Litsy

repost for @TheAromaofBooks:

Hey friends!! So I've been looking at my life and my upcoming schedule, and I am going to pause #RandomClassics definitely for January, and maybe longer, kind of depending. I still have a huge list of classics I would like to read, and I have really enjoyed reading these with you all, but for now I need to skip a month!! I'll let everyone know when I am ready to pick back up again!!

TheAromaofBooks Thank you for reposting!! 1w

27 likes1 comment

TheSpineView

History Matters: Contemporary Poetry on the Margins of American Culture | Ira Sadoff

#PoetryMatters @TheSpineView
#Voracious

dabbe 🖤🧡🖤 3mo

TheSpineView @dabbe 😊 3mo

bthegood 💔 💔 3mo

TheSpineView @bthegood 😊 3mo

33 likes4 comments

Leftcoastzen

The Shock of Recognition : the Development of Literature in the United States Recorded by the Men who Made it | Edmund Wilson

A Modern Library Giant. A book I couldn‘t resist at Goodwill even though I have too many books! My bone to pick is in the subtitle , by the “men “ who made it. No women here , expected in the time frame. I‘m sure I will still like it 😁

37 likes

jen_the_scribe

Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night | Jerry Saltz

bailed

Nope. Can‘t do it. This one is NSFW, and that doesn‘t really bother me but I get the feeling that Jerry Saltz is particularly obsessed with over-sexualized (perverted, as he sometimes refers to them) pieces of art. That‘s just not my thing. And the worse for me was the feeling that the art world and its critics might just be way too pretentious for me. I love art, and I love finding connections to the emotional, political, and spiritual themes ⬇️

jen_the_scribe But I got the sense that a lot of the “authority” figures in the art world like to gate-keep, where I believe it‘s for everyone. To Jerry Saltz‘s credit, he does call out the lack of inclusivity and diversity in the art world and I appreciated that. But this was taking something I‘m passionate about and turning it on its head in a way that bothered me. 5mo

monalyisha Have you tried Get the Picture? I‘m interested in reading that one!

Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See

5mo

jen_the_scribe @monalyisha Ooooh, no I haven‘t read that one. It does look good… Stacked! Thanks for the suggestion ❤️ 5mo

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MissHel That feeling you‘re getting about gate keeping in the art world is accurate. In art school we were trained to look down on so many different things. It was so silly. That practice just removes “normal” people from appreciating and making things that will make their lives richer. 5mo

IndoorDame @monalyisha @jen_the_scribe ooooo I need to read that one too!!!!! 5mo

jen_the_scribe @MissHel Maybe because I studied Graphic Design and not fine art, I never had that feeling. It was disconcerting listening to it for sure. And I agree, imagine all the great art we‘ve missed out on because the art world closes the door on so many people. One thing this book did mention was that the emergence of social media has opened up more opportunities for more artists, so it seems people can make their own opportunities now at least. 5mo

dabbe #hailthebail! 🤩🤩🤩 5mo

19 likes7 comments

jen_the_scribe

Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night | Jerry Saltz

“To make or experience art is to enter a kind of free zone. It slows us down, places us in some epistemological estuary, takes us into the wild. We make art from our flaws, fragilities, perversities, from our need to communicate or be entertained or stave off death, to create our own mating dances, to deliver our own children, to mourn. Art is bigger than mere subject matter. It is as big as life.”

13 likes

jen_the_scribe

Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night | Jerry Saltz

“All art is a kind of exorcism. This is what gives art its power, to change the conditions of our life.”

11 likes

jen_the_scribe

Art Is Life: Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night | Jerry Saltz

Next listen is nonfiction… I struggle more with listening to nonfiction so I‘m hoping this one can keep my attention. It is about one of my favorite subjects so🤞🏼

13 likes1 stack add

Bookwomble

Keeping a Rendezvous | John Berger

"The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich."

TheBookHippie 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 8mo

kspenmoll Yes. 8mo

dabbe Agree 💯! 8mo

lil1inblue 🎯 🎯 🎯 8mo

Deblovestoread Exactly 💯 8mo

39 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (4/4)

Were there new insights or perspectives that you gained through this reading?
Did this reading cause you to notice anything about LMM‘s work that you hadn‘t noticed before?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

willaful I'll have to answer this one later. I'm at my mom's (she just had surgery -- is doing fine!) and couldn't bring the book with me to check my bookmarks. 10mo

TheAromaofBooks I appreciated that Epperly seemed more into fitting LMM's writing into a larger, world-events kind of context more than the nitty-gritty of LMM's personal life. It was interesting to think about which books were written before, during, and after WWI, and how those feelings impacted LMM's writing and themes. For instance, it made a lot of the weirdo-obsessions of Pat make more sense in the larger theme of “the war has changed everything.“ 10mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yes, I appreciated that aspect of her writing as well. She didn't try to shoehorn every book into a specific biographical context or match up every plot point to events in LMM's life. The current events context made much more sense--and really enriched my understanding of House of Dreams and Rainbow Valley especially. And YES about Pat. Like you, I thought the comparison of Pat and Jane was really well done. 10mo

BarbaraJean @willaful Glad your mom is doing well!! Upon @TheAromaofBooks suggestion, I may post some more placeholders for further thoughts on different sections! I have quite a few notes and underlines that I could share and I know Sarah has plenty of notes, too 😁 10mo

willaful I just finished -- handily, got three space on the March #ISpyBingo with this 😂 --and I agree with @TheAromaOfBooks that getting the wider context for the books was really interesting. I was also intrigued by learning about all the references and allusions. 10mo

17 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (3/4)

What significant points do you think Epperly really got right?
Were there any significant points you disagreed with?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

willaful I agreed with most of her personal reactions--about the way Anne loses her personality over time, & the richness of the Emily books.

My main disagreement was re Teddy & Dean. I haven't reread the Emily books in a long time & I came to them later than Anne, when there was a revival of interest in Montgomery and many more books of hers were available than were at my childhood libraries. But I'm positive I was not on Dean's side of the triangle. 10mo

willaful I think it's kind of funny that the author, while clearly seeing how far superior Teddy is for Emily as a life partner, is still captivated by Dean's broody Rochester-ness and assumes everyone else is too. 😂 10mo

TheAromaofBooks I did agree with most of what she had to say (except about Anne of Avonlea; I felt like she was way too harsh on that book). There were also times that she made very sweeping statements about heroines only struggling because of their female status, without remotely exploring other possibilities (i.e. would Emily's family have been excited to have a BOY who was into writing poetry instead of farming...?? Maybe, maybe not). Like @willaful I felt ⬇ 10mo

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) that she was WAY to easy on Dean. He's literally a groomer, but she doesn't really touch on the super creepy aspect of their age difference within the context of him “claiming“ her when she is a CHILD and then purposefully “molding her mind“ over the next decade. Instead, Epperly acts like they are intellectual equals, thus making Dean's “friendship“ a positive aspect of Emily's life. Very debatable. ⬇ 10mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Things I liked - I thought her analysis of Rilla was really well done, and I actually loved her analysis of House of Dreams, especially within its context of being written/published during the war. Aside from Dean, I thought the views on the Emily trilogy were quite good. Overall, while I quibbled with some details in each chapter, I found myself mostly agreeing with overall themes. ⬇ 10mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) If you feel like posting a specific discussion spot for each section and/or chapter, I could probably share many more feelings 😂 I made a LOT of marginal notes! 10mo

willaful @TheAromaofBooks Yes, she was overly harsh on AoA Anne. I don't think Montgomery ever meant Anne to be perfect. 10mo

willaful @TheAromaofBooks Oh, good point about Dean grooming! (edited) 10mo

TheAromaofBooks @willaful - I think she kind of ignores Anne being 16/17 in that book. It's an age where Anne is becoming an adult & learning the difference between imagination & reality, and learning that “magic“ doesn't have to be dramatic; romance CAN be found in the every day. Epperly caught some of that, but didn't give Anne a lot of grace. It's not a perfect book, but to say it's a book that “only children“ can really enjoy felt unduly harsh on both book ⬇ (edited) 10mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) and readers!! 10mo

BarbaraJean @willaful “captivated by Dean's broody Rochester-ness“😂 I can't stand Rochester (I think he's an ass) & I don't find Jane Eyre romantic AT ALL. But I did find the Rochester comparison very apt--they're both older men manipulating a young woman. Epperly does such a great job of pointing out all the little clues about Dean's possessiveness & manipulation, but never acknowledges the creepy groomer factor which NEEDS acknowledgement. @TheAromaofBooks 10mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @willaful I thought the AoA chapter was the weakest & disagreed with a lot of it, but her emphasis on the difference between narrators in the various Anne books was fascinating. I'd never thought about it, but it makes sense—and I think she's right, it's one of the reasons Anne of Avonlea feels flat in so many places. Overall, I agreed with most of the points she makes and appreciated her close analysis of so many textual details. 10mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Maybe we should have done this as a chapter-a-day style read!! I'm super interested to hear more of your notes - maybe I will go ahead and write several posts for discussion of each section!! I'll go back through my notes as well. 10mo

willaful @BarbaraJean Yes, I kind of wish we had! It's hard to remember everything. 10mo

TheAromaofBooks Some of the chapters were long, so it would have been a little more difficult to set up a reading schedule, but I did find myself scribbling a lot of marginal notes, both positive and negative. We all know I love expressing my opinions on books, and especially on books about books I love 😂 10mo

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