Welcome to Litsy!

This was a decent coming-of-age novel about growing up as a gay woman in an evangelical Christian household.

Both wryly amusing, and really quite sad, the church (rather than the MC's sexuality) is the centerpiece of this novel. Winterson both highlights the tragedy of and pokes fun at inflexible zealotry.

All of the fairytale / Arthurian asides should have been edited out. They add nothing to the story & stick out like a sore thumb.

This was both what I was expecting and exactly NOT what I was expecting. I'm not too good with stream of conscious and soc adjacent books and it tends to be a killswitch for me.

I thought this was NonFiction but it‘s not entirely that. The parts that I believe are autobiographical I liked but when it veered into the fiction story telling I got lost. I wanted more of Jeanette‘s story.

#Booked2022 #Acomingoutstory #DoubleSpin

Not my fav of Winterson‘s books but interesting and comical in spots.

This story might be wholly true or be wholly fictional. I still wasn't sure by the end.

#literature #lesbian

Winterson's first semiautobiographical novel describes her upbringing wjth a religious zealot for a mother. J doesn't question much about this life until she falls in love with a woman, and is then forced to choose between what she's always known and what she knows to be true. The mother is a force to be reckoned with.😳 Her angry, twisted faith raises a story of self-discovery into a battle between good and evil. It made for riveting reading 👇

Finally reading book that's probably been on my #TBR since about 1995.

This book was really different and I‘m not quite sure how to describe it. I couldn‘t put it down and found it really intriguing. The prose is certainly unique, and perhaps not for everyone, but I liked it.

"He would have cooked it himself but for my mother's complete conviction that she was the only person in our house who could tell a saucepan from a piano".

Only a few pages in and I already have a strong feeling I will enjoy this one...

June reading wrap-up 🌈 This month, my main reading focus was on books featuring LGBTQIA+ authors and/or characters, while my secondary goal was to finish a few books I'd begun in previous months. I managed to finish 11 books, including 2 ARCs, and found a new 5⭐️ read from my top 10 2022 TBR stack.
🥇Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
🥈In Other Lands (re-read)
🥉Nettle & Bone

The writing strikes me as a bit odd. It seems to jump around and focus at length on parts of the story that would otherwise be insignificant. I don't know yet what to make of it.

I'm not sure how I hadn't picked this up before now.
JW tells of growing up as the adopted daughter - intended as a missionary - of the fiercely combative evangelist Mrs W... until J falls for one of her female converts. I guess it would be called auto-fiction these days: was it *really* shelved in the cookery section originally?! (That's a great story in itself.) I wasn't expecting the humour. Anyway, I wolfed it down!

Excellent in every way. An unusual coming of age story. Just the right mix of troubling and funny. Need to track down the BBC adaptation next.

Everyone else has gone to bed. In the Gladstone Library lounge it's just me, a dying fire, and the wind howling against the walls. And the books. 📚🤓

@scripturient @julesG @squirrelbrain @jenniferw88 @Oryx @TrishB @CGainor3

I enjoyed this semi-autobiography coming-of-age story that also had fairy tales woven throughout.
Apparently I failed to add a few of my current reads to my Bingo list/card (darn it). Esther likes to hide her head under the sofa. I don‘t think she knew I took this photo. #EstherAssisting #DogsofLitsy

“There are different sorts of TEACHERY, but betrayal is betrayal wherever you find it.”

Do you think she meant treachery? Typo? 🤣

(The following is what my voice translator thought I said:

“There are different sorts of Teatree, but the trail is beep trail wherever you find it.”) 🤣🤓 #beeptrail

so tender & approaches complex/expansive themes of dogmatic religion and burgeoning sexuality with such acuity. winterson‘s prose is so smooth & full. only gripe with the novel would be the holes in the story behind her eventual self actualisation (for lack of a better term)

A semi-autobiographical novel, sharp and dryly funny recounting a childhood under religious extremism. As the story progressed and Jeanette interspersed fairytale & legend to convey her mythic journey to self-acceptance, I was wanting deeper cuts, something less tidy.

But Winterson has said she “wrote a story I could live with. The other one was too painful. I could not survive it.” and a survivable lesbian story was invaluable then and is still.

Finally getting around to this 1985 book. It‘s Winterson‘s quasi-fictional-memoir (I‘m just making up terms now!) of her childhood in a fundamentalist household. It‘s very short & somehow both warm hearted & spiky. Winterson overtly plays with history versus story telling, questioning the possibility of one truth. I found it fascinating but the fairytale and Arthurian leaps were a little long winded for me. I will read more from her for sure.

“Read yourself as a fiction as well as a fact.When I was growing up poor in a poor place with a pair of Pentecostal parents who were waiting for Jesus to return, I never thought my life was narrow or my chances bleak. I thought I was Heathcliff, Huck Finn, Hotspur, Aladdin, the Big Bad Wolf. And later I had my favourite books stashed in the boot. This wasn‘t a fantasy world or escapism - though it was an escape; it was the hidden door. Open it.”

”Aika on hyvä turruttaja. Ihmiset unohtavat, kyllästyvät, vanhenevat, katoavat.”

”Kuolleessa on jotain viekoittelevaa. Kuollutta voi kohdella kaltoin, muuttaa ja värittää. Se ei valita.”

This is the coming-of-age story of Jeanette - adopted & raised in a religious household with a forbidding, zealous adoptive mother who grooms her to become a missionary. Heavily influenced by the Bible teachings, Jeanette has no friends in school; & surrounded by fundamentalist christians in her community, she struggles to find her place in the world ⬇️

#Booked2020 #BottomOfYourTbr
#jennyis30 #religion
#ReadYourWay

It is creative. Biography mixed with fairy tale stories. If is hard to know what is real and what is not, throughout.
It is a quick read and fairly interesting.
I had trouble with the author never saying how old she was at any given time which left me often confused.

finished this a couple of days ago and still unsure how I feel! for me the blurb is misleading as the story is almost completely set before Jeanette leaves home and it‘s not really what the book is about. nonetheless, I did enjoy it, but disliked some of the fables/teachings it digressed into and found myself rushing over them to get back to the story proper. 3⭐️

“Write what you know is reasonable advice. Read what you don‘t know is better advice.” 🍊📖

I loved this book. The writing style may not be for everyone, but it reminded me a lot of how I think so I enjoyed it. I felt it ended too soon and I wanted so much more for Jeannette, but it was an interesting insight into her community.

1. I always thought I was 💦 but the quiz says I‘m 🔥

2. People of the Book- it had been recommended a few times but once I finally read it I loved it

3. I just got the tagged book from Libby

#wondrouswednesday

#BoundTogetherJune #FruitontheCover

From my TBR

This is the 2nd book, I‘ve read by Winterson, my first, being a short story Christmas collection (it‘s brilliant). I‘m finding Winterson has a strong, unique voice, which bounces back & forth, from the poignant to the absurd. This book from what I can tell is autobiographical, & focuses on her evangelical Christian upbringing in the north of England. With biblical and Arthurian references scattered throughout, it‘s been quite a quick and fun read.

So funny and irreverent and full of quotable material - I loved this book. It‘s about a woman who is brought up in an Evangelist church and struggles to fit in. It was very relatable - my childhood was similar.

I loved every last page of this coming of age story about a girl (also named 'Jeanette') raised in a peculiar evangelical community that enjoys activities as varied as singing and performing exorcisms, and we witness her growing awareness of the world outside her community. She imagines fairy tales with this vivid imagery that reoccurs and lends insight into her situation. It has a style that defies description - you just have to read it! 🍊

😅😅

I'm halfway through my first Winterson and really enjoying it so far! 🍊🍊🍊

January 2020

So disappointing. I thought I‘d love this book but it was arduous. Yes the mother was a nutter but a lot of religious zealots are. Also didn‘t like the stories running parallel. Were they meant to be like the bible parables? Anyway not for me ⭐️⭐️

I can't thing of anything orange that's more terrifying.

#ChillingPhotoChallenge #Orange

@Clwojick @TheReadingMermaid

Young Jeannette adores her church and her role as powerful sermonizer, but her love of women doesn‘t fit so neatly into her mother‘s idea of success.

Read July 6-13
Book 38/55

I personally loved this one. Near-absent father, overbearing mother, a small community...and poor can‘t-fit-in-anywhere Jeanette. This book has wit and a heroine who doesn‘t change who she is just to make others comfortable. 161/1,001 #1001Books #ReadingRainbow

Well, I‘m not sure whether to say this was an appropriate mother‘s day read or not. 🤔

All family relationships are on the messy spectrum, though some are more destructive than others.

I suspect I grabbed another dysfunctional family read.......

'There are women in the world. There are men in the world. And there are beasts...And beasts are crafty. They disguise themselves like you and I.'

Relaxing with a view after an interview!

Four books featuring lesbian characters that aren't Fun Home, but fantastic nonetheless. The only one I have yet to read is the Highsmith, which I suspect I will love as much as the others. I will also be reading more Sarah Waters this year. Tipping the Velvet was one of my favorite books of 2018.
#RingOfKeys #MusicalNewYear
@Cinfhen

Quote from the author in one of her interviews (Salon Interview, 28 April 1997).

#quotsydec18 #rogue

This was an interesting book. I didn‘t love it but didn‘t hate it either. I liked the idea but found it a little disjointed.

#FactFiction #SeptemberDanes
Jeanette Winterson's fictionalised account of growing up
@Kalalalatja @Cinfhen

I think I would have liked this book more if the story had been more grounded. I think the plot and the characters really got lost in the metaphorical language and it got hard to keep up with. Interesting message about religion and sexual preference, but I would have liked something a little more solid. #booked2018 #lgbtqiamaincharacter

This one was pretty good. It's more like a memoir than actual fiction.

This is so true. 💖📚

Easy to get through