I have several books I have yet to review, largely because I don’t have a ton to analyze. Some I enjoyed, so maybe you will too.
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
A self-help book that Brown does not believe is a self-help book. She writes about what we get out of being imperfect; however, her research is so . . . loose?? . . . that I can’t even remember what the three gifts are. Basically, Brown will write, “In my research” and then not tell you anything research-y. She doesn’t have numbers or statistics. She has quotes from pop psychology books you could find at your local library that make you feel good, and those she cites in the back. She has personal stories of her own struggle. That was where I felt she shined. Her own stories helped me pause and apply a concept to myself. Why not just write a memoir, then? I think I forgot a lot of what I read that was supposed to be the substance of the book and remembered her “ah ha” moments instead. Not a game changer, but not intolerable.
Period. End of Sentence. A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice by Anna Diamant
A nonfiction work about period poverty that starts by explaining what the Pad Project is and how the documentary Period. End of Sentence. won an Oscar in 2019. I was confused; is the book named after the documentary or vice versa? Anyway, the book describes how different cultures treat menstruating, often preventing girls from going to school or women from working and the poverty that results from missed education and employment. Even in the U.S., some girls are sent home if they don’t have enough hygiene products to stay through the day, and girls are frequently asking female teachers for pads and tampons, which come out of the teachers’ personal items/money. Much of the movement to end period poverty is led by high school-age girls, so I found this book interesting.
The Doll by Daphne du Maurier
A collection of short stories deemed “lost,” even though they were all published in magazines in the 20’s and 30’s. I found du Maurier’s depiction of couples fascinating. It feels like you’re reading about people’s problems today. You may not even realize they were written at the beginning of the 20th century, so keen is the author’s eyes and ears for how couples interact. Each story feels very different, too. No treading water here. I did read one story that had a couple of lines pulled directly from Rebecca, and another story that I swear was all about Mrs. Van Hopper. Rebecca was published in 1938, so I imagine what I was reading were early iterations of a character, and perhaps du Maurier liked a few lines from a story so much she moved them over to the novel.
Grab the Lapels 
I like the sound of the du Maurier story collection, though maybe it’s one to read once I’ve read more of her later work? I always like seeing how authors’ ideas and skills evolve over the course of their writing career – going back to this once I’ve read more sounds like it could be an interesting exercise.
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Hmmm…. Honestly, I just want to read her daring stuff, like “The Birds,” but this collection felt so modern. I think you could read it at any time in your du Maurier journey.
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Is the Period book written by the same Anita Diamant who wrote The Red Tent? That’s an interesting connection.
People seem to love Brene Brown – was this your first read by her? Would you read more?
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It is! I’ve never read The Red Tent, but she talked about it in the Period book. Some women really felt attached to it, which I think led into her writing this period book.
This was my first Brene Brown, and while her maxims are far too simplistic to really “mean” anything, I did find her “ah-ha” moments from her own life helpful and inspiring. I guess I would prefer she just write a memoir. Maybe she already has.
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Interesting about the Brown book. She seems so very popular, I have one of her activist books on my TBR but now I’m wondering if I should even bother with it. Hmmm.
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It’s not exactly hard hitting science, but her personal anecdotes did make me think more about myself. Therefore, it’s an easy read with payoff, so put it on your nightstand and get to it bit by bit.
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I think I will happily give The Gifts of Imperfection a miss. It seems very insubstantial
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It reads like it was written by a twenty-something who Learned A Hard Thing, but Brown is not 20-ish in that book. Perhaps her audience IS younger women, though. There seems to be a popular market for self-help by middle 20’s people for some reason.
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I think “lost” is the right word to describe stories only published in old magazines. We in Australia had a rich culture of novels serialised in newspapers in the C19th, the majority probably by women, which cannot be read now because only a very few have been recovered and published.
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Okay, so lost meaning that they were not literally lost in the author’s papers in an attic that is now owned by a great-great grandchild, but lost as in no one archived them. Thanks, Bill! In this digitized age, I hadn’t thought of that. However, I know there are some famous Hollywood directors working to preserve film, even what we consider modern film, because much of it is saved on a medium that degrades over time — quite literally film, in most cases. It’s called The Film Foundation, founded by Martin Scorsese.
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I like the sound of the Du Maurier collection too, and I agree with Bill that they are technically “lost” in the sense that stories that were only published in newspapers/magazines are hard to retrieve. A lot of work is being done right here now to retrieve these stories. Anyhow, the fact that you like how she depicts couples.
The Menstruation one sounds really worthwhile as it’s such an important issue. (I think the author’s name is Anita? I’ve read her novel The red tent, which is a historical fiction about a biblical character, and an enjoyable novel at that.)
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The author of Period is the same person who wrote The Red Tent, and the only reason I know that is because she mentioned her novel in Period. I think she became interested in The Period Project because so many women said that The Red Tent meant a good deal to them. At first, I couldn’t seem to figure out what her role was in The Period Project itself or the documentary that came after, etc.
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I love du Maurier – I have another of her collections in my physical TBR pile – Don’t Look Now. I might save it for closer to fall.
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That collection is famous for having “The Birds” in it. I wonder how the story compares to the movie when the movie does so much work with sound design. The birds aren’t just birdy sounding, but almost machine like….some combo of nature and human contraptions.
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I’ve never seen the movie!
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I *think* it might scare you? I know you’re a soft heart, and I want to protect that and not give you a bum steer by saying, “Oh, yeah, it’s old so there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Sometimes the birds everywhere gives a sense of claustrophobia.
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I love Du Maurier too! The period project book also sounds neat, our public library here in Calgary has started an initiative to provide free period products in all washrooms (I think even the men’s?) that I regularly donate to. It’s annoying though, it should come automatically like toilet paper!
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I never thought of period products being like toilet paper until I read the Period book. Some people lump it into things like a toothbrush–very personal–but other people see it like TP, tissues, hand sanitizer.
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