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IndoorDame
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lil1inblue Whitman is one of my favorites! 😍 2d
TheSpineView Love! ❤️❤️❤️ 2d
dabbe 💚💙💚 2d
IndoorDame @lil1inblue mine too! ❤️ 1d
33 likes4 comments
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TheBookHippie
Sasha Masha | Agnes Borinsky
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March 22-29 marks the second #transrightsreadathon! Its a week long reading and fundraising event that supports trans awareness, trans advocacy, and trans writers. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

My stack 🏳️‍⚧️💕🏳️‍⚧️

65 likes1 stack add
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Graywacke
Twilight Sleep | Edith Wharton
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Twilight Sleep : Book one
#whartonbuddyread

Flapper shocker? 🤷🏻‍♂️ What are your thoughts on Nona, Lita, Pauline and her men?

We are in Wharton‘s later books. She‘s experimenting, and she‘s bringing middle aged women to life. So as we sigh at her Pauline satire, also take a moment to think why Wharton spends so much time on her.

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Currey @Graywacke Both Pauline and Lita were closer to caricature than Wharton usually goes. Pauline‘s defense of the “dark” man because she wants her retreat made me very uneasy. (I know, I know….the time it was written in). However, I am liking Nona and of course simply reading Wharton‘s prose. (edited) 5d
TheBookHippie I love the prose. I had to remind myself several times the time it was written in because 😬… however I think it makes you think, and makes you feel the characters and did it when it was written as well? She writes flawed very well. 5d
Graywacke @Currey Pauline‘s ability to rationalize all contradictions, even contradictory public speeches, was quite interesting. I‘m puzzling about Wharton and Lita - Wharton‘s controlled prose and her intention that might be counter to our understanding (or misunderstanding). 5d
Graywacke @TheBookHippie i agree, she does do flawed writing well. I‘m trying to remind myself of the time and perspective too, but she‘s making me question what i do and don‘t understand of the era. 5d
TheBookHippie @Graywacke I agree, has me wishing my grandma was alive to ask her questions. 5d
batsy This is so different and so Wharton at the same time. The way she deftly satirises the busy days of the wealthy who don't have to work for a living—Pauline has days filled in order to assure herself that her days are filled. I also have to read up more on "twilight sleep" births because I vaguely knew it was a thing, but didn't realise the extent of it being an early 20th-century trend. The Dexter and Lila situation is ringing alarm bells?! ? 5d
Graywacke @batsy I‘m wondering about those ⏰s. And the births, which is new to me. However, I‘m quite intrigued with what Pauline fills her days with. Non-Christian spiritual stuff, very, you know, 1970‘s. Also, what she and Lita are doing have parallels. 5d
Lcsmcat @batsy The Dexter situation made me wonder what happened to Wharton that she was exploring these pseudo-incest scenarios. 😱 5d
Lcsmcat The prose is excellent, and the wit sharp. I highlighted several quotes, of course. But this one made me laugh out loud: “Yet what did Episcopal Bishops know of “holy ecstasy”? And could any number of Church services have reduced her hips?” 5d
Graywacke @Lcsmcat that‘s interesting about Dexter. Wonder what Hermione Lee says. 5d
Graywacke @Lcsmcat Pauline, right? That quote. I kinda understand Dexter‘s affection. She‘s entertaining. 5d
batsy @Graywacke Yes, great point. Who knew there was a precursor to the 60s and 70s mysticism? It's fascinating that these ideas were circulating among the rich earlier on in the US. Also loved that Pauline described her regimen as "Taylorized effort against the natural human fate". The Taylor system being implemented in late 19th-century I think. Wharton's incorporating quite a bit in this book. 5d
batsy @Lcsmcat Right. It also made me wonder exactly what was going in upper crust NY society at the time (perhaps a tale as old as time and maybe no less different now? Idk 🤢) 5d
Lcsmcat @Graywacke Yes, that was Pauline. 5d
Lcsmcat @batsy @Graywacke I think we tend to see religion /religious fervor as something that was stronger in “the old days” (whenever that was) whereas in reality it comes and goes, is displaced by various fads, then something bad happens (war, economic crisis) and we scuttle back. The founding fathers were not so Christian as today‘s far right would have one believe, for example. (Jefferson rewrote the Bible to include only the bits he liked.) 5d
batsy @Lcsmcat So true. I'm not as well versed in American history so that is interesting indeed about Jefferson! 4d
Graywacke @Lcsmcat I think education and religion have a poor track record everywhere always. Not completely contrary, but rarely hand-in-hand. Wharton seems to present a very casual relationship with religion in her writing. 4d
jewright @batsy I was surprised by the twilight births too. My grandma had them in the 50‘s and 60‘s, but it sounds as if this was only specially available to the wealthy maybe because most people would have been having home births. 4d
Leftcoastzen I forgot to start it! Not looking at comments. I‘ll be back! 🫤😁 4d
Graywacke @Leftcoastzen you can catch up! 🙂 4d
Leftcoastzen Whartons writing is just so good! Being over scheduled seems like an avoidance tactic somewhat for Pauline . I love the debates about what to do about Michelangelo! Pay his debts , which would lead to bad behavior again .That marrying money is a career choice or Dexter can just hire him, like you can just say, yep, now I‘m a lawyer! 20h
Leftcoastzen Actually, there is a lot of history of Theosophy, Yoga, eastern religions in those years. It did take the place of more traditional religions for some people, & some , just a fad.But usually with the rich & comfortable , regular people worked too hard for a living. Like anything else, there were serious scholars of these traditions, and people just out to make a buck. 20h
Leftcoastzen And Lita ! I get the impression she is not going to be tied down to the trappings of adulthood, a husband,a baby. Being a flapper can nearly be a modern “religion”too. 19h
43 likes26 comments
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Graywacke
Twilight Sleep | Edith Wharton
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Suet624 Jeepers, I really appreciate Wharton. 6d
batsy Her satirical eye is unforgiving 😆 6d
40 likes2 comments
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dabbe
The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald
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readingjedi Such an iconic cover! 1w
dabbe @readingjedi 🤩🤩🤩 1w
Eggs Perfecto 👀💙👁️ 7d
dabbe @Eggs And in my head are the “eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg“. 🤩🤗😍 6d
55 likes4 comments
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TheSpineView
Eye Level: Poems | Jenny Xie
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dabbe 💚💙💚 1w
40 likes2 comments
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Therewillbebooks
Breakfast At Tiffany's | Truman Capote
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About to dip into my first Capote

Tkimsal The story contained in there called “A Christmas Memory” is probably my favorite short story of all time. Capote was an amazing talent. 1w
45 likes1 stack add1 comment
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shawnmooney
Underworld: A Novel | Don DeLillo
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https://youtu.be/TaSIMH8MGTk?si=RyjiprOsLVP1ExwI

Shocks to the System: Don DeLillo‘s novels of the Cold War and its aftermath by Christian Lorentzen: https://www.bookforum.com/print/3001/don-delillo-s-novels-of-the-cold-war-and-it...

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IndoorDame
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TheBookHippie 💚💚💚💚💚 1w
TheSpineView Another great poem!💚 1w
32 likes2 comments
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LeftyDv
This Side of Paradise | F Scott Fitzgerald
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Pickpick

104 years since its publishing, this classic defines America still. What is fake? What is real? What and who do we really love? Do we still have faith? And if we do, what do we worship? Disillusion, youthful rebellion, feminism and socialism vs. capitalism. It‘s all here. There was not one Lost Generation - there have been many. Frankly, there continues to be. Fitzgerald‘s prose is essential American Literature.

CarolynM I loved this when I read it as a teenager. I‘ve always wondered if I would still love it if I read it again. 7d
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