📗 "A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France" by Miranda Richmond Mouillot

At the end of 2023, on a different account, I posted an overview of the most memorable books I had read that year. In a comment @hawksquill was so kind to recommend this book to me. Thank you, I'm glad I read it!

A Fifty-Year Silence can't be forced into a single category. It's partially about the author's grandparents, who survived WW2 as European Jews, and who've come dislike each other enough to avoid each other at all costs. It's a look at what it's like to survive war and how it impacts generations. But it's also a memoir: how is the author researching all of this, and more importantly: why?

I wasn't completely sure how to feel about the text while reading it. At times the author romanticizes her grandparents' lives in ways that are uncomfortable. As her research goes on though, she does reflect on her own motives and habits more. Still, sometimes her family seems like an unwilling participant, especially her grandfather. He only starts sharing his memories earnestly after getting into further stages of dementia.

Is it okay to record history like that? I'm not sure. I deeply feel it's important to save and share these experiences. But I also felt a little like I was prying where I didn't belong, or at least where I wasn't invited.

This book strangely works, with all its contradictions and questions and mysteries that will never really get satisfying answers. As long as you can embrace that, this will be an interesting read.

#AmReading #NonFiction #memoir #books #bookstodon

📗 "The Covid Safety Handbook: Staying Safe In An Unsafe World" by Violet Blue

Early happy almost release day to the Covid Safety Handbook! I was a kickstarter backer for this title, so of course I'll be at least a little bit biased. But I'll try to be honest and clear about what you can expect from this handbook, and then you can go on your merry way and preorder it now or purchase it from November 26 (2024) onwards.

If you think covid is gone or no big deal, this book is for you. If you have any doubt or questions about covid, or wonder why some people still mask or why you keep getting sick, this book is even more for you.

The handbook goes into the basics of the spread of an airborne disease and what can be done to limit its spread. It discusses mask use, ventilation, filtration, vaccination, and more. It shows how these things can be put into practice, along with tips on how to travel, how to talk to your family, how to resist peer pressure or gaslighting and handle hard emotions, etc. It shines a light on Long Covid as one of the most important possible consequences of infection. It takes the topic seriously, but is written is a very casual way as to make it as accessible as possible for any reader.

If you're a covid cautious veteran with a drawer full of respirators and a CO2 meter standing near your Corsi Rosenthal box right now, you'll probably not learn anything new from this book (but read it anyway, so you know what kind of material is out there to recommend!). Maybe you'll be a little annoyed that Blue motivates the reader to do whatever it is that they can do, instead of immediately going all the way to being a hardliner (I sometimes was). But honestly, I think someone's got to take this approach. Many people want to take small steps and are easily scared off by tough talk or shaming. Maybe this book is the gentle introduction someone needs to get going and research by themselves even more.

What I appreciated a lot was the author's acknowledgement of the disability movement, their knowledge and the way they've been uniquely targeted by the ableism of the pandemic response. This never overshadowed the general message that covid is bad news for everyone, but is still important to understand in my opinion.

Like almost every English-language covid information source, this is mostly US-centric. You won't easily get the brands mentioned on most other continents. There is some level of assumption that the US set the tone for how we handle covid and every other country simply followed. It's probably a hard thing to avoid if most accessible, quality English information sources reference each other and expand, but don't often interact or exchange with other languages and countries. I think anyone in a non-native English speaking country is used to this and can adapt. It really isn't that bad, and it doesn't devalue the text or its message.

Lastly, if there's ever a second print or a revision of some sorts, I'd love to see these additions:

- Mentioning FFP3 masks and their safety grade (since FFP2 does get explained)

- A chapter about mask bans and how to deal with them or prepare for them, maybe with tips and mask alternatives (such as the BPR by Sam Hall)

- There's lots of tips for relatively rare situations, such as going on a plane or staying in a hotel. I'd like to see a little more attention for how to keep masking in difficult everyday situations such as job interviews, hostile workplaces, when living with people who refuse to take any precautions, etc.

Tl;dr: Please have an open mind and look into this book. It's a good resource. You could learn something valuable about protecting yourself and others. At the very least you'll support an indie publication and an author who's fighting hard to keep us safe from early death and disease.

#AmReading #NonFiction #covid #covid19 #COVIDisAirborne #CovidIsNotOver #WearAMask #MaskUp #LongCovid #books #bookstodon #DisabilityLit

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@maskup