Here we go! 2/100! Do be aware that I spoil things so if you have any plans of reading this book YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Not so much in this book, but usually….

Title: Bluets
Author: Maggie Nelson

This is the third time I have read this book and each time I read it, I discover something new to circle or underline. I fear that soon the whole book will be underlined and it will appear as though I am a middle schooler rushing to prove she has read the text for her first research paper.

This is a short read, only 95 pages with 240 paragraphs (all numbered). Two hundred and forty small bites that evoke so many thoughts and feelings. This book is about a love affair with the color blue, obsession, heartbreak, life, love, and learning. Her frank discourse on love and fucking and suffering is refreshing and provoking. Every time I read this book I remember why it is still on my shelf and typically turn to a friend and tell them “this woman is my people!”

It is prose poetry and narrative and advice. It is hard to describe beyond: You must read this one.

I leave you with a few quotes:

“No matter what happens to our bodies in our lifetime, no matter if they become like “pebbles in water,” they remain ours; us; theirs.” – pg 42

“…ask not what has been real and what has been false, but what has been bitter, and what has been sweet.” – pg 86

“If he hadn’t lied to you, he would have been a different person than he is. She is trying to get me to see that although I thought I loved this man very completely for exactly who he was, I was in face blind to the man he actual was, or is.” – pg 17

My mockup of the book: here