Welcome to Litsy!

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“I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one‘s erotic truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. I wonder if that‘s what accounts for my father‘s coldness.”
It touches on the pain of repression and the complexity of familial love in a way that feels both personal and universal.

The parallels between Alison‘s coming out and her discovery of her father‘s secret life create a powerful commentary on hidden truths within families.

A poignant and introspective memoir about family, identity, and sexuality, Fun Home combines literary depth with sharp wit and stark, emotive visuals.

#NYTBest100
😂
I'm unreasonably pleased at my lack of interest in contemporary literature!

Book 78/100 of the year.

Thanks for the tag, @dabbe! My TBR is probably going to grow exponentially today, because I love a good bildungsroman. Here's 3 random choices from a long list of favorites:
1. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
2. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
3. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
#tlt #threelistthursday

Alison Bechdel‘s coming out story is intertwined with revelations about her father.

Shame ✨ Closeted ✨ Paternity

A book worshipper‘s wet, sapphic dream, Bechdel intimately examines her childhood, honing in on her father, and, to a lesser degree, her suffering mother. Her intertwining of classic lit like Ulysses, The Importance of Being Earnest and others into trying to explain her own life‘s narrative reads like the most fascinating English essay of the 21st century. Charmingly simple illustrations abound as well.

Can't wait to see the play!

So good. Read it before and had somehow forgotten about it. Real and honest look at loving family, especially parents, in spite of their behaviours and treatments. Highly recommend

Sunday morning coffee & reading 🤓📚

One of my best reads of the year, an arrow to the heart. I‘m feeling physical effects from finishing this book an hour ago. While my family‘s secrets were different, oh it rings so true. And same era…I‘m the last of 5 kids, born in 1968, oldest brother born in 1949. And two gay brothers. But oh, just the impacts of secrets and two parents together who made big compromises to stay married.

I‘m cracking up at my book choices for the holiday period. All of them dark! Escaped the house claiming I had “errands” to run. Just needed a break from the family lounging in all my favorite reading spots. Staring family dysfunction straight on, what do I grab on my way out? LMAO. Really enjoying this one though. Glad to finally read it.

Two bingo lines for #Nonfiction2022! Maybe one more before December 31.

This randomly turned up inside my entryway: nobody knows how or why. I've loved the “Dykes to Watch Out For“ strip in the past, so it was really cool to read Bechdel's own story as a graphic novel. It's her coming out story, running on a parallel track with her growing awareness that her dad is also queer and closeted, with all the complexities that involves for everyone in her small-town family.
#NonFiction2022 #ImALover
#Booked2022 #ComingOut

Graphic novel discussing this woman‘s upbringing and story in similarities to her father. Alison‘s father ran a funeral home, which the deemed the “fun home”. This story discusses Alison‘s journey to discovering she is a lesbian, and the moments following her discovery and learning about homosexuality, primarily through reading. She discusses her fathers homosexuality as well, comparing the two of them and discussing their relationship

Well, not so much Fun portrayed in the family Home in Alison Bechdel's graphic-memoir. It's an honest, unflinching and moving biography, which I picked up knowing nothing about as I didn't read the blurb, but am glad I did.
Coincidentally, this is the 2nd graphic-memoir I've read this month by daughters reflecting on their relationship with their fathers, both drawing parallels with the life and works of James Joyce, the other being ⬇️

📕 Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
🖊 Fadiman, Anne
📺 Finding Your Roots (PBS)
🎤 First Aid Kit
🎶 Forever - HAIM

#ManicMonday #LetterF
@CBee

📖 Feed by M. T. Anderson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
🖋 Lawrence Ferlinghetti
🎞 Fantasia, Fargo, The Freshman, F/X
📺 Foyle‘s War, Freaks and Geeks
🪕John Fahey
🎼 Flick of the Wrist by Queen, Fear Is a Man‘s Best Friend by John Cale, Fish in the Jailhouse by Tom Waits, Food for Thought by Mattiel #manicmonday #letterf @CBee

A memoir with a focus on the author's father and how discovering more about him before and after his death relates or contrasts to her own coming out/burgeoning sexuality/gender non-conforming style and gender in general. It's well-paced, avoids being dreary, but can seem cold. The bevy of literary parallels are a little heavy-handed, helping the author figure stuff out?
There is some outdated language; I would suggest looking up trigger warnings.

I ♥️ Etymology!

I didn‘t enjoy this book until the last quarter of the book. It was my first graphic novel so it took me some time to get used to this format. Also, I feel that the last quarter of the book had the most feeling. I didn‘t have enough of the literary references needed to truly understand how she was feeling or the comparison she was making and the use of the complex language in the book created another barrier between me and the author.

Co creator of the Bechdel test!
This graphic novel is a childhood memoir filled with dark themes and trauma.
It is a coming of age and a coming out story and is well worth the time
#pridebookrec #graphicnovel week

Trois sens ont teinté ma lecture : la vue, tout d'abord, car il s'agit d'un roman graphique dans lequel on retrouve une multitude d'images ; l'odorat, ensuite, car j'ai lu presque l'intégralité du livre avec une odeur de bougie en fond ; enfin, le toucher a été un autre sens important, car depuis la pandémie, j'avais pris l'habitude de lire sur ma liseuse. La redécouverte d'un livre papier étant donc d'autant plus agréable!

So glad I read this!

My husband was delighted when he discovered this book at a book store and was so excited to show me, only to learn I read it for a college course! After reading it, he really connected with it because of his complicated past and other reasons. He convinced me to read it again with notes he added to the book, and I feel like I took more away from it this time around too. #LGBTQ #GraphicMemoir #NonfictionComic #Comic

I did enjoy this book, but I found the second half very repetitive. I could see the point of Bechdel working through issues, but it made me go from thoroughly enjoying it to lowering my estimation a little.

This is one I should've read ages ago when I was in the baby queer reading rush. Definitely a central piece for queer reading, especially in the way it draws on foundational texts.

#AestheticallyMatched @Clwojick

This memoir seems to be taking a major place in the modern queer canon, so I‘m glad I finally read it, but it wasn‘t exactly what I expected. The majority of the book is focused on her father‘s story, which is equal parts tragic and horrifying. She is able to see her father with surprising compassion and detachment, as if she were writing this at the end of her life, not just at a remove of a few years.

I wanted to like this graphic memoir. Unfortunately Bechdel is so emotionally disconnected that I couldn‘t connect with the story. I understood her sadness, her wanting to have some link to her father. But it didn‘t move me.

Not a bad week of reading to start off 2022! #bookreport #weeklyforecast

Another Saturday at my step daughter‘s swim meet. Doing some #weekendreading between heats (I‘m learning the lingo.) 🏊🏽‍♀️

Random book picks for January! Print books from my #100rolls list & audio #bookspin & #doublespin. @PuddleJumper @TheAromaofBooks

This is a fantastic graphic novel memoir about growing up in a dramatic family and lifesyle. There are highs and lows and truths to be told. Tons of literary references which is fun, though most I haven‘t read.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Book 5 of 2021.

This title has been on my TBR list forever. Sadly I made the mistake of buying the Kindle edition and attempting to read it on my phone. Don‘t do this. I might just have to buy a hard copy and reread and fully enjoy the illustrations.

Very good read however.

I've been wanting to read this for a while now and was excited to find it on vacation last week. So here goes (with a bit of anxious excitement perhaps?)

It‘s the last day of #bannedbookweek2021. This graphic novel has been challenged many times for the following reasons: #pornographic #lgbtq #druguse #sexualviolence #sexualsituations #readbannedbooks kids! #freedomtoread #bannedbooks #bannedbooksweek

“I was so consumed by anxiety that she would stop, I couldn‘t enjoy it.” #graphicnovel #library #Libby #memoir #nonfiction #havebeenwantingtoreadthisforforever

This was engrossing and moving despite the craptastic way I read it (on my phone without any way to enlarge, ugh!). Very much lived up to its reputation.

I‘d much rather be reading this on paper but oh well. In good news, so far it has grabbed me and won‘t let go.

I‘ve somehow never read this so I‘m looking forward to it.

Bechdel strips bare the hardships of her childhood, an abusive yet absent father, & discovering her own sexual identity. A poignant piece with plenty of emotional currency. The writing is good, but a little overly academic. This makes sense given the context, but makes the story slightly less accessible. It can be difficult & overwhelming at times. For me this was just okay, but I can see immense value in it for other readers.

(Photo of a truck I was very nervous to drive behind. There was nothing keeping that wood in the truck.) If you are a Bechdel fan you may be interested in this video interview by a Vermont videographer who works for Seven Days, an independent Vermont newspaper. It was filmed when the book became a play on Broadway. https://youtu.be/A9vD7Nc0L3k

Wow, that was quite a ride! This is a memoir that covers self-awareness and coming out, the turbulence of an unhappy family life, how well we can ever know the people closest to us...there‘s so much here. There are no real resolutions, but that‘s true to life. The story meanders back and forth in time, as recollections do. Lots of literary and mythological references and parallels. Fourth finish of #20in4 @Andrew65

Tagged: The book I've finished so far this month. This was excellent. I loved it so much and I can't wait to talk about it. I've loved the musical for years, and I loved reading the source material. For those not aware: this book is bot fun. It has some fun elements, but the overall tone is serious and dark. TBR for the month also pictured.

#3books Banned books I‘ve read (and loved)