Lana's favorite books and literature

[fl0ridakil0s 3,963]

My ultimate Lana-fan dream is her to release a book - a novel or a poetry book maybe.

 

MY MIND!!!!!

[Trash Magic 28,661]

I hadn't seen the link in the OP before.

 

"It's 2011, and we should all be aware of exactly how fast technology is developing" is now my favourite Lana quote   

[Beautiful Loser 50,983]

I’ve reserved Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés from the library. They’re all out so maybe I’ll get to read it next month. I need something to read as I go to and from work and I suddenly remembered it was a book Lana liked. I’m not sure if it’ll be my cup of tea but I’ll give it a try.

[luckypartyoftwo 61]

42 minutes ago, Beautiful Loser said:

I’ve reserved Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés from the library. They’re all out so maybe I’ll get to read it next month. I need something to read as I go to and from work and I suddenly remembered it was a book Lana liked. I’m not sure if it’ll be my cup of tea but I’ll give it a try.

It’s so worth it  imo a tangible version is very worth it…. Mine is soo marked/worn lol. You may be able to find narrations too 

[Pico Ocean Boulevard 42,656]

On 7/4/2017 at 8:25 PM, fl0ridakil0s said:

My ultimate Lana-fan dream is her to release a book - a novel or a poetry book maybe.

Aged like the finest wine

[rightofjupiter 16,958]

adding cuz it's not in here yet and we know she's a big fan– Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

[Beautiful Loser 50,983]

@The Missing Shade of Blue Tagging you since you requested it some time ago!

 

So I’ve “finished” reading Women who run with the wolves, meaning, I only got to borrow it for two weeks from the library so I haven’t had time to read much of it tbh. I would like to read more of it BUT there’s like 11 people waiting for it… and considering that it took two months for me to get it… I don’t know. I’m not that invested in it.

My copy of the book is a paperback, and one page consists of up to 40 lines of text, so it felt like I’ve read a lot… but looking at the page numbers, I’ve only scratched on the surface. The first 20 pages were just the introduction, which felt awfully long. But maybe it was necessary, I don’t know. The author adds in words of Spanish and then immediately translates them into English, and sometimes it’s nice because it’s like you’re reading her head voice or something, sometimes I’m like… gurl, why do I have to read the same thing twice? La creatura, the creature. Yes. I get it.

 

Anyways, to the actual contents of the book. When reading the introduction, I could really see how it has influenced the music video to Chemtrails. It mentions how all women have a “wolf” inside of them, who knows how to protect her pact, heal the wounded, bring life and death, and is strong while gentle. If you’ve lost your contact with this Wolf Woman, you’re unhappy, anxious, basically not yourself. The author makes a point that women have been suppressed in various ways throughout history and different cultures, but we’ve always had our Wolf Woman within us to survive and be able to express ourselves. Without her, we’re lost. Maybe Lana’s version of a country club is where she and her friends can truly be themselves, mentally and physically.

 

The author also mentions in one section about Dark man in our dreams, which made me think of “there’s a man that’s in my past, there’s a man that’s still right here, he’s real enough to touch and in my darkest nights he’s shining”. Maybe that was something Lana could relate to or not, who knows. But in the book, the Dark man appears in our nightmares when (young) women start notice there’s a “predator” (something oppressing who you are as a person) in their psyche, and/or to say that you need to pay attention that something isn’t right in “the outer world”. You need to figure out what it is, and work towards finding a solution.

 

For me, I don’t really know anything about psychology but this book felt a little difficult to take in sometimes, although it’s not written for readers who know psychology. It’s quite the opposite, it’s meant to be read by anyone. What I do like is that the author begins a chapter by retelling a fairy tale, and then analyses it and the characters and makes everything relatable. “This is why women are drawn to bad men”. “This is why the father wouldn’t let him marry his daughters.” “This is why he couldn’t win their hearts.” “This could be the reason why the mom didn’t intervene.” These fairy tales and the way she analyses them is why I want to continue reading the book. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read very far (only the long introduction, chapter 1 and 2, and part of 4) so I don’t know if or how the book could benefit me but! I have to say it seems pretty interesting, especially for those who seek some kind of comfort and want to understand… themselves?

 

From my understanding, this wolf woman is really just our intuition, and you’re supposed to embrace her and not listen to people who say you’re bad for not behaving in the way that’s expected of you. Not like “go ahead and scream at people” kind of way but more like a “if it feels right, go ahead and do it” kind of way, don’t let people or society stop you from becoming who you are. Evolve, live your dreams.

What I don’t really understand is why this book couldn’t be helpful for men, too. Or maybe it is but it’s not marketed to be. Don’t we all have intuition? Wouldn’t it beneficial for men to read the book and, maybe, understand women better? At times, I wonder if my brother, who is struggling a lot at the moment, would appreciate and could find some comfort or help from the book. As I mentioned, I don’t know psychology so maybe we’re really that different and this book is really just for anyone who identifies as a woman.

[The Missing Shade of Blue 3,881]

@Beautiful Loser thank you so much for the detailed breakdown! I'm also intrigued by complex explorations about female rage. Although the Wolf in this scenario also carries wholesome elements, I think it's still an interesting take on how much we suppress as women. I suppose it could be read through a psychological lens, but I suspect that it has more to do with how women are socialised specifically. But from what you've described, it sounds like the book really leans into the idea of unlearning social conditioning rather than just being about raw instinct. The fairy tale analysis aspect sounds really compelling too, sometimes those old stories say so much about gender and power in ways we don’t even realise.

 

What do I know, though, I haven't even read the book 

[Beautiful Loser 50,983]

3 hours ago, The Missing Shade of Blue said:

@Beautiful Loser thank you so much for the detailed breakdown! I'm also intrigued by complex explorations about female rage. Although the Wolf in this scenario also carries wholesome elements, I think it's still an interesting take on how much we suppress as women. I suppose it could be read through a psychological lens, but I suspect that it has more to do with how women are socialised specifically. But from what you've described, it sounds like the book really leans into the idea of unlearning social conditioning rather than just being about raw instinct. The fairy tale analysis aspect sounds really compelling too, sometimes those old stories say so much about gender and power in ways we don’t even realise.

 

What do I know, though, I haven't even read the book 

You’re welcome! Maybe there is a chapter about anger or suppressed rage but I didn’t get that far.

I think the book mixes what you said, it’s like a mix of unlearning social conditioning and understanding why we behave in certain ways, with fairy tales as examples. For me, they’re just fairy tales, so I thought it was really interesting to hear how a psychologist interprets them. “This represents this, this symbolizes that” kind of way. “Everyone has a key, we just need to find the right forbidden door to unlock.”