I resigned myself to being an observer of the living: one who observed half the time and floated away the other half. I wanted to reach out to strangers and ask them to pull me to shore: I wondered if any of them were drifting through life like me. I knew about sound and wondered how to pull it from the parts of me where it had been dormant. I knew that there were screams inside of me that became muffled whispers because I refused to hear them.
A man is flesh, fingernail, bone, dreams. and maybe some grit if he‘s lucky.
But sometimes a man is a door that a woman can walk through to enter a world that she cannot access on her own. Years ago, the snow-kissed skin of a white man could be seen as freedom by a brown woman, not only for herself, but for any children she might have. I wonder if Asu ever saw Papa as a door.
pickThis author is a peloton instructor, and I will admit the first class of his that I took irritated me. I have since come around, though, taking more of his classes, and when I found out he grew up spending part of his childhood in North Carolina, decided to read this book.
I generally don‘t like memoirs, especially first person nonfiction celebrity memoirs, like this one. That being said, it was a fun read, and his life story is inspiring.
pickQuick, easy read that was fun and funny! Great for the beach.
pickI really liked this book. I thought it was a really great view of a woman‘s struggle with mental health, but also her relationships as a woman. She combines a look at her issues along with her experiences relating to men and reflects on this and also raises a lot of thought provoking things about what it is to be a woman who struggles with mental health. Very brave to share and finish.
so-soIf you want to ruin your holiday spirit, read this book. Groom gave birth to a son when she was 19. She gave the child to her aunt and uncle to raise. The child then dies of leukemia at 14 months of age. 25 years later she still mourns her son & finally speaks to her aunt & uncle about her son who she was never able to see. The story leaps around, there‘s a great deal of alcohol and men mentioned, and it‘s hard keeping up with her timeline. 3/5
so-soA thin memoir of a huge age-gap (and power gap!) relationship between Ciment and her decades-older former professor. It was my assumption that this book would examine the inappropriate nature of their union. And, while she does acknowledge the difference in age and position, Ciment does not assign blame to her husband. This was melancholic and I it didnt live up the the hype, for me.
I‘m tackling both of these books at the same time & I‘m feeling overwhelmed. Their childhood & early adult years were so tough. Minka‘s mother so absent. Kelle‘s alcoholism & giving her child up for adoption. Both of them needing to find love/protection from men. It all gives me pause to see how fortunate I am. Leaving home at 16, being pregnant at 18, struggling later on with alcohol, and yet somehow I have 4 incredible kids & 5 grandkids 🔽
