by Lucia Berlin. I grew up poor and it was one of the few places in which I saw my experiences being reflected back to me with vulnerability rather than caricatures disproportionate with pity or disgust . It’s just a collection of mostly-true short stories, but her writing is so conversational that you could easily mistake yourself for being at the kitchen table across from her, listening. My greatest inspiration to pursue writing, if only to document. For sanity’s sake!
Apr 27, 2024
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A beautiful collection.
I’m truthfully only half way through still. growing up in the same California as Didion it all feels especially potent, even today.
Somehow her writing and voice have made me more comfortable in my own voice and writings. The first section of articles, lifestyles in the golden state, feel just as impactful and meaningful as they did at the time (1960-70s to be exact).
I think a lot of Joan’s ‘little girls’ in the title essay of the collection. Little girls, anywhere from 3-20 years old. I’m not so far off from them in age, still just as naive and vulnerable to all the corruptions in the world. 16 year old little girls, 5 year old little girls, 22 year old little girls… something about Joan’s writings put my own naivety and youth into perspective, how little I know, how vulnerable I still am, just like them.
10/10 recommend (maybe I’m just bias as we are both sacramento girls), she IS the definition of ‘California cool’ for a reason. As said somewhere, “Sacramento’s finest export” truly.
Apr 22, 2024
this book is kinda hilarious. it’s a bunch of short stories/memoirs from comedy writer and playwright lauren weedman.
my experience reading this reminded me of watching the office actually. it was almost unbearable to read these hyper cringe accounts but by the mid point of the book it all clicked and it became both endearing and hilarious. by the end of the book, i felt like i had a new friend :)
also, i found it on my mom’s bookshelf with the second hand bookstore receipt in it from 2009. she had highlighted a handful of lines about having a boring sex life. hope things have gotten better for her since, but i dare not ask
Mar 21, 2025
"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction".
Although she has written a plethora of books, reading a room of one's own is magical. disclaimer ⚠️ it is an extended essay based on her lectures in 1930's but it open ur mind to so many things and wonderfully written!
Jul 3, 2024
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I fucking love it
IM YOUR BIGGEST FAN ILL FOLLOW YOU UNTIL YOU LOVE ME
PAPA PAPARAZIIIIIII
May 5, 2024
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Like a dear friend . I miss how when I would smoke a cigarette it would settle into my hair , blanketing a preexisting layer of perfume. I love the way smoke seeps into the fabric of my car, my clothes, even into my skin. Smells like my parents, my grandparents. Our old house. Dads gold Lincoln towncar that we got shot at in. And last time I saw one of those, I was picking dad up from jail, and its license plate read TRULOVE.
Dec 14, 2024
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Loneliness prevails! I would much rather live purely in solitude for ever and ever than waste another precious second in the presence of someone who has little skin in the game of knowing me or seeing me. Hearing me! I wonder why you keep me around if all your hearts desire is to hear the sound of your own voice.
It makes no difference if it’s me or anyone for that matter.
For all you know or even care I am merely an ottoman for you to rest your feet on, or a coffee table meant simply to pedestal your various notebook scrawlings and half-read books. I am a file cabinet. I have it here, dated, what you Thought and what you felt about work, or about your friends. ask me, I have it all.
And I loved it. I loved knowing you. I wanted to. I investigated and interrogated. I poured over it all with great curiosity, praying for all my red threads to weave a tapestry of you.
but I can’t remember the last time you asked me something about myself. When the opportunity arises, and god forbid, I Take it, you can barely hold your breath. Its like a shark sensing blood. You just can’t wait to talk talk talk talk talk.
But hey, it’s your life, and baby, I’m just living in it.
Dec 10, 2024