Welcome to Litsy!

I have never put a book on my TBR faster.

This book may be my top read of the year. What a triumph- Hallie Rubenhold has done the research, spurred by the question “Why are the victims of The Ripper always referred to as prostitutes?” This is a book about the women, the social realities of lower class women in the 1880s with multiple pregnancies, dependency on men who may die or leave, work houses, and friends, lives of want and no social net other than the workhouses. Read this book!5⭐️

Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non- Fiction.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-50471880

I loved this book and I‘ve spent the best part of the year convincing everyone else to read it! So glad to see it win the Baillie Gifford tonight 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

https://thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/news/hallie-rubenhold-wins-baillie-gifford-...

I have read several books about the mystery of Jack the Ripper's identity but had only ever heard his victims referred to as prostitutes. Which was largely considered his "reason" for killing them. ? This book made me realize that everything else I'd read on the subject had entirely ignored these 5 women. Sure their names were recorded but no attempt had been made to learn anything more about them despite there being a great deal ⬇️

I'm most of the way through the history of the 4th victim and have started thinking about which light, charming, amusing book I'll read next. I'm going to need it!

@ljuliel asked what period in history we most enjoy reading about. My answer is: many. I love ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Egyptian, etc. I like The Middle Ages. I like WWII. I like Georgian & Regency. I like American Civil War, Revolutionary War, westward expansion, Gold Rush, Wild West. I'm currently reading the tagged book & it is heartbreaking/fascinating. The same could be said of my recent read of The Midnight Watch.
#keeplitsyactive

My Goodreads Awards Choices post 2.

@Cinfhen similar reasons to post 1 for my decisions, except for Chronin, as I've actually read that one! And all the children's/young adult books are blind guesses as I hardly read them now!

A book which discusses in detail the lives of the five victims of Jack the Ripper, a Victorian serial killer. Thoughts about these women are challenged and questions raised about society‘s views on women which continue today. Full review here: https://thecuriousmagpie2018.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/audiobook-review-the-five-...

I love nonfiction and am looking forward to #NonfictionNovember so this is a perfect challenge to help keep me focused! #nfnov Link to sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBVYCLpiUfCfne0bs0kkU99tzHQ-5hrJCpRtn0...

The best kind of true crime book. Victim focused, this book tells the life stories of the 5 women who were Jack the Ripper‘s victims with nothing but a suggestion in a single sentence of the murder itself. What a great book, truly.

The Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist is out today ( always a good place for fab non fiction recommendations- last years winner was Chernobyl by Serhhi Plokhy).

I‘m rooting for Five to be the winner

https://thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/news/shortlist-announced-baillie-gifford-pr...

Amazing book! The five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, as people. Women, wives, mothers... all they were allowed to be in Victorian London.

Still working on moving and getting our place together so ALL of my books are just chilling in the middle of my room! I can‘t wait until I get all these put away and my nights just consist of reading 😉

#7Days7Covers #CoverCrush - Day Seven @Stacypatrice @Jee_HookedOnBookz @laurenslibrary

#7days7covers Day 4

I was absolutely fascinated by this. Rubenhold‘s level of research and ability to so convincingly transport us to Victorian era London was quite remarkable. 4⭐️

We all “know” that Jack the Ripper‘s victims were prostitutes. Only, apparently, most of them weren‘t, according to this well researched book. Alongside descriptions of life in Victorian-era London, Rubenhold humanizes these 5 women and places the focus on their lives and who they each were, rather than on their deaths and killer. A fascinating book and a mirror into how we continue to objectify women.

3 ⭐
This book tells about the women murdered by Jack the Ripper in 1888. The author posits that 4 of the 5 women were not prostitutes as the papers of the time labeled them. At the time of their deaths they were all destitute, only one found in a bed, the others lived on the streets. The book shows how women of that era had no options, the author has an extensive bibliography attached.

I was mesmerized by this book, a meticulously researched portrait of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper. By focusing on their lives and the social norms of the time, Rubenhold restored humanity and dignity to Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane and also demonstrated how the misogyny of the time is still rampant today.

Not my biggest reading month but what I‘ve read has been quality! Ive been inspired by the research that went into bringing the stories of the Rippers victims to life to enable them to be more than victims. I‘ve been transported to a remote Russian enclave and encouraged to make more photographs. I‘ve chewed over how I feel about desire and male views of what it should look like and I‘ve relaxed with math and space dreams. #augustinbooks

Finally about to start this!!!!!

An amazingly detailed & meticulously researched book. A lucrative industry has been made on the misogyny of the myth, sensationalising the horror and failing to understand who the women were. This book puts that right. But it does more than that. It also seeks to understand what life was truly like for working class women in Victorian England. Honest, sympathetic, empathetic and intelligently written it was amazing!

Really enjoying this one. It‘s tracing the lives of the Rippers victims- giving them their story and visibility for who they were not what they were victim of. Didn‘t think I‘d like it as much as I do. Settling on for a Sunday evening read....

Looks like fun!!!

The English language is so lacking at times- there should be a special word for that feeling of starting a new book, just opening page 1 and getting reading to meet everyone.

If you ask people if they know of Jack the Ripper, the almost always say, of course! If you ask them to name the victims, they are generally referred to as ‘prostitutes‘. This book is a venture in women‘s study, as well as victimology. It is about the people tragically taken from this world. It is about the women that we should remember. Both enlightening and heartbreaking, it removes the spotlight from someone that doesn‘t deserve it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know I normally put the cover of the book I just read, but I felt that putting their names up was more important. A very fascinating book and timely book, as the author brings the crux of the book to the present in that women still have to fight a double standard when it comes to drinking heavily or sex. Excellent book 5 ⭐️#2019 #bookreview #bookstagram

Thanks for the tag, @DaveGreen7777 !

1. Part of my job is recommending books and talking about books. The tagged is a more recent book I can‘t stop talking about to anyone who cares to listen. Haha!
2. I rarely go to the movies! I‘m thinking it may have been the Johnny Depp version of Dark Shadows...
3. Berries
4. 3, the youngest being at least 12 years older than me
5. ❤️❤️❤️ #Friyayintro

The cover first caught my attention, and then the topic sealed it. #currentlyreading

Am about 1/2 way through and it struck me that much like it was in 1888, women murder victims are still often marginalized and forgotten. I think about Nicole Brown Simpson, the women murdered by Robert Pickton, the missing and murdered indigenous women here in Canada & the other murdered women who are often forgotten, no matter their social status.

#Audible UK Daily Deal

@Ms_T @Andrew65 @Cathythoughts

My books for #24in48. I will do the best I can for starting this late (it‘s noon Pacific and I have to work tomorrow). @24in48

I went upstairs and it looks like one of my cats is living her best life with a stack of books and the tv controllers. #catsoflitsy

A very well researched book about the confirmed victims of Jack the Ripper. I had some quibbles with it but overall it's a solid piece of scholarship and an engaging read. #TrueCrime #JackTheRipper

I think this is a case of “it‘s not you it‘s me” - this book is jam packed with minutia of the social situation of Victorian England that Jack the Ripper‘s victims were enmeshed in and I just couldn‘t keep my attention on all those details. I‘m glad this book exists, I‘m always glad to learn more about the victims and not the murderer but it just wasn‘t the right fit for me.

3.5⭐ Remember their names: Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane. It's so important to give victims their voices and return their humanity back to them. I wish we'd refuse to name evil people in the media and instead focus on the lives that were stolen. This is a well-researched, highly readable book that provides insight into the lives of the canonical victims of a notorious serial killer. A little repetitive, but worth reading.

Really really good. This recenters the Ripper story on the women. I don‘t care who the ripper was and I don‘t think it‘s possible to know. But I do care about what was like for women in the past. And as well as the stories of the five women, you get a real sense of what it was like to be poor, female and women undereducated in Victorian London. Brilliant - but not uplifting.

Thank you so so so much to @Chili for my jam-packed package!! I love it all!! I‘m such a sticker fiend 🤩🤩 and the origami is incredible! You really nailed all of the things I love to collect 🥰🥰🥰

Plus I‘m so excited to read these books!! 🤓🤓

#mysterymessageswap

I just got this book because I‘ve been on a low key late night insomnia binge of Ripper and I wanted to know more about the victims themselves. I am taking recommendations for books that are more strictly about the ripper himself. My book model for this evening is a very sleepy Ginny.

Look which library hold just came in. I can‘t wait to read the book that has made so many (male) “ripperologists” get so angry...

😢

Of course. 🙄

#libraryhaul no. 1 from Surrey Libraries
From top to bottom:
• Paper Magician
•Secrets of a Charmed Life
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• The Five
• The Kennedy Debutant
• Beauchamp Hall

It is well researched but dense and dark. I gave up. If you are interested in subject I'd recommend the interview with the author on the podcast "Criminal Broads". Victorian England was a sad tough time for women and even worse for those barely surviving, due to poverty, illness, and lack of rights.