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The Unspeakable
The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion | Meghan Daum
17 posts | 30 read | 42 to read
Winner of the 2015 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction"Daum is her generation's Joan Didion." NylonNearly fifteen years after her debut collection, My Misspent Youth, captured the ambitions and anxieties of a generation, Meghan Daum returns to the personal essay with The Unspeakable, a masterful collection of ten new works. Her old encounters with overdrawn bank accounts and oversized ambitions in the big city have given way to a new set of challenges. The first essay, "Matricide," opens without flinching:People who weren't there like to say that my mother died at home surrounded by loving family. This is technically true, though it was just my brother and me and he was looking at Facebook and I was reading a profile of Hillary Clinton in the December 2009 issue of Vogue.Elsewhere, she carefully weighs the decision to have children"I simply felt no calling to be a parent. As a role, as my role, it felt inauthentic and inorganic"and finds a more fulfilling path as a court-appointed advocate for foster children. In other essays, she skewers the marriage-industrial complex and recounts a harrowing near-death experience following a sudden illness. Throughout, Daum pushes back against the false sentimentality and shrink-wrapped platitudes that surround so much of contemporary American experience and considers the unspeakable thoughts many of us harborthat we might not love our parents enough, that "life's pleasures" sometimes feel more like chores, that life's ultimate lesson may be that we often learn nothing. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the New Age search for the "Best Possible Experience," champions the merits of cream-of mushroom-soup casserole, and gleefully recounts a quintessential "only-in-L.A." story of playing charades at a famous person's home. Combining the piercing insight of Joan Didion with humor reminiscent of Nora Ephron's, Daum dissects our culture's most dangerous illusions, blind spots, and sentimentalities while retaining her own joy and compassion. Through it all, she dramatizes the search for an authentic self in a world where achieving an identity is never simple and never complete.
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merelybookish
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I love Joni Mitchell. Two of my favourite essayists love her too. They have essays about their Joni love. And those essays made me love them more.
?➡️♥️➡️?➡️♥️➡️?
"Some Notes on Attunement" by Zadie Smith appeared in the New Yorker.
"The Joni Mitchell Problem" by Meaghan Daum appears in the tagged book.
#coyote #timbittunes @Cinfhen @TheKidUpstairs

RebeccaH Yes!!!!!! I love those two essays SO MUCH. 5y
AmyG I‘ll have to read those. I love Joni, too. 5y
merelybookish @RebeccaH Yay! I feel like the Joni essay could be its own mini-genre! 5y
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merelybookish @AmyG They're both great and help articulate why we love Joni! 5y
Cinfhen So good 😊 I think you might enjoy this @KarenUK 5y
Cathythoughts 👍🏻♥️♥️ 5y
KarenUK Aww thanks for sharing @Cinfhen I‘ve read this book, but not the Zadie Smith essay. I‘ll have to look for it 😊👍 5y
kspenmoll Have to share this with my friend who has a gorgeous framed photo of Joni in her front hall.❤️❤️ 5y
readordierachel That Smith essay ❤ 5y
merelybookish @readordierachel I know! Have you read Daum? I don't know why but I think you'd like her. 5y
84 likes10 comments
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Weaponxgirl
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Pickpick

#booksandvinyl there is an essay in here called the Joni Mitchell problem 😀 there is one essay in here I'm really not keen on but all the others vary from funny to good to brilliant. I really like this author after reading these essays, they are very personal with a lot of self deprecation involved a lot of the time. I read this at work with a badly bloodshot eye that I should have been resting so obviously a pick from me.

Weaponxgirl I'm going to add that I tried resting my eyes last night by listening to a podcast, fell asleep stupidly early then woke up at 2am which is why I'm posting so much at this ungodly hour. I wish I could sleep like a normal person 6y
merelybookish Love this collection! Daum is amazing 6y
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Trashcanman Are you on Discogs? 6y
Weaponxgirl @Trashcanman I'm not, is it good? 6y
Trashcanman I like it for tracking my LP's. It has a rather extensive list and wantlist. It's like a good reads for vinyl collectors. I have 190 or so vinyl records so it helps me from buying the same record is I'm old (40) now. Lol 6y
Weaponxgirl @Trashcanman ohh that does sound good! I haven't even counted mine, I will just keep going until there's no more room on my shelves. 😂 aww 40 isn't old like some wines we just get better with age. I'm 34 and just feel like my age is finally appropriate for a lot of my interests. 6y
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

I‘ve learned in my recent reading life (the past few years) that I really like essay collections, be they personal or journalistic. This is a great example of the former. Daum writes about her mother‘s death, her love of dogs, her choice not to have children, and more. Her essays are by turns heartfelt, sad, thoughtful and laugh out loud funny.

#dogsofLitsy #Gunther

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erinreads
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So I had a pretty epic #bookhaul yesterday. Received both my Book Outlet and #BOTM orders. 📚📚📚

Cathythoughts Nice one 👍✨✨✨ 6y
AmyG Wow 6y
Bookladylinda Great chair!!! 6y
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drokka Nice photo! 6y
Christine11 Nice! 😊💕 6y
Mdargusch Nice! 6y
ReadingSusan Lovely! 6y
croberts51 I‘m still waiting on my BOTM. Very impatiently I might add. 6y
emilyhaldi Awesome!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 6y
Kristy_K Wow. Jealous! 6y
146 likes10 comments
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Utopiyll
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Pickpick

'Is being authentic the same as being romantic?'

🎆 I haven't finished this book yet, but it's raw, emotional and real. This personal essay breaches topics about the human pysche that people usually avoid, about their darkest thoughts or ones they would be looked down on for having. It's brutally honest, and I thank this author for sharing this with us.
I would recommend this to everyone!!

youneverarrived Sounds good!! 7y
KirstieE I was just wondering today where you've been , haven't seen you active ! Here's my email , I've been wanting to ask you something 😊 kirstiesullivan2@gmail.com 6y
Utopiyll @KirstieE Of course!! Here's mine: chantelle.mccoll.22@gmail.com , would love to have a chat!! The end of year struggle of university hit me, so many assignments to finish I haven't had much time for anything else! 😭 6y
14 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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ReadingEnvy
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I'm returning to a few library books that I'd started and set aside for one reason or another. If I'm going to read them, it needs to be soon, due dates and all that. If not I need to just return them! First essay in this is "Matricide," with the two worst topics for me - parental terminal cancer and miscarriage. Uphill from here? We'll see.

Notafraidofwords I liked this one. I especially like her honesty. Some essays were better than others. 7y
saresmoore Oof. That sounds brutal. 7y
46 likes2 comments
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ReadingEnvy
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I have been going back and reading some books others have mentioned while on my podcast (aka "reading envy envy".)Next one to try is this one thanks to @SarahK

Notafraidofwords I read this one and enjoyed it. 7y
ReadingEnvy @Notafraidofwords so far the first one on dealing with a parent's cancer and how family members respond or not is hitting some chords 7y
Notafraidofwords @ReadingEnvy yeah, I agree. I listened to her speak on a podcast and her view on death was striking. She said that America is fascinated with a redemption story and she wasn't going to exploit that in her book because that wasn't her experience. 7y
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ReadingEnvy @Notafraidofwords I find it comforting to not also have the pressure of the redemption story!! 7y
Notafraidofwords @ReadingEnvy same. I firmly believe that some people cannot redeem themselves before they go. And we have to be okay with that. 7y
MicheleinPhilly I loved this but the essay about her dog WRECKED me. 7y
ReadingEnvy @MicheleinPhilly oh nooooo... still to come I guess. Eep! 7y
59 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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8little_paws
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#riotgrams pink covers--i really liked a lot of this essay collection!

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feministtexican
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This whole essay is depressingly accurate. #LitsyAtoZ

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gibbsne
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Pickpick

"For more than twenty years now I've been making something of a specialty of writing about myself." #firstlines #essays #thirties

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Notafraidofwords
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This is a collection of essays about loss, writing and relationships. I love the honest way in which she talks about the life's moments we should appreciate and how they're not all that special after all. I really loved her honesty about living in our comfort zone. I'm all for the comfort zone. She's smart and unafraid to feel her feelings. More importantly, she talks about life in a way that makes perfect sense.

cariashley I loved loved loved this collection. 👍🏻 7y
Notafraidofwords @cariashley I totally loved it. She's so good with words. She simplifies life to the mere basic emotions and I loved that. 7y
61 likes7 stack adds2 comments
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Notafraidofwords
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This is a collection of essays by Daum about mother-daughter relationships, writing and growing older. Are all the 'big' moments in life that society expects us to feel a certain way really makes us feel something? If you're looking for beautiful words, kindness and lovely memories, this book is not for you. This collection is raw and honest.

RebeccaH I love this book! 7y
Notafraidofwords @RebeccaH that's so good to hear! I heard her on a podcast and had to get the book. 7y
merelybookish I love this book. Her essay on aging blew me away! 7y
Notafraidofwords @merelybookish wow. Loving the good reviews. I'm only 3 essays in. 7y
54 likes6 stack adds4 comments
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SubwayBookReview
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Sasha: "It's a collection of essays about unspeakable things - like trying to date a lesbian when you're not gay or hating your Mom. I used to feel that way about my Mom when I was 13. Now that I don't live in her house we get along great - like friends. I think since I'm not with her all day I appreciate her more."

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Carleneishere
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My #readharder book for @bookriot challenge: a collection of essays. So far so good! Also, a quilt made of highschool and college tshirts and a hammock on the first non-rainy (but not sunny either) day in four weeks

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MicheleinPhilly
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When you think reading an essay during your lunch break is a nifty idea and instead you find yourself sobbing at your desk. 😭

BethFishReads ☹️ 8y
MrBook Aww 8y
Hugoreads I can't read anything or see any movies in which a dog dies. 😿 7y
MicheleinPhilly @Hugoreads Same. I've always been sensitive to it but my 18 year old dog died in Feb. so now it's particularly acute. This essay WRECKED me. 7y
Hugoreads @MicheleinPhilly My condolences. I know that pain. 7y
5 likes5 comments
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Cobscook
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Reading this collection of essays while watching the Olympics is a perfect ending to my week of vacation. Will probably finish this tonight making it my third completed book during our camping vacation. Yay me!!

6 likes3 stack adds
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Shay
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The book I am currently listening to at work/while I do chores around the house. Picked it up because I really enjoyed the collection Daum edited about childlessness. Kinda meh on this one but still can't stop listening so something is working...

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