Entries tagged with non-fiction

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"The Twilight Zone" by Nona Fernandez

Last night I finished The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernandez, book #9 from the "Women in Translation" rec list. This book was translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer.

The Twilight Zone is a nonfiction book, part memoir, part investigative journalism piece by Fernandez, first published in 2016. It concerns Fernandez's study of and memories of growing up under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. The author is haunted by the traumas of the regime, both those she experienced firsthand and those she heard about from others, and the book in some ways feels like an exercise in simply trying to reconcile those feelings.

Fernandez's book is of course very specific to the Chilean experience, and yet core parts of her incisive commentary about both the absurdity and the cruelty of autocracies rings true around the world. The exercises the regime goes through in its constant quest for self-preservation are both ridiculous and brutal, feelings Fernandez captures in her title. The surrealist sci-fi hit show of the 70s fits very well as a metaphor for the often-flailing yet eminently dangerous police state.

Fernandez does an excellent job of using her prose to say things not neatly spelled out in words. I was reminded of reading The Things They Carried in high school, and how revelatory it seemed to me at the time how the author could use the style of prose to suggest a character's mental disarrangement without simply saying he was deranged. Fernandez's prose stood out to me in a similar way—how she uses the structure of her words to capture the feelings at play.

Equally compelling is the obviously copious amounts of research Fernandez put into her work. She portrays herself as a woman consumed by a quest to find answers about this regime, and it comes across in her work. Names, dates, places, timelines — Fernandez has clearly put in the leg work to piece together the final days of the highlighted victims of the regime as much as can be done.

However, the book never comes across like a textbook. Fernandez ably weaves her research into a compelling narrative. Neither does she ever seek to blur the line between the facts and her imagination—she keeps a clean line between what she knows and what she wonders, or imagines. Nevertheless, the questions and suppositions that populate Fernandez's mind feel regrettably natural for anyone in the aggravating circumstances of a mendacious autocracy. She does an excellent job of showing how crazy-making it is to live under such a government, where you are constantly being lied to in direct contradiction of visible facts, and yet there seems to be nothing you can do but either accept the truth or taste the knuckles of the regime.

I really enjoyed this read. It breezed by and I can absolutely see what a national treasure Fernandez is as a writer! I would love to see if more of her work has been translated into English; she has a wonderful voice.

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Recent Reading: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

Yesterday I wrapped up one of my few anticipated non-fiction reads of the year: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter.

This book reaches back to America's foundation to trace its often hostile relationship with its own intelligentsia and the impact that's had on American society and development. This book was published the year my mom was born—1963—and was reflecting on the political attitudes of its day, yet much of it, particularly in the introductory chapters, feels like it could have been written yesterday. Plainly, America is still struggling with a recurrent animosity towards the very concept of an educated class.

Because it was written in 1963, parts of it are dated, in terms of attitudes and terminology. But on the whole, Hofstadter provides a thoughtful and comprehensive look at the influence of various individuals and groups, both the good and the bad (for instance, while he notes the well-documented shortcomings of Puritan society, he also notes they placed much more value on an educated populace than the Evangelical traditions which eventually overpowered them.)

The book is obviously well-researched, and Hofstadter does a thorough job of documenting his sources and influences, as well as recommending additional reading on a broad range of topics touched on in his own book. So much of what he establishes here makes perfect sense when looking at modern American society. He so neatly threads the needle between where we started and where we are now that at some moments, it felt like the fog was lifting on something I should have seen ages ago.

While I would love to read a more modern, updated version of Hofstadter's exploration, even this dated one provides ample useful information for the current political state of the country. In short, there has always been a significant interest in this county not only in not glorifying education, but in resisting education (and Hofstadter elucidates the tension between these attitudes and the country's commitment to free childhood education when such a thing was not common).

It does make for heavy reading; Hofstadter's prose does not breeze by, but the points he's making feel important enough that it was more than worth it to take my time. Would not recommend reading right before bed though.

Highly recommend for fellow Americans and anyone seeking to understand the current climate of idiocy and rule by clowns to which we are subject. I'm not sure how we can definitively put down these attitudes of anti-intellectualism, but understanding their sources and history must be a start.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Review: The Plant Kitchen

The Plant Kitchen: 100 easy recipes for vegan beginners
Hardcover – January 14, 2020
by Ryland Peters & Small (Author)

We finished reading this cookbook today. It's not all that big, but some pages do have more than one recipe. The Introduction is just a couple paragraphs about plant-based eating. The chapters are Basic Recipes, Breakfast & Brunch, Light Bites & Snacks, Soups & Sides, Mid-Week Suppers, Feeding a Crowd, and Sweet Things. The Index seems to go primarily by main ingredients.

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Book Review: In Defense of Witches

Book #4 of the "Women in Translation" library rec list has been In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet, translated from French by Sophie R. Lewis.

Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?

Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct heirs to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions. With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms.

There's no doubt that Chollet has done her research here. I appreciated how often her claims and arguments were supported with quotes, events, other studies, and even the occasional fictional novel giving a display of attitudes of the times (although I do think we could have used fewer fictional examples).

However, as other readers have remarked...the book doesn't really have much to do with witches. I was most engaged at the start, when Chollet was digging into the witch trials of 15^th and 16^th century Europe, giving details on the events and attitudes as well as sharing the stories of some individual women. She validly criticizes how no other mass killings in history so broadly get the "haha well that happened" treatment.

She also traces quite effectively how the attitudes developed during the witch hunts persisted long after. The disgust with the female body (witches were often accused of copulating with the devil, and frequently shaved head to toe before their trials to find the "devil's mark"), the policing of women's behavior (being too gregarious could be a sign of being a witch—but so could being too withdrawn and isolated), the mistrust and revulsion around old women (whose accumulated knowledge and low tolerance for mistreatment made them particular targets during the hunts).

But after the first chapter (the book is divided into four chunky chapters), witches mostly fade into the background and the book becomes a generalized critique of misogyny, mainly in French and American society. I would have liked to see her draw more on the legacy of the witch trials to at least parallel with some more modern instances of misogyny, such as the lingering mistrust of career women, especially those without children.

The witch, at her core, represents things society still struggles to accept in women: she is usually single (and therefore not affiliated with or under the dominion of a man), often educated (many accused witches were practicing midwives or healers), generally childless (potentially rejecting the "natural calling" of all women to motherhood), frequently post-menopausal (and therefore undesirable--an unforgivable crime in a woman) and in short: independent. The witch is not beholden to anyone—father, husband, church, or child (thus, medieval witch hunters had to place her under the ultimate control of the devil, a male figure)--and acts solely in her own interests and in pursuit of her own pleasure, which made her intolerable, and in many ways, women are still viewed this way.

Chollet makes a lot of good points about historical and lingering misogyny, but I do feel she belabors the point in some cases, and by the fourth chapter feels like she's lost the thread entirely on the original thesis, becoming more of a diatribe against the medical field and the "cult of rationalism" than an examination of "women on trial" or the legacy of the witch hunts.

However, on the whole, the book was still interesting. It's not a fun read, to be clear: being reminded of the many ways in which women have been hated for merely existing and are still looked down on today is not enjoyable--but it is important to remember these things, not only to see what progress we have made, but to understand what progress is still needed.

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Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

So into my foray into reading more regularly again I picked this book up last year, read it and loved it, and I loved it so much that this year I will be re-reading it again because it is that helpful. I originally got this book because I wanted to improve my own comics and I finished feeling like I had gotten more than I could ever hoped for.

Understanding Comics is exactly what it says on the tin, learning how the medium of comic books work.

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Review: "Grandma's Favorites"

Grandma's Favorites
A Treasured Collection of 382 Classic Recipes & Tips
by Taste of Home

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Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by Fiona, 8th Countess of Carnarvon

full title;
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

from amazon;

Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war. Much like her Masterpiece Classic counterpart, Lady Cora Crawley, Lady Almina was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Alfred de Rothschild, who married his daughter off at a young age, her dowry serving as the crucial link in the effort to preserve the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home. Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman.

This rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the First World War and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle.

really only interesting if you're a fan of downton abbey, or have an interest in english houses of the time period. or even egyptian archeology, king tut's bomb in particular. because almina's husband, the 5^th earl of carnarvon, bankrolled the excavation & there are a couple of chapters that deal with that.

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Review: The Elven Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Elves of Tolkien

The Elven Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Elves of Tolkien (Literary Cookbooks) – January 10, 2023
by Robert Tuesley Anderson

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Review: "Seven Neighborhoods in Detroit"

Seven Neighborhoods in Detroit: Recipes from the City by J N Cameron

We picked this cookbook because my partner Doug grew up in Detroit (the inner city, not a suburb). The featured neighborhoods are Little Italy, Hamtramck, Chinatown, Paradise Valley, Dearborn, Greektown, and Mexicantown. The recipes are organized per neighborhood rather than by type of dish.

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Review: The Cookie Bible

The Cookie Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

This is a guide to cookies, with very meticulous step-by-step directions. It has some good general tips on baking cookies, although it does not go into as much scientific detail as some of the previous volumes like The Bread Bible.

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non-fiction

Review: "The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook"

The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook from Cottage Door Press

The sections are Introduction, Appetizers & Snacks, Entrees, Vegetables and Sides, Desserts & Drinks, and Index. The introduction is not even a whole page. However, the book is filled with pictures of Ireland being green and gorgeous, along with Irish food looking delicious. It's pretty enough for a coffee table book.

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Review: Watermelon and Red Birds

Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor

The front matter includes a recipe list, a foreword, the poem "Hot Links & Red Drinks," an introduction, How to Use This Cookbook, Juneteenth Gadgets, Juneteenth Pantry, Juneteenth Food Pyramid, and BIPOC-owned Brands. While a few of the gadgets are excellent party items, like a snow cone machine, I find it hard to imagine a black or southern cook buying an official biscuit cutter instead of using a tuna can. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone except a TV chef make biscuits with a cutter instead of a can. The food pyramid is not really proportional, even for feast food, with herbs on the bottom. The list of recommended brands is interesting, though.

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Review: Cooking alla Giudia

This is one of the cookbooks that we got with holiday money. Neither of us had heard of Italian Jewish cooking before, although we're familiar with Italian and Jewish cuisines separately. This book makes a nice introduction to that, with bright pictures and charming recipes.

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Review: The Way Home

We finished reading the first cookbook of the year. \o/

The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with over 100 Recipes by Kardea Brown. Amistad, October 25, 2022.

This is a Gullah Geechee cookbook, which is a branch of African diaspora soul food. We found many of the recipes heavier than our personal taste preferences, with a reliance on ultraprocessed ingredients; but some others use whole foods, so you can pick and choose along that spectrum. So far the biggest hit has been the Kelewele Dry Spice Mix, normally used to season plantains. We like plantains but they're hard to find around here. Instead I've used the spice mix in Kelewele Molasses Cookies (best molasses cookie I've had) and Spicy Butterscotch Sauce (also excellent). We've also made the Hoppin' John, which is more work than average and mixes the black-eyed peas and rice together during cooking, but the end result tastes better than others I have had. So we're still working on how to streamline that a bit, but we definitely plan to make it again. I consider these discoveries a validation of buying the book. :D

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Father of the Lost Boys

Father of the Lost Boys: A Memoir by Yout A. Alaak tells the story of Alaak's family during the Second Sudanese Civil War, as well as roughly twenty thousand 'Lost Boys' - boys mostly between the ages of 8 and 12, who had been sent to refugee camps unaccompanied.

Although some of the subject matter is dreadful, this is a beautifully written book that maintains a generally upbeat tone, and makes sure to talk of joy as well as sadness.

Also included is a brief history of South Sudan, which is one of the clearest summaries of several hundreds of years of history that I've seen in a long time.

Released by Fremantle Press in 2020

Content warnings for war related topics, child death.

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Saka Saka

Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara
by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet

This is a full-color cookbook with many gorgeous photos. In addition to the recipes, it also includes interviews with people from Africa about their favorite foods from there. If you like learning about folks in different parts of the world, you'll enjoy these inserts.

The front matter is extremely useful. It includes the Cuisines of Africa, Tastes of Africa, Principles and Traditions, Benefits of African Cuisines, Main Specialties, Staple Ingredients Region by Region, and the Ideal Pantry. I was intrigued by the Principles section, with points like "Eating with your hands is completely normal" and "We do not eat baby animals." The section on Staple Ingredients makes a great comparison among west, central, east, and south Africa regarding starches, meats, produce, and spices. This part of the book is interesting and educational, whether or not you make any of the recipes.

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When Normal Blew Up by Joni Foster

the full title is When Normal Blew Up: The Story of the People Who Died and the People Who Lived On

from amazon;

In 1967, in the small town of Circleville, Ohio, a man walked into an old-fashioned drug store on a busy Saturday and laid a smoking package on the pharmacy counter in the back. He shouted for everyone to leave, he had a bomb.

Five people died that day and the mystery surrounding this event was never fully solved until 50 years later, Joni Foster went looking for the details. Over nine months, she would interview first responders and survivors to hear stories about what happened and how they and the town moved forward. The event was so shocking, many of those closest to the event had never spoken about their trauma, even to their own families.

The story is a tragedy, a history lesson on the slow, painful emancipation of women, and ultimately a love story to the families trying to live normal lives.

an interesting look at a tragedy in a small town.
the author (a child of one of the victims) does a good job of detailing the before, during and after of what she calls the event, and trying to dissect the motivation behind it.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Zoe's Ghana Kitchen

In January, I set a goal to read four new cookbooks this year. The fourth is Zoe's Ghana Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh, which I just finished the other day. We found a recommendation for several African cookbooks in one of our cooking magazines, and this is one of the two we bought to try. I have also written about In Bibi's Kitchen over in

book_love.

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The Life and Times of G*psy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott

the full title is, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of G*psy Rose Lee.

From Amazon;

America was flying high in the Roaring Twenties. Then, almost overnight, the Great Depression brought it crashing down. When the dust settled, people were primed for a star who could distract them from reality. Enter Gypsy Rose Lee, a strutting, bawdy, erudite stripper who possessed a gift for delivering exactly what America needed. With her superb narrative skills and eye for detail, Karen Abbott brings to life an era of ambition, glamour, struggle, and survival. Using exclusive interviews and never-before-published material, she vividly delves into Gypsy’s world, including her intense triangle relationship with her sister, actress June Havoc, and their formidable mother, Rose, a petite but ferocious woman who literally killed to get her daughters on the stage. Weaving in the compelling saga of the Minskys—four scrappy brothers from New York City who would pave the way for Gypsy Rose Lee’s brand of burlesque and transform the entertainment landscape—Karen Abbott creates a rich account of a legend whose sensational tale of tragedy and triumph embodies the American Dream.

If you've seen the musical G*psy, forget that, it was the sanitized version. One the only things they got right was Rose's mother was the ultimate stage mother, but 1000 times worse in real life. And she might have killed at least one person.

A very interesting look not only at the life of GRL, but the world of Burlesque as it was in the first part of the 20th century. and has a few chapters interspersed about the biggest promoters of burlesque in NYC, the Minsky brothers. (an infamous raid on one of their theaters inspired a movie called The Night They Raided Minsky's.)

They only thing I didn't like is the book wasn't linear, each chapter jumping from the "modern" era of the '40s to the early years of GRL's life or the Minsky's rise in the business.

But over all, I really enjoyed this book. as I did the others I've read by the author; Sin in the Second city; Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul & Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

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Legends of the Fire Spirits

Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar by Robert W. Lebling

An extensive look at the lore.

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