What do you think?
Rate this book
Every Day is To-Day: Essential Writings
A gorgeous new collection featuring 26 of Gertrude Stein's most enrapturing and essential short writings--a carefully curated, accessible entry point into her best and most joyful works
Between the French-flapped covers of this elegant paperback collection, readers will rediscover Gertrude Stein as the bearer of a joyfully radical literary vision. A bold experimenter, her writing sparks with vitality, relishing in rhythm, repetition, sound and colour in its central vision: to prise apart language and association and find thrilling new ways to express the true essence of her subject with charming joie de vivre.
Stein considered her shorter writings to be the truest expressions of her enrapturing style. Her fascination with people and personalities can be located in expressive portraits of close friends Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Cezanne, Jean Cocteau, and Juan Gris, whilst her decades-long relationship with Alice B. Toklas is immortalised with shimmering eroticism. There are also playful meditations on her unique writing process, conveying her serious delight in meddling with conventions of grammar and composition.
Between the French-flapped covers of this elegant paperback collection, readers will rediscover Gertrude Stein as the bearer of a joyfully radical literary vision. A bold experimenter, her writing sparks with vitality, relishing in rhythm, repetition, sound and colour in its central vision: to prise apart language and association and find thrilling new ways to express the true essence of her subject with charming joie de vivre.
Stein considered her shorter writings to be the truest expressions of her enrapturing style. Her fascination with people and personalities can be located in expressive portraits of close friends Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Cezanne, Jean Cocteau, and Juan Gris, whilst her decades-long relationship with Alice B. Toklas is immortalised with shimmering eroticism. There are also playful meditations on her unique writing process, conveying her serious delight in meddling with conventions of grammar and composition.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2023
14 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Gertrude Stein
406 books1,190 followersGertrude Stein was an American writer who spent most of her life in France, and who became a catalyst in the development of modern art and literature. Her life was marked by two primary relationships, the first with her brother Leo Stein, from 1874-1914, and the second with Alice B. Toklas, from 1907 until Stein's death in 1946. Stein shared her salon at 27 rue de Fleurus, Paris, first with Leo and then with Alice. Throughout her lifetime, Stein cultivated significant tertiary relationships with well-known members of the avant garde artistic and literary world of her time.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 3, 2023
Although I naturally knew of Gertrude Stein, until picking up this book I had never read any of her writings, remembering her more as the figure around whom other famous writers and artists gathered. As it turns out from reading this book, that reputation was something she hated, wishing she could be recognised for her own works instead. However, having now read some of her pieces in Every Day is To-Day, I can understand why her wish didn't come true. At university I read Joyce's Ulysses without a single issue, so I am not someone cowed by hard-to-read books, but even I struggled with Stein's prose. The repetition irked me (and it was continuous) and I was frequently rereading sentences multiples times and still struggling to make sense of them. Some pieces I followed better than others, and generally I enjoyed those more, but overall I can't say I loved reading these shorts. Her prose is most definitely an acquired taste and not one that suited my usually eclectic palate. I am glad I read this book to finally dip into Stein's literary works, but having done so, I now know they are not for me. As such I am giving this book three stars; however, those with more modernist tastes in prose may well find it interesting and it is a nicely curated collection.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 28, 2024
I’ve always preferred Stein’s longer pieces (Making of Americans being easily the opus), but it is hard to deny that the short pieces are perhaps the most aesthetically obvious projects, each being immediately identifiable in its experimentation.
July 17, 2023
**Important note about my rating below...
These stories are... an acquired taste to be sure. Do not skip the introduction by Francesca Wade, otherwise they'll make even less sense.
Many of them are portraits "painted" with words: Avant-garde expressions about famous folks like Matisse and Picasso, luminaries like patron of the arts Mabel Dodge Luhan, and of course about herself and her partner. They're simultaneously flattering and insulting. Think a less accessible surrealist/dadaist Dorothy Parker??
I can see why people were attracted to her, friends with her. There's a very spoken word slam poetry feel to her writing. Ex. Quote from her Picasso story: This one was always having something that was coming out of this one that was a solid thing, a disconcerting thing, a simple thing, a clear thing, a complicated thing, and interesting thing, a disturbing thing, a repellent thing, a very pretty thing. This one was one certainly being one having something coming out of him.
You *might* have noticed a bit of repetition there and it's an integral part of her work. Just as van Gogh's style was most likely influenced by his mental health/substance abuse/poisoning or intoxication from paints - it's been theorized that Ms Stein exhibited symptoms of echolalia/echophrasia*, which is a trait of people on autism spectrum and certainly jibes with her stubborness about not explaining what she was trying to say and her gender expression as well (there's some evidence that gender disphoria is more common for ppl with ASD). Of course, it could simply be because she wanted to give these words more weight and emphasis.
I think that "Flirting at the Bon Marché" is the most accessible, relevant of these works:
Some are coming to know very well that they are living in a very tedious way of living. Some are coming to know very well that they are living in a very dull way of living. These go shopping. They go shopping and it always was a thing they were rightly doing. Now everything is changing. Certainly everything is changing. They go shopping, they are being in a different way of living. Everything is changing.
This critique of the department store still applies to our culture, even intensified as shopping has shifted online, that belief that we can find meaning & identity in our purchases, that feeling that we can change/improve/progress, that we are DOING something by being consumers, being consumed by our thoughts, choices, etc.
I can't help but ask myself the following question, even though I know it's a fruitless exercise - If she were a man, would she have been known primarily as the person who organized the salons in Paris and second for her Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas or would she have been known for her writing first? Would classes be taught on how to recognize and appreciate her genius (like Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald)?
Here are some of my random notes:
I feel there's a secret spy message in here, like if you just remove a word, change the word order, or read it in a mirror or something, you'd understand it. (Portait of Mabel Dodge)
For some reason, I kept thinking of the band King Missile as I was reading, ex. during "Matisse": I am a sensitive artist and for some weird reason when reading the story of her relationship with Alice B Toklas, "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene", I thought of Gary & Melissa. Probably due to the repetition and dischordant sounds.
Two more quotes below, just to give you taste of her work, you can see how the work's quite weird, impenetrable, and perhaps "you had to be there" to get it ...
One was quite certain that for a long part of his being one being living he had been trying to be certain that he was wrong in doing what he was doing and then when he could not come to be certain that he had been wrong in doing what he had been doing, when he had completely convinced himself that he would not come to be certain that he had been wrong in doing what he had been doing he was really certain then that he was a great one and he certainly was a great one. (About Matisse if I remember correctly)
Bargaining is something and there is not that success. The intention is what if application has that accident results are reappearing. They did not darken. That was not an adulteration. (Portrait of Mabel Dodge)
* echolalia = unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person
**Notes on rating
Personal rating = 3* (aka it was thought provoking but I didn't love it and yet as I write this review and really reflect on the thoughts that it evoked, I'm ranking it higher and feeling better about my...
Goodreads rating = 4* until this book has a higher rating than twilight or 50 shades
This was a Netgalley ARC and I ran out of time to read all of the stories before archive, so I only read the first half.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
These stories are... an acquired taste to be sure. Do not skip the introduction by Francesca Wade, otherwise they'll make even less sense.
Many of them are portraits "painted" with words: Avant-garde expressions about famous folks like Matisse and Picasso, luminaries like patron of the arts Mabel Dodge Luhan, and of course about herself and her partner. They're simultaneously flattering and insulting. Think a less accessible surrealist/dadaist Dorothy Parker??
I can see why people were attracted to her, friends with her. There's a very spoken word slam poetry feel to her writing. Ex. Quote from her Picasso story: This one was always having something that was coming out of this one that was a solid thing, a disconcerting thing, a simple thing, a clear thing, a complicated thing, and interesting thing, a disturbing thing, a repellent thing, a very pretty thing. This one was one certainly being one having something coming out of him.
You *might* have noticed a bit of repetition there and it's an integral part of her work. Just as van Gogh's style was most likely influenced by his mental health/substance abuse/poisoning or intoxication from paints - it's been theorized that Ms Stein exhibited symptoms of echolalia/echophrasia*, which is a trait of people on autism spectrum and certainly jibes with her stubborness about not explaining what she was trying to say and her gender expression as well (there's some evidence that gender disphoria is more common for ppl with ASD). Of course, it could simply be because she wanted to give these words more weight and emphasis.
I think that "Flirting at the Bon Marché" is the most accessible, relevant of these works:
Some are coming to know very well that they are living in a very tedious way of living. Some are coming to know very well that they are living in a very dull way of living. These go shopping. They go shopping and it always was a thing they were rightly doing. Now everything is changing. Certainly everything is changing. They go shopping, they are being in a different way of living. Everything is changing.
This critique of the department store still applies to our culture, even intensified as shopping has shifted online, that belief that we can find meaning & identity in our purchases, that feeling that we can change/improve/progress, that we are DOING something by being consumers, being consumed by our thoughts, choices, etc.
I can't help but ask myself the following question, even though I know it's a fruitless exercise - If she were a man, would she have been known primarily as the person who organized the salons in Paris and second for her Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas or would she have been known for her writing first? Would classes be taught on how to recognize and appreciate her genius (like Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald)?
Here are some of my random notes:
I feel there's a secret spy message in here, like if you just remove a word, change the word order, or read it in a mirror or something, you'd understand it. (Portait of Mabel Dodge)
For some reason, I kept thinking of the band King Missile as I was reading, ex. during "Matisse": I am a sensitive artist and for some weird reason when reading the story of her relationship with Alice B Toklas, "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene", I thought of Gary & Melissa. Probably due to the repetition and dischordant sounds.
Two more quotes below, just to give you taste of her work, you can see how the work's quite weird, impenetrable, and perhaps "you had to be there" to get it ...
One was quite certain that for a long part of his being one being living he had been trying to be certain that he was wrong in doing what he was doing and then when he could not come to be certain that he had been wrong in doing what he had been doing, when he had completely convinced himself that he would not come to be certain that he had been wrong in doing what he had been doing he was really certain then that he was a great one and he certainly was a great one. (About Matisse if I remember correctly)
Bargaining is something and there is not that success. The intention is what if application has that accident results are reappearing. They did not darken. That was not an adulteration. (Portrait of Mabel Dodge)
* echolalia = unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person
**Notes on rating
Personal rating = 3* (aka it was thought provoking but I didn't love it and yet as I write this review and really reflect on the thoughts that it evoked, I'm ranking it higher and feeling better about my...
Goodreads rating = 4* until this book has a higher rating than twilight or 50 shades
This was a Netgalley ARC and I ran out of time to read all of the stories before archive, so I only read the first half.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 10, 2023
Although I am familiar with the life of Gertrude Stein, in particular her sojourn amongst writers and artists in Paris, and her art collecting, I had never actually read any of her work. This was largely due to the labels it has acquired of being experimental and quirky and idiosyncratic. This didn’t seem the sort of writing that would appeal to me. But when this collection of 26 of her short pieces came available on NetGalley I was delighted to have the chance to be open-minded and give her a try. And I soon realised that this is indeed not the sort of writing that appeals to me. Her “joyfully radical literary vision”, as Francesca Wade calls it in her useful introduction left me bewildered and frankly unimpressed. As Wade continues, “It’s impossible….to say what her texts are about.” Quite. So what is the point? Page after page after page of endless endless endless repetition. I’m sure Stein was a fascinating companion and interlocutor, but if this volume is typical of her writing style then I won’t go any further. Experimentation in writing is of course often admirable. Where would literature be without it? But here it seems just a dead end. It made no sense to me. It was tedious to read. I gave up. Thus I am far less generous than other reviewers, but unless someone can persuade me otherwise, Gertrude Stein is not an author for me.
July 11, 2023
Between the French-flapped covers of this elegant paperback collection, readers will rediscover Gertrude Stein as the bearer of a joyfully radical literary vision. A bold experimenter, her writing sparks with vitality, relishing in rhythm, repetition, sound and colour in its central vision: to prise apart language and association and find thrilling new ways to express the true essence of her subject with charming joie de vivre.
Stein considered her shorter writings to be the truest expressions of her enrapturing style. Her fascination with people and personalities can be located in expressive portraits of close friends Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Cezanne, Jean Cocteau, and Juan Gris, whilst her decades-long relationship with Alice B. Toklas is immortalised with shimmering eroticism. There are also playful meditations on her unique writing process, conveying her serious delight in meddling with conventions of grammar and composition.
My first time reading Gertrude Stein's works.
Stein considered her shorter writings to be the truest expressions of her enrapturing style. Her fascination with people and personalities can be located in expressive portraits of close friends Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Cezanne, Jean Cocteau, and Juan Gris, whilst her decades-long relationship with Alice B. Toklas is immortalised with shimmering eroticism. There are also playful meditations on her unique writing process, conveying her serious delight in meddling with conventions of grammar and composition.
My first time reading Gertrude Stein's works.
June 11, 2023
*Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC, this is an honest review*
In the introduction Francesca wade writes, “Stein’s work defies traditional ways of reading. It’s impossible … to say what her texts are about”. That is indeed very true.
The times that I did understand what she was trying to say, what the texts were about, were almost enlightening. It was like being accepted into Stein’s way of thinking and writing. That being said, it rarely happened. I have to admit that I understood very little of this collection.
I did quite enjoy the “portraits”, the way she’s able to write a personality study of someone with just a few phrases and words, mixed and repeated.
The repetition was another thing I found interesting. At times very confusing—but again, the satisfaction of understanding was enjoyable.
Rating this is a little difficult, but based solely on my experience reading this book, I’m giving it 2-5 stars.
In the introduction Francesca wade writes, “Stein’s work defies traditional ways of reading. It’s impossible … to say what her texts are about”. That is indeed very true.
The times that I did understand what she was trying to say, what the texts were about, were almost enlightening. It was like being accepted into Stein’s way of thinking and writing. That being said, it rarely happened. I have to admit that I understood very little of this collection.
I did quite enjoy the “portraits”, the way she’s able to write a personality study of someone with just a few phrases and words, mixed and repeated.
The repetition was another thing I found interesting. At times very confusing—but again, the satisfaction of understanding was enjoyable.
Rating this is a little difficult, but based solely on my experience reading this book, I’m giving it 2-5 stars.
August 3, 2023
Many readers have heard of Gertrude Stein, maybe because of Alice or the friendships that she developed with those in the "lost generation," or maybe because of her famous rose quote. But how many have actually read what she has to say?
For everyone, here is a terrific collection of Stein's essays. Some of the pieces are about the well-known, including Matisse, Cezanne and Picasso. A few others are titled Flirting at the Bon Marche, Ladies Voices and Identity of a Poem. I found so many of these to be interesting.
Dip in anywhere. Get to know how Stein thinks.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
For everyone, here is a terrific collection of Stein's essays. Some of the pieces are about the well-known, including Matisse, Cezanne and Picasso. A few others are titled Flirting at the Bon Marche, Ladies Voices and Identity of a Poem. I found so many of these to be interesting.
Dip in anywhere. Get to know how Stein thinks.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
July 31, 2023
Unutterable guff – the early (?) pieces were bilge only ripe for pastiche, and then when it got on to the "poetry" (sic) – all reason purses were out the window. I was going to say this is all that is wrong about that kind of writing from that kind of time, only we're smart enough to know that unfortunately it's not. It's certainly to be avoided.
August 8, 2024
My rating has very little to do with the writing, and most everything to do with the fact that it just was not a style for me. I've been trying to delve into some classics and classic writers, so when I found this perfectly sized, beautifully colored book of essential writings, I had to scoop it up. Stein's style is just a little too poetic and avant-garde for my mind. I hope others enjoy it!
August 8, 2023
I'm not sure how to rate this book. None of the words made sense to me. #bookbingo fail.
August 14, 2023
Gerty Stein is a disappointment and I won't try to read (?) other works of hers, not worth the time.
October 25, 2023
Rarely: a sparkling phrase. Most of the time reading this feels like banging your head against the wall. I love the cult of personality around Gertrude Stein and wanted to love this book.
December 27, 2023
Maybe I’m just stupid, but wtf?
Read
June 14, 2024`"""
The objection and the perfect central table, the sorrow in borrowing and the hurry in a nervous feeling, the question is it really a plague, is it really an oleander, is it really saffron in color, the surmountable appetite which shows inclination to be warmer, the safety in a match and the safety in a little piece of splinter, the real reason why cocoa is cheaper, the same use for bread as for any breathing that is softer, the lecture and the surrounding large white soft unequal and spread out sale of more and still less is no better, all this makes one regard in a season, one hat in a curtain that in rising higher, one landing and many many more, and many more many more many many more.
"""
The objection and the perfect central table, the sorrow in borrowing and the hurry in a nervous feeling, the question is it really a plague, is it really an oleander, is it really saffron in color, the surmountable appetite which shows inclination to be warmer, the safety in a match and the safety in a little piece of splinter, the real reason why cocoa is cheaper, the same use for bread as for any breathing that is softer, the lecture and the surrounding large white soft unequal and spread out sale of more and still less is no better, all this makes one regard in a season, one hat in a curtain that in rising higher, one landing and many many more, and many more many more many many more.
"""
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2023
Having never read any of Gertrude Stein’s work before I was excited to read these short stories. Her writing style is fascinating, colorful and yes repetitive but so current and insightful. I am thinking specifically of Flirting at The Bon Marche and how it speaks to the tediousness of life and shopping. I loved it. How insightful for today’s world. Her stories of Matisse and Picasso were also amazing because they were part of her bohemian lifestyle and her appreciation of modern art. Her repetition and refrain are often playful. As Stein would want us to do, please keep an open mind and enjoy the world through her short stories. Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #EveryDayIsToday.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews