Recommended to me by my 10 year old (she wanted me to read the one about the adenoids), this is just a lovely book. It's a precious adjective but applRecommended to me by my 10 year old (she wanted me to read the one about the adenoids), this is just a lovely book. It's a precious adjective but applies perfectly to this book. It's not really an autobiography: Dahl spares us the tedious details and focuses on the good bits. Great for anglophiles (and norwegiaphiles if there is such a thing) and also a revealing glimpse of an era when children were treated in ways that would make modern parents blanch. ...more
I'll always read a Mindy book but you know, from the library. Loved the first half or so but it petered out at the end. It made me laugh out loud on tI'll always read a Mindy book but you know, from the library. Loved the first half or so but it petered out at the end. It made me laugh out loud on the subway. It didn't change me. ...more
I really enjoyed the first half of the essays (Sigrid Nunez especially) but got bogged down in the second half (although an essay by Tim Kreider near I really enjoyed the first half of the essays (Sigrid Nunez especially) but got bogged down in the second half (although an essay by Tim Kreider near the end is great). What made it a better book for me than the writing alone would merit was its effectiveness at bringing me around to its point of view. I admit to having been judgmental on this issue and reading some of these essays made me realize how wrong I'd been....more
Ostensibly a collection of essays, I would call this more of a memoir. It reminds me a bit of David Sedaris' books. Daum is more serious than Sedaris Ostensibly a collection of essays, I would call this more of a memoir. It reminds me a bit of David Sedaris' books. Daum is more serious than Sedaris although all the pieces have some quite funny bits, surprisingly so since at least two of them concern death (actually they probably all do). The theme, Daum writes in the introduction, was originally sentimentality. However since she is pathologically unsentimental (with one exception) it ended up being about how difficult it is to be openly unsentimental about things like death or having kids. These are the "unspeakables" referred to in the title. I'm not sure how all the essays tie into this, I assume they do in some way, but I just enjoyed each "essay" on its own merits, simply as stories told by a talented storyteller which Daum certainly is. ...more
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