May Books: Nonfiction

 Another month is upon us--less than 3 weeks now until solstice when there is a wee bit less daylight each day. I always feel a little bit happier once we're heading in the direction of winter. May ended on a warm note--the word 'scorchio' was used in a news story for the first time. Here that means 20ish--a few degrees above in some places. The warmest place in the country the other day (at about 23C) was a place called Newport Furnace. When I saw that, I wondered if it was a joke, but it seems to be an actual place. It's cooled down a bit and rain has returned today. We went to the library in between rain showers to pick up some stuff that came in--and I grabbed a couple of other books from the display shelf, leaving them with a big space to fill. 😀

Rain or shine, hot or chilly, there was plenty of reading going on in May--yay! I'll start with the nonfiction titles.

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder

I’d heard of this book before and had been somewhat familiar with the nomadic culture the author studies, because I’ve watched some videos of people who live in vans and cars. Also, Bill and I spent a summer tent camping across the northern US and then another couple months living in our tent the following year. Both of these were really great experiences that I remember fondly today and often miss. So when I read an article about the film several months ago in The Guardian, I was intrigued—not by the fictional movie (I generally dislike movies), but by the non-fiction book the movie is based on. I put it on my list at the library so when it re-opened I could request it, but Bill ended up buying a copy, which came pretty quickly and was devoured by me in short order. I loved this book. The author did excellent ethnographic work, spending time living the lifestyle and tying her observations and the thoughts communicated to her by the people she interviewed and hung out with to larger societal issues. She became genuine friends with some of the people she met, which helped them feel comfortable talking to her and, in my opinion, would have helped her see things from their point of view. She’s an excellent writer and storyteller. I highly recommend this book.

Murder by the Book by Claire Harmon

When I came across this book in the e-book section of the library website, I did not hesitate to borrow it, even though I am not a reader of true crime books. 

‘Early in the morning of 6 May 1840, on an ultra-respectable Mayfair street, a footman answered the door to a panic-stricken maid from a nearby house. Her elderly master, Lord William Russell, was lying in bed with his throat cut so deeply that the head was almost severed.

The whole of London, from monarch to street urchins, was gripped by the gory details of the Russell murder, but behind it was another story, a work of fiction, and a fierce debate about censorship and morality. Several of the key literary figures of the day, including Dickens and Thackeray, were drawn into the controversy, and when Lord William's murderer claimed to having been inspired by the season's most sensational novel, it seemed that a great deal more was on trial than anyone could have guessed.

Bringing together much previously unpublished material from a wide range of sources, Claire Harman reveals the story of the notorious Russell murder case and its fascinating connections with the writers and literary culture of the day.’

As I hoped, the murder itself was not really the primary focus of the book. Rather, the author was more interested in the ways in which literature and societal attitudes to that literature played a role in what happened next. Since that dovetailed with my own interest in the book, I was pleased to have stumbled onto it. It was fascinating.

Art Since 1960 by Michael Archer

This book is exactly what the title says it is—a discussion of how some of the major categories of art came to prominence at various points in time starting in the 1960s. The book includes many photos as well. I found it to be highly readable and quite informative.

The Story of The Cope by Patrick Boner

The Cope is a store on Main St here in our town. It began as The Templecrone Cooperative Society over 100 years ago. One of the original members had a hard time saying ‘co-op’ once and it came out ‘cope.’ The name stuck. Bill wanted to see the hundreds of photos in the book, so when the library opened again, he checked it out. He told me I might want to read Chapter 5 on the knitting aspect of the business. When I picked it up, I started reading it from the beginning and quickly got into it, so I kept on reading. It was fascinating to learn how things were in this area and how visionary the founder, Paddy ‘The Cope’ Gallagher was and how much the co-op benefited the local people through the decades. Not only did he provide jobs to local people, but the wages he paid were higher than they could get elsewhere. He also sold things more cheaply than the 'gombeen men'  (in this case, shopkeepers who ripped people off by selling compromised products at inflated prices)--this was very good for local people, who were mostly quite poor. He created what they called tea vans, but were essentially mobile shops, so he could bring goods to people and he also collected goods from them to sell. This was good for inhabitants of more remote places, which was most of the area at the time--it meant they had a market for things such as surplus eggs and that they did not have to try to get their goods to where the merchants were, which would not have been easy on foot. He was quite a visionary in many ways. He provided electricity to the town years before the rural electrification scheme provided the same to rural communities throughout the country.

I also learned that, decades ago, the shop, which was much, much smaller then, was located right where we now live. I enjoyed the photos, too, and seeing what the town looked like over the last century.

I now notice some names in the town more than I did before and know that these families have been here for a long time. I'd heard of Paddy's grandson, Pat  The Cope Gallagher because he campaigned to be a member of the European Parliament when we first got to Ireland and Bill and I chuckled at the name, which was on big signs all over the town. We had no idea at the time we'd be in The Cope (or even what it was). 

I hope this first day of June is going well for you!

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