Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners | 
pickThis is pretty much what the subtitle says it is, although very tongue-in-cheek, the sarcasm flag flying high. The book is written in the second person, which I found clever and silly at the same time. The conceit is that the author has whisked the reader (a woman, presumably) back through time, and now she has to learn how to survive as a Victorian lady. Which is not pleasant. I had a good time with this kind of easy breezy history lesson.
pickFun and quirky nonfiction regarding what life was really like for women in Victorian times; including but not limited to: dress, going to the bathroom, flirting, hosting a dinner party, and hysteria. Lots of quotes from original texts/manuals from the time and lots of snark to keep it real.
pickIt‘s very rare that I read something light and fun but this was just what I needed. It‘s so tongue in cheek that I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times. The underlying subject is how women were told to behave and dress in the 19th century but it was so snarky that it was hilarious
I‘m a day late in doing this because I‘ve been away from home. Thank you so much @aroc . I‘m especially excited for the tagged book, and looking forward to sharing it with my mother in law, who is obsessed with all things Victorian Era 🥰 #llss #LitsyLoveSolsticeSwap @Tattooedteacher @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @rsteve388
Current audiobook. I‘ve been reading a lot of dense 19th century history for research so the Intro to this felt a little patronizing but I‘m hoping the actual information is a little more interesting. Need to lighten my reading up a little bit.
pickLast review for the day I promise #bookspinbingo
At first I didn‘t like the tone of the narrator but it grew on me. Fun informative look into the time period and how women dealt with every day life and trials they went through mostly because men thought they knew best (not always different from today). I could see many historical romances being based around much of the information in this book though!
pickThis book definitely whips the rose tinted glasses off your face when it comes to looking back at the lives of women in the Victorian era. Some stuff I knew already and other stuff was new to me but overall this book was horrifyingly hilarious. The writing style could be off putting for some people because it‘s written as if you had time traveled to the Victorian era and the narrator is talking directly to you but I found it snarky and fun.
It‘s weird. I‘ve been feeling like reading an older epic fantasy...and yet the only thing that can hold my attention is non-fiction at the moment 😪 Maybe after I get this done I can switch back to fantasy. What I do know though, is that I am very glad I don‘t live in the Victorian era 😅
pickI really enjoyed reading Unmentionable. Its been on my tbr for awhile & I was really excited that it is this month's #Doublespin book. It was funny, sometimes disturbing and irreverent. I'm never going to look at Victorian England the same way again 🙈🙉🙊
#BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks
#Booked2020 #MakesYouLOL @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage
#MemoirsAndMysteries #History
pickThis was such a fun read. It was tongue in cheek and sassy. Great intro to Victorian Lady's history. 4 out of 5.
pickI'm always a sucker for a book with random facts and tidbits. This one did not disappoint. Unmentionable gives insight on what life was like for the women of the Victorian era past the surface of what is usually talked about in history. It's written in a funny sometimes snarky tone and will definitely make you happy to be a modern woman.
pickBusts some popular Victorian myths and informs with icky detail the reality of what daily life was like 150 years ago. Audiobook is excellent! Looking forward to her next book, Ungovernable.
pickIt just occurred to me as I was returning this that I never got around to stating how much I enjoyed reading it, but I very much did. It's an endless barrage of truly horrifying facts that had me ranting to my friends for days afterward told in arguably the best way to get through without losing your mind: unrelenting sarcasm.
pickEqual parts entertaining and eye-opening. I have a tendency to romanticize, well most things, and this book did it‘s best to burst my bubble by shedding light on the undesirable parts of the Victorian age. While I‘m definitely thankful for indoor plumbing and modern medicine, I‘ll always love those big, smelly, impractical dresses.
pickThis was a fun, humorous, slightly horrifying glimpse back into the Victorian era in the realms of fashion, medicine, and etiquette as it specifically referred to women of the period. Let‘s just say I‘m glad I live in the 21st century, even with its many flaws.
Flawless reasoning 😂
so-soIf you enjoy history, especially about women‘s lives, this is densely populated with information. Its comedic attitude helps the bitter realities go down more easily. I thought it was funny. Until it was just overwhelmingly sad and depressing. The misogyny, people.
Full review www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2019
#NFBuddyRead #unmentionable
#LitsyPSA: For anyone who has seen the recent posts hashtagged #NFBuddyRead and thought, hey, that book sounds interesting, you can get the ebook for $3.99.
After finishing this book, this still stands out to me - under a bajillion layers of clothing, the Victorian lady went commando in the crotch area, like Paris Hilton. It apparently had to do with the impossibility of lifting those skirts to go to the bathroom. Who would have thunk?
#nfbuddyread @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage
pickI quite enjoyed this snarky look at the past, It‘s so interesting to look into a past we continually romanticize (and some what to return to those glorified eras), but I love these looks back with modern eyes, and the stark reminder that not everything was rose-tinted. Life was hard and progress, with the science, knowledge, and understanding that created it, isn‘t something we should ever wish away.
#NFBuddyRead
And divorce men who hurt us. And do whatever work we want or need to do to make our lives as we would have them.”
(...)
“Come on. We‘ll grab some fat-free froyo, text our partners to remind them they promised to make stir-fry tonight. We‘ll fill a shopping cart to spilling with safe, effective ibuprofen and tampons and shampoo. Just because we can.”
Best Conclusion! 😂👍
Keep nudging ladies, together now!
#NFBuddyRead
pickIn this snarky look at the Victorian underbelly, or rather, underskirt, Therese O‘Neill tells us all a lady needs to survive in this romantic era of filth, diseases, complete subjugation of women, and crotchless underwear. We learn (or rather, are told by Victorian men), how to menstruate, stay innocent until wedding night, cope with our husband‘s syphillis, flirt with a kerchief, and where to put our forks at dinner. Lots of fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Okay, so pinching is not massage. And I should know, since I‘m a fancy board-certified massage therapist. Not the other, either. But, hey, if massage solves what ails us, I guess that‘s better than a lot of the other Victorian cures.
p.s. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa , I did power through today and finish. 👊🏻🤸🏼♂️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♂️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♂️
It is good to know that the whole you can‘t win no matter what you do, there is no perfect middle ground really, “dammed if you do, damned if you don‘t” has always been baked into the female ideal.
I fell like this whole section backs up what we read in The Beauty Myth and then takes it back another 100 years! @BarbaraTheBibliophage
#NFBuddyRead
...”The presence of a single married lady, who may or may not be a crone, will mitigate this, and you then may walk as a group. Although you really ought not, unless you can get your brother or father to come, too. It can‘t be your cousin, because although eugenics is a booming area of study, intermarriage of first cousins is considered acceptable and cannot be considered otherwise as long as Victoria,” (cont. below)
#NFBuddyRead
And now you know, through all the centuries that woman were supposed to do, well not a lot, they were expected to be good cooks! It was vitally important.
She goes on to say: “A slice of burnt toast in the morning could trigger a terrifying series of events. It makes one wonder how many lives might have been spared if just one of Genghis Khan‘s concubines had known her way around a kitchen.”😂
#NFBuddyRead
Just in case you thought the hygiene and social status of woman was overlookable in your quest to get to the “romantic” 19th century, think about the food. 🤢
#NFBuddyRead
pickDid you ever wonder what Victorian women did with their periods or if it‘s possible to flirt using handkerchief sign language? Curious about the state of Victorian toilets? This is the book for you. It‘s both interesting and fun to read and I can‘t wait to read her new book coming out next month.
Flirting will ruin you and shorten your life, whether you‘re male or female. Worse effects for females though. No flirting!
Quite a few good laughs in tonight‘s reading. I have no wish to time travel any earlier than 1960.
#unmentionable #NFbuddyread @Gezemice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa
And not only is it dirtier and stinkier than you thought, wow the racism....you know why you can feel all this, because you are not hardened by....hardship. Those others, who can not complain about it, obviously don‘t feel it either. 🙄
And hey, this is some of the same thinking that still leads Black Women to get less care, be taken less seriously, and have worse outcomes in our medical system today.
(Continued)
So if you are crabby and “fairly insane against your husband” during your time, it‘s because you aren‘t having your period properly! Obstinate lady, do it correctly and everything will be fine!🙄
#NFBuddyRead
Well... I understand the whole town in the movie Footloose so much better now, and maybe those people who were aghast that AOC danced in college and found it disqualifying. 😱 Just trying to save them from a ”feeble middle life”...gotta save the ladies from themselves and their primitive instincts.🙄
#NFBuddyRead
“Wow betide the unfortunate trifler!” 😂
Sorry this chapter is sad and cracking me up, so glad distinguished doctors (like phrenologists) were around to tell women the right way to go about this natural process.
#NFBuddyRead
Why are the dresses so intricate, because they are NEVER washed🤷♀️
Things to remember when touring old castles! 😂
#NFBuddyRead
This book is horrible (thank god we didn‘t live then) and horribly funny!
The History of the pre-indoor plumbing era:
“How much poorer history would be if there hadn‘t been so many artistically talented perverts in days gone by.” 😂
#NFBuddyRead
Starting this one tonight, and I‘m loving the snarkiness already! This might be just the NF shift I was looking for after a bunch of earnest political candidate reads! 😉
#NFBuddyRead
I‘m very glad to be in my super comfy (and a little goofy looking) pajama pants while I read about outhouses, corsets, and super dirty streets. And wine because I want it. Not because it‘s safer than massively contaminated water.
#nfbuddyread #unmentionable
#blameitonlitsy both have been on my radar and I just finally gave in, after so many different posts. Plus I hadn‘t realized the black lagoon one had come out! I wasn‘t going to buy any books until I had a serious dent in my pile BUT 2018 was a low non fiction read year and it kind of bummed me out. I barely have any non fiction in my stack so I I really just had to get these to make sure I had some non fiction in the mix this year.
Mansplaining ca. 1890.
“The highest [best] type of bosom... is not only placed well upon the chest, but can be best described as of slightly pine-apple form.”
@Weaponxgirl @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa
I have started reading Unmentionable for the #nfbuddyread. I also wanted to show off my tulips. It is still cold but if we have tulips, spring could not be far away, right?
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Weaponxgirl
so-soMeh. This is one of those books that‘s not bad but you don‘t love it either. The whole humour is based of the idea that you wanted to live like these heroines and that was flawed for me. I‘m very fond of voting, contraception, painkillers ect. I know I don‘t want to live in the past already so sometimes the humour fell flat. It did though make me laugh on occasion too and it‘s very quick and easy to read. It‘s ok
Yea, sorry to be that person but a book that‘s trying to dispel our rose tinted glasses about the past went full on beer goggles for our own.
If this was true a living wage wouldn‘t even need to be discussed and people in essential roles for society wouldn‘t be treated like they were idiots and unskilled in certain professions.
#nfbuddyread
