Litsy

geodynamical_nonfiction

Generation M: Living Well in Perimenopause and Menopause | Jessica Shepherd

#perimenopause #menopause #hormones #fertility #pregnancy

8 likes

RaeLovesToRead

All Fours | Miranda July

https://youtu.be/YOYkqdVEbXk?feature=shared

Who will win the Women's Prize today????

AmyG I loved The Safekeep. So 🤞🏻 3d

BarbaraBB Echoing @AmyG 🤞🏽 3d

Deblovestoread Adding my vote to

The Safekeep

48 likes3 comments

RaeLovesToRead

All Fours | Miranda July

I JUST RECORDED FOR 50 MINUTES. THEN WHEN I WATCHED THE VIDEO BACK MY MIC HAD SWITCHED OFF 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

So I had to do it all over again but EVEN MORE TIRED.

And now it's 2am and I need to edit them so can post on time before Women's Prize announcement.

On the plus side I think I was a lot less rude about some of the books the second time 🤣🤣

TheBookHippie 🫣😩 I‘m pretty petty and salty about All Fours hatred 🤣 still.. 4d

Prairiegirl_reading Oh no!! That sucks! 4d

kspenmoll I am with you @TheBookHippie I didn‘t finish it. 3d

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kspenmoll Sorry you had to redo- I have enjoyed your book talks. 3d

Roary47 Oh no! 3d

IriDas :( 3d

RaeLovesToRead @TheBookHippie You may enjoy the All Fours part of my prediction video when it drops tomorrow morning 😅😅 I was in a bit of a salty mood full stop 😅 3d

RaeLovesToRead @Prairiegirl_reading @Roary47 @IriDas Thank you 💕 I have re-recorded, edited and uploaded my video to launch this morning. It's now 5am 😵😵😵 (I also re-recorded my review of Fundamentally but I was so tired by that point that it was just nonsensical burbling. Will have to redo if I'm gonna post it 🥴🫠) 3d

RaeLovesToRead @kspenmoll Awww thanks! 🥰🥰 Version 2 (only slightly less salty than version 1) will be live in 4 hours 🤣 I'm going to sleep haha 3d

61 likes9 comments

andrew61

All Fours | Miranda July

pick

A book I finished last weekend as I try and read the women's prize shortlist. Interesting to be in the head of a 45 year old artist who hits a mid life crisis as she goes on a cross country drive to NY but stops halfway where she renovates a motel room + has a non consummated sexual encounter with a ynger man. What follows is the exploration of her sexual encounters as she rationalises her life. Its taken me a week to process, + still not sure.

BarbaraBB It‘s such an impactful read, whether you like it or not. Glad that you did! 1w

45 likes1 comment

Eggbeater

The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism | Dr. Jennifer Gunter

pick

This Canadian doctor is funny and thorough and not patronizing. I was a bit overwhelmed, but the information was useful. I now know what questions to ask my doctor. I would recommend it to anyone currently going through the menopause transition who feels like there's a lot of junk information to sort through.

For anyone else confused or mortified by this whole process, I feel your pain.

ChaoticMissAdventures My own gyno recently asked me if I had heard of her and recommended reading her. I have seen her speak before and she is really personable. I am glad she is getting her messages out. 4w

Desha I just finished this book about a week ago before my gyno appointment…it really helped! I also recommend The New Hot by Meg Mathews and Next Level by Stacy T. Sims and Selene Yeager! 4w

ravenlee I strongly recommend this one, which I read just after the Manifesto and preferred.

Mayo Clinic The Menopause Solution: A doctor's guide to relieving hot flashes, enjoying better sex, sleeping well, controlling your weight, and being happy!

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JillR

All Fours | Miranda July

pick

Nearly didn‘t read it, glad I did. This is not *the* mid-life novel; the protagonist‘s life bears no resemblance to mine, nor that of any other woman I know. She is the most self-absorbed, self-indulgent person you‘ll probably ever hear from yet despite that I found this utterly compelling, with a knowingness I suspect you‘ll recognise if you too are mid-40s. I also found the absurdity quite good fun in a way I didn‘t expect.

BarbaraBB Great review! 1mo

Cathythoughts Yes, great review. I havnt been drawn to it , but your review is tempting me. 👍🏻❤️ 1mo

JillR @Cathythoughts I was exactly the same, I only read it because it was on the WP short list and I could get it from the library. Nice to be surprised! 1mo

JillR Thank you @BarbaraBB ! 1mo

29 likes1 stack add4 comments

CSeydel

All Fours | Miranda July

so-so

I had a lot of issues with this book but as you can see I also marked a LOT of sentences/passages for future reference. I ran out of book darts and had to start using Post-it flags! I‘m still not completely sure this wasn‘t satire - the MC was so comically pretentious and self-absorbed that I think she may have been intended as a sly parody of a certain type of artsy hipster grappling with middle age. In that light it almost worked.
#shelfsweeper

CSeydel I just couldn‘t relate a woman feeling the way she did with a child as young as hers - 7 years old. It‘s one thing when your kids are grown and you turn 50 and suddenly realize that not only are you no longer “mom” but it‘s also too late to go back to the sexual image you had of yourself before becoming mom/wife. But she has her child‘s whole life ahead of her and she‘s not at all interested - she‘s solely fixated on her sexual identity. 1mo

CSeydel I also found it off-putting the way she milked the drama of her child‘s traumatic birth. She has this whole thing about not knowing whether the baby would live or die, and in that moment reality split and she had two babies, one alive and one dead, and she “refused to play favorites” between them. But her child didn‘t die. She doesn‘t seem to care about the actual child, just the attendant trauma as a formative thing that happened to *her*. 1mo

CSeydel In other words - she‘s shockingly ungrateful for all the blessings and privileges she has had in her life. This is common of course, we all take so much for granted, but someone as navel-gazing as this unnamed protag should at least recognize all these good things, even if she can‘t emotionally connect with gratitude. 1mo

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RaeLovesToRead It's difficult to tell with autofiction how much of the writing is a caricature and an outlet for the unpalatable aspects of their character, how much is self-aware satire, and how much is in earnest. This one felt like all the awful crap that society tells women (voiced concisely and depressingly in Susan Sontag's On Women, for example) came to life in an explosion of awfulness. Which I found mesmerising and despair-inducing. 1mo

TrishB Well done on finishing for all the reasons outlined. 1mo

RaeLovesToRead If you want to torture yourself further with a narcissistic, sex-obsessed MC whose antics make you feel grotty, I recommend The Pisces by Melissa Broder. You won't thank me 🤣🤣 1mo

CSeydel @RaeLovesToRead Oh, I like how you put that! It is rather hard to pin down and that‘s an interesting lens through which to view it. I‘ll be pondering it, certainly, even though I can‘t say I enjoyed it. It was at least well-written. And I‘ll keep The Pisces in my back pocket for now - I‘m in need of a palate cleanser next, but who knows? Maybe I‘ll read it later, just to see 👀 1mo

CSeydel Thanks @TrishB ! I couldn‘t help myself - I had to find out where it was going 1mo

TrishB I can‘t remember at what point I bailed- I just knew wherever it was going I wasn‘t going! 1mo

charl08 I'm about two chapters in and got distracted by other shiny new books. Nor sure if I'll pick it up again before it's due back at the library... 1mo

BarbaraBB Kudos for finishing it and all the notes taken. Great review. I totally agree on the mc being selfish and unlikable yet I was also strangely intrigued by her. I think Miranda July has been able to write a book that affects everyone who read it in one way or another and I admire her for that 1mo

RaeLovesToRead Hahaha I was joking... do NOT read the Pisces haha. It will make you feel even WORSE than All Fours. NO PALATES WILL BE CLEANSED! 1mo

CSeydel @BarbaraBB Absolutely! It was certainly well-written, and thought-provoking. (edited) 1mo

CSeydel @RaeLovesToRead 💀 1mo

Lesliereadsalot I really liked this one, crazy as the story was. Great review! 1mo

CSeydel @Lesliereadsalot Certainly a lot to think about! 1mo

Sparklemn @cseydel As much as I despised the character for the many of the reasons you stated, I found that I liked the version of her after the time jump at the end of the book. Time and distance had helped her grow to some degree. Not much. Just a little. 😁 3w

55 likes17 comments

CSeydel

All Fours | Miranda July

#whereareyoumonday

Still in Monrovia with the sociopath narrator of this tedious nonsense

bookandbedandtea "Tedious nonsense" ? 1mo

CSeydel @bookandbedandtea I keep waiting for her to realize that her unhappiness is because she‘s pathologically self-absorbed, but she hasn‘t yet 1mo

dabbe I bailed on this one during Camp Litsy last year for reasons you just described so well. 🤣 1mo

See All 33 Comments

CSeydel @dabbe I‘m so tempted to bail but my book club is discussing it Thursday night and I want to be able to defend my low opinion of it. And … maybe? .:. it gets better? My husband wisely bailed after 50 pages 1mo

CBee @CSeydel I bailed during #camplitsy last year too. It was making me feel physically ill 😂 1mo

5feet.of.fury 😂😂 1mo

TheBookHippie I‘ve never hated a book as much as this one.. 😵‍💫 1mo

fredthemoose @CSeydel it does not get better 1mo

dabbe @CSeydel Life's too short! I bet you already have enough to defend your position. Sometimes a bail sends a powerful message, too! #hailthebail! 😍 1mo

willaful yet another camp bail here! 1mo

DGRachel Adding my vote for “save yourself and bail”. I am another Camp Litsy bail. 1mo

BarbaraBB Lol, I loved it! 1mo

CSeydel @TheBookHippie It‘s truly terrible. The MC seems to think she‘s the only person in the world who has ever had an original thought. The rest of humanity exists only as either her audience, support staff, or pawns in whatever emotional games she‘s playing with herself. 1mo

CSeydel @CBee @5feet.of.fury @fredthemoose @dabbe @willaful @DGRachel Thank you all for your support! I was happy to have read far enough that she acknowledges that “there is something very wrong with me” and starts to take accountability for some of the bullshit she‘s making up in her head and attributing to everyone around her. That she‘s been ridiculously unfair about older women. But it‘s just so boring listening to her natter on. 1mo

TheBookHippie @CSeydel It was such an insult to women as a whole, let alone the immense privilege it shows ad nauseam and insult to my intelligence. I think it‘s an extremely harmful book. It shows why I don‘t like most women that‘s for sure. Just YUK. (edited) 1mo

CSeydel @BarbaraBB A lot of people do! When I‘m done I‘ll check out your review and look forward to seeing it from a different perspective 🤞🏻 1mo

CSeydel @TheBookHippie I hope most women aren‘t as full of themselves as this one. Somehow she manages to be completely absorbed by her own inner fantasy world - “mind-rooted,” as she calls it - living entirely in her mind yet shockingly un-self-aware somehow. She views her entire life as a piece of performance art and everyone else is her supporting cast, and can‘t understand why they don‘t also see themselves that way 1mo

FashionableObserver I tried so hard to get into this book. I really did. I think I made it a few chapters in before bailing. I usually hold onto my books with a death grip, but I swear I try to pawn that thing off on people all of the time. 🤣 1mo

CSeydel @FashionableObserver I hear you. It‘s a slog for sure. 1mo

5feet.of.fury @CSeydel is this the same book club that picked Lost Apothecary? 😅 1mo

TheBookHippie @CSeydel I always have that hope. 1mo

FashionableObserver @CSeydel I don‘t understand the rave reviews. It flew off of the shelves—I picked up the last copy my tiny bookstore had. All of the ladies in the store were raving about it, too… 1mo

Ruthiella If it‘s worth anything, I am enjoying your complaints! 😂 So thank you for reading! 1mo

RaeLovesToRead 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 1mo

RaeLovesToRead I thought the book was brilliant, but I also agree with everything you say 🤣🤣🤣🤣 1mo

CSeydel @5feet.of.fury haha - No! Can you believe it? Two book club meetings happen to fall in the same week and they both picked loser books 😩 1mo

5feet.of.fury @CSeydel 😩🤪 1mo

CSeydel @Ruthiella Thank you! That‘s one good thing! I had seen some bad reviews and I hoped even if it wasn‘t good, it would at least be “fun to hate.” But it‘s mostly tedious listening to someone go through all these emotional calisthenics to rid themselves of a stupid misconception that I don‘t share (that sexuality is everything, and women are worthless after menopause). Like: I just don‘t care, and I‘m not learning anything 💀 1mo

CSeydel @RaeLovesToRead LOL!! 😂 1mo

BarbaraBB I also love the controversy surrounding this book 😂 1mo

CSeydel @BarbaraBB Absolutely! At least we have that 😆 1mo

CarolynM You comments sum up my feelings exactly. She‘s appalling. 1mo

CSeydel @CarolynM Glad I‘m not the only one 😬 1mo

63 likes33 comments

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