“The page is your mirror. What happens inside you is reflected back. You come face-to-face with your own resistance, lack of balance, self-loathing, and insatiable ego—and also with your singular vision, guts, and fortitude. No matter what you've achieved the day before, you begin each day at the bottom of the mountain.”
“We are all unsure of ourselves. Every one of us walking the planet wonders, secretly, if we are getting it wrong. We stumble along. We love and we lose. At times, we find unexpected strength, and at other times, we succumb to our fears. We are impatient. We want to know what's around the corner, and the writing life won't offer us this. It forces us into the here and now. There is only this moment, when we put pen to page.”
pickI liked this just as much as Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. It was more international with a lot in Berlin besides NYC and Italy. Makes me want to try her recipes too.
pick30 Nov-8 Dec 25 (audiobook)
I was familiar with Atwood‘s voice but still it took me a little while to get into the groove of the narration. She is so droll that it almost sounds as though she is boring herself. Sped up slightly (1.4x) and she sounded to be enjoying herself a little more.
As you would expect, she is defensive about the more controversial aspects of her life, but certainly not apologetic.
This reminded me of a very dear friend, an excellent listener and advisor, who told me that the stages of grief aren't linear, but come and go. It helped a lot, especially when we lost him.
pickI really liked this book. Amazing!
pickPulitzer Prize winning critic Jefferson writes a different kind of memoir. First she establishes the reality and long presence of the Black upper class in the US, then continues to show that class while seating herself within it, as she grew up privileged. She plays quite a bit with style in the writing, which threw me at times, but overall I found this fascinating and unique. #ReadYourEbooks
Where I find the best book. I don't want to return it to Mum, but I must. Many thanks to Alice Pung for sharing your polished words in Unpolished Gem.
https://www.suzs-space.com/unpolished-gem-by-alice-pung/
#AuldLangSpine About Me @monalyisha
-My partner Linda and I met at a party in Long Island that I almost didn't go to, and somehow, 14 years passed. The upper left pic is from a Halloween party this year, me as a deranged emoticon, points for ID'ing Linda's character (think early 2000s TV, and not usually painted blue)
-I know it looks like we have a 2-headed cat, but this is Jem (left) & Scout (right), brothers as cute and cuddly as they come 👇
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