I Contain Multitudes: 103

In which Carla shares her nonfiction five star reads of the past year, and celebrates Banned Books Week.

bannedbooksweek.org

Theme song and stinger: “She Comes Through the Fog” by Haunted Me, used with permission.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
When you stack up the years we are allowed against
all there is to read, time is very short. Indeed,
Stephen King from Secret Windows, Hi, this is Carla and
welcome back to There Might Be Cupcakes. This episode is
a continuation of episode one or two. That episode was
a review of all my five star reads of fiction
from September twenty twenty four to September twenty twenty five.

(00:40):
This one's for the nonfiction and a celebration of sorts
for Banned Books Week and that I read what I
want and I encourage you to do the same, read
widely and often. Stephen King has said to pay attention
to the books that the powers that be don't want
you to read. Then seek those books out and read
them because they must contain important information. And I heartily agree.

(01:02):
For more information about the banning of books list of
band books and Bands Books Week itself had to Band
Booksweek dot org. Before I start some business, first, please
go and listen to my guest spot on Bipop. Bye Pumpkin,
I can't talk today. I once again hung out with
the wonderful Princess, this time to talk about the Osbournes

(01:25):
and the most notorious episode of their reality show. As always,
we had a blast. The link is in the show
notes and on the website. Also, if you receive episode
announcements from the website and you don't see the show
player embedded in the email, your tracker blocker is to blame.
And I'm sorry. This goes for free members and paying members.

(01:46):
I opened an email and I noticed the episode itself
just wasn't there. I use proton mail, which considered both
the audio file for paid members and the embedded link
for free members to be some sort of evil info tracker.
I'm not tracking anything, and neither is my host. So
just set allowances for just those emails and you'll receive

(02:10):
them as you're supposed to or not, and just read
the post on the website. Just remember to log in
if you're a paid member. And that's enough of that,
and I apologize for the problem. As I explained in
episode one O two, September is my personal new year.
It's the beginning of my favorite season's autumn and winter.
It marks the beginning of the school year. And I'm

(02:31):
a lifelong learner, as you know if you've been a
listener of my podcast, I'd be in college for the
rest of my life if my health would allow, And
again I apologize for the Kim Carr and Spittty Davis eyes.
I've still got the rasp from COVID Episode one O
two was a review of all the five star fiction

(02:51):
reads I've had in that period, and I'm back to
nerd out over my five star nonfiction reads for the
past year. As I said playing with the numbers in
the last episode, I read eighty five books by the
beginning of autumn and rated twenty nine of those five
stars top of the top. I read thirty six books
from September twenty one to December thirty first, twenty twenty four,

(03:13):
and rated nineteen of those five stars, so forty eight
five star books. Twenty four of these were nonfiction, one
was poetry, so twenty five out of forty eight five
star reads the majority at fifty two percent of the
best of such a geek. Being a lifelong student, I've
always loved nonfiction. As I say, just like my heroin

(03:33):
Harriet the Spy, I want to learn everything and write
it all down, and I always have. I want to
know how the world works and why people do the
things they do, when why I do the things I
do It's part of the reason I went to school
for psychology and counseling degrees, and it's the reason why
a huge chunk of these books were in the history genre.
Like the first one, wish mess to Meshed, I can't

(03:55):
talk today. I apologize two of my favorite interests, history
and horror as Scary. A History of Horror From Salem
to Stephen Kingam Beyond by Jeffrey Dauber. I listened to
the audiobook, narrated skillfully by the author. I was initially
taken aback with the title, despite the yearly hoop line
Salem Halloween. What happened there doesn't belong to the horror genre,

(04:17):
but rather was a real life tragedy. I'll probably talk
about it eventually in an episode in some fashion. However,
Dauber uses the Salem, which trials to explore how Western
culture has always seemingly been drawn to the topic of
horrific events in history as well as the horror genre,
melding the two together as in Robert Ecker's masterful movie
The Witch. And It's time for me to watch that

(04:39):
favorite again. A companion to this read was a gift
from the Inner Library Loan, the rare secret Windows essays
and fiction on the craft of writing by Stephen King.
Seriously don't sleep on Inner Library loan. I requested this
quite difficult to find book online through my library's website.
The library evaluated whether or not they felt anybody else

(05:00):
in my area might check it out, felt that they would,
and ordered it. Think Oh, It's a collection of essays
by Stephen King, tox He's given and short stories he
wrote early as a career and in his childhood and
teenage years. Rereading it was like looking at King's scrap book.
It was delightful. King gave insight into some of his

(05:22):
early novels inspirations as well. Quote the nastiest woman in
English literature, the virulent Sue Bridehead from Jude the Obscure.
I can still see Thomas Hardy's influence on what I write.
That influence is particularly strong in such novels as Carrie
Kujo and pet Cemetery. From Party. I went into his
equally gloomy American contemporaries Theodore Dreyser and Frank Norris, and

(05:45):
from Dryser's sister Carrie, I derived the name of my
own first novel, Back to Salem I'm fascinated by witch
trials and witchcraft as a phenomenon, how people can rise
up against each other in witch hunts, and as a
belief system. So two of my five Star breeves this
past year were Six Women of Salem, The Untold stories
of the Accused and their accusers in the Salem Witch

(06:07):
Trials by Marilyn k Roach in Witchcraft History, and Thirteen
Trials by Mary and Gibson. Both were audiobooks narrated quite
pleasingly by Kate Reading and Rose Ackroyd, respectively. I worked
on my granny square sweater while listening. My dad gifted
me a box of wool for Christmas and lovely fun colors,
and I've been stretching my skills and making different squares

(06:30):
and both knitting and crochet stitches to make a patchwork sweater.
I'll post progress pictures on the website. It's about three
quarters of the way completed. I would be done, but
as I've told you, this has been a fraught year.
So I forgive myself and I create when I can
no deadline. Six Women of Salem especially did justice to Tichuba,

(06:51):
Reverend Parrish's slave who got caught up in on the
mayhem of the accusations. The author not only set some
wrongs right for her, but deeply researched her possible heritage
and explained what her pre Salem life was probably like.
She gave her her personhood back, and it was beautiful.
Other than these books, I've been reading much less true

(07:12):
crime lately. Why well, current events plus my desire to
catch up on important books I've missed. That sounds so
snobby when it comes out of my mouth as opposed
to when I've wrote it, But it's true. I need
room for Dolskoevsky's work in my brain pan and in
my bandwidth for all the classics I haven't read yet.

(07:32):
You know. However, a few true crime books popped up
on my radar, and I'm glad they did because they
were five star reads for me. One was the Brave
and unflinching The House of My Mother by Sherry Frankie,
read by the author. The others were New Town, an
American Tragedy by Matthew Isaac and Everything You Love Will
Burn Inside The Rebirth of White Nationalism in America by

(07:56):
Vegas Tenold. A campaign into this last read because I've
been wanting to understand the racism entrench to my American
culture from the beginning, and what I wasn't taught about
it in history classes? And why was the five star
and Astounding White Trash the four hundred year untold story
of class in America by Nancy Eisenberg. White Trash taught

(08:19):
me a lot of surprising etymology, many sources for words
and phrases we used today without even thinking about it.
For example, menace to society. That phrase comes from a
sinister place. Indeed, the Buck versus Bell Supreme Court case
of nineteen twenty seven, which ruled that Jefferson's life, liberty,
and pursuit of happiness did not apply to anyone who

(08:42):
was a menace to society. They meant sterilization of the unfit.
They meant violating the Fourteenth Amendment in the cause of eugenics.
If you were a menace to society, you were literally
unfit to breed. Who said so, people in charge? I

(09:03):
would have been labeled as such, being disabled just sent
with that. That wasn't yet one hundred years ago. This
case was argued April twenty second, nineteen twenty seven, and
decided May Tewod nineteen twenty seven. Women had only had
the right to vote for not even seven years. The
Nineteenth Amendment had been ratified August eighteenth, nineteen twenty, and

(09:26):
the powers that be were sterilizing people unfit to breed
New Americans. Maybe we should let that phrase go the
way of master bedroom. Another turn of phrase that surprised me.
You know that people refer to someone as being a
stand up kind of guy, or we're told to stand
up for ourselves, etc. Part of the popularity of those

(09:47):
idioms comes from the disgust with homesteaders. Yes, like Laura
Ingle's father. You know they'd go West Central parcel land
and work it for a certain period of time, then
by rights own it. Did you hear what I said? There?
They sat on it. They were squatters. The opposite of
being a no good squatter is standing up. I love etymology.

(10:13):
The House of My Mother was written by one of
the eldest Frankie children. Going back to true crime for
a moment. If you aren't familiar with that case, it's
the Ruby Frankie Mom influencer slash Jody Hildebrant case. Ruby
Frankie and her husband's husband, Kevin, had six children and
filmed everything they did for their eight passengers YouTube channel.

(10:34):
Her children had no privacy and were therefore exposed to predators.
If that weren't awful enough, viewers noticed disturbing punishments being
told out by Ruby, like the eldest son's bed being
taken away for a pretty mild mistake, normal kid stuff
and food being withheld from young children as a natural consequence.

(10:56):
Then Ruby met therapists in life coach Jody Hildebrant and
really went off the rails. Jody got between Ruby and
her husband and escalated the punishments of the children to
the level of torture. That's the horrible story. In a nutshell,
Sherry Frankie tells her and her family's story unflinchingly with
admirable strength and honesty. This book isn't a cash grab.

(11:18):
It's an attempt to figure out how to start a
normal life when you've never had one, and to make
peace with that fact again. Linguistics, Jody taught Ruby to
play with language in order to manipulate others, and that
was one of the most fascinating parts for me. One
phrase that sticks with me is their passive aggressive misuse

(11:39):
of the word invite, as in I invite you not
to speak to the children, and I invite you to
give me more money. See doesn't that feel strange when
I say that, especially in such a calm, sweet tone.
Oh let me customic clinch. From memoir to memoir, The

(12:00):
Best Minds, A Story of friendship, madness and the Tragedy
of good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen really took me by
surprise again. I listened to the audiobook read by the author,
and I was blown away, not only by the power
of the story but by the similarities to my experiences
with his. And I'm hesitant here to share because it's

(12:23):
not all my story to tell, and I don't want
people to recognize what I'm talking about. But I'm going
to do this. The book is about Rosen's experiences growing
up with Will a front of me, a close friend
who was in competition with him instead of cooperation. Contrary
to Rosen's wishes, I had a friend like this. I

(12:46):
think I've talked to put this on the podcast before,
but I did receive what some might see as special
treatment in elementary school, thanks to my talented and gifted
teacher and the early intervention of my mom. My twenty
five year old mom took me to my future school
at age three and said, literally, she's too smart. I
don't know what to do with her. Help me. They

(13:06):
tested me right, left, and sideways, and then set up
a plan for me right then and for when I
started school. I remember being pulled aside and doing fifth
grade spelling in first grade, that kind of thing, just
so I wouldn't get bored. But then my talented and
gifted teacher got involved, and I suspect she saw autistic
traits in me. So does my mom, though maybe she

(13:28):
didn't name them as such. She went to the principal
and told him that sitting still with nothing to do
and nothing to learn or read was actually painful for me.
It still is. You'll never catch me without a book
or pen and paper. So I got a library pass.
If my little worksheets were done and correct, I could
ask for a hall pass at any time and wander

(13:50):
the library. What a gift. That's where this friend comes
in again, to do this. Before this happened in third grade,
she was already like Rosen's friend, and that well, let's
put it this way, if you had a ten gallon hat,

(14:10):
she had an eleven gallon hat. And she bought hers first.
She once made a point of taking me into a
room to show me that she had the hardcover set
of the Eagles Wilder books because she knew my set
were the yellow paperbacks. I remember standing there as a kid,
vividly thinking, and there must be more of the story
than this. You can't be bragging about this. I was

(14:33):
an autistic deer in the headlights over this behavior. Like
I said, a lot of what happened is not my
story to tell, and it'll make it too easy to
figure out her identity, which I don't want. The point
is I understood this frustrating story of just trying to
love someone and being met with one upmanshit or one
upmanship or hurt feelings. If I, quote unquote won this game,

(14:56):
I wasn't even playing well. Back to I read a
disability history of the United States and learned so much
about my place in this country. There's not much more
to say about this book except it should be taught
in schools. If you are in a quest to fill
in the blanks of your education, this book in White
Trash should definitely be included on that syllabus. A recommended

(15:18):
accompanying documentary is the Obamas produced cript Camp. Both this
book and that documentary tell the story about how disabled
people fought to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed,
actually used their bodies to fight. I owe them so
very much every time I use a ramp, or go
through a door wide enough for my wheelchair, or use

(15:39):
an accessible bathroom. I owe them my train ride to Washington,
d C. Last year. If it weren't for them staging
a grueling month long sit in, I wouldn't have able
to even enter the train. The final history entry was
the Haunting of Elma Fielding, which turned to the paranormal.
It's written in one of my favorite formats, in the

(16:00):
style of Eric Larson. The story is wrapped in the
history of the moment. This one tells the story of
the case investigated by the International Institute for Psychical Research.
The larger story is that it was nineteen thirty eight
and the world was on the cusp of war. As
this smaller story is happening in London, a domestic and

(16:21):
internal war held up against a world war. Kate Kate Summerscale.
It's hard to enunciate with your throat like this. Kate
summer Scale is masterful at this type of true crime
has slash historical storytelling. Now this sounds like an odd swerve,
but bear with me. I've been learning Latin. Bear with me,

(16:45):
the foundation of so much of what we say and
right nowadays, so much of our references in literature. And
I've been reading such building blocks works of literature as well.
For example, I'm currently listening to Sir Ian McKellan read
The Odyssey a transcendent experience. Let me tell you, of course,
Sir mckelling to read his grocery list to me and

(17:06):
I might very well be enchanted. So learning Latin, I
was inspired to read all three parts of Dante Allegary's
Divine Comedy last year as a five star accompaniment. I
listened to the Great Courses class on this work by
William R. Cook and Robert Hertzman. It really helped to
flesh out no pun intended, well, yes intended, my deeper

(17:29):
understanding of Dante's beautiful work and all the historical and
cultural references within it. From Hell to Religion, I read Zealot,
The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan.
Mary Magdalene, a biography by Bruce Chilton and Miracles in
Wonder The Historical Mystery of Jesus by Elaine Pagels, all

(17:50):
marvelous and edifying, nothing like religious history without an agenda.
And I suspect that the title of Pagel's book comes
from a Paul Simon lyric Miracles Wondering. Don't Cry, Baby,
Don't Cry, Don't Cry. I read three collections of personal essays,

(18:11):
one funny one about grief, all deeply meaningful about human
nature and connection, All Things Decide by the comedian Eliza Schlessinger.
Let me tell you what I mean by Joan Didion,
and the Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, which
broke my heart. I will go anywhere Didyon asked me
to go with her essays, even to that darkest place
of compounded grief. I leave it to you to learn

(18:33):
for yourselves about that wretched year of her life from
her own words. But I will share this quote that
took my breath away. Only the survivors of a death
are truly left alone the connections that made up their life,
both the deep connections and the apparently until they are broken,
insignificant connections have all vanished. John and I were married
for forty years. During all but the first five months

(18:56):
of our marriage, when John was still working at time,
we both worked at home. We were together twenty four
hours a day, a fact that remained a source of
both merrymant and foreboding to my mother and aunts. For richer,
for poor, but never for lunch, one or other than
frequently said in the early years of our marriage, I
could not count the times during the average day when

(19:16):
something would come up that I needed to tell him.
This impulse did not end with his death. What ended
was the possibility of response. Finally read Comet, the Short
Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark,
all one thousand, one hundred and eighty four pages of it.

(19:36):
I lived inside this book. That doesn't feel like hyperbole.
This book is a masterclass in biography and deserved more
than just being a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Quote anything to
evade the life not lived, the poem not written, the
love not realized. Plaths spread her wings over and over
at a time when women were not supposed to fly.

(19:59):
I had to put the booked down at one point
because it took my breath away. Clark was discussing events
around Plath's senior year and graduation from high school, and
ended it all with the sentence half her life was
already over, and it was, and that demon's arithmetics stole
my air from me. The young woman who would write

(20:20):
to a friend, I am a damn good priestess of
the intellect, and oh she was would die in as
many years as she had lived, just as a kid,
a baby. You hadn't even attended Smith College yet. And
I thought how many years ago age thirty six was
for me. And I suddenly felt so motherly towards her

(20:40):
that it was a little overwhelming. And that's why Clark
should have won the Pulitzer. The remainder of all these
five star books were all knitting books, excepting one exceedingly
special one that deserves to end the episode, The Complete
Surprise Knitting Elizabeth Zimmer in Surprise Jacket by Kully Swanson.

(21:02):
This was a re read why I pondered what to
do with my gifted wool knitting Classic style thirty five
Modern designs inspired by Fashion's archives by Veronice Avery. Modern
top down knitting, sweater's dresses, skirts and accessories inspired by
the techniques of Barbara g Walter by Christina McGowan, a
beautifully photographed book, and another reread for me and finish

(21:25):
Free Knitting, No so Garments and Classic Styles by Kristin Tendyke,
a gorgeous book that I'm going to have to buy
a copy of. The final read was prose poetry from
the best of the American wordsmiths. That's not hyperple either.
Song of Myself, the first and final editions of the

(21:46):
great American poem by the incomparable Walt Woodman. I will
end this episode with Whitman's words, one of my favorite
quotes from Song of Myself. In all people, I see
myself none more and not one barley corn less, and
the good and bad I say of myself, I say

(22:06):
of them. And I know that I am solid and sound.
To me, the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow.
All are written to me, and I must get what
that writing means. And I know that I am deathless.
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by
Carpenter's compass. I know I shall not pass like a

(22:28):
child's carlike Hue out with a burnt stick at night.
I know I am August. I do not trouble my
spirit to vindicate itself or to be understood. I see
that the elementary laws never apologize. I exist as I am.
If not other in the world be aware, I sit content,
And if each and all be aware, I sit content.

(22:51):
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than
the journey work of the universe. Long enough have you
dreamed contemptible dreams. Now I wash the gum from your eyes.
You mishabit yourself to the dazzle of the light and
of every moment of your life. Long have you timidly
waited holding a plank by the shore. Now I will
you to be a bold swimmer, to jump off in

(23:13):
the midst of the sea, and rise again, and nod
to me and shout and laughingly dash with your hair.
Do I contradict myself very well? Then I contradict myself.
I am large. I contain multitudes. To close out with
Banned books week, here's the data for the top ten

(23:34):
challenge books for twenty twenty four, compiled by the American
Library Association. One All Boys Aren't Blue by George M.
Johnson for LBGTQ content claim to be sexually explicit. Two
gender Queer a memoir by Maya Kobabi for LGBTQ content

(23:56):
claim to be sexually explicit. The Bluest Eye by Tony
Morrison for a depiction of sexual assault, depiction of incest,
and EDI content which is equality, diversion and inclusion claim
to be sexually explicit. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Steven Schabowski claim to be sexually explicit for LGBTQ

(24:20):
content depiction of sexual assault, depiction of drug use and
profanity Tricks by Alan Hopkins claim to be sexually explicit.
Six Looking for Alaska by John Green claimed to be
sexually explicit. Seven Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
by Jesse Andrews claim to be sexually explicit for profanity.

(24:41):
Crank by Ellen Hopkins claimed to be sexually explicit for
depictions of drug use Sold Patricia McCormick claimed to be
sexually explicit for depictions of sexual assault. In ten Flamer
by Mike Carado, LGBTQ content claimed to be sexually explicit.
Sit with and Notice the Multiple Patterns. Also, two of

(25:05):
the most beautiful novels I've read in adulthood are on there.
The Bluest Eye and The perks of being a wallflower.
Everyone should be able to read a novel that contains
the quote we accept the love we think we deserve,
and no one should be kept from the mind of
Tony Morrison. I will put links for purchase to all
of these books on the website, as well as further

(25:27):
information about each from the American Library Association's Office of
Intellectual Freedom. As I've been trying to do with the
nonfiction books I've read in the past year. Please keep
reading books that upset your apple cart. It's how we
grow new neural pathways and grow closer to each other
as well returning with the fiction book that does so,
we will re enter the House of Leaves as promised,

(25:49):
be safe, and be good to each other. That's where
the cupcakes are