Sunday, December 5, 2021

The Sunday Post #285

 

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.



The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book ReviewerReaderbuzz, and Book Date.



The Sunday Post #285





On The Blog Recently






In My Reading Life


The final books of Nonfiction November!

I finished Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide To Sex, Marriage, And Manners by Therese Oneill. Like most of the books I read, I have mixed feelings about it. It's set up like a guide to the Victorian era for female time travelers. It tells you what you need to know about clothing, marriage, beauty, socializing, health, and travel. The writing style is irreverent and fun, and I love the old photos and advertisements. I'd make a terrible Victorian lady! It seems like Victorians were afraid to write about the female body, so some of the advertisements for women's health products are so vague that I have no idea what they're selling. Why do I need a product to cure "irregularities and suppressions"? What does that even mean? I hope Victorian women had nice friends and mothers because that's the only way they're going to learn anything useful about their bodies.

I enjoyed this book because it busts some myths and taught me a few things. My biggest issue with the book is how American it is. The Victorian era got its name from Queen Victoria. Why are we (mostly) ignoring the country where she lived? Most of the author's research materials came from the US. I found that disappointing.

For the most part, I enjoyed the author's snarky writing style, but it got on my nerves a few times. When I came across a fact I didn't know already, I wanted information, not jokes! I also think the author glossed over scary things (slavery, eugenics, mental health care, poverty) to keep the book light and fun. If you want to know about those topics, this book is not for you.

I had lots of fun reading this one, but it left gaps that I need to fill with less-fun books about the Victorian era. That being said, I will definitely read the author's other book, Ungovernable: The Victorian Parent's Guide To Raising Flawless Children. Maybe it'll help me with Baby Brooklyn. She's far from a flawless Victorian toddler 😉. Actually, "Ungovernable" is a good way to describe her.



Then I read a graphic novel memoir. (Graphic memoir? I think that's the correct term for the genre, but that makes it sound violent and/or sexy, which it isn't.) It was Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. The author was raised by his grandparents because his mother was a heroin addict and his father didn't believe Jarrett was his biological child. The memoir is mostly about how Jarrett grew up and achieved his dream of becoming a cartoonist.

This book sat on my shelf for over a year because I love the art style, but I hate books about drug addiction. I didn't know if the pretty pictures would be enough to get me through the plot. Luckily, the pictures were enough! Drug addiction isn't the focus of the story. It's mostly about the author and his love/hate relationship with his grandparents. If you come from a messy chaos family (like I do), then the book is extremely relatable. I definitely saw myself in the author. (He's way more successful than me, though. That's why he has a beautifully illustrated graphic memoir, and I have . . . a blog with memes I steal from Pinterest.) I really like the memoir, but I think it's too long. It occasionally meanders and doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. That's my only complaint. If you're interested in the childhood of a professional artist, check it out.



Right now, I'm reading An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle For Domination by Sheera Frenkel & Cecilia Kang. It's about the behind-the-scenes drama at Facebook and how the site misuse the data it collects from users. The book is okay so far. I haven't read very much of it yet.





In The Rest Of My Life


Five things that made me happy recently:

  1. If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope it was awesome. I ate a ton of food and played The Sims 4. Good times.
  2. Now I get to decorate for Christmas!
  3. It finally snowed. It usually starts snowing here during the first week of October. Then the snow sticks around until early May. I think we set a record for latest autumn snowfall.
  4. I started watching Locke & Key on Netflix. This might be my newest obsession.
  5. I finished shopping for my Secret Santa. Now everything is wrapped and in the mail. I hope she likes it.




Evil Social Media, Why Can't I Quit You?














Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!










28 comments:

  1. I've had my Christmas decorations out for a couple weeks already, I couldn't wait! I was so pregnant on Thanksgiving that I really couldn't eat much, so I'm glad to hear you had a good one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been meaning to read Hey, Kiddo for ages. Have fun decorating and happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It seems a shame to waste time reading a book that doesn't really care about actual history, just about joking around. The number of books about that era is huge, starting with the many books that were written by actual Victorians and by 19th century Americans. Too bad you found a dud!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoyed Unmentionable, though I did have the same thought in that it’s skewed to American society rather than the British.

    Wishing you a great reading week

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do you really have mixed feelings about most of the books you read? That's unfortunate. October to May is way too long to have snow. I would die.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've heard Jarrett Krosoczka speak at a librarian conference, and his is a powerful story. I'd love to read his memoir one day.

    We are all Christmas-ed up around here. It makes me so happy to see all the Christmas things. I don't really decorate any other time of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving! We got our Christmas decorations up and it is snowing today. I think it is really, truly December.

    An Ugly Truth sounds good in concept, I will be interested to hear what you think.

    Have a good week!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought Hey Kiddo was fantastic. I also sent out my secret santa package and received mine yesterday (amazing stuff!).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Snow in Colorado muust be so pretty!!! And I decorated my tree today! have a great week AJ!

    ReplyDelete
  10. A Victorian era guide for time travelers does sound pretty useful, but that's a bummer it was so vague- and Americanized- at times. Or that the Victorian era advertisements were vague, I guess. anyway yeah that would be a tough time to have lived in. The scary stuff's probably REALY scary, but yeah I'd want more on those also.

    We've been getting snow. Not too much though...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unmentionable sounds interesting... you found some great books for Nonfiction November. We're slowly getting the house decorated for Christmas, but haven't put the tree up yet. This week for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That snow schedule is similar to what we had in MN. Now in NC we have 2 days a year. We haven't done a thing with holiday decorating. Maybe this week?

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like a good Thanksgiving for you. I hate way too much this year (well, every year LOL) Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love that picture of Patrick. Yes, totally how moms did out hair.

    Unmentionable sounds really good. Thanks for sharing your books this week.

    Hope you get some snow for Christmas.

    https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2021/12/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Our first sticking snow arrived Sunday. Looks like we got about 6 inches but with the strong wind it's hard to tell since it is blowing the snow around a lot. We had had 6.6 inches previously but it all melted. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am curious about Locke and Key. Enjoy your week and your books! Here are my WEEKLY UPDATES

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've really been wondering if Locke and Key is as good as it looks. Guess I need to watch it!!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yay for snowfall, that's so exciting! We're the same out here by Tahoe and we're just now starting to get storms, it was a crazy and warm October and November. I'm hoping we get dumped on in the coming weeks. Hope you had a wonderful time decorating for Christmas ♥.
    Jen @ Star-Crossed Book Blog

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yeah I wonder how FB is misusing our data etc. But I'm hardly on FB so I guess I don't see their dumb ads ... That book must be a bit eye-opening eh? Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I do want to read Hey, Kiddo! Glad you liked it. I'm a big fan of graphic memoirs. :)


    Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

    ReplyDelete
  21. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving and hope you'll have fun setting up Christmas decorations! Also, love your opening meme, so relatable haha :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Lol that meme is SO relatable. My hair is curly and so thick. My mom used to comb it under the shower when it was wet and washed already. So PAINFUL.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh I still have nightmares about my mother brushing my hair. That woman had no mercy when it came to that! Sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours got a little more hectic then I usually like but it was still lovely. Now I have to get Christmas decorations up before Christmas is actually over. Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  24. That meme is a whole mood, haha. I'm pretty sure my mom ripped out most of my hair as a child. 🤣

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

    ReplyDelete
  25. I keep forgetting I have The Sims! XD I really should play more often! And I loved the Locke & Key graphic novels! I'm glad you're enjoying the show!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh goodness, I can't even imagine having snow around from October until May. One or two snowfalls that are melted and gone within a day or two is plenty for me, lol.

    ReplyDelete