Spotify playlist for Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia

You will need to sign up or sign into your Spotify account to listen. This is my beloved music from my Bulimia Diary. You’re welcome :-)

And here’s a taster. I fell in love to A Little Respect by Erasure …

Quotes from reviews of Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia

  • Victoria says …

  • I have just read your book. Twice. It’s an amazing insight into your life, and that is the sign of a truly astonishing writer. Whether or not, at the time, you intended these diaries to me made public, the very flow of the prose is hugely indicative of your linguistic talent. Well done and I will follow your career with interest!
  • Robyn says …

  • This book could change your life. I really believe it could. Read it!
  • This book really reminds you why you are ‘staying clean’ and fighting so hard for recovery.
  • Peyton says …

  • A very hard read, but also one that I wanted to continue forever.
  • It’s closest to Marya Hornbacher’s Wasted, I’d say, with a little sprinkle of The Bell Jar. That’s a push though, because it’s unlike anything else out there.
  • I am so thankful for this book. I want to keep on going with recovery so that ten years from now I’ll be alive and I’ll be able to say that this book saved my life. I feel like it already did more for me than years of therapy, medication and hospitalisation.
  • Natasha’s honesty will blow you away, even if it does occasionally hit a nerve.
  • It was excellent. I’ve just finished reading it and I feel like I’ve lost a good friend!
  • Helena Whitbread (editor of The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister) says …

  • This is a compelling read – one which will fall under the umbrella of the “rite of passage” genre. These books have become classics over the years (I am thinking of J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” and Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar“, etc.). The sexual frankness, lesbianism and use of the esoteric code could perhaps mark this diarist out as a modern-day Anne Lister.
  • It is my belief that Natasha’s work on her own life may well make her a ‘name’ in the world of lesbian writing.
  • Lena says …

  • The stark candor of the account paints a fascinating portrait of a person and a specific time in recent history.
  • I flew through this book in almost one sitting, an experience I wouldn’t necessarily recommend, but at a certain point, it’s almost impossible to turn away.
  • as things got worse and worse, I read to find out if anyone in this person’s world would find a way to break through to her, if anyone would be able to help her. It was almost as if I read to keep her alive.
  • I found lots of it really frightening and difficult and for some it’s probably very triggering, but at the same time it’s an important story. It’s a record, both for the author and the rest of us, of how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go in creating safe and accepting environments.
  • Tammie says …

  • I could literally not put it down. This book is obsessive in its content and it is obsessive reading too, I finished it in one day.
  • This is not my usual genre of book but I cannot recommend it more highly. Well done Natasha, I cannot wait to see if there will be more books released and how things worked out.
  • Tim says …

  • These are diary entries, true events, and yet they have a novelistic precision and a dramatic sense that reveal Natasha Holme as a natural, instinctive writer.
  • This book is several thingsā€”an eye-opener for those of us who have never experienced what ‘thin=beautiful’ can do to someone’s self-image, a chronicle of awakening, an examination of the different things we look for in terms of intimacy, and a frankly terrifying description of what a sane and intelligent person can subject themselves to.
  • Jenn says …

  • Excellent read! I love the way the author was able to bring me into her world by making me feel like I was sneaking into her diary while actually carrying me through her story.
  • BeXx says …

  • All your dirty laundry. I love it!!
  • I loved how raw and truthful this book was.
  • So funny, sad and real. Made me feel like a weird little teenager all over again.
  • T says …

  • I had just intended to check out the first chapter or two, but before I knew it, I found that I could not stop snooping in on the author’s life!
  • I also agree with another reviewer that pointed out how well this ‘diary’ was written. It contains fragments and snippets and is obviously very informal, but the author’s way of presenting the pieces of this story still manage to flow like a novel.
  • Jud says …

  • What a fascinating insight into the life of a young girl at university, struggling with both her weight/eating and her sexuality. It really opened my eyes to a world that I really know nothing about.
  • Amanda says …

  • I alternately want to shake the author, and hug her. I found it utterly fascinating and compelling.
  • Fleur says …

  • I believe that everyone should read this book, or at the very least anyone who knows someone who has struggled with an eating disorder (which is everyone, whether they know it or not.)
  • People judge her for being too gay and for not being gay enough. Confused, unable to express her feelings of love she becomes obsessive.
  • So many times I just wanted to grab hold of Natasha and shake her.
  • An intense read, with a raw honesty, a splattering of romance and hope and an excellent, truly fitting ending.
  • Simon says …

  • After reading the first half of Natasha Holme’s book I ended up getting up at 5am to read the rest. I just had to know how things turned out.
  • I found the book very moving, and I really appreciated the personal insight into the author’s life. It must have been tough to put something so personal out there.
  • Debbie says …

  • This is an excellent read – poignant, honest, fascinating. I read it in one day.
  • Meggiemoo says …

  • I love how blunt this book was. At times it made me chuckle, especially the sexual encounters. Other times I related so much it upset me.
  • Natasha was stuck in the cycle of weakness, fatigue, sight loss and hunger and then binging until she felt ill and her heart wanted to explode and then eating some more just because she could. This type of eating disorder is life ruining and this book shows how someone can become so stuck on the idea of thin that they can reject everything.
  • Really enjoyed the refreshing honesty. Loved this book.
  • Alexandra says …

  • Reading this was kind of like watching television footage of a plane crash, train wreck or natural disaster. I wanted to “look away” but I just couldn’t do it.
  • Jennifer says …

  • I understand that Natasha’s diary was first written in code: I wonder if this assumed privacy enabled her to write so freely of her actions and thoughts? Now, over 20 years later, her thoughts are freed of their encoding and shared.
  • It’s uncomfortable reading, this diary.
  • Carol says …

  • It was a hard read and at the same time an easy read. Easy because it was broken into small segments. Hard because of the subject matter. Yet it was compelling. I had to keep reading to see if Natasha reached the weight she had set as her goal. And I wanted to see if she figured out anything regarding her sexuality. The ending didn’t really give me any answers though. I’d like to know how she’s doing today.
  • Simon says …

  • This is a diary in a disturbingly off-hand and scarily reasonable-sounding narrative. The subject matter and the subject get deeper and more embroiled in all-consuming objectives that lead the reader through a traumatic and shocking journey.
  • Despite all the harrowing details, there is a lot of humour to be found in here. The ultimately doomed flirtation with heterosexuality and the internal politics of LGBT groups at college are a light relief.
  • Athena says …

  • This book is exactly what it sounds like from the title. It’s kind of awful yet addictive.

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Original Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia website

As of May 2017, I have archived my original 2012 www.lesbian-crushes-and-bulimia.com website.