City of Girls | 
pickEnjoyed this very much! I am a fan of Gilbert‘s writing. I enjoyed the fashion, the drama, and the walk through history from a NYC perspective from WW2 on. Should be a great book club discussion. (Wise choice on my part to pitch my #BookSpinBingo spin book 😉) BINGO! 4th row, BINGO! 3rd column.
@TheAromaofBooks
“Resist change at your own peril. When something ends, let it end.” LOVING this book, so many wonderful characters.
Happy Birthday Pie! 🥳 #CaresPieShow #PecanPie #OldFashionedPecanPie (Quote not really related to birthday festivities, just needed something to justify a pie post!)
My next up now starting: City of Girls for bookclub, Chouette is my BookSpinBingo. And, I found my favorite bookmark so I am happy about that, too.
“There were other obstacles, as well.
I had all these cigarettes to smoke, for instance.
In short: I was busy.” Absolutely no judgement to any smokers here, but this line made me giggle! I have several smokers in my personal and professional life (I‘m married to a former smoker) and it definitely does seem to be how they spend a lot of their free time.
pickA story about morality, privilege, promiscuity, femininity, and the art of human connection and female friendships through the eyes of Vivian Morris, a woman ahead of her time and so pleasantly and unapologetically herself. 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickI had not heard much about this book before reading it but loved the story! I liked the pace and how it switched gears which seemed to start a new storyline. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pick#DoubleSpin this month was one that's been on my tbr shelf a very long time. The first half was fun to read with lively characters and a Gatsby-esque parade of parties, alcohol, and careless behavior. The second half, though, turned it into a story with depth and heart. I love a book that examines the definition of a life well-lived. @TheAromaofBooks
pickThis is a sprawling epic of a novel looking at nearly 70 years in the life of one woman as she comes into her own. It feels a bit like two different books in tone and is a bit overly long but still a good read. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2021/06/review-city-of-girls-by-elizabeth.html
Love like that is a deep well, with steep sides. Once you fall in, that''s it...
The world ain't straight. You grow up thinking things are a certain way. You think there are rules. You think there's a way that things have to be. You try to live straight. But the world doesn't care about your rules, or what you believe. The world ain't straight...Never will be. Our rules, they don't mean a thing. They world just happens to you sometimes, is what i think. And people just gotta keep moving through it, best they can.
After a certain age..time just drizzles down upon your head like rain in the month of March: you\'re always surprised at how much of it can accumulate, and how fast.
[SO TRUE]
...when women are gathered together with no men around, they don't have to be anything in particular; they can just be.
Anyway, at some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she if free to become whoever she truly is.
Nothing will uproot your life more violently than true love...
I like to go there in the late afternoons, after my long days of working, and sit at one of those window-side tables, reading a novel and enjoying a martini.
[so much yes!]
I relished the sensation of being one small dot of humanity in a larger ocean of souls.
Once i got the hang of it, I found that eating alone by the window in a quiet restaurant is one of life's greatest secret pleasures.
[YES! Just add a book and its heaven!]
But what's the use of being twenty years old, if not to make gross errors?
[i wholeheartedly agree]
And so I slid toward marriage, like a car sliding off the road on a scree of loose gravel.
But maybe the young are just feral animals in the way that they shift their affections and allegiances so capriciously.
...but it's best you learn now: most marriages are neither heavenly nor hellish, but vaguely purgatorial.
😂
Youth is a irreplaceable treasure, and the only respectable thing to do with irreplaceable treasure is to waste it.
You should only buy gloves so beautiful that to lose one of them would break your heart.
She gave a decadent yawn....
[I've never heard a yawn described as decadent]
First line: I received a letter from his daughter the other day.
[INSTANT INTRIGUE]
pickAbsolutely LOVED! Def one Im kicking myself for not reading as soon as it came out. It was a chunkster and I def think she couldve broke the book into 2 books but whats the fun in that?! I just adored the story so so much and loved that it was written like a letter\story to Angela. I also really enjoyed the nontypical ending.
One of the downsides of my work office being in my library\craft room, is looking over and seeing this comfy space just calling out to me to come read.
pick3.5 ⭐
I enjoyed this story, but the plot kind of meandered. It almost felt like the story should have ended 2/3 of the way through, except that there had not yet been a reveal of who the main character was referring to when she spoke about "your father." I thought it was a good character study of a girl growing up and learning what femininity meant for her in the 40s, but wasn't very memorable
Making some headway on this book! Im just getting to the good part
pickThis was so good! Somehow the Eat, Pray, Love moment passed me by, so I was only vaguely aware of Elizabeth Gilbert & didn't know anything about her as a writer. What a great storyteller!
It's hard not to compare this with Rules of Civility (also great). Towles gets credit for writing a fully dimensional female MC, but Gilbert, wow, Gilbert KNOWS what it is to live as a woman. There were more than a few scenes that took my breath away.
pickLoved this one! I can see how a person like Elizabeth Gilbert is able to create a story filled with characters that unapologetically live their lives the way they want to.
I liked Vivian. She starts off as a naive, spoiled, and lost 19 yr old girl. She leaves us as a wise 95 yr old woman who truly lived her life. What a wild and beautiful life.
pickThis was a fun listen. I truly admire Vivian's zest for life and her ownership of her own agency. It's very rare that we see characters be so unapologetically themselves and it's quite refreshing.
The book is light and breezy in the first half, while briefly serious in the second. But there's nothing too serious ever and that's the point. Vivian's life is anything but serious and you'll never be bored with City of Girls. 🙂
Narration was great.
Thank you @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 ! I am looking forward to this one!
#LitsyLoveSummerSwap #LLSS #LitsyLove
@Bookgoil @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Tattooedteacher
Once you introduce truth into a room, the room may never be the same.
As far as I‘m concerned, Elizabeth Gilbert can do no wrong. I absolutely love Vivian Morris, she‘s a character we all hope to be like at some point in our lives.
pickCity of Girls was an absolute pleasure to read - we follow the life of Vivienne Morris as she narrates her life‘s story to a younger woman. Beginning at the age of 19 when she is shipped off to New York City, we see the many adventures she‘s involved in. But when a massive scandal threatens to disrupt her whole world, everything changes. This book is a celebration of women, sex, fashion, laughter, grief, and so much more. This was a great work.
A grid where everything rates in the 4-star range is a good grid indeed. The tagged was a reread and fun to talk about at my bookclub.
5* = Loved It, want non-reader IRL friends to read. I do/will own a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Average C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F
