Welcome to Litsy!

Wonderful read. In just two short days this book really got under my skin. I recommend it to any woman, mother, daughter, or friend.

Back to biographies.... 👓 i picked it because I love the cover 💖❤️

My first full book read for #24in48. This is a brief but searing memoir about a toxic relationship and how it can be so difficult to break away from something/someone that is poisonous to you. Leigh is an introspective young woman that finds herself swept away by bad boy Jason. He dies suddenly a few years later and Leigh is left reeling, trying to make sense of the first man she loved.

Getting some #24in48 reading in with my two companions. ❤️ They sure seem comfortable. 😂

I thought this was very good. It's about how, as a young woman in her early 20s, the author had difficulties with her mental illness and self esteem and became wrapped up in an abusive relationship with a guy she idolized. Who says young people can't write an insightful memoir? I really enjoyed it on audio, didn't want to turn it off.

I don't know what's wrong with my brain today but I've had no patience for sitting and reading. So I've put a good dent in this compelling memoir about a young woman's early 20s as she deals with mental health struggles and an awful boyfriend. She's a good writer and proves the old saying wrong, that young people can't write memoirs.

I started off feeling like I could really empathize with Leigh having been in a relationship similar to hers and Jason's. As the book goes on, I started to get a little annoyed at Leigh letting herself be a doormat and obsessing about Jason for years after their breakup.This was compounded by her struggle with depression. In the end Leigh does get control of her depression and self esteem issues and grows into a woman comfortable in her own skin.

Without any photos of us..... It was as if we never existed. Liz wrote back "the no pics thing is sad, but I think it speaks to your closeness to him. That's the way it goes with the people who are the closest or most comfy together. You never have pictures together because you see each other all the time. It's like somebody having pictures of Niagara Falls but none of their hometown. Niagara is a one time attraction. Home is home."

Just started this audiobook, heard a lot of good reviews on it. Bonus: it's narrated by Jorjena Marie who is becoming one of my favorite narrators! #audiobooks #hoopla

"For a long time I only saw two possible endings to our story: either Jason had to die or we had to get married." I'm not liking this book, but I do relate to the above paragraph, especially the first line.

#augustfaves

Yaa Gyasi is an extraordinary writer, and Homegoing one of the most ambitious AND successful novels I've ever read, spanning a couple centuries and 9 generations. 100% worth the hype!

Land of Enchantment is a beautifully written (and flawlessly structured) memoir dealing with mental illness, relationship violence, and loss. Memoirs aren't often page-turners for me, but this one had me gripped from the beginning.

#somethingforsept

Additional stats: out of the 12 books I read this month (in whole or in part), 100% were written by women and 33% by POC. Fiction: 10. Nonfiction: 2 (both memoirs). 👓📚❤️

"...home alone, I was obsessed with my memorizing torch songs, laments for the unrequited love of a brute..."

I can't think of any books I've read/loved that are about music or musicians, so here are two wonderful books and the album I listened to while reading them. I like to listen to music while reading, but I can only stay focused if I know the music well, so I choose one album and listen to it on repeat. This is my favorite new record this year, so it was a pleasure to listen to it dozens of times, plus it's thematically appropriate for both books!

A beautiful piece of writing. This memoir centers on Leigh Stein's troubled relationship with Jason, the boyfriend with whom she moves to New Mexico in her early twenties, along with the years after their breakup/his eventual death. One of the best explorations of early-to-mid-aughts teenage-girlhood (LiveJournal was really, really important) and mental illness that I've ever read. The best memoir I've read this year, by far. Read this book. 5/5⭐️

"We didn't realize the name for what we all wanted so badly was power; the closest we could get was attention, standing outside in the middle of the night unsupervised, lifting our shirts up to flash our small breasts to streetlights, screaming the words we weren't allowed to say in daylight."
I'm on page 13 and already 100% in love with this memoir.

"There is an endless supply of these books. You could never read all of them in your lifetime."

Land of Enchantment by Leigh Stein is a fascinating memoir about the struggles of mental illness and the importance of putting a name to domestic violence when it happens to you.

"There is an endless supply of these books. You could never read all of them in your lifetime."

Land of Enchantment by Leigh Stein is a fascinating memoir about the struggles of mental illness and the importance of putting a name to domestic violence when it happens to you.

Spending the week in Savannah, Georgia and I am not mad one bit about how this hotel's lobby is full of books! Anyone have any great recommendations for hotels that love book lovers?! #Kimpton #TheBrice #Booklovers #Paradise

A little mid-week #bookhaul! I'd completely forgotten that I preordered Land of Enchantment after reading Stein's wonderful NYT Book Review essay, "Millennial Days" (a defense of young, especially young female, memoirists—I'll leave the link in the comments below!). Very excited to read her memoir!

Up next.

Y'all this book is so tough to get through. The writing is beautiful, but the toxic relationship it describes... Let's just say it hit a little too close to home.

Just look at this cover. The inside is pretty beautiful, too.

A death of a too-young ex, launches Leigh‘s heartfelt memoir about first loves, idealism, disappointment, and toxic relationships.