I feel. Of course I do.
I have emotions.
But I try to consider events as if they‘re happening to someone else. Some other entity. There‘s the thinking, rationalizing I (me). And the doing, the experiencing, her. I look at her kindly. From a distance. To protect myself, I detach
“When artists bemoan the rise of political correctness in our cultural discourse, what they're really bemoaning is the rise of this unexpected reader. They're bemoaning the arrival of someone who does not read them the way they expect--often demand--to be read; often someone who has been framed in their work and in their lives as an object, not as a subject."
Women act counter to all the laws of submission when they remove themselves from availability.
pickValency Stirling, 29 year old spinster, receives shocking news from a doctor, breaks with her overbearing family to set off and find some happiness. Ultimately, it‘s rather a silly book, but I adore it for Valency‘s rebellion and path to self-discovery. Also made me want to live in a shack on a small island in Canada.
so-soLike... it's fine. I enjoyed it well enough. Gave is three stars, added the next book in the series to my TBR, would recommend to others. But, I can't bring myself to click the “Pick“ button. There's an excellent book in here somewhere: Chambers has built an interesting world and given us a few really compelling characters, but it all just felt so...slapdash.
pickI love books about books. I love books about food. But what about books about books and food? Nicoletti pairs short essays about books that mattered to her with recipes inspired by the book, her memories, or both. I enjoyed the essays, but the recipes, while often very clever (e.g., a pig‘s head for Lord of the Flies), were beyond my modest abilities as a cook. A fun, fast read that left me wanting to re-read old favorites.
pickA solid ending to one of the funnest, filthiest comic series I‘ve ever read. I think it would‘ve hit harder if it hasn‘t been so long since I read volume 5 (or if I did a re-read), but it was definitely worth the read to finish out the series. I‘ll miss these characters.
pickCourtney Milan is by far my favorite romance author. This one started a bit slow for me, but things picked up considerably. I love how Milan plays with expectations by upending tropes. I also absolutely adored the village of Wedgeford and hope to see more books from Milan set there. ETA: I didn't even mention the list-making! Chloe is a heroine truly after my own heart.
pickUgh, this was so good. I‘ve had it on my TBR shelf for ages and only picked it up to make more room. So glad I did - Wharton really is masterful.
SAPPHIC HISTORICAL HEIST ROMANCE?!?!?! Sign me up.
bailedThis one makes me sad. I was really excited to read this book, which purports to be a “Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South.”
This book is severely in need of editing, and, quite frankly, I‘m mad that the publishers didn‘t do their job. It‘s such an important, interesting topic, and Twitty is clearly very knowledgeable, passionate, and compelling. Very disappointing.
pickFirst book of the year was a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ read.
I was obnoxious about this book, bringing it up to everyone in a not-so-subtle attempt to get people to read it. The way Wilkerson brilliantly reframes American history through the lens of caste had me looking at the world in a new way.
My full review is here: https://abookishmess.wordpress.com/2021/01/14/caste-by-isabel-wilkerson/
That was the thing about thoughts. They thought themselves, and then dropped into your head in the hope that you would think so too.
In the UK, when lawmakers were revising the laws that criminalized gay sex to further discourage homosexual behavior, it was determined best not to outlaw sex between women. This is not because it was condoned, but because lawmakers—men—believed that if sex between women was so much as mentioned in the law, it would alert women to the possibility and encourage women to have sex with each other. Best to keep as many in the dark as possible.
What perhaps should be feared most is the fury of frightened people.
Knowing things is magical, if other people don‘t know them.
A woman with internalized misogyny is the most likely to have self-directed anger.
It was something gentler than lust, and more essential: a connection so instinctive it almost seemed an extension of herself.
It was strange, she thought, how you could live all your life in a home defined by people who loved you and took care of you and shared ancestors with you and yet did not entirely see you, people whom you protected by hiding yourself.
A 2017 survey found that only 37 percent of men believe affordable birth control for women makes a difference in their lives.
Writing is either a way to shed my self-delusions or a way to develop them.
Starting out #24in48 by finishing up this audiobook. Does it count when I fall asleep while listening?
This section makes me feel very seen. Questioning your sexuality? Find some books!
“...the position books occupy in your life, if they are a defense you setup to keep the outside world at a distance, if they are a dream into which you as if into a drug, or bridges you cast toward the outside, toward the world that interests you so much that you want to multiply and extend its dimensions through books.”
“Long novels written today are perhaps a contradiction: the dimension of time has been shattered, we cannot love or think except in fragments of time each of which goes off along its own trajectory and immediately disappears. “
“[H]aving your feet up is the first condition for enjoying a read.”
“Taquitos are much better than heroin, it‘s just that no one knows about them and heroin‘s so celebrated.”
#truth
“So it turned out that power was the quality of knowing what you liked. An odd thing for power to be.”
There are, too, simple picnics on the beach which only work when you‘re in love because otherwise you couldn‘t bear the sand in the brie.
“She was a committed romantic and an anarcha-feminist. This was hard for her because it meant she couldn‘t blow up beautiful buildings.”
"True, if the two women had gone alone, people would surely have considered thus very bad behavior; while no one could object to Mlle Danglars going to the opera with her mother and her mother's lover. One must take the world as it is."
As I read all the "I should go to Canada" posts elsewhere on social media, I couldn't help but laugh..."I was tired of being Canadian...In Canada, it seems that you are either mindlessly optimistic of depressingly realistic. Having swing from one end to the other, I finally decided to bail out. I ran away, and for this I apologize."
bailedFelt a bit too much like author needed some money and figured he'd shove q bunch of stuff he already wrote together and called a book. #crankybookreview
I did not expect such delightful writing about food when I opened this book! "...he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask containing bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes."
Because I just watched the trailer for the Starz show, and I wants it now...time for a re-read!
so-soFirst (and possibly the only?) book finished in the #24in48 readathon. And it's...ok? Whitehead can write, for sure, and he really, really wants you to know it. There's great humor and insight throughout and it's a fascinating glimpse at a community I don't read enough about, but it was just too meandering to ever really engage me.
Quick #24in48 question! Is it kosher to start at midnight in a time zone that is not my own?!
bailedI just couldn't with Sara Crewe. It was all just too precious.
pickRBG is EVERYTHING. Part biography, part inside the Supreme Court gossip, part light legal history, and part women's magazine profile. Frankly, I could have used a little less of that last bit.... It's charming at first, but a whole chapter devoted to her slightly creepy personal trainer? That said, this book was fun, light, engaging and educational. And it's got me looking to reignite my inner civics nerd. Highly recommended.
Can't wait to start listening to the audiobook this weekend during the #24in48 readathon!
This book has been worth reading if for no other reason that I now know somewhere in this world exists a photograph of RBG and Antonin Scalia on an elephant.
I find the connections Wharton draws between the heroine's social climbing and her dad's Wall Street dealings so fascinating. Undine has her father's ambition and skills, but bc her only outlet social climbing, she's maligned. She's still completely heinous, but it's fascinating to think about.
Anyone know where I can find a doctor to prescribe a "dash to Paris or London" to help deal with anxiety attacks? Cuz...if I could get my insurance to pay for this, that'd be grand.
