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Reading Recluse📗 "Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature" by Elizabeth OutkaHave you wondered too: why is covid barely visible in modern media? Why do I never pick up a book with someone wearing a mask, even though it's 2020 in the story? Why do I watch tv shows set in 2021 and they act like everything is fine? I have to dig deep for any text that dares to mention the unmentionable (ongoing) SARSCoV2 pandemic, and that really bothers me.Turns out this is not a rare phenomenon. The same happened after Spanish Flu a full century ago. This book from 2019 digs into the why of it, and then goes on to analyze the presence of the 1918 pandemic in the very few books that did mention it.The book is divided into three parts. Part one zooms in on 'why?'. Why was the flu silenced in literature? Why was it such a taboo? Even if you're not interested in reading the rest of this book, this part is worth it if you've been wondering the same. It has some interesting theories. Partly the war overshadowed the pandemic. But partly it's also a problem of a lack of language and narrative. War is easy to explain: us, the goodies, fight a 'them', the baddies, and someone wins. But a virus is invisible and not well-understood. The 'enemy' doesn't invade from the outside, but spreads throughout your loved ones, penetrates your body and blurs all the lines of who's what. There was a lot of guilt about participation and ignorance. On top of the grief, there's a societal view of sickness as weakness, and of caring and ill health with femininity, which didn't help. I won't recap all of the book here, but it was a fascinating read to see why the pandemic was hidden in media, and how so much can be applied to the current times too. Plus there were lots of archival pictures that I'd never seen before!In part 2 several books from around that era are discussed and the role of the pandemic in the story is analyzed. I was afraid that it might be too academic for me, but it was quite readable. Most notably I've gotten a more negative view of Virginia Woolf. Although she was one of the few acknowledging sickness in her literature, she also minimized Spanish Flu in daily life, not wanting to engage with it. I was also surprised to see 'look to windward' appear, which I've only known as a quote on war through Bank's books. And wow, the amount of 'living dead' analogies that pop up, interesting stuff.Part 3 goes into two major trends that became popular post-pandemic: spiritualism and zombie tales. Both are forms of the dead coming back, one for mourning and peace of mind, the other for an outlet for fear and anger. I got quite upset reading about seances where ghosts of flu victims return to earth to exonerate their families from guilt of infection, hmpf. Either way, I thought it was engrossing. In hindsight, it all makes sense, and it helps me understand the way people behave now.At the end the book states that we're not ready for a new pandemic, although we could be, if only we'd look reality in the eyes and prepare well. Covid started and... here we are. Millions dead, many more millions chronically ill, ableism abound, covid still around and mutating. And probably more pandemics coming at us in the near future. Every day I feel stronger about not letting this truth go unsaid. It's uncomfortable, but more tragedies will occur if the majority of people keep avoiding unpleasant realities. Don't look away, don't underestimate yourself -you can bear it and do your part to keep the people around you safe and well.As the book says: "Reading the letters and stories told by the survivors of the pandemic —and the literary representations that simultaneously revealed and hid these very stories— launch us into new narrative streams, allowing us to hear voices long ignored in part because the viral, dust-like form at the heart of the story was itself invisible and silent."I'm adding this book under <a href="https://c.im/tags/PlagueBook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlagueBook</a> and I've also gone back and tagged all previous books that talk about pandemics that I've reviewed with that too (in a tiny effort to not lose these works into silence once again). You can view them all here:<a href="https://c.im/@reading_recluse/tagged/PlagueBook" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://c.im/@reading_recluse/tagged/PlagueBook</a>Please stay safe and <a href="https://c.im/tags/WearAMask" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WearAMask</a> !<a href="https://c.im/tags/AmReading" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AmReading</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/NonFiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NonFiction</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#books</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bookstodon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/covid19" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#covid19</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/covid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#covid</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/SARScov2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SARScov2</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/MaskUp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MaskUp</a>

Reading Recluse📘 "Pink Slime" by Fernanda Trías, translated from Spanish into English by Heather ClearyHappy women in translation month! Let's go global and read from anywhere and everywhere.Pink Slime is a very slow-paced novel about our world stuck in a pandemic due to an ecological disaster. Algae, pink fogs and red winds bring illness land inwards from the sea. Rich people have moved to the center of continents, while the less well-of have remained behind at the seaside.But all this is just a background for the story of the main character, who's quite passive and unlikable, but certainly interesting. The text focuses on her day-to-day life, in which she's unable to let go of relationships that have deteriorated as much as the world around her.I've been stressing out about what's happening in the UK: rioting, attacking people of color, kicking in their doors, defiling their graves, even setting a refugee shelter on fire. Compared to reality, reading this dystopian book that mostly takes place in an almost empty town was kind of chill.I think the strange thing about many dystopias is that their worlds still somehow try to cover up what's horrible. It's always a secret layer underneath. "Help us keep you safe. Every life is unique," the Ministry of Health proclaims in the novel. It feels weird, reading that while being stuck in a world that doesn't even bother to pretend anymore. Dystopias really need to step up their game or they'll all become utopic reads.Anyway, Pink Slime was a good read, with beautiful language too. Recommended if you enjoy slow and melancholic books.<a href="https://c.im/tags/WITmonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WITmonth</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/WomenInTranslation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WomenInTranslation</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/AmReading" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AmReading</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/SpecFic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SpecFic</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bookstodon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/PlagueBook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlagueBook</a>

Reading Recluse📗 "Disability in the Time of Pandemic" edited by Allison C. Carey, Sara E. Green & Laura MauldinThis is a collection of 11 studies by a variety of researchers/authors.After reading lots of biomedical studies about <a href="https://c.im/tags/covid19" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#covid19</a> in the past few years, it was nice to read some from the social sciences. Especially nice: mostly there is an acknowledgement of how hard the disabled have been hit so far by the pandemic, and the ongoing nature of the pandemic is understood. I say 'mostly' though, because there's still some disappointing 'post-pandemic' stuff going on in a few of them.Some articles were more interesting and in-depth than others. Only four different countries were addressed. There is lots about lockdowns, social distancing, lack of care, and inaccessibility because of covid mandates, but not a lot about inaccessibility due to the virus itself or discontinued mandates. The studies certainly are valuable, and I'm grateful that they're being done at all, but I wouldn't present this collection as the be-all and end-all on this topic.The irony of this book is that without academic access or piracy, it's quite inaccessible for the people it's about due to its ridiculously high price. And as mentioned (many times) in the text itself, many people with disabilities are unemployed and/or living below the poverty line. Got to love academic publishing and its prices /s.<a href="https://c.im/tags/pandemic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#pandemic</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/covid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#covid</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/DisabilityLit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DisabilityLit</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/PlagueBook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlagueBook</a>

Reading Recluse📗 "Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic" by David QuammenI've been slowly reading this book on the side for months and I'm finally done! I definitely learned a LOT from this massive tome. Quammen discusses a plethora of diseases, their origins, the ways in which they spread, and the scientific research done to discover them. Especially the chapter on SARS taught me much about our current ongoing <a href="https://c.im/tags/covid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#covid</a> pandemic.This book leaves no stone unturned. Literally none. Not only will you read about the most important data, but also about the people involved, relevant history, a few personal anecdotes, maybe what the weather's like, an interview here and there, travel logs, some family stories... In chapters that weren't my favorite, I sometimes got impatient and a little bored from all the extras. But in chapters that fascinated me, I enjoyed all the side paths taken and thought they added to the atmosphere. If you want to know more about pandemics and zoonosis, pick this one up. But be ready to dedicate quite some time to it.<a href="https://c.im/tags/AmReading" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AmReading</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/NonFiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NonFiction</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bookstodon</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/sarscov2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sarscov2</a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/PlagueBook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PlagueBook</a>

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