Nonfiction November Wrap-Up
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- In which I talk about four of the nonfiction books I read in November. Please excuse my slow start. My sinus infection meds kicked in by the second book and I got a bit feistier!
CAPITAL: Master, Slave, Husband, Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo
FRAUD: Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature by Elizabeth Winkler
WEB: American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Raph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work
DISPLAY: The Year of Miracles: Recipes about Love + Grief + Growing Things
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My father’s long and extended illness, treatments and then death throughout most of this year was very complicated with many setbacks for every advancement, two steps back for every step forward.
When things were entering the fatal stage my mother was still in heavy denial about what was coming and said she was hoping for a miracle. I tried to explain that there had been many little miracles all along the way, but at some point even those run out.
I especially appreciated a number of Sundays we had in June and July when there was no therapy, dialysis or complicated care to be done on those days and we could take over the TV room at rehab and order food from the diner next door and enjoy one another’s company and there still existed the possibility that things would be better, that he’d stabilize, heal, regain lost ground and come home and things would be sustainable for a few more years. It’s important to see the miracle in the really good afternoon that goes smoothly and is stabilizing or that candy bar you bought in the hospital gift shop and shared that day.
Beautiful. Thank you so much. I’m so sorry you had to go through this, too-and so glad you went able to appreciate those beautiful moments and help your mother see them too. People often think “always holding on to hope” (what I think we’re seeing as denial) makes things easier-but I think it’s only when we are honest with ourselves that we can feel all those everyday miracles.
You know sometimes the right amount of sleep IS a miracle and I think it’s a lovely way to get through grief. And I also support spicy curry. Thinking of you as we go through holidays. Great reviews!
Thank you very much for your compassion. And-I didn’t even think about the link between my insomnia discussion and the miracle of sleep discussion!
@@HannahsBooks yes exactly- sleep is not only a need but often a blessing. Hoping you get some lovely rest in this difficult season. You are beautiful Hannah! 🧡
@EntertheBook ♥️♥️♥️
Hello Hannah, that was a beautiful line you read about grieving. At age 73 I’ve lost more than a few people including both my parents and the ex-husband. who was my friend. They live forever in our memories (and) while we’re on earth, no one can take those away. Shalom and Aloha
Thank you so much, Marilyn, for this beautiful comment. Losing people we love is so hard. I was afraid I would only remember the last very hard days of David being so sick-and I am relieved that so many wonderful memories of our years together immediately flooded back.
What a great discussion - the two stories within "master, slave, wife, husband", the old chestnut about Shakespeare's identity, deconstructing a weakly researched book and pointing out that recipes for a reduced household could usefully be for 2 instead of 4. I am glad that you have your own small bookroom.
Thank you so much, Heather. It was a lovely month of reading-these books but also all the Cather-even when I was critical of some of the books!
well, any month with nonfiction in it, is grist to our mill@@HannahsBooks
It looks like you had good nonfiction November despite some imperfections in the books. My favorite go-to nonfiction for going back to sleep in the middle of the night is Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. It doesn’t take many pages about some Greek man who lived two thousand years ago and that I have never heard of before I am back in the arms of Morpheus.
Ooh! I am now off to move my copy to my bedside bookshelf! Thanks for the idea!
Thoreau described the wide open eyes of a drowned girl in the first chapter of Cape Cod, which deals with a shipwreck with the astonishing line "like the cabin windows of a stranded vessel filled with sand."
Oh! Wow!
Ooh, I love cookbook memoirs with illustrations, too. 💗
Wow, those excerpts you shared were touching. Thank you, Hannah ✨
Thank you, Margaret. I’m interested in checking out her other cookbook sometime soon.
Excellent discussion of these books!
💜!
You have a very calming voice!
Thank you so much! That is very kind of you.
Wonderful video Hannah! I especially enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the last book. My father and mother-in-law passed last year after both suffered long, terrible illnesses and so it's been a rough few years. Although we are all grieving, I worry the most about my mom. As a matter of fact, she would have celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary today. 💔I appreciated hearing your thoughts, after suffering a similar terrible loss as my mama. My condolences to you and I hope 2024 brings you a bit more peace and joy. ❤🩹
Thank you so much for these kind words, Christina. I’m sending love to your mother today. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays-all are so hard. Of course, just ordinary days can be hard, too. I’m glad she has your support!
I just started laughing at the quote from Shakespeare was a woman.
Great quote if not a great book.
Absolutely! She is quite a spirited writer and the book is extremely entertaining, even if you see problems with her analysis. Let me know what you think if you give it a try!
American Bloomsbury sounds down right gossipy full of imagination.
Perfect blurb!
Indeed.
I really enjoyed Shakespeare Was a Woman. I agree she leans into her bias pretty heavily but I feel like what she’s really doing is encouraging new readers/academics to question the accepted defaults of literary scholarship. To that purpose, I believe she’s successful. I also don’t believe it matters who wrote the plays but I think it does matter that we have ongoing scholarship free to explore unorthodox ideas about classics. It’s not an academic study. It is a bit of a bait and switch. It’s not what it claims to be but I did really enjoy it for what it ended up being. :)
I totally agree with you that scholarship exploring unorthodox ideas should be encouraged. New questions and perspectives are at the heart of new thinking. She definitely shows that she can mine her sources carefully and piece together an interesting argument. But yes-bait and switch, as well as an ending that doesn’t seem to support her argument for why unorthodoxy is necessary in academia. THAT I would love to read!
I just found your channel and love the way you talk about books!
I just read a nonfiction book (on audio) called Disfigured by Amanda LeDuc. While the book succeeded in making me think more critically about disability representation in fantasy (the genre I read the most), I’m intrigued by how the disguise of disability played a pivotal role in Master Slave Husband Wife.
I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m glad you’re part of the BookTube community.
Thank you so much, Johanna. I will have to check out LeDuc’s book! I have read very very little fantasy in my life. Do you have a favorite book you’d recommend for a middle-aged newbie?
@@HannahsBooks I do! I recommend either The Lions of Al-Rassan or A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay.
The Lions of Al-Rassan is based on Medieval Spain while A Song for Arbonne is based on Southern France in the Middle Ages (dealing with troubadours). I have individual spoiler-free videos and spoiler-filled group discussions for both books on my channel (disclaimer: I'm not as articulate or as insightful as you are 😅).
I recommend Kay's books because Guy Gavriel Kay writes mostly standalone books that blend low-magic fantasy and historical fiction. His prose is lyrical while true to a vivid cast of adult characters. For these reasons, I think his books would appeal to seasoned adult readers who are new to fantasy.
@@Johanna_reads Thank you! I have been making a list of recommendations from other viewers and I recognize these titles!
This is an interesting group of books. Oh boy. American Bloomsbury. Are you going to get rid of it after this reread? Ha! I just made a cake from the British bake off and I had to break out the food scale because everything was in grams 😊😊😊
I always make sourdough with my food scale-so I am not sure why I resist pulling it out for other recipes. What kind of cake did you make? I’m behind on GBBO!
I am definitely going to read Master Slave Husband Wife. The Shakespeare book sounds....thin. In substance, anyway.
I’m not sure I was fair to the book. She’s smart and entertaining, for sure. I wasn’t persuaded by her argument-and I was annoyed by her overblown critiques of the opposition-but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book!
Hello, Hannah.
Have you read either The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food or The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, Julia Child's longtime editor? The former is a lovely memoir in which she discusses (among other things) the loss of her husband and her fear that she would never enjoy cooking or eating again. In that section of the memoir she included some of the recipes that brought her back to herself a bit, and apparently the reception was so positive that she wrote the latter, which has many, many more recipes. Thought of them immediately when you were discussing The Year of Miracles, and mentioned that the recipes it contained were for significantly more than one person. Don't know if Jones' recipes will appeal (they are pretty heavy on meat, I recall, and definitely old school, French-centric) but they might offer inspiration and the memoir is a good read.
Anyway, I wanted to pass them along.
Wishing you peace and comfort in the new year, and beyond. xo
Fantastic!! I can’t thank you enough for the recommendations-especially for the memoir.
And my library system has both! On hold for me! ♥️
Thank you for sharing your reading this NFN. I live in the UK and had to buy a set of measuring cups and spoons to make American recipes. A good recipe is always worth the effort. However the oven temperature difference always involves a little research. I've been living alone for nearly two years and curries are a regular event - fewer messy pots and for veg versions it's easy to freeze the second meal.
Yes-I have an early Ottolenghi book where I learned that oven temperature translation is not as straightforward as I was expecting! And freezing has definitely been my friend lately!
I had books picked out for November but just couldn't make myself read. I'd still like to get to those books though. Right now I'm in the middle of When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning. It's about the war of books and ideas and the American Armed Services Edition books that were distributed to soldiers.
Manning’s book sounds so interesting! Are you enjoying it so far?
_Master, Slave_ sounds great. #s 2 & 3 more meh. _Miracles_ I suppose I’d have to see for myself. The recipes wouldn’t cut it (we’ve been eating a lot of Thai curries lately). When young, I was hyper aware of death, at least as an abstract concept; now old, I feel its press on all sides, and might not like to read about it.
I’m not sure Miracles would be the book for you-but I read it at just the right moment. The Shakespeare book is playful and often clever-even though I don’t buy her argument. I don’t think I was really fair to it in this video. But Master Slave was definitely my favorite of these four books. Then again, I’m a southern historian…