Welcome to Litsy!

A heartbreaking, vulnerable, raw, intimate, powerful piece of writing.

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Ms Gay bares her soul to tell us her story about her battle with her weight. She divulges how she was gang raped as at age 12 by a group of boys. She is open and honest about how she felt herself to be unworthy of being a “good girl” and therefore not worthy of being loved. It is really disappointing to know and understanding that people are very disrespectful towards morbidly obese people. It‘s hard to see anyone treated this way. 5/5

Roxane Gay takes a deep dive into what it feels like to be a very large Black woman who “built her body into a fortress” after a preteen gang rape. Lots of powerful insights here into all the ways fatphobia and racism manifest themselves, and her story of working toward claiming the space, physical and social, that she is entitled to.
#Nonfiction2024 #Blubber

Before I go to a restaurant I obsessively check the restaurant‘s website, Google Images, and Yelp to see what kind of seating it has. Are the seats ultra modern and flimsy? Do they have arms and if so, what kind? Are there booths and if so does the table move or is it one of those tables welded between two benches? How long do I think I can sit in those chairs without screaming?
#Nonfiction2024 #Blubber

November #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I'm hoping I can up my game this month, reading-wise. I've been so unfocused in recent times.

Need to do a full inventory of my shelves as well. Fingers crossed I'll be getting my own place so will need to sort out all of my books! It will be a huge job! 😅

Today, I am a fat woman. I don‘t think I‘m ugly, I don‘t hate myself in the way society would have me hate myself, but I do live in the world. I live in this body, in this world, and I hate the way the world all too often responds to this body. Intellectually, I recognize that I am not the problem: this world and its unwillingness to accept and accommodate me are the problem. But, I expect it‘s more likely that I can change before this culture.

Trigger warnings for rape and eating disorders

I‘ve had this on the TBR for years because I knew there was a description of rape, and as a survivor myself, I wasn‘t in a place where I could read it.

I‘m glad I did.

Our stories are similar. We both suffered sexual assault and gained weight as a defence mechanism. We‘re queer. We both hunger for more. More food, more love, more acceptance.

I want to tell my own story one day. #botm

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Got a cold and am staying for the weekend but feeling well enough to read now! Not so much the past few days.

This has been on the #TBR shelf for years because I was always worried it would be too intense but feeling like I want to read it now.

Anther black author for #blackhistorymonth and a #BOTM pick.

In depth conversation in which Roxane Gay shares the trials and tribulations of living in a world that is unaccommodating to large bodies. Gay also describes the societal pressures and gazes the world directs towards her due to her size.

“They see my size before they see me.”

Roxanne Gay is probably one of my favorite writers of modern literature.

I really liked this book. Sometimes as humans we have this easiness to judge others without knowing what they are going through. I‘m including myself. This book opened my eyes about the life and the struggles of others.

#rape #eatingdisorder #fatphobia

#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations
Day 7 Nonfiction

Roxane Gay is a powerhouse of a writer. All of her books are fantastic and make you think. Hunger is the incredibly personal story of her struggles with food, weight, and her body. It is a hard read (check trigger warnings!), but her writing and the messages conveyed are phenomenal.

Gay has described Hunger as “by far the hardest book I‘ve ever had to write”, and it‘s not hard to see why. I cannot fathom the bravery and strength it took for her to simply put these words on a page, let alone share them with the world in a best-selling memoir. I‘m in awe of her. https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/hunger-roxane-gay/

Roxane says ‘Living in my body has expanded my empathy for other people and the truths of their bodies. Certainly, it has shown me the importance of inclusivity and acceptance (not merely tolerance) for diverse body types.‘
Reading this book will help the reader to do the same.

Only page 11 and I like this book already

#recovery #indeliblemoments @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I can‘t imagine writing something so revealing. This book is a hard read, and amazing.

No matter who you are, you‘ll likely find something in here that sounds like it came out of your own brain.

I‘ll be thinking about this for a long time. 5/5 🌟

She reads the audiobook. 👍

Trigger warning: assault.

#bookmoods #celebbookclubpick @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

This was one of Emma Watson‘s pick!

My haul from the Free Little Library today! 😍

Finished Hunger in a couple of days, cried at the end, and now the first thing I‘m doing is ordering Gay‘s other books!

4.75 🌟 #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#doublespin April. In this non-fiction memoir of her body, author explains how sexual trauma at 12 impacts the way she views her body, her self-esteem, her relationships with family members & future lovers. She writes about the emotional & physical pain she endures as she moves through the world at her size, the logistical challenges of navigating a world built for smaller people, & the ways she is both seen & not seen because of her size.

This book is so raw and beautiful. She talks about what it's like to live in her body. But also how she got to that point. It's stunning and I'd like to give her a hug but only in theory because I don't like to touch people either. She reads her own #audiobook and you can hear her emotions. I highly recommend it.

Moving, powerful memoir. Roxane Gay's writing is poignant as she shares her story.

This book felt like a complete whine-fest. I‘d seen it around on all sorts of lists but I didn‘t get it. I went into this book wanting to listen and learn about being fat. But I don‘t know that I learned to sympathize with obesity. I just learned life is hard. But life is always hard.

Am I terrible? What did I miss?

I really liked this one.
#hunger #SeptemberSenses

5 star

This was a difficult, but incredibly powerful and vulnerable memoir. I can‘t believe I waited so long to read it. 4⭐️

This is my #LitsyAwardsWinner pick for #SummerFun Bingo and another #BookSpinBingo read.

Honest, raw memoir examining a part of this writer's life focusing on her body and all the issues swirling around being overweight in a culture that does not value it (to say the least). I listened to the audiobook which the author read (love those best). It went by so fast. Good book giving lots of food for thought.

Excellent book about a woman's struggle with life and her weight after being raped.

"It is a powerful lie to equate thinness with self-worth. Clearly, this lie is damn convincing because the weight-loss industry thrives. Women continue to try to bend themselves to societal will. Women continue to hunger. And so do I."

love Roxane. Recommend

#body #trauma #deep I highly recommend this deeply honest and authentic book. It‘s very raw and heartbreaking. Roxane Gay is my favorite author. 📚📖 Living in my body has expanded my empathy for other people and the truths of their bodies. Certainly, it has shown me the importance of inclusivity and acceptance (not merely tolerance) for diverse body types.”

Listened to this on audio because I love when Roxane Gay reads to me, even when the topic is tragic and heartbreaking
This book covers a lot from the trauma Gay went through in her earlier life, to how she lives in her body, to her emotional and mental well-being. It is not an easy light read but it is worth it.

I don't think I've ever read anything so completely, nakedly, tragically, honest and searching and real. Yet. Gay asks not for pity, but for consideration and space. Good grief, this woman can write.

I‘m exactly 3 weeks away from for 40, close to the age Roxane was when she wrote this. She & I both have complicated relationships with our bodies & our families, even though I‘m only “Lane Bryant fat”

My mother is particularly disturbed by my “health” aka weight. My doctor wants me to get bariatric surgery even though I barely qualify & have digestive problems. I better understand Roxane each time I read this. Behind every person is a story.

1. Maya Angelou, John Lewis, Kamala Harris, Aaliyah, Lizzo and I gotta include Gizelle Bryant from RHOP 😂
2. Roxane Gay, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Colson Whitehead. I have a bunch of NK Jemisin that I can‘t wait to read. I need to read Octavia Butler too and could def use more of her work.
3. Both!
4. Literary fiction, fantasy, historical fiction
5. Hmm the Civil Rights Movement.

#blitsyhistorymonth #bhmswap @Chelleo

First book finished in 2020. Loved it! So honest and soul-searching reflections. Wow. Audiobook was read by the author.

“every body has a story and a history. here I offer mine with a memoir of my body and my hunger.” -Roxane Gay literally cannot WAIT to start reading this #feminism #feministbooks #roxanegay

I was curious when @BarbaraBB commented that she hadn't enjoyed this one but as I got further and further into it I found myself feeling the same way. Gay's honesty and transparency is not to be undermined, and I appreciate her bravery in publishing this memoir; however, its underdeveloped chapters that kept going all over the place in no relevant order or coherence didn't let me fully enjoy it and the writing itself felt empty and bland.

My #Top10ofTheDecade #NonFictionEdition is here! There are so many great books still on my TBR, but of the ones I‘ve read these are my faves. @Cinfhen

Today marks five years since I left my last (and hopefully forever last) treatment center for my anorexia. I‘ve wanted to read Roxane Gay for a while but have been afraid of being triggered by the food talk. I‘m so glad I‘m in a good place in my recovery because this book is amazing, Gay is such a wonderful writer. This book is a difficult read, as expected, but also an important story

Bedtime #currentlyreading

"Why do we create the boundaries people create for themselves as challenges?"

Like Gay, I am not someone who enjoys hugging strangers. I feel like that kind of physical contact is something that should be reserved for people I know and care for, but I've often had people do similar things where they try to make me hug even after I've said I don't want to.

I did it! I f($&ing did it by 1.5k steps!! Woo hoo!! #LitsyWalkathon My feet are tired!! 👍🏻

Read 5 books this week. The best were Less and Hunger. 9/12 for the challenge. I have a procedure Tuesday, so we‘ll see what I revise it up to after that.

Also, I‘m remembering to Be Kind to myself, as we all should! I came back from depression and sleeplessness, sort of, and I‘m proud!

#bfc #bfcr2 #checkin #goteam

Oh y‘all, how I turn to favorite books when times are rough! I love this book. I wish I could put my feelings about myself into words as beautifully as she does.

I picked this up in the middle of the night first when I didn‘t want to and then when I couldn‘t sleep. Then I took a lovely 4K+ step walk near dawn. Then I did some things. Then I slept fitfully. I just finished rereading this book.

If anyone has wisdom on mood disorders and sleep 👇🏻

#unpopularopinion Everyone seems to love this book, but sadly not me. I wanted to. I really feel for her, and can‘t imagine how hard her life has been since she was gang raped at the age of 12. Horrible! However, I don‘t like repetition, and the book was all about repeating. I understand that that‘s the process she had/has to go through, but I don‘t enjoy repetition in books, and it‘s the book I‘m reviewing, not her life or personality.