Litsy

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin | Sue Prideaux

pick

Last but one from the #wpnf25 longlist. (Half of Tracker to go)

This started off well, but became quite repetitive. I also don‘t feel that the author achieved what she set out to do. At the start she said that newly discovered papers have refuted the negative review of Gauguin, but didn‘t really demonstrate that to me.

I didn‘t know much about him prior to this - other than that I understood that he was a colonialist who liked young girls. ⬇️

squirrelbrain Towards the end of the book he did seem to try to defend the islanders against colonial rule, but he was offered and accepted neighbours‘ daughters in their early teens, more than one of whom became pregnant. 4m

3 likes1 comment

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

pick

This is a soft pick. Taking emotion out of it; this is a well-researched, well-written, and unbiased biography. But emotionally speaking, my feelings for its subject were ambivalent. At times I admired and respected her, but there were certain things I could not get past, like her privileged branch of feminism which ignored the intersectional necessity of Black feminism as well as equal rights all across the board (for people of color and LGBTQ)⬇️

jen_the_scribe “We can admire how this woman, born at a precise moment in history when opportunities for women were expanding, made full and abundant use of her freedom to work and raise a family, while also acknowledging how her curiosity stayed circumscribed within her privilege.” The author realized this as well and mentions her lack of grit when it came time to edit Black writers, how she continued to reject their work. Or the fact that she only brought up⬇️ 16h

jen_the_scribe …one other female editor, who was also just as easily forgotten in the history of the magazine. The majority of female writers who were published in The New Yorker wrote about being a homemaker, and Katharine herself tended to state that this should be a woman‘s priority. However, she was still a force for the magazine and paved the way for other women to come in later in the magazine‘s history. I enjoyed learning about this era of literary…⬇️ 16h

jen_the_scribe …history. I found her second husband, E.B. White extremely likable, as well as her oldest son, Roger Angell (who also became editor of The New Yorker). Overall, I was fascinated by Katharine‘s life and work, and the historical aspect of this time period. I read it slowly and lost count how many journal entries I wrote about it (as you can see, I have a lot to say about it). As a writer and a reader, it definitely appealed to my literary senses. 16h

13 likes3 comments

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

Litsy wasn‘t letting me post last night. But what a nice night it was. My introverted self has had to be way too extroverted these past couple of weeks as the days led up to my BIL‘s wedding. The in laws were in town, some staying with us. Everyone has gone home or is leaving tomorrow. I love them, but I‘m so happy to have my home and my routine back to normal, and ecstatic to have a calm weekend for plenty of reading. Sunny approves too lol 😻

dabbe #sweetestsunny Enjoy! Signed, another introvert! 🖤🐾🖤 20h

19 likes1 comment

SomedayAlmost

Who Was Roald Dahl? | True Kelley

pick

Good read in the "Who Was" series for kids 9-11 who enjoy books like "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory." Dahl had an adventurous life, made a comment or 2 he rightfully had to apologize for, and lost family members to illness/accidents. This is explained in kid-friendly ways, but too complicated for kids under 9. 4.5 stars. #kidlit #roalddahl

Cathythoughts I‘m reading James and the Giant Peach with my 11 yr old granddaughter… it‘s great and keeps your attention 👏🏻 3d

SomedayAlmost @Cathythoughts One of my favorites! Wrote a paper on it in Grad School even. 2d

12 likes2 comments

DawnPgrl

Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter | Randy L. Schmidt, Dionne Warwick

This book was the best that I read in years!!! Did anyone else love it?!👍🏻🩵🩷💙

TieDyeDude

J.K. Rowling | Joan Price

Another day, another POS sounding off about things they don't understand. I don't care about HP; therefore, don't care about JK. I don't agree with her AT ALL about trans issues, though there could be room for empathy if she made any attempt to grow from the reaction. But this just proves she is fine being uninformed and delights in causing controversy. She has no skin in this game. She is just a miserable person and she can f*ck all the way off.

TieDyeDude I've been sick all weekend, but Happy International Asexuality Day, I guess 🫩 5d

TheBookHippie She‘s been like this since day one. I‘ve been yelling about it for over 20 years. She‘s vile and hateful. 5d

Meghan1 She‘s absolutely awful. I will never read anything else by her ever again. 5d

See All 19 Comments

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian Agreed, if she can fuck off yesterday into a dark hole and say anything again, it'd be not soon enough. 5d

Bookwormjillk I just don‘t get it. All that money and she‘s picking fights on the internet? Get a life lady. 5d

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian Oops, *never say anything 5d

BookmarkTavern Goddamn, why couldn‘t she just retire in peace? How dare she. 🤬 5d

Doppoetry She is so brave going after minorities. 🙄 I am not surprised but it makes me so SO tired. 5d

kspenmoll Well said everyone! 5d

Deblovestoread 🤯😡🤬 5d

dabbe How absolutely fucking obtuse can you be? To what everyone wrote above ... 🎯🎯🎯! 5d

marleed She really is horrible. 5d

Susanita 💯 5d

Amiable I‘ll never understand why people feel the need to be so terrible to others. What difference does another‘s person sexual identity make to her life? Not a bit. So why not just keep her #%* mouth shut. 5d

ChaoticMissAdventures JFC what a miserable nasty person she is. She obviously has no friends because why is no one stopping her? Thanks for reminding me why I fled X. 5d

lauraisntwilder It's like she's competing to be the absolute worst and winning. 5d

shortsarahrose She can just fuck off. But happy belated ace day to my fellow aces! 🖤🩶🤍💜 5d

Booksblanketsandahotbeverage Ugh it makes me want to donate all my HP books 😣 4d

Suet624 Wow. 4d

35 likes19 comments

Kappadeemom

Tiger, Tiger: His Life, as It's Never Been Told Before | James Patterson

This biography of Tiger Woods was interesting. He is so private and I always wondered what his fellow PGA players thought about him. I enjoyed reading about the behind the scenes relationships with his caddies, Butch, Nike, and his family. You also see just how tough he is as he trained with Navy Seals and was interested in joining the military at one time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

31 likes2 stack adds

Nathan_Opland-Dobs

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom | David W. BLIGHT

pick

🦁

1 like

Robotswithpersonality

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man | David Von Drehle

pan

Okay, how do I put this delicately? I would much rather have had a) the story of this man's life written by someone else and b) a pamphlet consolidating Charlie's direct wisdom and any reasonable distillation of his life experience as teachings, because I'm pretty sure that's all the space that's actually required. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Not only did the author feel it necessary to put in a fair amount of his own filtering and filler with opinions and historical facts which at a stretch might be considered context for the life events of Charlie White, but he went into what I consider to be gratuitous detail regarding the death of Charlie's father and his first wife. Maybe it's worth flagging that the nature retreat he went on as a boy may have included the trauma of sexual 1w

Robotswithpersonality 3/? assault that Charlie didn't want to acknowledge, but I feel really weird about my perception that the author attempted to mortph that into a lesson of resilience. I'll be honest, Charlie's mom may have been a bit neglectful because as a single mother of that many kids she didn't have a choice, but I struggle to see any of the youthful experiences related as anything more than lucky escapes rather than adventures that teach bravery 1w

Robotswithpersonality 4/? in the context of a mother who granted her son the gift of early responsibility and independence.
Despite championing Stoicism, the author doesn't wander too far into the 'rugged individualism' that has toxified modern American society, but I fear that interpretation is up for grabs among a biased readership.
The premise of writing a book to aid your kids in navigating the future based on how a man in the past navigated big changes hasmerit (edited) 1w

See All 8 Comments

Robotswithpersonality 5/? is even heartwarming, but the tone of the book is uneven, to say the least.
Among the many tales of being a doctor in the earlier years of the twentieth century, the intern stories are appalling, while the realities of medical breakthroughs quickly falling to the wayside, leading to an understanding of IID, Iterative Incremental Development as a way to approach change seems valuable. The part where Charlie seemed to council on the side of 1w

Robotswithpersonality 6/7 callousness when it came to ailing loved ones, including one of his wives dying of cancer, not so much.
I think if you're looking for general life wisdom, there are better sources. I think if you're looking for the story of a spectacular life lived across a recent swath of history, you should be prepared for a bunch of distressing moments, and to feel ambiguous about the subject at the end of it. 1w

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 ⚠️child SA, mental health concerns, details of medical procedures, loss of loved one by cancer 1w

GingerAntics Eh, this does not sound good! 1w

marleed Oof! My IRL KC-based bookclub read this last year. I was one of only two (other being the host who recommended it) that liked it at all. I found the KC history interesting. Also my maternal grandfather went to med school in Chicago during that time. Both he and my mother have long since passed and this has me curious about his medical training. I always thought it a big deal he was plucked from Montana mines for medical school - but maybe not🧐 7d

10 likes8 comments