AutoBiography

Wrong time period, but at least she‘s in Paris 👆

A Backward Glance
#whartonbuddyread

Today:
IX The Secret Garden
X London
XI Paris

Dec 13: finish

On writing House of Mirth
“The answer was that a frivolous society can acquire dramatic significance only through what its frivolity destroys. Its tragic implication lies in its power of debasing people and ideals.”

I‘m smitten all. What are your thoughts?

Graywacke @CarolynM @Currey @IMASLOWREADER @jewright @Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie 1d

Lcsmcat I highlighted that passage too. Also “As a stranger and newcomer, not only outside of all groups and coteries, but hardly aware of their existence, I enjoyed a freedom not possible in those days to the native born, who were still enclosed in the old social pigeon-holes, which they had begun to laugh at, but to which they still flew back.” 1d

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Paris! How interesting 1d

See All 27 Comments

Graywacke A big thing i‘m contemplating is the world changing impact of WWI. Like how Cather said the world broke in 1922 (which is an odd choice of year). 1d

Lcsmcat I also added Enrique Larreta, Paul Bourget, and Howard Sturgis, to my TBR. I like reading what a favored author read. (edited) 1d

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I think WWI gave others the freedom that Wharton tasted as an outsider in Paris society. The classes and the expectations of one‘s place in society shifted so dramatically then. 1d

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I do too!! 1d

TheBookHippie I keep thinking about the importance of writing is art. You must do your art. The stories swimming inside her, oh to be a witness to that. But mostly I‘m just smitten with the prose and her observations. It is fascinating to me the shifting of “society”. 1d

Leftcoastzen I‘m not done yet but just finished rewatching Downton Abbey. They did such a good job illustrating how WWI changed so much . The youngest daughter Sybil, working as a nurse . The family turning their home into a convalescent center. 1d

Currey @Graywacke WWI was completely world transforming but I did find Wharton picking 1922 odd. I keep thinking about how I would tell others about my friendships and acquaintances. She just could really capture her friend‘s unique properties. 1d

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i didn‘t add those three 🙂 But I did find them fascinating. Howard - what a character! 1d

Graywacke @TheBookHippie she really has a way of making you interested in whatever she wants to tell about. That prose… 1d

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen I‘ve never seen Downtown Abbey. 🙁 That element interests. The show interests. The fact you‘re watching it a second time interests! 1d

Graywacke @Currey goodness, I could never bring anyone alive the way she does. It‘s so special. (It was Cather, not Wharton, who made the 1922 quip.) 1d

Currey @Graywacke Oh Cather made that remark. I am not sure I understand that any better but it does make more sense given Cather being in the US and Wharton in Europe. 1d

Lcsmcat @Graywacke If I read any of them I‘ll tag you. Although finding an English translation of Bourget may be difficult. 16h

Graywacke @Currey right. It‘s a curious remark. Interesting that i just read East of Eden, which ends in WWi. In California. So far away, yet so impactful. Also - from a different angle - pre-wwi is Wharton‘s age of innocence… 13h

Graywacke @Lcsmcat oh - yes. Please do. I‘m curious. 13h

Graywacke @Lcsmcat also - I‘m thinking about what‘s next. I plan to read Hermione Lee‘s biography. And hopefully there is group interest. But i‘m also thinking of all that Eudora Welty talk we had. I‘m really interested in pursuing that. 13h

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I have the Carol Singley book, but not the Hermione Lee, but I can probably find a copy. And yes, Eudora Welty would be an excellent choice. 13h

Graywacke @Lcsmcat I really want Hermione Lee - her name is legend. And I haven‘t read her. 🙂 12h

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I would be interested in Eudora Welty, though to be honest, I would follow you two anywhere 12h

Lcsmcat @Currey ❤️ 11h

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Sure. Like I said, I‘m sure I can get my hands on a copy. 11h

Graywacke @Currey ❤️ (x2) 11h

Lcsmcat If you‘re curious, the Singley book is

Edith Wharton: Matters of Mind and Spirit

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Thanks! 2h

38 likes1 stack add27 comments

Leftcoastzen

My Name Is Barbra | Barbra Streisand

pick

A review 2 years in the making!😁I ran right out & bought it 11/23 ,I started flying through the early years & then stalled .I probably should have done audio, 900 pages,heavy ! Anyway, DONE.I did enjoy it , her perfectionist bent had me believing she still would go back & improve everything she‘s ever done! She has committed to many causes over the years , especially women‘s health, and the environment. And that voice, it will always my favorite

MemoirsForMe Great review! Glad you finally finished it. I love Barbra and the audiobook! 😍🙌🏻 4d

dabbe Fab review! I was so lucky that I got to see her in the early 90s at the opening of the MGM Hotel in Vegas. #concertofalifetime 🩵☃️🩶 4d

Leftcoastzen @MemoirsForMe thanks ! 4d

Leftcoastzen @dabbe WOW , I have never seen her live ! 4d

dabbe @Leftcoastzen She was stunning. And so tiny! I had no idea how small she was with that powerful voice! 🤩 4d

57 likes5 comments

christhelesbian

In My Own Way: An Autobiography | Alan Watts

bailed

Honestly, so excited to be done with this
I have read Alan Watts before many years ago and really enjoyed it but this wow ... it took so much out of me
The last chapter was nice and maybe a total of 10 pages were actually worth reading, one change that has come from this is that I feel I could go to church and just allow what happens to happen and I feel like I have more awareness/mindfulness in sound and moving at ease
I feel free yippee

MindyK59

My Name Is Barbra | Barbra Streisand

pick

This book is really long at 970 pages. It took me a really long time to read it because I read other books in between. However I am really glad I did finish it. Her writing is very detailed, almost like she is talking to you. She discussed all her albums and movies. It really brought back a lot of memories for me. It made me want to listen to her songs and watch her movies all over again.

5 likes

GidgetsTreasures75

Dancing on My Grave | Greg Lawrence, Gelsey Kirkland

11-30-25: Newest member of my tattoo collection. Meet Gelsey. I was a ballerina for many years so it was only fitting to acknowledge that. I love her💖

BookishMarginalia Love love love! 1w

marleed Beautiful! 1w

12 likes2 comments

Graywacke

A Backward Glance | Edith Wharton

A Backward Glance - VI-VIII
(Next, Dec 6 IX-XI)
#whartonbuddyread

Wharton‘s early works, through House of Mirth, but more about her “inner group” - with Walter Berry, and a magical section on Henry James:

“these elaborate hesitancies…were like a cobweb bridge flung from his mind to theirs, an invisible passage over which one knew that silver-footed ironies, veiled jokes, tiptoe malices, were stealing to explode a huge laugh at one's feet.”

Graywacke Also, I didn‘t know Emily Bronte wrote poetry! What a gorgeous poem - Remembrance: https://poets.org/poem/remembrance 1w

Graywacke What did you all think? @CarolynM @Currey @IMASLOWREADER @jewright @Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie (edited) 1w

Graywacke On Walter Berry: “From my first volume of short stories to “Twilight Sleep”, the novel I published just before his death, nothing in my work escaped him, no detail was too trifling to be examined and discussed, gently ridiculed or quietly praised.” 1w

See All 21 Comments

Lcsmcat I underlined so many sections! I was particularly amused by her description of New York conversation being like the gossip column of a country newspaper. (My NYC daughter would be incensed!) 1w

Lcsmcat “I remember once saying that I was a failure in Boston. . . because they thought I was too fashionable to be intelligent, and a failure in New York because they were afraid I was too intelligent to be fashionable.” 1w

Lcsmcat “None of my relations ever spoke to me of my books, either to praise or blame-they simply ignored them; and among the immense tribe of my New York cousins, though it included many with whom I was on terms of affectionate intimacy, the subject was avoided as though it were a kind of family disgrace, which might be condoned but could not be forgotten.” 1w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat it‘s a gorgeous section. So inspiring and interesting and amusing. I remember these quotes! 1w

Leftcoastzen I especially love the quote about her family not being interested in her books ! Hilarious they are ! As I think she noted if she was in a British or European family it would be of interest! 1w

Leftcoastzen I like how she discusses her friends and mentors. I read a lot of lost generation writers and in their time they seemed to act like they rose out of the ashes of war fully formed, and owed nothing to the earlier generations of writers. 1w

Currey @Lcsmcat Yes, you picked the perfect quotes for this section. I loved the part on Henry James, instead of making him appear more stuffy, it made him more vulnerable, more insecure and therefore more powerful to rise out of that to write how he wrote. And how could a family just ignore the very thing that is the core of you. She does not have much good to say about her husband does she? 1w

Lcsmcat @Leftcoastzen I liked how she gave her mentors and informal editors credit too. And how she was honest about her early stuff. I don‘t have my copy in front of me now, but there was something about not having a personality of her own until the first collection of short stories was published. 1w

Lcsmcat @Currey Yes, Henry James‘ personality really comes through. 1w

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen well - this lost generation were essentially chanting, “down with Edith Wharton” 🙂 1w

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat Henry James comes out so lovable 1w

Graywacke @Leftcoastzen @Lcsmcat that names were so interesting! The social fabric that she sook out by intent 1w

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Leftcoastzen And she skewered the lost generation too with “the amusing thing about the turn of the wheel is that we who fought the good fight are now jeered as the prigs and prudes who barred the way to complete expression—as perhaps we should have tried to do, had we known it was to cause creative art to be abandoned for pathology.” 1w

Currey @Lcsmcat Ouch 1w

jewright I‘m late commenting, but I thought there would be more about her marriage, but not so far, other than their trips. I did enjoy the parts about Henry James. 1w

Lcsmcat Has this section and the one just started for next week exploded anyone else‘s TBR, or is it just me? 1w

Graywacke @Lcsmcat other than needing to read everything by Henry James? 1w

Graywacke @jewright she‘s quiet quiet on that so far. And it‘s coming to an end 1w

33 likes21 comments

Kshakal

Humble Pie | Gordon Ramsay

#humble #arichlife @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs True 💕 1w

ShelleyBooksie My motto! 1w

25 likes2 comments

OutsmartYourShelf

Faithfull: An Autobiography | Marianne Faithfull

pan

Autobiography by Marianne Faithfull - best known for a few hit songs & being Mick Jagger's girlfriend sometime in the 60s. Most people in this come across as insufferable bores who think they're erudite & witty because they're always stoned. Talking of insufferable bores - I've never gotten the hype about Dylan. Really can't see what the deal ever was. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf As for the book, the structure was all over the place & the writing style made it a chore to read for the most part. Faithfull really didn't come across well, definitely not a 'girl's girl' as she slept with anyone - including friends' boyfriends & made vague excuses as to why it wasn't a big deal. Also tended to say things without considering what she was actually saying & goes on as if the sex & drugs just happened, 1w

OutsmartYourShelf rather than being choices on her part.

I don't have one of those personalities that is prone to addiction (except perhaps buying too many books) so I find it difficult to empathise when someone just keeps doing the same thing & wondering why their life is falling to pieces. The only person who comes out of this with any dignity intact is (ironically) Keith Richards. 2⭐
1w

OutsmartYourShelf TWs: (major) drugs, sex, infidelity, strong language (minor) pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8081897225
Read 20th - 27th Nov 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES 1w

See All 11 Comments

Bookwormjillk Great review 1w

BkClubCare @Bookwormjillk - yes, fab review. I probably will skip this memoir. I actually own a book on Keith Richards but haven‘t yet been inspired to read it. 1w

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 1w

dabbe Re: Dylan ... 🎯♥️🎯 1w

OutsmartYourShelf @Bookwormjillk Thank you 😊 1w

OutsmartYourShelf @BkClubCare I have his book 'Life' in my TBR pile & after reading this, I'm probably a bit more enthused to read it tbh. I'd like to know his take on what went off. 1w

OutsmartYourShelf @dabbe Glad I'm not the only one. There's always been this thing about him being a great songwriter etc, & I'm like “Huh?“ 1w

dabbe @OutsmartYourShelf Plus, he wins a Nobel Prize for Literature for writing words I can't understand when he's singing them! 🤣 1w

24 likes11 comments

ChaoticMissAdventures

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone | Nina Simone, Stephen Cleary

pick

When I rate memoirs I rate on readability, structure and if the story is easy to understand. I do not decide what I think the author should tell me.
Simone's bio is fairly linear with not much back and forth through time which I appreciate, I also really enjoyed how she seemed to place herself in the time, not hinting on what is to come later.
For all this I think this is a great bio.
On a personal note 👇

ChaoticMissAdventures I am a bit disappointed on how much she strived to center men and pestle them in her life . At the end she even says I am as happy as I can be without a husband.... Yikes. She also seems to almost completely ignored her daughter which, another yikes. The book does give you a lot to think on around that and around art+politics; stage parents vs. unsupportive parents 2w

TieDyeDude I watched What Happened, Miss Simone? on Netflix. If I remember right, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and especially her later years were a bit tumultuous. Her daughter was a producer on the film, so it is interesting that she was mostly omitted from Simone's autobiography... 2w

ChaoticMissAdventures @TieDyeDude I have not seen this, I should call it up. I thought it was odd she rarely brought Lisa up. She does have a line at the end of the book (published about 10 years before she died) where she mentioned how she felt they were not close because Nina was too busy to have a close relationship with her. But she was also running off to Barbados to have an affair. (Trying not to judge) 2w

38 likes3 comments

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books