Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Thick
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
111 posts | 88 read | 1 reading | 130 to read
Smart, humorous, and strikingly original thoughts on race, beauty, money, and more--by one of today's most intrepid public intellectuals Tressie McMillan Cottom, the writer, professor, and acclaimed author of Lower Ed, now brilliantly shifts gears from running regression analyses on college data to unleashing another identity: a purveyor of wit, wisdom--and of course Black Twitter snark--about all that is right and much that is so very wrong about this thing we call society. In the bestselling tradition of bell hooks and Roxane Gay, McMillan Cottom's freshman collection illuminates a particular trait of her tribe: being thick. In form, and in substance. This bold compendium, likely to find its place on shelves alongside Lindy West, Rebecca Solnit, and Maggie Nelson, dissects everything from beauty to Obama to pumpkin spice lattes. Yet Thick will also fill a void on those very shelves: a modern black American female voice waxing poetic on self and society, serving up a healthy portion of clever prose and southern aphorisms in a style uniquely her own. McMillan Cottom has crafted a black woman's cultural bible, as she mines for meaning in places many of us miss and reveals precisely how--when you're in the thick of it--the political, the social, and the personal are almost always one and the same.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations Day 16
Nonfiction
Revolving around Black Womanhood this essay collection is brilliant. Cottom gives depth, intelligence and within each essay. There is not a piece in this book that isn't noteworthy. A terribly important read.

Hooked_on_books Great choice. I loved this book. Cottom‘s intellect is clearly towering. She‘s freaking awesome. 13mo
27 likes1 comment
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

#manicmonday #letterT @CBee @Librariana

📚 Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
✍️ Amor Towles
🍿 Ted Lasso
🎤 Tina Turner
🎶 Tiny Dancer (Elton John) my absolute favorite song

Librariana You're so good and disciplined and stick to one choice 😊 Tiny Dancer is a fabulous song! 💜 1y
ChaoticMissAdventures @Librariana my mind goes blank as soon as I start 😂. Hours later I thought about Aubrey Hepburn's Two for the Road! 1y
17 likes2 comments
review
ChaoticMissAdventures
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Insightful and thought provoking.
I like how she explains a situation then turns in back in on itself - Obama didn't win because he saw white people and their vote. Obama won because white people saw him.
She mentions Twitter a few times which is really interesting to read in this moment in time.

Hooked_on_books I loved this one. I found her to be a deeply thoughtful woman. Mad respect! 1y
ChaoticMissAdventures @Hooked_on_books agree! I have followed her on Twitter for years, always appreciate how she helps to frame situations. 1y
35 likes2 comments
review
Santie
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Reading this book was a sad experience for me because it validates what has been said before: ‘The most disrespected,unprotected human is the black woman‘.Black women will forever remain at the bottom because we aren‘t considered human. As teens we are sexualised and not protected, as grown women we are regarded as ‘strong‘ and left to do everything and more. We are socialised to ‘not bring a brotha down‘ even at our expense.

Santie The author did an amazing job at dissecting the issues she discusses. 3.7/5 ⭐️ 2y
7 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

🎧 Current Read.

review
WorldsOkayestStepMom
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

An amazing collection of essays about sexism and racism that intersect with other current issues in society for Black women.

50 likes3 stack adds
blurb
jenniferw88
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
review
Floresj
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Fantastic collection of essays on racism and sexism. Intellectual and humorous, Cottom uses her voice to make excellent points. Well written and thoughtful; each essay was equally as good as the next. Highly recommend!

20 likes2 stack adds
review
mariaku21
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

This book covers not just racism, and sexism, but how the healthcare system is a failure for women of color, most noticeably black women as well as sexual themes and misconceptions of women, in a way that not only I related to but in some cases had first hand experience in, while in others have heard about from other women. It's a read that gave me a lot to think about.

#readingwomenchallenge #readharder

9 likes1 stack add
quote
eve
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Black women are rational and human.

review
AlexGeorge
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Not sure how I missed this gem when it came out in 2019, but I‘ve just ordered a bunch for Skylark Bookshop as it blew my mind and I want to talk to people about it. It‘s incredibly smart, funny, brave, provocative and made me rethink, oh, pretty much everything. I underlined a *ton*. Absolutely required reading.

Hooked_on_books Wonderful, wonderful book. I have mad respect for Dr Cottom. 3y
19 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
RegineReads
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

"Big Beauty is just negging without the slimy actor. The constant destabilization of self is part and parcel of beauty's effectiveness as a social construct"

quote
RegineReads
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

"At every turn, black women have been categorically excluded from being expert performers of persuasive speech act like in the public that adjudicated our humanity."

review
Jessicareadingwala
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
Pickpick

Searing and smart. I couldn‘t put it down. A no bullshit intellectually, well—thick—insight into racism, its lived truths and results. Sharp in every sense of the word.

review
CB_Reads
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Thoughtful perspective and personal experiences presented in this series of essays focused on the built-in racism that exists in the US and what black women have to work against daily. The language was easy for me to digest while also being academic. There were some hard subjects that you are confronted with here and you are forced to sit with the uncomfortableness, but those moments that hit me the hardest also felt the most powerful.

review
Julsmarshall
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Thought provoking and smart, this short book of essays lacks a strong punch! Highly Recommend! #BookspinBingo #ownvoices #blackbooksmatter

blurb
Julsmarshall
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Halfway through this fantastic book of essays! They are really resonating with me!

readordierachel Loved this one! 3y
43 likes2 stack adds1 comment
blurb
SW-T
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Excited to see these ladies in the group! Jacqueline Woodson, N.K. Jemisin, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, were all named as 2020 MacArthur fellows.💗

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/06/macarthur-foundation-2020-...

Christine Yes! ❤️ 3y
Hooked_on_books Fantastic! 3y
ChaoticMissAdventures So happy for them, it is well deserved! 3y
34 likes3 comments
review
beaconhillbooks
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Each essay was thought provoking. It is critical we listen to black females. This really gave me some insight into a handful of black females‘ perspectives that I was really unaware about.

quote
NikkiCureton
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

these hips are big hips/they need space to/move around in,/they don‘t fit into little/petty places. these hips are free hips. Lucille Clifton

Litluvr70 I love Lucille Clifton ❤️ 4y
5 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
Sharpeipup
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

“Talk should be meaningful or kept to a minimum. “

mcctrish My husband agrees 4y
34 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
brandierickson
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

I loved this book! It was pretty short but each essay was very impactful and thought-provoking.

12 likes1 stack add
quote
rather_be_reading
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Book 103 of 2020
#botm #botmbacklog

73 likes2 stack adds
review
BarbaraTheBibliophage
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

This wasn‘t an easy book of essays, despite it‘s relatively slim size. Every sentence is crafted to pack a punch. Cottom wastes no words, and crafts each thought with care. I know I‘m not the intended audience here. But I can appreciate and learn from what Cottom writes. And plenty did connect for me, despite how different our lives are.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #nonfictionchallenge2020 #aboutrace

Hooked_on_books I thought this was fantastic. I‘m so impressed by her. 4y
99 likes5 stack adds2 comments
blurb
BarbaraTheBibliophage
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

#FriYayIntro @howjessreads @4thhouseontheleft

1. The only funny meme that didn‘t have a lot of curse words ... 🤪
2. These essays are thought provoking, for sure.
3. Getting plenty of sleep, walking or yoga most days, making great desserts, epsom salt baths
4. Always dark chocolate—as dark as I can find.

LiteraryinLawrence This is hilarious! ☺️ 4y
alisiakae 🤣🤣 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @LiteraryinLititz @4thhouseontheleft I knew Littens would appreciate this! Wish the print was larger, though ... 4y
63 likes3 comments
review
MsLeah8417
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Hooked_on_books I loved this one! This woman is SO smart. 4y
22 likes2 stack adds1 comment
blurb
MsLeah8417
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

This is so good! I am glad I was finally able to read it this month. #bookwormproblems 🤭🤣

SW-T I loved it! 💕 4y
19 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
Pickpick

First 5-star read of 2020! And how well-deserved. I loved every essay in this collection, found it all to be insightful & sharp & also funny & unique. She ties together each individual piece w/a cohesive narrative and really makes you fucking THINK. This was a great reminder that even while she and I share many experiences as women, my whiteness affords me privilege that I must always work to counteract. Just brilliant from start to finish. 5/5 ⭐️

Megabooks 👍🏻👍🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 4y
alisonrose @Megabooks 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 4y
Megabooks I‘ve read it three times and come away with something new each one. It‘s a fantastic collection! 4y
27 likes1 stack add3 comments
quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

... I learned that being a woman is about what men are allowed to do to you. I was fourteen years old.

LoverOfLearning 😓😭 4y
23 likes1 comment
quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

All the busywork produced by the technological society perversely creates new ways for technology to make our anxiety a profitable extractive regime. It is a vicious cycle. Such is the foolishness of wanting to be competent in a political economy that can only sell you ways to *feel* competent, but does not offer sufficient ways to enact competency.

quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that ugly is as ugly does. Both are lies. Ugly is everything done to you in the name of beauty.

Knowing the difference is part of getting free.

quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

If beauty is to matter at all for capital, it can never be for black women. But if I believe I can become beautiful, I become an economic subject. My desire becomes a market [, my faith] a salve for white women who want to have the right politics while keeping the privilege of never having to live them. White women need me to believe I can earn beauty b/c when I want what I cannot have, what they have becomes all the more valuable. I refuse them.

alisonrose NOTE: Usually I would capitalize “black” but the author doesn‘t. Also I had to make minor edits to get this to fit because apparently despite talking about it months ago, Litsy is never gonna increase the piddly character length on posts 😕 4y
23 likes1 comment
quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

When I say that I am unattractive or ugly, I am not internalizing the dominant culture‘s assessment of me. I am naming what has been done to me. And signaling who did it.

quote
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom

In a modern capitalist society, what is moral is often determined by what has economic value.

blurb
alisonrose
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Forgot to take a pic at home this morning so here‘s my wonderful office lighting 😜 #nowreading

Megabooks Love this one!! 4y
38 likes1 comment
review
Megabooks
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

This is a #bhm reread of a powerful book. Quick mention of two important points.

One is competence. She had a terrible miscarriage because she was not believed competent to speak for herself on health matters. Black women are over twice as likely to die in childbirth in the US!

The discussion of R. Kelly and his well known predation of young girls bothered me. Her own family was divided over which women were “hoes” and which deserved protecting.

Reviewsbylola This is on my TBR. 4y
Come-read-with-me I LOVED this book. There were so many things that allowed me to consider issues from another perspective. I think it‘s the type of book you could read a few times and come away with different lessons. 4y
Megabooks @Reviewsbylola I hope you like it! 4y
Megabooks @Come-read-with-me Exactly!!! It‘s a fantastic reread!! 4y
Come-read-with-me @Megabooks It is! It‘s a top pick for me! 4y
97 likes6 stack adds5 comments
quote
rather_be_reading
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

Part 1 Botm to be read books for 2020

Jdav9613 I really want to read Recursion. It sounds so interesting. 4y
rather_be_reading @Jdav9613 i cant wait to get to it! 4y
sarahs.thoughts.on.books I need to go back and finish Three Women. Also, I did some cleaning and found BotM books I didn't realize I owned. So I need to be better about actually reading them this year 4y
AArterbery I have Thick and hope to get it read before the end of the year. 😊 4y
51 likes5 comments
quote
EchoLogical
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

I get the hype.

Nute Yes! 4y
WomanistBibliophile I‘ve just started listening to this audiobook and so far it‘s exceeding my expectations! 4y
EchoLogical @Nute @WomanistBibliophile She unpacks so much in this one that I'm probably gonna have to read it again. 4y
32 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
rmaclean4
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Provocative and thoughtful essays. She writes with ease. Well worth the read.

review
JSW
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
Pickpick

Powerful and thoughtful and researched and heartfelt.

blurb
rmaclean4
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

#bookreport
#weeklyforecast
I did very little physical reading this week. It has been holiday parties just about every night!! I have about an hour left in Disappearing Earth and I am loving it. Hope to finish both the pictured books today. My library hold of The Man Who Saw Everything: Deborah Levy came in yesterday. I may start that when we are on vacation the week of Christmas. How is your December reading going?

blurb
rmaclean4
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

#weeklyforcast As usual I have started several books at once (blame it on library holds coming in!)
Loving Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. Almost done with Shrill and just started Thick by Tressie McMillan Cotton. I am dipping in and out of the Rilke Poems. The one book not in the picture is my audio read: Instructions for a Heat Wave. December is a crazy busy month both at work and social, so we will see what I can finish.

alisiakae Lovely pic! 4y
14 likes1 comment
review
Christine
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

Started this ages ago and was loving it, but set it aside because all I had was the e-book and I am sometimes not good at e-books. Finally got to the audio and, as expected, fully adored the entirety of this book. Cottom is an exceptional sociologist, and her writing is as vivid and engaging as it is analytically impressive. Absolutely one I‘ll get in print and return to often.

MidnightBookGirl It's so much easier for me to enjoy nonfiction on audio! 4y
Christine @MidnightBookGirl Yes, agreed!! And then maybe, if I really love it, a reread of the print book with a highlighter. Will be doing that with this one for sure. 4y
46 likes2 comments
review
CoffeeK8
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image
Pickpick

A wonderful series of essays by a black woman about both the suppression of and the power of black women

quote
CoffeeK8
Thick: And Other Essays | Tressie McMillan Cottom
post image

The author discusses how she is considered smart, but her Grandmother was much smarter in the wrong time for a poor black woman to be smart. She makes a powerful point.