Welcome to Litsy!

Much consideration, last minute additions, but: the question remains: did I bring enough books?

I love Olivia Laing‘s writing & this is another invigorating non-fiction work. She creates mini-biographies of artists & thinkers from history (Reich, Sontag) but they become interesting stories through her lucidity & feminist eyes. She uses the idea of the body to explore human experience, thought & struggles with freedom & illness, with intimate portraits of her characters along the way. Will be more rewarding if you know the people featured.

Laing‘s newest book is as the subtitle says about freedom. Freedom to choose your own healthcare, freedom to be who you want to be, freedom to love who you want and freedom over your own body. And how this isn‘t always easy in today‘s society and the cost of fighting for freedom.

As usual Laing uses a lot of philosophers, writers, singers and artists to illustrate and throughout she uses Reich‘s ideas and life.

#BookReport

Started 3 books for buddy reads
📚 Emily of New Moon #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead
📚 Persuasion #PemberLittens
📚 Four Hundred Souls #400souls

I‘ve read the other 3 books

A thoughtful, thought-provoking, expertly researched book about what it means to inhabit a body written in a time when so many bodies and the related freedoms and rights are under assault. Laing uses the difficult life of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, who studied under Freud but had a falling out, to explore gay rights, civil rights, feminism, and racism. Well-written, powerful, and insightful.