MidLifeCrisis

Yenya1954

The Language of Sycamores | Lisa Wingate

pick

Another beautiful novel by Lisa Wingate. The characters are almost perfect. The story-line brings everyone together and connecting the novels in this series. 4.5/5⭐️

3 likes

monalyisha

All Fours | Miranda July

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I‘m supposed to have strong feelings about this, right? But, I guess…sometimes I liked it a whole lot (eg, “I stood holding the note with that funny little abandoned feeling one gets a million times a day in a domestic setting. I could have cried, but why?”) and sometimes I felt like rolling my eyes — HARD (eg, “The future itself was another lover, reaching backward in time to cup my balls”). I bet Miranda July gets that a lot. 👇🏻

monalyisha 1/6: I neither loved it nor hated it — or…maybe, I loved AND hated it. But “love” feels too strong a word for a reaction to isolated sentences or thoughts and not to a whole. To love well, you‘ve got to love a person (or a book) in their wholeness. 6d

monalyisha 2/6: You can‘t make them excise pieces of themselves to earn your love. You have to just figure out a way to embrace them and let them be — or at least find the “them” that you love *inside of* the thing you don‘t like; each trait has a negative and a positive expression. But I don‘t really want to let certain things in this novel just “be.” I‘d rather they weren‘t there. 6d

monalyisha 3/6: And actually, I know July lost a lot of people with the tampon scene…but she lost me (and then roped me back in, and then lost me again, ad infinitum) when the narrator was preparing for “the dance.” I kept thinking, “This is *still* happening? All of this? Really?” I want to use the term “self-indulgent” but it feels bad. 6d

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monalyisha 4/6: Usually, I feel like women aren‘t allowed to indulge themselves often enough; that‘s a huge part of July‘s whole point (and one that I agree with)! But in the particular case of this novel, I was definitely left wondering if short stories would be a better format for her. And then I remembered that she‘d published a (?) collection already, which has been languishing on my shelf for the better part of a decade. 6d

monalyisha 5/6: So, I‘m sorry for thinking that July is “too much” and for trying to make her smaller…but maybe I should stop apologizing? And also stop ending my sentences with questions? Unapologetic confidence! Let the (book review) world *beg* to cup my balls! 6d

monalyisha 6/6: I know, for certain, that I found this compulsively readable. And I appreciate that the MC neither drives nor flies (nor parks) at the end. She walks. That feels like the character growth we all needed. 6d

ChaoticMissAdventures The Barnes and Noble in my MI's picked this for their October book club and her and I talked about it a lot - a lot about this "too much" idea and what women are "allowed" to do. She was so excited, 7 or 8 people had signed up with her and she wanted to talk about her evolution in thinking about the book. When she got there every single other person bailed and it was just her and the B&N manager! She said they still had a good talk. 6d

Sparklemn The tampon scene was unbearable but I was dying to learn how it all turned out. Glad I finished it. (edited) 6d

monalyisha @ChaoticMissAdventures I picked it for my book club (back at the end of last year; we plan a whole year out). I foresee the rest of the book club members/my friends being mad at me about it — and saying “Nope” a lot. 😅 But maybe they‘ll surprise me! What sorts of things did your MIL have to say? (edited) 6d

monalyisha @Sparklemn I understood the intimacy she was/they were after (and the boundaries that were being intentionally transgressed; didn‘t Fifty Shades notoriously do something similar?). I think it was once she was back at home and still obsessing, with no end in sight, that I became the most uncomfortable and frustrated as a reader. 6d

ChaoticMissAdventures @monalyisha she was really glad she pushed herself! This is not the type of book she would normally read but she is trying to not be in a rut since retiring. She had a lot of the same feelings as you, the thought of what women are allowed to do, even in fiction, also the comparison of male mid life crisis vs perimenopause. She was also super interested in the sexual aspect, how the MC and the guy have a sensual relationship w/o actual sex. 5d

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VanessaWinters

Glory Days: Living Your Promised Land Life Now | Max Lucado

Glory Days is the first book by Lucado that I read. He is an amazing author with a gift from God to encourage believers based on biblical scripture that we can apply to our daily life. One thing I was able to clearly see was that even in Old Testament times, the battle was spiritual. You can't fight an impossible (not impossible for God) physical battle without fighting the same battle in your mind.

Gadolby

All Fours | Miranda July

pick

This is a wild story. Bizarre, unique, totally worth the read. Sometimes cringey, but also revelatory. It has an unabashedly earnest and honest voice about what it is like to lose yourself in middle age as a woman—sexuality, madness—all of it

1 like

Soubhiville

Separation Anxiety: A Novel | Laura Zigman

so-so

There is a lot going on with the family in this book, and with the people surrounding them too. I felt it was over the top silly, but also had some heartfelt moments. I definitely laughed quite a bit.

Sietje would absolutely not want to be carried around in a baby sling, no matter how anxious I was. But she is always willing to sit with me for moral support.

dabbe 🤎🐾🧡 2mo

59 likes1 comment

Billypar

All Fours | Miranda July

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How much you like All Fours may depend on whether you see a hidden thesis statement about relationships in middle age. But I don't think July wrote any lessons - in fact, it probably took a concerted effort to avoid them. The strange journey the main character takes, if not objectively realistic, felt true to people's struggles to reconcile sexual and relationship needs when they diverge. And way more interesting than the usual cheating narrative.

TheKidUpstairs Great review. I read this one with Camp Litsy last summer, and was fully prepared to hate it - instead I loved it. It was definitely a marmite book, people had VERY strong opinions! 3mo

TheBookHippie @TheKidUpstairs me 😝🎯 I HATED it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ It was a love or hate reaction from readers, I think too. 3mo

BarbaraBB Great review. I loved it too! 3mo

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AmyG Yes. Well said. I enjoyed it, too. It was wild. 3mo

Billypar @TheKidUpstairs Yeah, this one definitely fits into what you mentioned about Bunny. I expected to like it but not as much as I did. Polarizing books are always interesting to me. I know the main character was a dealbreaker for a lot of the bad reviews - not sure if that was true in your case @TheBookHippie ? 3mo

TheBookHippie @Billypar I think it was an insult to women, and a dangerous premise to say this is what women are at this stage. I abhorred the main character yes, but advertising this and publicizing it as how and what women want and are at this stage of life in the climate we are living in is both dangerous and an insult. That was my bigger issue. I found it distasteful on all levels. (edited) 3mo

44 likes6 comments

Julsmarshall

All Fours | Miranda July

so-so

This was strange, thought provoking, and honest(maybe more than I would have liked). I understand the discussion around it and suspect I‘ll be thinking about it for awhile.

47 likes

ShananigansReads

Summerlong: A Novel | Dean Bakopoulos

I did have success on one #14Books14Weeks boards. #LibraryEdition for the win! And on the bright said my list of library holds is down 14 books. It‘s still 40+ so we are still struggling.

Thank you @Liz_M for hosting this challenge I needed it.

Liz_M Your multiple boards were inspiring! I'm happy to see that you had some success. 3mo

12 likes1 comment

ShananigansReads

Summerlong: A Novel | Dean Bakopoulos

Unfortunately, my #OwnedEdition of #14Books14Weeks did not see completion either. But I tried and did get a few books (5/14) off my TBR so still a win, right?

@Liz_M

Liz_M You get to fill the empty spaces created, right? 😉 3mo

ShananigansReads @Liz_M absolutely 😉 3mo

17 likes2 comments

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