Day 14: A Book on a Subject You Know Something About

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

What is a book whose subject matter you know from real-life experience? It might be set in a place you know, have a protagonist in a job you’ve held, or feature an unusual experience you’ve actually had. How accurate is the book? Does your personal knowledge make it more or less enjoyable?

I don’t tend to see my real-life experiences reflected in fiction, which is possibly a good thing because my real life would probably be very boring to read about. So I’ll go with a nonfiction example, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City – I haven’t been evicted myself, but I’ve worked for an organization that helps people like the tenants depicted in the book. Everyone in it comes across like someone I’ve encountered in real life, and the book is quite popular in that workplace because it is highly accurate (and also very readable and compelling!). Of course, specifics of laws do differ from state to state, so if you don’t live in Wisconsin you shouldn’t expect things to work exactly like that. I’ve actually encountered a mobile home park scam almost identical to the one depicted in the book, though fortunately there are legal barriers in my state to carrying it out with the impunity portrayed here. I definitely recommend the book to anyone interested in the problems faced by America's poor, particularly but not only around housing.

[Gogol]

A thousand splendid suns and Kite runner. There are parts of both books that are so achingly familiar that I couldn’t read either one in one sitting. I think I wept through both of them. I wept for us, i wept for afghans. I wept for afghan people I knew who had gone through similar experiences and I even wept for Iranians whose stories were again similar in a way to those of the book. We and afghans have a very complicated relationship. We used to be a part of the same country a few hundred years ago. A few years before our revolution lots of afghans took refuge in Iran. There are lots of things I rather not say on the internet. But I have been ashamed of iranian’s conduct towards them for the last 40 years. We have known many, many afghans who worked for our family and friends. And my family have lots of close afghan friends abroad.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ]

Gogol wrote: "A thousand splendid suns and Kite runner. There are parts of both books that are so achingly familiar that I couldn’t read either one in one sitting. I think I wept through both of them...." Gogol, you write so well, and it's sounds like you have a story waiting to be told. I haven't read either of these books but now they are on my list.

[Gogol]

Thank you and you’re very kind. I think you would like these books. But I never reread them again and I became so emotional and angry over them that I rated both three stars. Which is silly. Just because they made me sad doesn’t mean they weren’t well written.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

I agree, Hosseini is an excellent writer! A Thousand Splendid Suns is by far my favorite of his works, followed by And the Mountains Echoed. The Kite Runner is beloved by many, but I found it to be very much a debut novel in ways that were ironed out in his later writing.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

I think I'll go with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. The heroine, a supposed historian, knows *nothing* about research and how it's actually conducted. (I am a historian, btw.)

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I think I'll go with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. The heroine, a supposed historian, knows *nothing* about research and how it's actually conducted. (I am a historian, btw.)"

Ooh, do tell so that we can feel enlightened and look down on the book with you! What does she do?

Your comment reminded me of The Book of Phoenix, which came in for a lot of criticism for similar reasons. The heroine at one point is supposed to be doing "archival" research into... ongoing top-secret medical experiments, and discovers that the only copy of the records of these experiments, despite the fact that the book is set in the future, is.... housed in hard copy at the Library of Congress, and open to browsing by anybody who can show photo ID.... and also somehow shelved according to the Dewey Decimal System, which LOC doesn't even use. Real-life archivists came out of the woodwork over that one, which is bad enough that even the rest of us can see problems.

Edit: Also, I think it's awesome that you're a historian! What do you study, if you feel comfortable sharing?

[Gogol]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I think I'll go with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. The heroine, a supposed historian, knows *nothing* about research and how it's actually conducted. (I am a historian, btw.)"

I think the book sounds fascinating! I have put it in tbr.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

It was a very disappointing read, alas.

It's been a few years since I read it, but I remember being really shocked at how little she knew about how historical research is actually conducted, and what historians should generally know.

[Gogol]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "It was a very disappointing read, alas.

It's been a few years since I read it, but I remember being really shocked at how little she knew about how historical research is actually conducted, and w..."

The thing is I got the impression that there will be a portal involved? I just can’t resist portals. I mean there are so very few books with portals into other worlds set into them. At least that I know of.

[Gogol]

Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship wrote: "Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I think I'll go with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. The heroine, a supposed historian, knows *nothing* about research and how it's actu..."

True. I can see why that would sound silly. But it’s exciting in a way I think? I have found things and books in the unlikeliest places ever. Lots of books are prohibited here, even cookery books from before that had wine and spirits in the recipes. I once found one of the rarest, most sought after prohibited books ever, in a regular book shop which had a second-had shelf!!!!!

But I’m very curious what system does LOC use for their books? I always meant to figure the Dewey decimal system out and organise the books in our study accordingly.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

LOC uses the Library of Congress system, intuitively enough. :) In the U.S., academic libraries use LOC while public libraries use Dewey. As a non-academic, the only difference I can see is in fiction, which LOC shelves by subject but which public libraries shelve by author's last name.

Also it's definitely exciting to find hidden treasures in a book store! I wonder if the proprietor knew it was a banned book.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

No portals of that nature that I can recall in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.

Yes, in the US, academic libraries use the Library of Congress system. Public libraries may use that or the older Dewey Decimal. And the library at the high school I attended used both! (They switched in about 1972. But didn't change over the cataloging of the books they already had. So they had two card catalogs.)

[Melindam]

I am usually wary of the genre "regency romance", not because of the romance, but because of the regency aspect.
I wrote my thesis on Jane Austen back in the day and I read quite a few books about the era, particularly about the social and economical background where JA wrote and worked. There are lots of good books about customs, etiquette, social background... etc. and you don't need to have any kind of expertise or academic background to read them or even just put two and two together while reading JA novels.

That said, it always pisses me off, when an author obviously couldn't bother about the most basic background ... ("research" is too mighty...) "study" while writing their books and gets everything completely wrong.
I really don't understand why they think so little of their audience. Do they think we won't notice because the bodice-ripping stuff is more important? ....
Not that I have anything against bodice-ripping per se, if there is good chemistry bw a couple, but I hate to be thought of as ignorant by a careless author. I find it insulting.

[Gogol]

Melindam wrote: "I am usually wary of the genre "regency romance", not because of the romance, but because of the regency aspect.
I wrote my thesis on Jane Austen back in the day and I read quite a few books about ..."

Wow, this is a subject so close to my heart! Because some historical books are just modern stories which are supposed to be historical. Some of them feel like a the protagonists are eccentric people who have cars but feel like going out and about in their carriages and being in custom all the time.

As a specialist, can I ask your thoughts about Loretta Chase and Georgette heyer?

[Gogol]

Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship wrote: "LOC uses the Library of Congress system, intuitively enough. :) In the U.S., academic libraries use LOC while public libraries use Dewey. As a non-academic, the only difference I can see is in fict..."

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "No portals of that nature that I can recall in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.

Yes, in the US, academic libraries use the Library of Congress system. Public libraries may use ..."

I just learnt that I could reply to two comments at once and the reason I want to do so, is LOC!!!! My mother drives me crazy with her way of organising her phonebook entries in the same way LOC seems to do. But the way she designates the “subjects” categories is very abstract. For example take our family friend X whom we call uncle and who is a doctor, she might very well list him under U for uncle (!!!!!!yes!!!!! She considers uncles a category) , D for doctor, or X for his name. I think that should be exactly why only academic libraries use the LOC.

As for the book I told you about, it was prohibited and very much sought after, the owner could get into serious trouble for carrying it, but also, as my mother pointed out later when I excitedly bought it and brought it home, he could have fetched a lot of money for it in the black market. So I don’t think he knew.

Also Susanna , thank you for the heads up I’m sorry to learn about lack of portals in the Physik book of deliverance Dane. I’m not going to read it after all. You must read the Innkeeper series though.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Oh, there are an entire field of "historical" novels I've thrown at the wall. For such sins as medieval Irish potatoes, tea (not an herbal tisane, either) in 14th century England, etc. etc. etc.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

I was suffering a book drought about 10 years ago and someone gave me a bunch of books they didn't want. Among them was a Regency bodice ripper. Bored out of my skull on a hot (45ºC) summer's day, I read it. It was okay until the hero ran down the long gallery of his stately home, punching the air and saying, "Yes!"

It's very sad, especially books that are written since the advent of Google. I have an itch to verify things like the fact that canned cat food didn't make its appearance until the 1930s, or that spiral bound notebooks weren't a thing in the US until then either. So don't put them in an 1890s mystery please!

[Melindam]

Gogol, you are very kind, but I am no specialist!! Far from it.
I just vented my frustration at careless, ignorant authors who won't even bother to google things or read some articles on wikipedia. :)

I read a few Heyers and enjoyed them and she did know about the era even without google. LOL

I've never read any Loretta Chase books.

[Gogol]

Melindam wrote: "Gogol, you are very kind, but I am no specialist!! Far from it.
I just vented my frustration at careless, ignorant authors who won't even bother to google things or read some articles on wikipedia..."

Interestingly the pre google era research methods were of another caliber!

[Melindam]

Also, I am not as bothered about historical/social inaccuracies, if a story is well-written, funny and the couples have good chemistry. In that case I don't even mind the bodice-ripping/smutty parts, even though mostly I get more and more bored by them.

1 example for this is "When a Scot ties the knot" by Tessa Dare. While the setup is totally unbelievable, it was so much fun, plus there was a story to balance the bodice-ripping-kilt flashing.

Another nice surprise was "Much ado about you" by Erica James (oops, at least I think that's the author's name). The story way light and frivolous, but also funny and the regency Ps & Qs were mostly right.