Something old weekly check-in

[fred_mouse]

If you have had time to read this week, and if you have had the wherewithal to spend on the books you picked for the Something Old challenge, what have you read?

If you haven't focused on the challenge, or just read the cereal box at breakfast (or any other meal; cereal is an anytime food in this house), feel free to talk about that instead!

Comments

[fred_mouse]

I have in fact made progress on one of the two history books I picked -- the one about Europe 1900-1914. I'm frustrated by the minimal to no mention of what women were doing (except Queen Victoria, but that was mostly dying), but have hopes that this is because I've only read one chapter, not because the author didn't care to mention any. There are many many references to anti-semitism, and some really weird 'and the equivalent attitudes would be [racist statement] about Muslims' which don't always get the feeling that the author really gets how icky they are being.

[peaceful_sands]

Well done on making some progress although it doesn't sound like things are going to well. Hopefully things will improve.

[fred_mouse]

I'm getting lots of valuable context. But as I have also been reading sections of Disruptive Acts:The New Woman in Fin-de-Siecle France in recent weeks, I'm much more aware than usual of how much is being omitted.

[peaceful_sands]

I finished 3 'old' books (finished the third about half an hour ago) - 'The River King' (on my shelf for way too long), 'Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore' (non-fiction about a historical period - Ancient Rome) and 'The Return of Captain John Emmett' (on my shelf for way too long - although also fiction about a post-WW1 period). I gave the first 3 out of 5 stars and the others 3 and a half out of 5. Agrippina was interesting, a look at the life of a woman in a time when they were meant to not be front and centre, but the author admits that she is piecing together bits of evidence and can't really prove a lot of what she says - the writing also wasn't what I expected - a lot more swearing than you get in the average text, also a lot of pop culture references that probably won't stand up to time well. Interesting though to see someone actually try to work out the influence of a woman who was in quite a key position (great niece of Tiberius, sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero).

Now I'm trying to listen to 'Lavinia' by Ursula Le Guin (on my shelf for a long time) and hope to get to 'Witches Abroad' by Terry Pratchett (written pre-2000) and then to either 'The Conquest' by Elizabeth Chadwick (on my shelf for ages) and/or 'Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty' by Catherine Bailey (non-fiction about a historical period).

[fred_mouse]

Well done on getting through three books! And two of them long time TBR to boot!