I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Catfairy's First Thoughts <3When this came to me in the mail, I was so deliriously happy because this book could not have come at a better time! I fell completely in love with this book in every way because this is the exact time in my life where I am in need of this book. I just turned 34 this year and this is the year that I feel like I need to act now o...

I think I'm not the target audience for this book. I'm reminded of when I changed my focus as a graduate student, because the fad was gothic literature. I didn't want to study gothic literature. All the helmets falling out of the sky, all the swooning, all the frothing emotions, all the extremity of everything---it wasn't for me. I get, of course, that there are people who really dig this type of thing. I'm not one of them. Keep in mind that I don't have any other knowledge of this author other

This review is a bit biased, because Francesca Lia Block is one of my favorite authors, and I've been waiting for this book ever since I first heard it was in the works. With that said, "The Thorn Necklace" is a satisfying and inspiring memoir/writing guide. It's subtitled "Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process" and Francesca Lia Block shares the pain and beauty of her own life, and how it has been, and always is, released and healed through her writing. In revealing her personal stru...

the memoir part was interesting. it kinda confirmed my suspicions that FLB is fixated on beauty standards to the detriment of many other aspects of her life. there was a LOT of recounting of comments people have made about her appearance--as a thin, cis white woman who meets conventional beauty standards--and it's kinda like, ooookay. but it was also fascinating and beautiful and ethereal and all the things that make her such a captivating writer.I mostly skipped the writing advice part, it's pr...

I found the 12 questions as applied to you as the reader and a writer to be illuminating and a wonderful exercise. Also, FLB's prose is always engaging and beautiful.

I was thrilled to hear that this book was coming out, being a fan of FLB's early (Weetzie Bat) books, and a great fan of her teaching, too. She is one of the kindest, most positive and genuine writing teachers I've known. The book is fascinating on many levels, especially the memoir of her youth, running around Berkeley with fellow punk friends. Her detailed descriptions of the clothes and shoes they wore (lots of designer name dropping), drunk late nights and early romances, reminded me what I

This was a fascinating joy to read. This first time through it, I allowed myself to binge on the engaging language; I’m pretty much unable to approach any new FLB book but this way. This one, however, I will be returning to for a number of reasons. In the midst of a beautiful, honest memoir, FLV weaves a really smart guide to writing and analyzing fiction—which doubles as a guide to analyzing your life through fiction and writing. Such a smart, smart book.

Like every west coast girl I know of a certain age, I rolled DEEP in FLB's punk Los Angeles fairy tales. Her books influenced my decision to move there. I've grown out of her actual stories, which have plots so simple as to now seem trivial, but I could still read her descriptions of clothing and food all day. And that's when this book is best - the memoir parts. The writing coaching parts fell totally flat for me. The chapter where she gets rid of seemingly more than half of her belongings was

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Perseus Books and Da Capo Press. I fell in love with Francesca Lia Block’s Dangerous Angels books in college, and they’re still among my favorites. I seem to have more writers all the time whose books I’ll read no matter the subject, but Block has long been one of them. She’s such a beautiful, atmospheric writer with a head full of fairies and mythology. Trigger warnings: death, severe illness, cancer, eating disorders, anorexia.Th...

Loved this! A mixture of how to write/be creative and memoir.

I picked up this book because I have been asked to write a sermon about healing grief through writing -- but the book did not address that at all. It was, rather, an odd memoir with writing advice sprinkled throughout. This book presents an out-0f-order reflection on the author's life and troubles interspersed with writing advice from a novelist with a troubled romantic past. She tells stories from her own life -- about miscarrying twice, about Hollywood, about online dating and her search for e...

I love Francesca Lia Block, so it pains me that this book isn't everything I wanted it to be. As a memoir, it's fascinating, but it touches so little on her writing journey and what she would impart on other writers as far as craft. Disappointing, but it should have been billed as a pure memoir. It's great in that regard.

The parts of this book never quite added up to a whole for me. I've loved Block's writing since Weetzie Bat and some of the best parts of this were the magical writing about herself and LA. I love this author; she is lovely inside and out. It was painful to read about the cruelty others have casually inflicted regarding her looks, and still sadder to read how she's internalized that. The memoir part felt as if she still has some inner work to do on her relationship to herself and with her parent...

I am not a writer and have no ambition to be, I picked this up because FLB was formative when I was in junior high and high school. Her books made me feel less alone and her writing inspired me to find my voice and write, too (overwrought journal entries and bad teenage poetry, but writing nonetheless). During a particular bout of teenage depression, I copied all of my favorite "Rose and the Beast" quotes onto index cards and taped them to my closet door for daily re-reading, reassurance and a r...

The Thorn Necklace Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process
by Francesca Lia Block
Perseus Books, Da Capo Press
Seal Press
Biographies & Memoirs , Self-Help
Pub Date 01 May 2018
I am reviewing a copy of The Thorn Necklace by Perseus Books, Da Cala Press and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review!
If you are a fan of Bird by Bird or the Artist's way and looking to grow as a writer or author then Francesca Lia Block's The Thorn Necklace is a book you will want to add to your library.
F...

Ever since I first picked up a copy of 'Weetzie Bat' as a twelve-year-old, I fell head over heels for the lush and lyrical world of Francesca Lia Block's creation. It was a world full of dark angels and fairies and jacaranda blossoms so bright purple they looked poisonous. She wrote of a Los Angeles that was like a dark fairytale from my wildest imaginings, and immediately became one of my favorite authors of all time, someone who has inspired my own work as a writer in unparalleled ways. When I...

I’m not sure how to review this one. I didn’t find that her 12 questions were anything new or even presented in a new way exactly, and I spent maybe the first third of the book irritated at all the name-dropping. And yet I kept reading and I finished it and felt that I enjoyed it. So, she definitely can write and hook a reader, but I’m still not clear on how that happened, so I might need to read again to figure it out. Honestly, I won’t — I’m absolute crap at reading to learn. She does discuss