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Bell Jar, the
Bell Jar, the | Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel. Renowned for its intensity and outstandingly vivid prose, it broke existing boundaries between fiction and reality and helped to make Plath an enduring feminist icon. It was published under a pseudonym a few weeks before the author's suicide. 'It is a fine novel, as bitter and remorseless as her last poems . . . The world in which the events of the novel take place is a world bounded by the Cold War on one side and the sexual war on the other . . . This novel is not political nor historical in any narrow sense, but in looking at the madness of the world and the world of madness it forces us to consider the great question posed by all truly realistic fiction: What is reality and how can it be confronted? . . . Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.' New York Times Book Review
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mavey
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Have always been a bit hesitant to read The Bell Jar. Any tips/experiences, folks?

Ft. Pretty handmade bookmark from my friend to help with it❤️

Vansa It's a very accessible, quick read(unlike some of Plath's poems).Its not a comfortable read though and you have to keep in mind that a genuinely deeply depressed person is writing this,or it can sound entitled.Definitely worth reading 4d
mavey @Vansa It hasn't been an easy read at all, yes Vansa. Thank you! I take a breather in between pages to get through 10h
29 likes2 comments
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

#Shadow
#WickedWhispers

kspenmoll ❤️💛🧡 1w
Eggs Excellent 👌🏼 1w
61 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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notreallyelaine
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath

“What does a woman see in a woman that she can‘t see in a man?”
Doctor Nolan paused. Then she said, “Tenderness.”
That shut me up.

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CoffeeNBooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks This cover is pretty 🖤 2mo
Eggs This is the edition I read in 1972 🥀 2mo
52 likes2 comments
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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“But I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure at all. How did I know that someday―at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere―the #bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again.”

💔💔

It‘s time for a reread…

#SchoolSpirit
#Bell

Eggs Me too, I read it in 1972!! 2mo
JessieKB That picture!!😍😍 2mo
62 likes2 comments
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GatheringBooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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kspenmoll 🩷💙❤️ 2mo
BkClubCare Wow! 🛁 2mo
46 likes1 stack add2 comments
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caffeinated
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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#SchoolSpirit September 2nd #bell

Eggs Classic👏🏻 2mo
24 likes1 comment
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Ladygodiva7
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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The naughty book-eater!!!

This was such an excellent book!! Love it!!

#dogsoflitsy #Reading1001 #1001

Gissy But...but...with that angel face? 😕😂 3mo
ShananigansReads The art and the artist. 3mo
dabbe “Mom, I thought it said jam jar.“ 😂🖤🐾🖤😂 3mo
See All 6 Comments
Ladygodiva7 @Gissy @ShananigansReads @dabbe don‘t let that angel face fool you, she‘s got a long rap sheet! Love the art and the artist! Right, she can‘t read 😂 3mo
AnnCrystal 🤭🐾🐕‍🦺💝. 3mo
TheSpineView 😂😂😂❤️🐾🐕 3mo
71 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Ladygodiva7
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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My dog had a lil snack this morning, she ate a little bit of the corner of this library book!!!

Should I tell the library? I could leave a post-it note on the inside…first time she‘s damaged a library book.

Bella (my dog) had completely destroyed one other book, Robin Hood, thankfully I bought it for $1 from library book sale. Oof.

Addison_Reads As a library worker, who also handles damages and repairs, letting them know is always better than just dropping it off. 3mo
Ladygodiva7 @Addison_Reads thanks I will let them know!! 🫣 3mo
45 likes2 comments
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BC_Dittemore
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

I read The Bell Jar for the first time a couple weeks ago then sat on it, because I wasn‘t sure how to articulate what I loved so much. Then I listened to it. This showed the way.

Through Maggie Gyllenhaal, Plath‘s prose truly shines. While reading, I was certainly enamored by the writing, highlighting some fav. lines. But after listening, I wanted to highlight almost every line.

I now understand the urge to compulsively reread a single novel.

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Leftcoastzen
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Eggs Perfect 👍🏼 5mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🖤💔🖤 5mo
45 likes2 comments
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Catsarentfood
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
Pickpick

Loved this book so much.

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Rachel.Rencher
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Tell me why I keep picking up copies of The Bell Jar every time I go thrifting even though I already own like 6 copies? I keep forgetting and just grab it. 😂 Anyway, I'm FINALLY going to read it today!

Birdsong28 I do it with Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks as it's my favourite book so I have to get the different versions. 😂 📚📖 7mo
Shemac77 I do it with The Catcher in the Rye! 7mo
AmyG Sometimes I just can‘t bear seeing a lonely, beloved book at a thrift store or book sale….and I just buy it…..so it can be appreciated on my shelf. 7mo
See All 6 Comments
Suet624 @AmyG Love your answer. 7mo
Suet624 I do it with Fresh Water for Flowers. 7mo
Tamra @Suet624 💚💙 7mo
68 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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DHill
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Rereading this after many years.

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CSeydel
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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My #Tuesdaytunes is “Cemetery Somewhere” by John Muirhead.

Sylvia Plath wrote:
“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

CSeydel Reimagining that theme, “Cemetery Somewhere” by John Muirhead describes the cemetery of abandoned dreams, a mourning for all the lives that could have been. I can‘t stop listening to this song; it is simple, compelling and beautiful. 8mo
TheBookHippie Love this! 8mo
See All 6 Comments
TieDyeDude A lovely song. Thanks for sharing! Have you heard Jason Isbell "If We Were Vampires"? 8mo
CSeydel @TieDyeDude I haven‘t - I‘ll check it out! 8mo
CSeydel @TieDyeDude Turns out I actually have heard it, I just didn‘t realize - I‘ve heard the Noah Kahan version 8mo
43 likes6 comments
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kitapkurdu
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
This post contains spoilers
show me

I remembered the cadavers and Doreen and the story of the fig-tree and Marco's diamond and the sailor on the Common and Doctor Gordon's wall-eyed nurse and the broken thermometers and the negro with his two kinds of beans and the twenty pounds I gained on insulin and the rock that bulged between sky and sea like a grey skull.Maybe forgetfulness, like a kind snow, should numb and cover them.But they were part of me. They were my landscape.

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kitapkurdu
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
This post contains spoilers
show me

“I thought it sounded just like the sort of drug a man would invent. Here was a woman in terrible pain, obviously feeling every bit of it or she wouldn't groan like that, and she would go straight home and start another baby, because the drug would make her forget how bad the pain had been, when all the time, in some secret part of her, that long, blind, doorless and windowless corridor of pain was waiting to open up and shut her in again.”

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kitapkurdu
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath

“I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I should any more. This made me sad and tired. Then I wondered why I couldn't go the whole way doing what I shouldn't, the way Doreen did, and this made me even sadder and more tired.”

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kitapkurdu
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
Pickpick

This books makes me feel tired. Tired of repressing every self-doubting thought, packed in a little pocket of worries in my brain, about the future, myself, and how I allow others‘ opinions on these to shape my own life. I feel like I almost betray Plath with the way I lead my life (as if she would care) - setting a bell jar around my own life, with my own hands. This book paints my Bell Jar bright red, right in my face, and I hate that.

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JillR
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

Mixed feelings about this one. I much preferred it to some of the contemporary/millennial books on similar topics. It felt both of its time and also very much not; there were times the writing put me in mind of Ottessa Moshfegh. Yet I didn‘t love it. There remains the obsessive self-centredness of the main character that I disliked here and have done in other books and I struggled with the second half. Still, I‘m glad I read it.

ShyBookOwl I agree about MC. I struggled with it at times, but I also couldn't bring myself to bail because it had such poignant moments. But it's not one I'll re-read 9mo
JillR @ShyBookOwl same, as it was short it wasn‘t too difficult a read from that perspective. Whether I‘d have finished it if it was much longer, I‘m not sure 9mo
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Annie09
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”

https://english.shabd.in/the-bell-jar-sylvia-plath/book/10277922

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steph_phanie
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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It is taking me so long to get through my first book of the year...

...because we have been doing fun things like traveling to New Orleans and adopting a new kitty!

Litsy, meet Mike! He hasn't been introduced to our other cat quite yet (she is scared), but he has settled in well so far. ❤️

RaeLovesToRead Hello, Mike, you adorable kitty you! 10mo
LiteraryinPA Aww, hi to Mike! 10mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 10mo
DHill Hello Mike! 😻 10mo
Sparklemn Handsome! 9mo
23 likes5 comments
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steph_phanie
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Hello, old friend. 💙 Starting the year with you.

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steph_phanie
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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As the year comes to an end, I have been feeling ever more intensely pulled to reread The Bell Jar. I read it every five years or so.

Then today at work, I realized I was repeating, "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart," over and over again in the back of my mind. So when I got home, I pulled my copy off the shelf. I probably won't start it for another week or two, but it felt good to flip through the pages!

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Yoricke_SouthAfrica
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Mehso-so

After wanting to read this book for a very long time, I'm a little disappointed. I found the writing style difficult to follow. Understandably, it is a semi-autobiography, and covers sensitive topics, but I was not overwhelmed.

Yoricke_SouthAfrica @Santie I remembered to tag you in my review 😊 11mo
Santie You did! Thank you. I guess it will remain shelved for now 11mo
37 likes2 comments
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Yoricke_SouthAfrica
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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This book has been on my TBR list for far too long. Time to read it at last

Santie Please tag me in your review. I started and then it wasn‘t what I expected, slow burn and I got impatient. Need some motivation to revisit it 😩 12mo
Yoricke_SouthAfrica @Santie Will do. Sometimes timing has a lot to do with when a book makes sense. I've put books down, only to pick it up years later and enjoy it. 12mo
36 likes2 comments
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guidosophia
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
Pickpick

Ever since the first time I read this book in high school I‘ve been saying it‘s my favorite book so I seem intellectually superior and also sexy. Rereading it as a 20 year old has solidified the fact that this is the best book I‘ve ever read. It‘s SO relatable which is kinda scary but whatever. The last time I read it I remember thinking the beginning was slow but this time the beginning had me hooked. I love this book. PLS read it!!!

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CrystalE02
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Panpan

I didn't care for this book at all. I felt like it ended too quickly. I rated this book a 2 out of 5 stars.

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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

#AutumnPlease
#Shadow

🖤💔

Eggs Brilliant 🖤🤗🩶 13mo
64 likes1 comment
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AllDebooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Librarybelle
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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For #Blues , I immediately jumped to the tagged book, one that has been on my tbr for such a long time.

For the song, I decided to go with a blues song by Jimi Hendrix, whose rock music is deeply rooted in the blues genre. Born Under a Bad Sign is not one I‘m completely familiar with, but I loved the instrumental play in it (it‘s pretty much instrumental for the entire 8 minutes). #TitlesAndTunes

BarbaraBB I love Sylvia Plath and Jimi Hendrix! Ver glad with your choices and I hope you‘ll “enjoy” The Bell Jar. 13mo
Cinfhen Nice combo!! Great book choice 🥰 13mo
52 likes3 comments
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Firestarter994
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Books # 4, 47, and 79 in that order. September, here I come!!

@PuddleJumper #roll100

PuddleJumper Awesome! Good luck! 1y
10 likes1 stack add1 comment
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ChelseaM6010
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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#BookBinge
Day 19. About mental health
#AboutMentalHealth
Playing some catch up!

Eggs 👏🏻👏🏻 my choice too 1y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Perfect 💔 1y
19 likes2 comments
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Eggs
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Leftcoastzen Great pick! 1y
Eggs @Leftcoastzen Thanks 🙏🏻 1y
52 likes1 stack add2 comments
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i.z.booknook
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

Late the game on this one but glad I finally read it! Esther Greenwood is an intelligent and talented woman but is trapped in a stifling, restricting system which drives her mad. Some of the most beautiful and inventive descriptions I‘ve ever read. Esther‘s descent seems completely plausible, believable and inevitable. Really powerful. Highly recommend.

42 likes1 stack add
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Miracos
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

While I didn't enjoy the first part too much, I absolutely loved the second half of it, i was so interested in what was going to happen that I could barely stop reading long enough to underline passages.
My favourite parts of the book are Esther's relationships with people, specifically her mother. This is the first book to ever make me cry.
It is a tragedy that Plath died before being able to finish her second novel.

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CollapsingLibrary
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

I reread this book ever 3-4 years and every time I‘m blown away by different aspects of this novel. This time it was how recent this was actually set in our history. My grandma and I discussed her reading this book when it was first published in the US and how much she loved it. A classic for a reason, and something I look forward to rereading again in my 30s.

68 likes3 stack adds
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CollapsingLibrary
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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This is a reread for me! I seem to pick it up every couple years with a new appreciation for Plath. Lately, I‘ve been seeing booktok videos (I‘m assuming that‘s where they started but I don‘t have TikTok) creating lists of books to read to master female manipulation and this book is always listed. Maybe I‘m confused, but even as I‘m reading through this I‘m not seeing the MC as some manipulative mastermind.

KathyWheeler It‘s been a long time since I‘ve read that book but that‘s not how I remember or would describe the mc either 1y
CollapsingLibrary @KathyWheeler part of me feels like people must just be looking up lists of feminist lit and putting those books down because the videos are with books all written by women and I recognize a couple titles but haven‘t read enough to confirm this theory. Because the only “manipulation” I‘ve seen the MC do so far is trying to seduce a man and that didn‘t even work out for her haha 1y
willaful That sounds like an incredibly offensive tiktok hook. :-( 1y
KathyWheeler @willaful Doesn‘t it though?! 1y
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KateD1
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

This book is a timeless masterpiece. #modernclassic #sylviaplath

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emmaturi
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

This is a really interesting story, and I needed to read it really slowly to take it all in. It's a hard read at times as it has mental illness and suicide too. I remember being really into Syliva Plath, and the movie came out with Gwenth Paltrow. It's her only novel.

IuliaC I liked the book. I didn't know there was a movie as well 😃 1y
emmaturi Well the movie isn't about the book, more about Plath's life and meeting Ted Hughes. Daniel Craig plays Ted Hughes. The movie is called Sylvia. @IuliaC 1y
IuliaC @emmaturi good to know, thank you! 1y
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Megara
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

This book was awesome.
...except for all the racism.
That was not awesome.
At all.

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IndoorDame
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

One of my #Roll100 books from last month. While I own the physical book, when I learned that Maggie Gyllenhaal narrated the audio version I grabbed that too. I‘ve been embracing reading and listening in tandem more often lately and it‘s really been helping with my brain fog. This one is a classic for all the best reasons. @PuddleJumper

CoverToCoverGirl I so enjoy reading and listening too. 🎧📚 2y
Ruthiella I also like doing a print/audio combo when possible. 👍 2y
66 likes2 comments
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IndoorDame
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn‘t know what I was doing in New York. #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️ 2y
55 likes1 comment
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Bookwomble
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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[heavy sigh 😞]
I wish I could go within a mile of a bookshop and not feel compelled to go in and buy like I'm living to 200 years old 😔
(This, and other lies I tell myself 😏📚)
#BookHaul

vivastory You bought some gems!! Bell Jar has one of my favorite opening paragraphs. 2y
Suet624 All fantastic! 2y
dabbe Think of them as art, which they are. ❣️ 2y
36 likes3 comments
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CBee
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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I wish she‘d found a way to stay in the world 💔 The Bell Jar is a book I‘ve read at least four times - it resonated with me for so many reasons, in so many ways. #independentwomen @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

slategreyskies I feel the same way about her. It makes me angry when people romanticize her death. It was this terrible thing, and my heart goes out to her for how much she had to struggle. 2y
BarbaraBB Very touching and powerful ❤️ 2y
Cinfhen Tagging @TrishB because i have a feeling she would appreciate this post 😘 2y
See All 13 Comments
TheBookHippie I just read by her daughter and I recommend it comes out in June 2y
CBee @slategreyskies mine too. I wish so many things for her and wish she hadn‘t felt like she had to go 🙁 There is nothing to romanticize about what she went through 💔 2y
CBee @TheBookHippie thank you! I remember seeing this but had no idea it was her daughter! 💚 (edited) 2y
TheBookHippie @CBee everything her daughter writes is good FYI♥️. 2y
CBee @TheBookHippie I‘ll be reading more about her for sure!! 2y
TrishB Amazing ❤️ love Sylvia. 2y
CBee @TrishB 💚💚💚 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 💔💔💔 2y
Leftcoastzen Great book ! I so agree with your wish !💔 2y
CBee @Leftcoastzen ♥️♥️♥️ 2y
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midhun.j.zacharia
Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

Such an honest, human voice, dark yet humorous. For anyone wondering - this is a must-read!

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Megabooks
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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Pickpick

I wish I could hand this book to 25-year-old Meg because I think it would‘ve resonated even more strongly then. I saw so many of the struggles I‘ve had on my own mental health journey reflected in Esther, and I think many others do, which is why it‘s such a classic. I loved the introduction written in the 1990s by her former editor and the 16 page bio at the end that are included in this edition. Thanks @Emilymdxn for this #ALSpine rec!

Megabooks The temperature was so warm last week, and we had so much rain; the daffodils thought it was March! 🤞🏻 they live! 2y
Cinfhen I can‘t believe flowers are blooming in January !! 🥰I read this with Niki when she was a junior in HS - her teacher Ms Anderson kept sending back N‘s essay over & over that I grew to resent this book 😆 but I do think I need to try it again 2y
squirrelbrain Great review - such a classic! 2y
See All 14 Comments
Cathythoughts Beautiful review and picture. The poor daffs are confused worldwide 💔 2y
Cathythoughts But they are always welcome and lovely ♥️ 2y
batsy Wonderfully put as to why it's a classic! It's one of those books I was lucky to discover young. It remains a favourite 💜 2y
Tamra I think should have read it as a young woman and perhaps I would have appreciated it more. 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen it‘s gone back down to freezing, so I‘m worried they won‘t come up in March. We have 8 large clumps across our front yard and I don‘t want to miss them! Like @Cathythoughts said, I think they are very confused. 💔 it‘s unfortunate. 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen oh gosh! That does sound frustrating! I transferred schools my freshman year, and my freshman English teacher was very frustrating, and my parents had a heated meeting with her. Senior year and three English teachers later, I won the English award for the entire school. 😂🤷🏻‍♀️ Some students and teachers just don‘t work well together. 2y
Megabooks @Cathythoughts yes, I love having them in our yard! 2y
Megabooks @batsy and I think as we more publicly discuss mental illness, I think more young people will openly relate and pass it on. Just so relatable! 2y
Megabooks @Tamra yeah, I think it would hit differently to a young person, which is great. 2y
BarbaraBB Lovely review. I agree that it could mean even more if you‘d read it when you were younger. 2y
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TrishB
The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
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#bookmail
Lovely new illustrated version of The Bell Jar 😁

TheBookHippie Oh well I need this! 2y
mrp27 Great cover! 2y
TheKidUpstairs 😍😍😍 2y
See All 11 Comments
LeahBergen Gasp! 😱 2y
BarbaraBB Oow 😍😍😍 2y
Oryx Lovely! 2y
batsy Oooh! 2y
Tamra Ohhhhh nice! 2y
elkeOriginal Fantastic cover! 2y
elkeOriginal Illustrated inside too? Oh my! 2y
83 likes2 stack adds11 comments
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nbb
Stakleno zvono | Sylvia Plath
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