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I felt a lot of sympathy for Mary when this story was told from a cook's perspective. If your job doesn't offer sick leave benefits, you tend to work no matter how sick, consequences to others be damned because they obviously don't care about you. There is a lesson there.

Reading Bourdain year cont…

I read that a good portion of this book was researched and written by his first wife, and after reading his books for a year, I tend to agree. But she did a great job. Short but informative. The chapters about food are clearly in his distinctive voice. The fascinating dive into first-person sources didn‘t read like Tony at all.

If you‘re interested in learning more about Mary from an empathetic perspective, read this.

I‘m thinking about this book today that I read with my #LMPBC group of @BarbaraTheBibliophage @daniwithtea @tjwill and thinking about all the asymptomatic people who feel just fine, young and invincible from the current pandemic (because young people tend to do well) and are out partying for St Patrick‘s Day this weekend. Who knew this book would have helped me understand that whole dynamic so much better or that it would be so pertinent now.

Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary was an asymptomatic carrier of the typhoid fever. Ostracized in her time due to lack of understanding how bacteria can spread even when said person does not have symptoms.

Wow, the entire time I could hear Anthony Bourdain‘s voice narrating & providing contextual anchors. Mary Mallon was just trying to live her best life. Unfortunately she was carrying a very contagious disease & at the time it became somewhat of a witch hunt. I sympathize with the fact that for much of the time, she didn‘t have any inclination that she was the source. Don‘t read if you‘re already freaked out by 🦠 ‘s.

Mix one part history, one part social commentary, two parts snark, and a dash of foodie fun and you‘ve got the recipe for this short book. It‘s a non-memoir experience of Anthony Bourdain. He researches and tells the story of this cook who unintentionally infected many people with typhoid. You‘ll grimace at the disease, but gasp at the horrible treatment she received.

Full review www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2018 #lmpbc #nfornonfiction

Oh my! I need to get this one started. I‘m just two chapters in and it‘s my kind of book!

#lmpbc #groupn #nfornonfiction

Anthony Bourdain writes a sympathetic biography of Mary by looking at her, not merely as an irresponsible cook/murderer, but as a proud, independent woman with a career and a mind of her own, at a time when both were frowned upon. He doesn‘t sugarcoat it, she made terrible and often fatal choices, but she was a much more complex woman than she is often described.

A hard truth for any age.

I absolutely devoured this book today, and I couldn‘t resist taking a kitchen-themed photo. Bourdain writes about Typhoid Mary, relating to her as a fellow cook, while giving plenty of historical context about Irish immigrants, women‘s lives, cooking, and medicine. His voice, both cynical and compassionate, really stands out. This is the personal side of Mary Mallon that hasn‘t been seen before.

#LMPBC #GroupN #NforNonfiction

I just received my next #LMPBC read! I want to read it now! I love Anthony Bourdain, so I hope this doesn‘t also make me sad. #GroupN #NforNonfiction

I am not a foodie, and this is my first Anthony Bourdain read, but it won‘t be my last. I loved this non-fiction read, he infuses his knowledge of cooking and the culture of the kitchen into this history, and the fusion of the two makes for a witty insider viewpoint into this historical tragedy.

*Recommended to those who love Sarah Vowell‘s witty histories.

#Nonfiction2018
#LMPBC
#GroupN

Great timing #GroupN! My book arrived from @daniwithtea yesterday, and I‘m just packaging up my book to mail to @tjwill to drop off at the post office today. #LMPBC

@tjwill - I know you are running behind on your last book, it was very long for this challenge....this next one is really a quick and easy read, I read it in 2 days, so take your time on the one you have and don‘t worry, it will all work out in the end. 👍

This was so good. I will ship it off when I am home from vacation! #lmpbc

It took me three hours of searching stacks and digging through boxes, but I found it. As a vegan, I tend to skip food writing, so this is the only Bourdain book I have read. (Because I skip food writing, but I still have a black, morbid little heart.) 🖤

There aren't a lot of solid facts known about history's infamous Typhoid Mary so the bulk of what is written is pure speculation. I enjoyed reading the few facts we have about her life, basic knowledge gained throughout the 20th century about the transmission of bacteria and even the thoughtful, often shrewd, speculation Bourdain offered.
A short, informative read.