Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: Girlhood by Melissa Febos. So this is one of those "read it if you want to understand me better" books. Not the later chapters—she becomes a domme, she goes to cuddle parties, she comes to conclusions about consent and intimacy that I don't exactly share—they're fascinating and well-written but it's the early chapters that hit like a freight train. The monstrousness that comes with adolescent girlhood, the overriding of the child's desires and needs for the comfort and pleasure of boys and men, the sordid nastiness of it all.

I don't consider relatability to be the marker of a book's quality. I found the later chapters thought-provoking and beautifully written, but not relatable, which is fine. It's just that the early chapters feel like someone put words to experiences and thoughts that I've had and am not accustomed to seeing written down, and it felt intensely validating. The whole thing is worth your time.

Currently reading: why no whale this week. need more whale

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era by Harold Johnson. This is obviously my jam, an examination of the role of storytelling in forming cultural truths. Johnson was himself a master storyteller, and the writing is conversational, the author sitting at a fire speaking to a group of both settlers and Indigenous folks. The conversational tone makes some of the subject matter—the role that stories have played in colonialism, genocide, and ecocide—cut particularly deep. It's short and very good so far.

Comments

[greylock]

Not the later chapters—she becomes a domme, she goes to cuddle parties, she comes to conclusions about consent and intimacy that I don't exactly share

I'll (99%) never read this, but this is both relatable and not.

it's the early chapters that hit like a freight train. The monstrousness that comes with adolescent girlhood, the overriding of the child's desires and needs for the comfort and pleasure of boys and men, the sordid nastiness of it all.

Relatable and not. As a boy-thing (who was once a teen) this paragraph elicits some feelings I feel like I should be able to explain, even without reading the book.

I'm glad you can find things that impact you (bad or good), and aren't just... "reads".

[sabotabby]

I like to think that things impact me, or create empathy, without my needing to directly relate to them. But I related to this a lot.

[greylock]

I usually read stuff that doesn't impact me, so it its HARD when it does.

I'll add Girlboss: Origin Story* to my wishlist.

(*I am the worst)

[greylock]

I shouldn't laugh.cry but, I searched "Girlhood Melissa Febos" on my (new) book provider and I am NOT KIDDING:

What's Wrong? - Erin Williams
Butts - Heather Radke
The Part That Burns - Ouellette, Jeannine
My Father Called Me Bobby - Robert F. Scherma

My sense-sense is tingling.

Girlhood is listed, but no details.
I miss Book Depository.

[greylock]

My bad, Girlhood's details are under hardback.

[ioplokon]

just goes to show people have interior worlds not wholly shaped by exterior stimuli, which is, I think, kind of the most important thing about people.

[sabotabby]

Yuuup.

[minoanmiss]

Well said.