Virginia Woolf moment: "She could be by herself..."

 "For now she need not think of anybody. She could be herself, by herself... and this self having shed its attachments was free for the strangest adventures." 

VIRGINIA WOOLF

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

Laverne Cox on reading V to the D for the first time

Hear me out. Valley of the Dolls is one of those books I feel compelled to revisit every few years. It was the sum total of my sex education at age 12. It was an ironic call to feminist action when I was 16. At 18, it sank in that bisexual does not equal *mutant abonination*. In my 40s, I began to see it morphing into an ironic comment on our changing world -- and the shifting sands of publishing. And when I recently listened to the 50th Anniversary audio edition read by Laverne Cox -- well, that just took it to a whole new level of Oliver Twist realness. 

Laverne Cox's comment on her experience reading the unabridged Valley of the Dolls includes a tasty excerpt. Highly recommending.

#First50Words Scruples by Judith Kranz