#emma cline

[mostlyghostie]

A commission from a book club!

I’ve only read The Guest and Stardust out of these. I’ve also never been in a book club come to think of it.

Shop / Instagram

[bones-ivy-breath]

The Girls by Emma Cline

[date-prisa-estamos-leyendo]

¿Podía un lugar actuar sobre ti como una enfermedad?

Papi, Emma Cline.

[aliminalhauntingofghostgirls]

Today was my birthday. ♍️💗♍️

It was a great day. 🎂

[mattdillon]

tried to read "the girls" by emma cline and it's just dreck. the gender narrative is so stunted, the abuse of similes all the time, it's extremely overwritten and the protagonist is just a husk of nothingness. checking out reviews also shows she did little to no research of the era and even in what i read that was clear.

i also cannot trust anyone writing faux manson murders. they never ever engage with the manson cult being violent racists and the premise of the book just cannot hold. so just. nope. giving it right back to the library.

[have-to-let-it-linger]

"I'd always liked her in a way I never had to think about, like the fact of my own hands."

--Emma Cline, The Girls

[escapeintothepages]

“That was part of being a girl--you were resigned to whatever feedback you'd get. If you got mad, you were crazy, and if you didn't react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they'd backed you into. Implicate yourself in the joke even if the joke was always on you.”

The Girls, Emma Cline

[everythingiread]

All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you--the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.

The Girls, Emma Cline

[peach-tea-leaves]

On Self-Destruction.

Excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Selected Letters / Unknown Title by Nicola Samori / Excerpt from “The Girls” by Emma Cline / “Lucretia” by Rembrandt / “Perfume” by San Fermin / “Volta Del Mondo” by Nicola Samori / “Third Eye” by Florence + The Machine / “The Fall of Icarus” by Jacob Peter Gowy / Excerpt from “The Comeback” by Ella Berman / “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais / Excerpt from “The Pisces” by Melissa Broder

[elenichr]

Year of Lists

March Books

+ the last of Tournament of Books pre-tournament

The Guest by Emma Cline *3/5 - an anxiety trip that leaves you wanting more

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein *4/5 - a tad strange, funny, an enjoyable ride overall

Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1; Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 2: Muad'Dib by Brian Herbert (Adapted by), Kevin J. Anderson (Adapted by), Frank Herbert, Raul Allen (Illustrations), Patricia Martín (Illustrations), Bill Sienkiewicz (Contributor) *4/5 - great for a drop back into the Dune world or a light introduction for those who want it but not the full book experience

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt *4/5 - hell yeah. A bit of a narrative struggle in the beginning but it pays off. Affecting body horror, and an accurate look at contemporary society and politics, especially in the UK

What You Are Looking for Is not in the Library by Michiko Aoyama and Alison Watts *2/5 - nah. As saccharine and boring as many people have said

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert *4/5 - it's interesting and the plot checks out but it's just not as good as Dune

a bit of a meh month. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend any of these

[mostlyghostie]

New fiction! These are the 12 monthly picks from this year of the Belletrist website, I was commissioned by a book group who had been reading along with them!

I’ve only read a couple of these as I usually wait for paperbacks, but I liked both The Premonition and The Guest.

Shop / Instagram

[bones-ivy-breath]

The Girls by Emma Cline

[date-prisa-estamos-leyendo]

¿A quién le importaba en qué momento el barco viejo se convertía en el barco nuevo? Tal vez el verdadero problema era que no pudieses hacer otra cosa, que no pudieses hacer, pongamos, una casa. Aun si reemplazabas todos los tablones de mierda por tablones nuevos y te convencías de que igual eso llevaba a otra parte, te convencías de que igual estabas construyendo una casa, aun así, después de todo el esfuerzo, seguías teniendo un barco. Jonathan había cambiado mucho, lo había cambiado todo. De ahí que fuese tanto peor, entonces, levantar la vista, el polvo ya aposentado, y ver su vida tomando la misma forma de siempre.

Papi, Emma Cline.

[thereturnofsidsid03]

My Favourite Books ❤︎

In a growny-uppy way, so no Percy Jackson, John Green, Harry Potter, Mortal Instruments, Anna and the French Kiss, Hunger Games, Divergent, Goosebumps, The Clique etc.

The Girls by Emma Cline

"Emma Cline’s first novel, “The Girls” (Random House), is a song of innocence and experience—in ways that she has intended, and perhaps in ways that she has not. It’s a story of corruption and abuse, set in 1969, in which a bored and groundless California teen-ager joins a Manson-like cult, with bloody, Manson-like results."- James Wood for The New Yorker

I'm With the Band by Pamela Des Barres

"The stylish, exuberant, and remarkably sweet confession of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s... Warm, witty, and sexy, this kiss-and-tell-all stands out as the perfect chronicle of one of rock 'n' roll's most thrilling eras."- Booktopia

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

"Valley of the Dolls is a zipper-ripper that has been called trashy, tawdry, glitzy, lusty, sordid and seamy — and that's just the beginning of its appeal. Susann was accused of "typing on a cash register," and Truman Capote called her "a truck driver in drag." She threw a drink at Johnny Carson, a punch at a critic and a chair at a wrestler, before jumping into the ring. All of it sold books."- Nancy Bachrach for NPR

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

"Glittering with wit and insight, heart and humor, Dolly Alderton’s unforgettable debut weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age—making you want to pick up the phone and tell your best friends all about it." - Goodreads

Black Swans by Eve Babitz

"She may be self-absorbed and occasionally insensitive, but to a certain extent, she is aware of her failings and brave enough to expose them to her reader wholesale along with her effervescent party commentary... Reading Eve Babitz is like eating cake for breakfast, like having a gossip over brunch with your best friend. Her short stories consider the pros and cons of black lacquered swimming pools, and let us peer into the dining room of the Bel Air Hotel where Babitz — tripping on LSD — and her boyfriend are so drunk they can barely stay in their seats. "- Lauren Sazaren for Los Angeles Review of Books

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

"Malibu Rising is a bloody great book. The kind of book you'll wish you could go back in time and experience for the first time all over again. It's got all the elements of a crackin' good novel - a page-turning plot, fully fleshed out, flawed, relatable characters, GOSSIP AND DRAMA, and little lessons you'll take with you long after you've read the final page." - Keryn Donnelly for Mamamia

Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz

"Imagine the incisive wit of Virginia Woolf mingling with the listlessness of Françoise Sagan—this is the work of Eve Babitz, an ingenue and poet. Her lyrical sensuality is both sexy and cerebral…this book sizzles with hedonistic abandon, sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll…it is the clarity of her language and her painterly style that cement her place in the pantheon of American literature." -Sarah Nasar,  British Airways High Life Magazine

I am certain that there is many I have forgotten but these are The Unforgettables.

[delicatedemons]

“I waited to be told what was good about me. [...] All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you- the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.” ― Emma Cline, The Girls