cover to cover

I was astonished to find that I couldn't put this book down the minute I opened it. It took me all of three hours to finish it but for some reason or another my butt was glued to my couch this morning. I refilled my coffee cup until there wasn't any left in the pot. Astonishment, the reason being, I've never in my life voluntarily read a book from cover to cover. I think it gives everything away. But this book was totally different. I was almost devoured by the book. I found myself laughing out loud... literally. I think because I can relate to so many of these interviews and stories is why this book was so fun, emotional and intriguing. My roommate probably thought I was crazy! 

Once I finished the book, I felt wonderful. I felt new. I felt like I wasn't alone. After reading every story, I couldn't possibly choose just two to blog about. The little voice in my head said, "What the Hell?”... There shouldn't have to be a limit to my expression. So right then and there I decided to blog about every story that captured my heart, made me laugh and made me comfortable. So here goes nothing...

In "My Vagina was my Village", the speaker relates her vagina to nature. She opens with "My vagina was green, water soft pink fields..." At first, as the reader, I was getting the impression that she held her "area" in high regards. Unfortunately, I later found that this grass wasn't very green on the other side. This monologue was about being raped by soldiers in Yugoslavia. She describes her vagina as "chatty" and ready for the world. But once she had been brutally raped by these soldiers, she looses all hope in what was once her womanhood. "....there's a dead animal sewn in down there with thick black fishing line. And the bad dead animal smell cannot be removed...." She expresses that after such a traumatic thing to have happened to her, she realizes that it can't be taken back, the memory is too hard for her to let go. It's hard to even put yourself in her position as the reader. I could never immagine myself being rapped by multiple men, with not only their penis, but with bottles and sticks and even the end of a broom? How degrating and unforgetable that must be. This monolouge took me away for a moment, into her shoes, while reading this I couldn't help but to cringe and feel as though I too had been raped of my womanhood.

On a more comical note, I found the sections of the book "if your vagina could...." to be hillarious. Not only because I could relate to some of them, but because it was fun seeing what other women had said about their vaginas. "If your vagina could talk, what would it say, in two words?" Before reading this I thought of two words. "let go" I chose these words because I've made mistakes that I can't take back. However as I grow older, I realize things aren't as bad as they seem. So I can just, "let go" while reading into what other women said, I noticed none of them were similar. Some were sexual, some romantic, some playful and some just like mine, like "stay home", " not yet" , "Think again". This made me realize that every woman has a different perspective about her phisicality, sexuality and more obviously, her vagina.

Another story that caught my attention was about the lesbian who loved to give women pleasure. "the woman who loved to make vaginas happy". She talks a lot about moaning and different types of it. I love how she describes what a moan really means. You can't fake it, it comes out of pleasure."I realized right then that moans are connected with not getting what you want right away, with pushing things off. I realized moans were best when they caught you by surprise; they came out of this hidden mysterious part of you that was speaking its own language" This book really took me by surprise and I appreciate every single word written in it. To be quite honest, I'll probably read the whole thing over tomorrow morning to get a laugh, a cry, or maybe even a wierd look from my roommate.