Emilie Pine – Notes to Self Review

It’s been a while since I have, well, posted anything really. Sorry about that, January is always a hard month with the lack of light. I remember in an older post I mentioned Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self. I read it a few months back and I mentioned it in my On My Bookshelf – December Reads post, and I really wanted to review it.

Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self reads more as a memoir. It’s a collection of six personal essays, each covering a different theme which she has experienced in her life. I don’t want to give it all away, but it touches on her relationship with her father, and having trouble conceiving.

I found Notes to Self by Emilie Pine to be very well written, it’s very personal and she really lets you in to her life, no holds barred. She’s very self aware, and although some of the themes are upsetting, you really get a sense that they have made her how she is today.

Notes to Self by Emilie Pine is fiercely feminist, I particularly enjoyed the part where she picks up on someone in her work place calling her “cute”. She’s a professor at University College Dublin and has achieved a lot in her life, and instead of commenting on her work they choose to comment on her appearance. It’s things like this I think we as women can find ourselves nodding in agreement with as we may have experienced it ourselves.

Notes to Self isn’t really like anything I’ve read before. It’s very personal and I feel like Emilie touches on themes perhaps we have all experienced in our lifetime, to one degree or another. It’s not exactly a happy read, and it’s light on humour, but if you need something relatable, readable and thought-provoking, this is the book for you.

Have you read Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self? What are you currently reading?

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