They had to wait for Elena to take her place, to turn to face the exit, to straighten her body as much as Herself would allow, to align it with the coffin where Rita lay, to take a breath, and then, with her right hand, the one that responded better, to grab that handle, the
Tag: book journal
Reading “Breasts and Eggs” by Mieko Kawakami
“Dear Journal, Now I’m going to write about breasts. I never used to have them, but they’re growing in, getting bigger, whether I like it or not. Why? Where do they come from? Why can’t I stay like I am? […] What’s everyone so excited about, though? Am I that weird? I hate it. I
Reading: “Arlington Park” by Rachel Cusk
As always: Spoiler alert — though it's not like much happens in the first place… That's what the Blurb says: Arlington Park is an ordinary English suburb. Over the course of a single day, the story moves from one household to another, revealing its characters: Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in
Reading shorties: “Kim Jiyoung, born 1982” by Cho Nam-Joo
The girls got their own room, as per their mother’s plan. Mother had set money aside, without telling father, to furnish the girls’ room. She put two new sets of desks and chairs by the sunny window and a new closet and bookcase by one wall, and gave them each a new sleeping mat, blanket
Reading shorties: “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
It is easy to mourn the live we aren’t living. Easy to wish we’d developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we’d worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular […]. But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It
Reading: “Must I Go” by Yiyun Li
Lilia decided to leave a record for Katherine and Iola. No, she wasn’t thinking of Molly’s accusation. Lilia had no interest in acquitting herself of unfounded charges. But Katherine and Iola deserved something more than confusion. They couldn’t just have stories from Molly. Spoiler (also: general SPOILER ALERT): Katherine and Iola (Lilia’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter)
Reading Shorties: “Things Remembered and Things Forgotten” by Kyoko Nakajima
“For the sewing machine, with a dignified bearing and fated to be stationary, the shock all but caused it to lose its reason for existence. The 100-30, warped by the flames and with its needle broken, was embedded in the ground. It was unlikely a sewing machine could survive such a calamity.” [From “The Life
Reading: “Olive” by Emma Gannon
“I was suddenly worried about losing Bea. Terrified that this was the start of the downhill slope. The downhill slope to adulthood and suburbia and staying on the sofa 24/7. Was she going to be getting excited about Tupperware parties next? It felt like something had shifted. I felt another stab of guilt for judging
Reading shorties: “There’s no such thing as an easy job” by Kikuko Tsumura
FYI: This review contains spoilers. “The whole situation had come to be because I’d sat down one day in front of my recruiter and informed her that I wanted a job as close as possible to my house – ideally, something along the lines of sitting all day in a chair, overseeing the extraction of
Reading: “Enough” by John Naish
We drown out the big questions by marching behind the brass band of infinite ambition. It’s a march that apparently need never end: today’s idea of success increasingly involves attaining unprecedented levels of health, power, and celebrity. —John Naish Enough. Breaking Free from the World of Excess This quote is from 2008. It resonates with