Sponsored by Chronicle Books, publisher of Maybe This Will Help.
A visual pep talk of charts and essays on feeling better about not feeling better. Maybe This Will Help is one part the funny and relatable graphs that fans of Am I Overthinking This? and of Michelle Rial know and love, and one part the honest stories behind what makes those graphs so poignant. Michelle Rial brings to light her struggles with chronic pain, grief, and creative uncertainty in a way that reflects the universality of dealing with the unthinkable. Equal parts funny and moving, this book delves into the more serious side of things, finding levity and collective experience in the invisible difficulties that so many of us face.
Does anyone have tips for getting through just massive nonfiction? I feel like my main thing is to do a readalong, but I have found that unless I am the HOST of the readalong, the odds I will finish it are still like 50%. Mind you, it’s the same for fiction with me, but this is a nonfiction newsletter, so here we are.
I picked up that book about the Sackler family and before I knew it, it was due back at the library with me having read like 20 pages because I got distracted by other books (classic). But I liked Say Nothing, so I’ll probably like this! Oh well, here we are. Onto new books!
And the Category Is…: Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community by Ricky Tucker
BALLROOM. The “underground subculture founded over a century ago by LGBTQ African American and Latinx men and women of Harlem,” now occasionally referenced on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but here laid out in all its fascinating glory. Tucker splits the chapters up into “categories,” like Vogue, Realness, Body — i.e. Ballroom categories — and features an interview with Ballroom members. Read this and watch Paris Is Burning. Sounds like an excellent weekend.
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny by Ann Marks
Remember when someone found Maier’s photographs in a Chicago storage locker? They went viral in 2009, which I remember because Chicago especially went bonkers over them. The history museum had an exhibit where you could wander through giant versions of the photographs, and she’s just so good. Maier worked as a nanny for apps. 40 years and took over 150,000 photos during that time. And now there is a biography of her!
The Making of Juana of Austria: Gender, Art, and Patronage in Early Modern Iberia by Noelia García Pérez
Oh man, what’s better than a book on Juana of Austria, someone we definitely all know about? A book of ESSAYS on Juana of Austria. Ok yeah, I definitely did not know who this was, but #womenshistory. If anyone knows about Philip II of Spain being Elizabeth I’s brother-in-law and then later sending the Spanish Armada after her — ok, so this is his sister. She became Princess of Portugal, a very fun title. “Wait, why is she ‘of Austria'” you might very rightly ask. It’s because the Habsburgs interbred TOO MUCH, and with her other titles, she was “Archduchess of Austria, Infanta of Castile and of Aragon, and princess of Burgundy.” THIS IS WHY YOUR JAWS ARE LIKE THAT. Anyway, she was smart and a good ruler (according to Wikipedia) and this looks like a delight.
Garbo: Her Life, Her Films by Robert Gottlieb
Did you know Greta Garbo stopped making films at age 36? Just like that, her reputation — solidified. If I stopped doing my stuff now, people would be like “oh yeah, didn’t she say something funny once about some person from history? Oh, that was Sarah Vowell, nm.” But GARBO. She came to Hollywood from Sweden at nineteen and did her Garbo thing and made an extremely great impression and everyone loved her and now she’s mainly known for “I vant to be alone,” which is real relatable for 2021. GARBO.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
For more nonfiction reads, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. And don’t miss Book Riot’s new podcast Adaptation Nation, all about TV and film adaptations of awesome books. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.