Welcome to Litsy!

#christmascheer #bowsandribbons #wintergames2024 #xmaschacha

This novel is a fictionalized, exaggerated and distorted telling of a dark period of the life of its author, Plath. This is a relatable account This is my 4th read. Each time, I want the real woman to live and be the bad girl poet she wanted to be instead of a wife and mother. Each time, I hope that the real woman‘s life ends differently than it did. I guess that‘s a definition of my own madness.

Have always been a bit hesitant to read The Bell Jar. Any tips/experiences, folks?

Ft. Pretty handmade bookmark from my friend to help with it❤️

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

#Shadow
#WickedWhispers

“What does a woman see in a woman that she can‘t see in a man?”
Doctor Nolan paused. Then she said, “Tenderness.”
That shut me up.

#SchoolSpirit #Bell
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

“But I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure at all. How did I know that someday―at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere―the #bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again.”

💔💔

It‘s time for a reread…

#SchoolSpirit
#Bell

#SchoolSpirit Day 2: #Bell

#SchoolSpirit September 2nd #bell

The naughty book-eater!!!

This was such an excellent book!! Love it!!

#dogsoflitsy #Reading1001 #1001

My dog had a lil snack this morning, she ate a little bit of the corner of this library book!!!

Should I tell the library? I could leave a post-it note on the inside…first time she‘s damaged a library book.

Bella (my dog) had completely destroyed one other book, Robin Hood, thankfully I bought it for $1 from library book sale. Oof.

I read The Bell Jar for the first time a couple weeks ago then sat on it, because I wasn‘t sure how to articulate what I loved so much. Then I listened to it. This showed the way.

Through Maggie Gyllenhaal, Plath‘s prose truly shines. While reading, I was certainly enamored by the writing, highlighting some fav. lines. But after listening, I wanted to highlight almost every line.

I now understand the urge to compulsively reread a single novel.

#StorySettings #Hospital

Loved this book so much.

Tell me why I keep picking up copies of The Bell Jar every time I go thrifting even though I already own like 6 copies? I keep forgetting and just grab it. 😂 Anyway, I'm FINALLY going to read it today!

Rereading this after many years.

My #Tuesdaytunes is “Cemetery Somewhere” by John Muirhead.

Sylvia Plath wrote:
“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

“I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I shouldn't, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.”

This books makes me feel tired. Tired of repressing every self-doubting thought, packed in a little pocket of worries in my brain, about the future, myself, and how I allow others‘ opinions on these to shape my own life. I feel like I almost betray Plath with the way I lead my life (as if she would care) - setting a bell jar around my own life, with my own hands. This book paints my Bell Jar bright red, right in my face, and I hate that.

Mixed feelings about this one. I much preferred it to some of the contemporary/millennial books on similar topics. It felt both of its time and also very much not; there were times the writing put me in mind of Ottessa Moshfegh. Yet I didn‘t love it. There remains the obsessive self-centredness of the main character that I disliked here and have done in other books and I struggled with the second half. Still, I‘m glad I read it.

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”

https://english.shabd.in/the-bell-jar-sylvia-plath/book/10277922

It is taking me so long to get through my first book of the year...

...because we have been doing fun things like traveling to New Orleans and adopting a new kitty!

Litsy, meet Mike! He hasn't been introduced to our other cat quite yet (she is scared), but he has settled in well so far. ❤️

Hello, old friend. 💙 Starting the year with you.

As the year comes to an end, I have been feeling ever more intensely pulled to reread The Bell Jar. I read it every five years or so.

Then today at work, I realized I was repeating, "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart," over and over again in the back of my mind. So when I got home, I pulled my copy off the shelf. I probably won't start it for another week or two, but it felt good to flip through the pages!

After wanting to read this book for a very long time, I'm a little disappointed. I found the writing style difficult to follow. Understandably, it is a semi-autobiography, and covers sensitive topics, but I was not overwhelmed.

This book has been on my TBR list for far too long. Time to read it at last

Ever since the first time I read this book in high school I‘ve been saying it‘s my favorite book so I seem intellectually superior and also sexy. Rereading it as a 20 year old has solidified the fact that this is the best book I‘ve ever read. It‘s SO relatable which is kinda scary but whatever. The last time I read it I remember thinking the beginning was slow but this time the beginning had me hooked. I love this book. PLS read it!!!

I didn't care for this book at all. I felt like it ended too quickly. I rated this book a 2 out of 5 stars.

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

#AutumnPlease
#Shadow

🖤💔

This film looks interesting 🤔

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/lady-lazarus-visual-exploration-of-sylvia-plaths-po...

For #Blues , I immediately jumped to the tagged book, one that has been on my tbr for such a long time.

For the song, I decided to go with a blues song by Jimi Hendrix, whose rock music is deeply rooted in the blues genre. Born Under a Bad Sign is not one I‘m completely familiar with, but I loved the instrumental play in it (it‘s pretty much instrumental for the entire 8 minutes). #TitlesAndTunes

Books # 4, 47, and 79 in that order. September, here I come!!

@PuddleJumper #roll100

#BookBinge
Day 19. About mental health
#AboutMentalHealth
Playing some catch up!

#AboutMentalHealth

#BookBinge

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Late the game on this one but glad I finally read it! Esther Greenwood is an intelligent and talented woman but is trapped in a stifling, restricting system which drives her mad. Some of the most beautiful and inventive descriptions I‘ve ever read. Esther‘s descent seems completely plausible, believable and inevitable. Really powerful. Highly recommend.

While I didn't enjoy the first part too much, I absolutely loved the second half of it, i was so interested in what was going to happen that I could barely stop reading long enough to underline passages.
My favourite parts of the book are Esther's relationships with people, specifically her mother. This is the first book to ever make me cry.
It is a tragedy that Plath died before being able to finish her second novel.

I reread this book ever 3-4 years and every time I‘m blown away by different aspects of this novel. This time it was how recent this was actually set in our history. My grandma and I discussed her reading this book when it was first published in the US and how much she loved it. A classic for a reason, and something I look forward to rereading again in my 30s.

This is a reread for me! I seem to pick it up every couple years with a new appreciation for Plath. Lately, I‘ve been seeing booktok videos (I‘m assuming that‘s where they started but I don‘t have TikTok) creating lists of books to read to master female manipulation and this book is always listed. Maybe I‘m confused, but even as I‘m reading through this I‘m not seeing the MC as some manipulative mastermind.

This book is a timeless masterpiece. #modernclassic #sylviaplath

This is a really interesting story, and I needed to read it really slowly to take it all in. It's a hard read at times as it has mental illness and suicide too. I remember being really into Syliva Plath, and the movie came out with Gwenth Paltrow. It's her only novel.

This book was awesome.
...except for all the racism.
That was not awesome.
At all.

One of my #Roll100 books from last month. While I own the physical book, when I learned that Maggie Gyllenhaal narrated the audio version I grabbed that too. I‘ve been embracing reading and listening in tandem more often lately and it‘s really been helping with my brain fog. This one is a classic for all the best reasons. @PuddleJumper

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn‘t know what I was doing in New York. #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

[heavy sigh 😞]
I wish I could go within a mile of a bookshop and not feel compelled to go in and buy like I'm living to 200 years old 😔
(This, and other lies I tell myself 😏📚)
#BookHaul

I wish she‘d found a way to stay in the world 💔 The Bell Jar is a book I‘ve read at least four times - it resonated with me for so many reasons, in so many ways. #independentwomen @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

Such an honest, human voice, dark yet humorous. For anyone wondering - this is a must-read!

I wish I could hand this book to 25-year-old Meg because I think it would‘ve resonated even more strongly then. I saw so many of the struggles I‘ve had on my own mental health journey reflected in Esther, and I think many others do, which is why it‘s such a classic. I loved the introduction written in the 1990s by her former editor and the 16 page bio at the end that are included in this edition. Thanks @Emilymdxn for this #ALSpine rec!