Welcome to Litsy!

“A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other‘s individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on a deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

I‘ve been meaning to read Bell Hooks for so long. Public love, private love, self-love. Hooks examines society, culture, and the everyday role love plays in our lives. This is by no means all-encompassing, but I found it personally relatable. Fun fact: she is (was) from the midpoint between where I was born and where I currently live.

I reread this after three years and to see how differently i interpret this now was fun
healing is done in community ❤️

A little late but I did it! #redbook #bibliophile

Inspiring

I discovered bell hooks through one of my favorite Buddhist meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg. The most profound and yet simple point made by bell hooks is that love is often defined as a noun, and we would be more effective in applying it as a verb.

Full review abookandadog.com/blog/all-about-love-bell-hooks

It was almost a relief to end this book, just because hooks packs such an emotional punch into her work. Incisive and critically minded, hooks takes her scalpel to our culturally defined notion of familial and romantic love, cutting and reassembling it into a more expanded and just version of love. I picked up a used copy and was thrilled to find, months later, hooks‘s writing on the first page. Now all I have to do is change my name to Tracey.

"There is a gap between the values they claim to hold and their willingness to do the work of connecting thought and action, theory and practice to realize these values and thus create a more just society."

Some chapters hit closer to home than others and I think that will vary between each reader depending on past experiences in your life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#52bookclub24 #lowercaselettersonthespine

#ItTakesAllKinds @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Love

Rereading this gem. There is a lot that works with my experience of love and some that doesn‘t. I guess that‘s part of the magic of reading 💗

Words of wisdom from two beautiful souls that are no longer with us — another hard choice. #2023readingbracket #nonfiction

I remember studying, ‘Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center‘ in college and thinking I had a sense of bell hooks. She was a thought provoking writer, cultural critic, intellectual, feminist icon and activist…but maybe I didn‘t understand her as well as I thought I did because I was surprised by how spiritual and personal this is. Though I didn‘t agree with everything hooks said, I found it very inspirational.

“To know love we have to tell the truth to ourselves and others.” — bell hooks

Truth. What I‘m reading on my 21st wedding anniversary.❤️❤️❤️

Book club today. Good people I am lucky to call my friends. Even when the book isn‘t everyone‘s favorite, the conversation is still good. #FirstSaturdayReaders

Book club day is always a good day. #FirstSaturdayReaders

Just finished (and not particularly impressed by) this for book club. #FirstSaturdayReaders

Unsure how to rate this. Large portions of this book fueled me, challenged me, and inspired me to be a more loving human in both my personal and public life, but several chapters REALLY bored me.

I do think I will flip back through it from time to time, especially to the sections discussing capitalism and consumerism as conflicts to love, and to the sections on embracing your fear and living in the present. Glad I read it. Hard to recommend it.

This one is taking longer to get through than I thought it would. Some sections really resonate with me, but others I find myself struggling to get through without zoning out.

the space of lack is also our space of possibility
lovelessness is a wound

And finally (sorry for all the spam!) here is my friend Kirsty's book haul 😁

You can definitely see the Rae influence here 😅💕

#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations Day 14 Nonfiction

"The word love is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb."

The incomparable bell hooks takes on the question what is love? Sharp and thought provoking writing and such a great read.

#InQuotes Day 5: #Relationship

Starting late on this game! #lettergame #letterA
A gorgeous bell hooks book.
She is a must read author if you have not yet, this one is a great place to start!
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“Pick” doesn‘t feel strong enough because I actually consider this a foundational text for understanding how to love and be loved in a U.S. culture which is so anti-love and anti-community. This is one I will revisit a lot, I think.

The first few chapters were excellent and something I needed to read and can relate to, but the further I got the less I could focus? It still brings up important points but they were somewhat lost with the interspersal of a lot of religious anecdotes and mentions that ultimately distracted from the message.

There were some great sections of this book, but other sections left me scratching my head. The chapter on spirituality was thinly veiled Christian sermonizing with no critique of that particular patriarchal structure. I was also deeply uncomfortable with the victim blaming of Nicole Brown Simpson & slut shaming of Monica Lewinsky. There were a lot of inaccurate and judgmental views on poor folks as well. I missed the “love” in those sections.

Yesterday, my lady surprised me with a new reading journal and listened to an audiobook with me as we cooked dinner. I‘m a sucker for journals, and she isn‘t a reader. I hope wherever you are in the world someone (anyone!) makes you feel special and loved just as you are. ❤️ is ❤️. Happy Tuesday! ❤️ 💐 🏳️‍🌈 ✍️ 📚

“Young people are cynical about love. Ultimately,
cynicism is the great mask of the disappointed and betrayed heart.”

Could there be a more perfect book to read this weekend? 💗

This put a lot of things into perspective for me. I enjoyed this a lot. RIP, bell hooks

‘Understanding all the ways fear stands in the way of our knowing love challenges us.Fearful that believing in love‘s truths and letting them guide our lives will lead to further betrayal,we hold back from love when our hearts are full of longing.Being loving does not mean we will not be betrayed.Love helps us face betrayal without losing heart.And it renews our spirit so we can love again‘

A big 2021 life lesson.
Thank you for being our Angel🕊

Attempting this for the second time and oh dear I‘ve still got two books to finish my reading challenge.

So sad to hear of her death. Her life and writing an inspiration. #bellhooks

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/books/bell-hooks-dead.html?smid=em-share

Thank you bell hooks - born Gloria Jean Watkins - thank you for everything you‘ve given us! Your life‘s work, your body of writing- all of it rooted in Love. 🙏🏾💗
bell hooks (1952 - 2021)
#bellhooks

#weeklyreport
#Victorianpoliceprocedural #Dublin #sophiesworld #philosophy #audiomystery #sundaybuddyread #memoir #musician #literarycrew #agathachristie #missmarple #Norfolkmystery #literati #memoir #love
Finished all but Brandi,Belgravia,Miss Marple(slow cruise, just 3 short stories per wk),started One Lost Soul today on the train,Minor Feelings,took a quick break but restarting, All About Love did not get to.Bailed on These Violent Delights.

#weeklyreport
Read the top row of books this week. The 2nd row I am in various stages of reading.

#loveasaverb

bell hooks had a childhood of abuse,where as a woman was told that speaking out was not feminine,she is also deeply religious.With each page the author becomes less of a philosopher/ sociologist and more of a preacher, her way of love and redemption is the ONLY way. She even turns to victim shaming: Nicole Simpson didn't deserve to die,however she chose to remain in an abusive home because of her love of luxury. Excuse me the: WHAT THE FUCK?!👇👇

Starts with"When our president exploits his power and consensually seduces a young woman in the government employ..."to then follow with this characterization of Lewinsky.THIS,in a book about how a patriarchy affects our capacity to love.How can anyone feel entitled to say if what a person felt in a private relationship was love or not;and to say "wants to be seen as a victim"in a situation where abuse of power could be a part of the equation...?

"The wounded child inside many males is a boy who, when we first spoke hid truths, was silenced by paternal sadism, by a patriarchal world that did not want him to claim his true feelings. The wounded child inside many females is a girl who was taught from early childhood on that she must become something other than herself, deny her true feelings, in order to attract and please others."

Interesting insight but felt outdated to me (sorry bell!!)

“But many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of #escape.” #QuotsyJuly20

I found this section interesting re: friend relationships. I've always found it disturbing when friends valued their romantic relationships over their sometimes long-existing friendships.

I should go to sleep since I have a 5k to do tomorrow, but I just finished one book (#thesongofwraithsandruins) and feel the need to jump right into another. Here's to reading all night on the weekend!

This slow, deep look into different types of love and what they mean for us as individuals and a whole society was so original and fascinating. It veered away from being self help-y towards philosophy. I haven‘t read a book before that was so openly about love itself, not a how to guide to anything or trying to draw it in with other themes. It felt very pure and thoughtful.

Prayer is an exercise that strengthens the soul‘s power. Reaching for the divine always reminds me of the limitations of human thought and will. Stretching, reaching towards that which is limitless and without boundaries is an exercise that strengthens my faith and empowers my soul.

@ShyBookOwl #bookhunt #scavengersaturday

I‘ve been meaning to read this forever after loving other books by bell hooks, I‘m not sure why it took me so long to get to! I finally bought it last week and hope to start it as soon as I finish Just Mercy

Someone (sorry I don‘t remember who right at this moment) put out a call to support Palabras Bilingual Bookstore in Phoenix. Palabras had a Indiegogo campaign as it‘s the only bilingual bookstore in Arizona (hard to believe). So of course, I contributed. Today I received a thank you package including the tagged book, an awesome Latinx book list, the neat print, a book mark & stickers. ❤️ #bookmail

Reading some nonfiction while I wait for the second book in my trilogy, The Phoenix Empress, to arrive in the mail.

Books I've bought since my book-buying spree in CT. I've got issues. #sorrynotsorry