Litsy

All Fours | Miranda July

pick

Did well at the Salvos in Dubbo over the festive season. Grand total = $27.45 as I used my credit. The skirt has shorts attached for me to wear to ballet. I love an enamel dish to cook in. The bag of toiletries includes Elemais products which I love to use. The necklace appears to be made using a tea towel. I was very happy to score both books as I had been hoping to find them for a while.

41 likes

Gissy

All Fours | Miranda July

pan

June 2025 Book#2

This one is going #offmyshelf @wanderglynn It didn‘t work for me. I found it so exaggerated and even histrionic in the way situations were managed or explained. What about menstruation it was like the topic is something out of this world🙄I still don‘t know why this book was in so many awards lists. I know mine is an unpopular opinion🤷🏽‍♀️2⭐️Almost bailed it.

Gissy #Read2025 @DieAReader
#BookSpinBingo # 2 (buddy read)
#ISpyBingo (number) @TheAromaOfBooks
#Tob25 1w

BarbaraBB This is such a dividing book. People either hate or love it! 1w

CarolynM Not an unpopular opinion, as many people hated it as loved it, me included. Pretentious twaddle. 1w

See All 14 Comments

Gissy @CarolynM I tried but the book is going to another home☺️ 1w

Gissy @BarbaraBB Agree 1w

DieAReader Off the shelf👋🏻 1w

Gissy #LitsyAToZ2025 (letter J last name) @Texreader 1w

Texreader I did bail. Ugh. I didn't even make it past a few pages. So I'm impressed. 1w

Texreader @CarolynM Amen!! 1w

Gissy @DieAReader Yes! 🙌 1w

Gissy @Texreader I should bail it too but I was trying to understand why so many people like it, why this book was in so many awards consideration lists. Maybe I was doing a reading choices research 😂🤣🤣🤣 1w

Texreader @Gissy I really wanted to do the same, and hoping for a gem. There had to be a reason why it hit all the lists. But I couldn't stomach it. 1w

Tamra Love the word “histrionic” - big turn off! 1w

TheAromaofBooks At least it's off the list!! 1w

41 likes14 comments

monalyisha

All Fours | Miranda July

pick

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. 1mo

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. 1mo

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. 1mo

See All 11 Comments

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. 1mo

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! 1mo

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. 1mo

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. 1mo

Sparklemn The tampon scene was unbearable but I was dying to learn how it all turned out. Glad I finished it. (edited) 1mo

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) 1mo

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. 1mo

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. 1mo

58 likes1 stack add11 comments

Darklunarose

Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life | Sharon Blackie

bailed

Having been warned about the anti trans sentiments in this book I‘m choosing to send it back without reading.

ravenlee Good to know; unstacking this now. 1mo

Darklunarose @ravenlee I honestly wish that books had warning labels, and/or there was a website where you could find a list of books that are full of undesirable things….like transphobia, homophobia, etc. 1mo

Clare-Dragonfly Yiiiiiikes. Off my list for sure. Thanks for the heads up. 1mo

See All 7 Comments

Darklunarose @Clare-Dragonfly all thanks to @Bookwomble for the heads up! 1mo

BookishMarginalia Thank you for letting us know. Off my list too. 1mo

Deblovestoread Thanks for the heads up. 1mo

lil1inblue How disappointing. But good info to know. 1mo

50 likes7 comments

Darklunarose

Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life | Sharon Blackie

I have been wanting to read this for a long time….going to try a chapter every so often and get it down. I‘m close to my crone era.

Clare-Dragonfly I‘ve been curious about this book. Let us know how you like it! 1mo

Bookwomble If you are Trans supportive, please be aware that this author is not, and that reviewers say one of the chapters in this book explicitly reflects that. 1mo

Darklunarose @Bookwomble I‘m sitting here with the book open and about to start it this morning. Thank you so much for this warning. I‘m more than just passively supportive of the trans community, I‘m ferociously supportive. I have people in my circle who are trans. I refuse to do anything that would not be supportive. This one is now going in the discard pile. Thank you so much for that! I don‘t do abelism, lgbtqia hate, racism, misogyny, etc. 1mo

Bookwomble @Darklunarose 🩵🩷🤍💖 I was reading a different book by this author and struggling with the writing style, so looked up reviews to check how others found it, and then saw the comments about this book, which were generally positive about the content until the terfy chapter, when many people bailed. Sad, but there are undoubtedly other books on the subject that are more inclusive ✊ 1mo

Darklunarose @Bookwomble im going to keep looking. At 46 im sure im close to perimenopause…..and id like something from a spiritual side as i move into my crone era to read. But not at the cost of terf bs. 1mo

51 likes5 comments

NatalieR

Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause | Naomi Watts

pick

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it incredibly helpful. It‘s a pleasure to learn about menopause from someone who has personally experienced it. Naomi covers the most common aspects of menopause, and I particularly appreciate her discussion of clothing, makeup, diet, exercise, skincare, and brain health. It was surprising to learn that menopause impacts every aspect of a woman‘s life.

Full Review abookandadog.com/blog/dare-i-say-it

75 likes2 stack adds

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

Lands

The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts | Mary Claire Haver, MD

Second session talk of Dr Mary Claire Haver, Dr Stacy Sims , Dr Vonda Wright and Dr Natalie Crawford talking about women‘s health, peri, menopause and strength training. https://youtu.be/P1CeHGJOX5g?si=xX-piSa3K2V73yTz

28 likes

Julsmarshall

How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better Than Before | Tamsen Fadal

pick

This had a lot of great information, well researched and cited and delivered in an accessible way. If you are a person with a uterus of a certain age, I recommend checking this one out.

46 likes1 stack add