Welcome to Litsy!

I lingered over the pages of Rachel Cusk's subtle essays - a blend of memoir, social commentary, and literary criticism. Her writing is absorbing... monsters inside of cars, being sent to Coventry, rudeness welcomed as a false god. The title essay, Coventry, was the finest in my opinion.

Rachel Cusk's essays kept me company while I waited for my dinner companions yesterday evening. It was absolutely gorgeous; the perfect weather quite a contrast from the previous day! I've read the first couple of essays in this volume so far and have so many underlined passages. It's proven to be a great book and travel companion so far.

Rainy days while traveling for work means lots of reading time savoring fabulous food. (Picture really doesn't do this dish justice.)

Thoughtful book of essays about marriage, motherhood, and cultural criticism. I most enjoyed the title essay about her changing relationship with her parents, and choosing confrontation over silence.

Thank you, thank you @Mynameisacolour for my wonderful #jolabokaflodswap gift!!!
I am thrilled to get Rachel Cusk's new book! (I know I requested it, but still came as a happy surprise!) With excellent chocolate choices to boot!

Sadly, a crap photo of this pretty package. I opened it early and snapped a quick pic before we left town.

Thanks again @MaleficentBookDragon 😘 I hope the book fairies reward you for your good work!

If you read Rachel Cusk‘s novels you know that she is capable of quite profound observation about the most normal of things. The first six or seven essays of this collection will not disappoint. The others though seemed to have a lot of padding around smaller ideas. Ideas that are strong enough to support an essay are those but you can flip, spin, dissect, turnover, etc. Nevertheless it‘s a pick because the good stuff is really good.

I adore Rachel Cusk‘s writing and will read (and have read) anything and everything she writes. This collection of essays was all that I had hoped for - ridiculously smart, thought-provoking, just the right amount of disarming candor. And, of course, gorgeously written. Warning: the collection of short pieces in the final third of the book will add to your TBR pile.

The book is broken into three parts: the first deals with personal essays, the second talks about creativity and the artistic life, and the third is literary criticism. The personal essays in the first section were my favorite because they were longer in form and had a tendency to touch a subject, wander off and then circle back in a remarkable way. #netgalley