i have read this book probably eight or nine times. the first time i was about ten, possibly eleven, and i felt so connected to june elbus even though she was much older than i was. i cry every time i read it. i am now nineteen, closer to greta’s age than june’s, but i see so much of myself in june. i haven’t reread it in several years and i am admittedly afraid to read it again out of fear that it isn’t how i remember it. tell the wolves i’m home had a profound impact on my middle school years, and i’m afraid that college-age me might not feel so deeply connected to it. regardless, it’s my all-time favorite book. i used to dislike answering the “what is your favorite book?” question because it felt like revealing too much of myself to answer. even now, i would shy away from recommending it to other people because it’s so much a part of me, and i don’t know if other people would feel so connected to it. but what matters is that i feel connected to it, and to june, and i love tell the wolves i’m home with my whole heart.
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“I discover a journey not identical to my life’s path, and yet blazed with the intimate familiarity of my own lived experience. I locate theory—the way it is lived— in motion and in interconnection. Not hard to understand; hard to live.“
- Leslie Feinberg (10th anniversary edition)
heartwrenching from start to finish. a warm hug for someone like me.
i can’t really criticize the writing of this book, just because it’s the uniqueness and importance of this story that sets it apart. it is a story that absolutely needed to be written. what’s even more amazing is that such simple writing could capture the lived intricacies of gender and sexuality in so many shades.
i had never felt seen like this.
Jan 7, 2025
a beautiful book exploring love, loss, grief, and other deeply personal experiences through the colour blue.
I recently reread this book and fell in love with it again. It felt like I was reading a completely different book compared to when I read it a few years ago. I think that’s due to my growth as a person and the experiences I’ve had between the last read and when I read it now. I imagine that if I were to pick it up again 10 years from now, it would feel different again. It grows with you.
It’s hard not to get teary eyed.
“trying not to think about you, about my having lost you. but how can it be? how can it be? was I too blue for you. was I too blue.”
Mar 20, 2024
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I stumbled upon this book in a thrift store several years ago and have reread it several times since. Miranda July writes about feelings so acutely and so tenderly it is startling. This book is a foundational text for my best friend and I, and began a tradition of annotating that continues to this day.
Miranda July, Melissa Broder, Sheila Heti, and Chloe Caldwell exist in this genre of writers that have shaped me so completely as a woman and as a young person, I really believe that everyone can become a truer version of themself by reading books like this that exist to display difficult and dirty and uncomfortable emotions in a way that questions them and validates them in equal measure.
This Person is my favorite story in the collection. I return to it like a prayer.
Jun 11, 2025
Top Recs from @ronan-05
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there is nothing better than sitting in bed at night when there’s lightning and thunder outside, flashing and booming at the same moment. tomorrow morning there will be greener grass and more beautiful flowers
Jun 12, 2025
i learned what these are today. i took the photo this afternoon and came home to research types of clouds because i was curious. who knew there were so many different types of clouds?
3d ago
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there is something so beautiful about falling asleep unexpectedly on the couch, drifting into a halfway sleep where i have the occasional thought but feel completely relaxed
6d ago