...she says that 'considering the total antipathy I had toward matrimony,' the convent was the most honorable decision she could make. She took the veil at age nineteen, despite her fear of routines that 'would limit the freedom of my studies, or the noise of a community that would interfere with the tranquil silence of my books' (97). She did at least get a cell of her own, and she amassed a library of several thousand volumes...
@broughtyoubooks This is the one - I got a paperback version for about $40 CAD a bunch of years ago.
If you read too many at once it ruins the impact, so I found reading on interview every week or two was perfect for me to spread it out and fully digest each one.
This book should be subtitled 'and add them all to your wishlist.'
“To sincerely adopt the psychology of tokenism, you have to sell your own community out. That‘s the dark underbelly of the thing. Instead of blaming institutions rules and social attitudes of those around you for the absence of other people like you, you blame your own community.”
💯💯💯💯
also: I don‘t know why the picture is red.
pickI love the author‘s style of writing, his reflection. In this collection of notes, he speaks on the importance of writing, of how it gives words power, how speaking truth is power. Truth may be forcibly hidden but like the moon, it cannot remain hidden for long. Here, he shares his emotional and physical experiences from his time in Senegal, SC, and Palestine. We must keep writing, reading, reflecting, and acting. There is no other way⬇️
Worth putting the Acknowledgements at the front of the book when you get material like this. ☺️🦖⛰️
pickIn last weeks irl grp we read this memoir by Shirley Jackson of bringing up her 3 very young children. I laughed from the opening chapter and continued to chuckle throughout as the author manages to rise above the madness. Wonderful writing this was a joyful treat from a writer who normally has me listening out for creaks on the stairs as I pull the duvet up around me.
Hi @TheBookHippie - this will be my second book from your fabulous #auldlangspine2025 list. I couldn‘t get hold of the exact Dorothy Parker that you had read - but I‘ve not read anything by her so I opted for this collected works. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
“The first time I entered Jerusalem‘s Old City, I walked down a flight of stairs that began on the current street level; at the bottom, I was stunned to step onto the paving stones from the street level during the Roman period, as though I had traveled through time instead of rock.”
Have you ever been there? Did you feel the time captured in stone? #told_by_a_woman #iamthatjew
so-so
