Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

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I’m a quiet and reserved person in most real-life conversations, but nonfiction is one of those topics that makes me light up. If we ever meet in person and you want to see the talkative side of Lydia, just mention nonfiction you’ve enjoyed or ask me what I’ve been reading lately in that genre.

Without giving into my urge to share a dozen different answers to this week’s prompt, the best nonfiction title I’ve read is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

The author did an excellent job of explaining how systemic racism affects every aspect of the prison system as well as what happens to former prisoners after they are released and try to reintegrate into society.

What I liked the most about this book was how thorough it was. This obviously isn’t something that has a quick or easy solution, but the more we all know about how this system works the better we can become at (hopefully) fixing it and breaking the cycles of incarceration and crime that so many people become stuck in due to racism (among other reasons).

A relative of mine used to work in a prison and would sometimes share (non-identifying) stories about some of their clients and how difficult it is for prisoners to access certain services while they’re incarcerated and to find legal work and build stable lives for themselves once they’re released. Race only adds yet another layer of hardship to people stuck in those circumstances and makes it that much trickier to get out.

Even though Canadian laws are less punitive for certain crimes than American ones are, I have to say that we have a lot to work on in this area as well. This book is about the U.S., but the problem definitely isn’t confined to that one country.

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Here’s a quick housekeeping note before I dive into my answer: blogger was once again not allowing me to comment on some blogspot sites yesterday for Top Ten Tuesday. I was eventually able to leave most of those comments by switching to a different browser and playing around with certain settings, but if I can’t reply to your post today it’s probably due to this issue.

Okay, onto my answer.

I have never read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and never plan to change that.

I’m treading gently here because I know this is a classic novel that many people adore, but I am not interested in it for the following reasons:

1) Romance is something I appreciate as a garnish in stories instead of as the main dish. I normally read books with little to no romance in them at all, so leaping from that to a full-fledged historical romance novel is a bit too much for me in the vast majority of cases.

2) With all due respect to Ms. Austen, she and I grew up in wildly different cultures. I struggle to relate to books from any era that make getting married the most important life goal for their characters, much less ones where an entire family’s economic and social fate hinges on whether their daughters find wealthy husbands.

I grew up in a family that prioritized education and personal development to the point that I was discouraged from dating when I was a teenager, so it’s a huge culture shock for me to read about families that push their teenage and young adult daughters to find a husband. It’s a completely unrelatable theme for this reader because of that.

3) From what I’ve heard, the main character clashes terribly with the man she eventually marries when they first meet. I tend to shy away from people who have abrasive encounters with me online or in real life unless it’s a one-time occurrence or there’s a reasonable explanation for why we clashed on topic X and we otherwise get along pretty well.  There’s a huge difference between politely existing in the same space with someone who may not be your cup of tea due to reason X and purposefully seeking out the company of someone you struggle to find common ground with during your limited free time.  Life is too short to waste worrying about high-conflict, optional relationships in my opinion. Why not seek out more compatible friends, romantic partners, etc. whenever possible instead?

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I love being pleasantly surprised by what I read. Here are my three answers from three different genres: literary fiction, memoir, and middle grade. I read them all last year.

Title and Author: Miss Jane by Brad Watson.

How It Surprised Me: This is loosely based on the the fascinating life of the author’s great-aunt.

Both the great-aunt and the main character of this tale were born in the early 1900s with severe urogenital birth defects that made them permanently incontinent and unable to have sex or bear children. The doctor in the opening scene talked about how bleak the protagonist’s life would probably be if she were lucky enough to survive the night. Doctors had no idea how to repair such defects when she was born. The prejudice against disabled people and their families was horrible back then, too, and there were no social services or support groups to help her or her family.

I shuddered when I read his dire predictions and was so relieved and surprised to see what a nice life that little baby ended up having. Yes, she had serious medical and social challenges from her first day until her last one, but she also had a kind family who gave her the best possible life they could for that era. It was such a nice tribute to the author’s great-aunt and everyone who loved her.

Title and Author: Cold: Three Winters at the South Pole by Wayne L. White

How It Surprised Me: I hadn’t realized how many traditions the scientists working at the South Pole have invented to help them get through the winter. For example, they have regular movie nights together and do regular check-ins with each other to make sure everyone’s mental health is still okay. The anecdote about how and why crew members convinced Mr. White to have fancy candlelight dinners with all of them was also hilarious and well worth reading.

Title and Author: Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

How It Surprised Me: I’d forgotten this series begins with older sister Beezus as the main character. I wonder if my local library didn’t have that book when I was in elementary school? At any rate, it was interesting to transition from Beezus’ point of view to Ramona’s perspective for the rest of the series when I reread it last year.