Say Nothing About the Anatomy of a Darcy Myth

This whole mashing titles together thing is fun

Somehow, December has returned.

I do not know how a whole YEAR has somehow passed?? Unbelievable. Let’s get to the books.

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December Reads

The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Hearthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love - Rachel Feder

I adored this. This is exactly the kind of lit crit book I wish I could write. Feder takes the story of Pride and Prejudice, examines the role of Darcy in it, and then shows how the idea of a man you don’t get on with who is secretly amazing, you just have to break him down has become prevalent both in literature and in cultural consciousness. The first two sections (one focused on the book Pride and Prejudice, the second focused on other monsters in literature) are absolutely fantastic. The third section, about how this myth affects actual women in the real world, wasn’t as interesting to me and seemed a little much but I understand why it was there. I think I just wanted more of that good, good literary criticism. This book was great and I’d love to read more pop lit crit like it!

Loving, Ohio - Matthew Erman & Sam Beck

I want to love this book so much. Four teens in their senior year of high school in Loving, Ohio have to deal with their friend’s suicide, the cult that runs their town, a potential serial killer, and the general ennui of being 18. First off, Beck’s character designs and colors are gorgeous and perfect and set the tone so well. The monster (if monster is the right word) design is so perfectly creepy and there is one panel where he creeps up on one of our teens that is SO unnerving. I know what Erman was going for, trying to make this a coming of age amidst the horrors (the horrors and the horrors) but I think the ending landed a little flat for me. But that may just be that it doesn’t resonate with my own teenage experience and it would land better with others. Which is how I feel about Night in the Woods, too, actually so if this sounds good, also check out that game, I guess.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Patrick Radden Keefe

Say Nothing had been on my TBR basically since it came out: I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland (including living in Dublin for a year) but somehow I only learned about The Troubles for the first time in college, despite my being alive for a good chunk of it. I’d heard this book was great and I always knew I wanted to read it but I was finally kicked into gear because a new miniseries based on it just came out. Always read the book first, of course. And this book is great. Intertwining stories of members of the IRA and the children of a woman who was disappeared in the 70s, it’s narrative nonfiction at its finest, constantly making you upset, sympathetic, concerned and then switching it around again in the next moment. Much like the conflict itself, the book emphasizes how nuanced and complicated everything is because Ireland is small, everyone knows everyone, and everything has history. What a book. Highly recommend.

What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator - Barbara Butcher

Both Darcy Myth and this I had checked out from my library for so long, the tags on the spines were wrong. But because I work here, I was able to infinitely renew them as long as there were no holds. I was, however, starting to feel bad about still having them hence the reading them all this month (I was going to dub this Nonfiction November but then I read the fiction books. Oops.) Now, I did not know that being a Death Investigator was a thing but it makes total sense that it is: they’re basically folks that go and take all the crime scene photographs, are the coroner’s eyes and ears because they don’t get to leave the office all that often. Barbara Butcher was the first female death investigator in New York City and as such, her insight is both very fascinating and woof, would have I have edited some of those anecdotes. I get that you have to have thick skin and dehumanize a bit to get through the day but when you’re writing for public consumption, some things need to be softened a little. If this sounds like the sort of thing that’s interesting to you, definitely check it out but if you’re on the fence, there are other things to read.

The Anatomy of Magic - J.C. Cervantes

I looked back and I somehow didn’t review The Enchanted Hacienda when I read it last year (!!) so let me just say, first off, that that book is delightful and I fully recommend it. The Anatomy of Magic is about the sister of the main girl from Hacienda and while fun, did not quite live up to the first one. It’s a second chance love story, which can be hit or miss with me because I have to a) understand why they broke up in the first place but b) not be so mad at one of them because of it that I still want them to get back together. The reasoning here? Ugggggh. I could have dealt with it if the characters talked about it more, talked about why it sucked and how they could have handled it better and while they talk about being more open with communication, then our heroine does something drastic without telling him and guys, I was so frustrated with both of them. I like this lovely family of awesome women with flower-based magics, the world is cool, read Hacienda instead.

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The most exciting thing since I last saw all you lovely folks is that I tried to take my dad away for the weekend for his birthday (well, I did but we had some issues.) Have you ever been in a hotel when the power goes out? Guess what? The hallways (and staircases!!) are very dark. Trying to get down from the fourth floor and furiously booking another hotel that was far enough away from the power outages was a scramble and we ended up staying our second night in a town called Sumner which I had never heard of but had a very nice hotel!

Sumner: who knew?

The original plan for the trip was to go to this traveling Titanic Exhibit which was a little pricy but I would still very much recommend it. It was one of those tours where you have headphones that explain things to you and it was very fun to ‘3, 2, 1, go!’ with my dad so we were in sync. I also really appreciated that the focus of the exhibit was to tell the stories of people on the ship. I learned a lot about individual people and may have teared up a little at the end. I’m a sucker for remembering history through the people it affected.

My new hero is Olga Lundin (left) who SLEPT THROUGH the iceberg hitting the ship (and still survived)

I’m off on a new adventure this week, seeing Rhys Darby doing stand up on Wednesday and then flying out at the crack of dawn to the wonderful city of Columbus, Ohio for a convention but more to see a bunch of east coast friends that could make this convention and none of the ones on the West Coast. So many lovely friends I finally hug for the first time!! One is coming all the way from AUSTRALIA. It’s going to be wonderful. I’ll report back soon.

In the meantime, remember you can subscribe for $5/month or $35/year and you get to tell me a book to read that I will dedicate a whole, bonus issue to. Somehow no one has taken me up on this STILL and it is a TRAVESTY. Make me read a terrible book! I promise to be as funny as possible! (And if you don’t want to pay through Substack, you can pay through Kofi and I’ll count it 💕)