares her soul to the reader in ways that are honest, searing and comical. A tricky balance but one that her voice can manage.

Good thing it‘s only 20 cents a day for late fees.
😂😂😂

So excited to start this! I absolutely adore the cover 😍

I think Lane is incredibly talented in so many ways but this essay collection had a lot of misses for me.