self-help by lorrie moore

1. i read the first chapter out loud to myself in the bath
i had been alone for two days and i needed to hear what my voice sounded like
not that i had forgotten, that is not something you forget
i just wanted to hear it, to confirm my existence

when i finished the story the bath was cold

2. i read this in bed on a thursday afternoon

i cried during some of it, almost definitely the last two pages of it

it made me think of my grandmother and how her face looked close to death and how it upset me more now than it did then
the memory of something > the thing itself

when i finished the story
i got up because the dog was barking
i looked out the window, it was snowing
and i cried looking at it

3. v short, read it standing up in kitchen waiting for pizza to cook

4. this story reminded me of how you found a note on my computer that simply said 'love poem by richard brautigan' and how you must have known i didn't love you before i told you i didn't love you

5. "People and places you think you love may be people and places you hate."

6. common theme of this book is how you can become stuck in all places in your life, this is something i get very afraid of

this story is about a relationship, and it seems to me that you can feel stuck in any relationship after a while

you can be stuck anywhere and with anyone after a certain amount of time

for me it isn't even that long either

oh yeah i cried at the end of this story too, but it's nice to cry like that, for something external

why i liked this book is that it made me think things about myself and life that i sometimes forget, or that i cannot easily verbalize

and those are the things that i like the most