This post will be talking about the last 3 books I read: Accidentally on Purpose, All About Love, and Everything is Tuberculosis. I'm not sure if I'll continue doing these types of compilation posts or go back to my one per book format. WHile I did enjoy my one per book format, it made it difficult when I would finish multiple books around the same time, because I don't want to post multiple blog posts in one day. So I may continue to do these compilation posts when that happens and then also write individually about the books when applicable.
Before I get into the books I wanted to do a small update. My husband's treatment is going well. We're taking a vacation soon because our birthdays are 2 weeks apart and we wanted to celebrate, I'm really looking forward to it. I joined an activist group that I'm excited about. I will hopefully be cross posting some of my writings onto their page as well, and I have ideas for many political posts I plan to write. Now, onto the books.
Accidentally on Purpose
Honestly, I only read this book because it got me 2 reading awards on GoodReads. It was interesting enough. I didn't know anything about the author or her story before starting the book, and while I am interested in cooking shows and the culinary world, it is not something I know much about. I did enjoy Kish's style of writing, but I would ultimately say that I am just not the target audience. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't really of much interest to me.
All About Love
I was actually quite disappointed in this book. Having gotten a lot out of hooks' books Ain't I a Woman and The Will to Change I was hoping and expecting to get a lot out of this book as well, but I feel like hooks focused mostly on herself, her practices, her journey of learning, without much applicable advice to me in my situation. She focused a lot on spirituality, something I have a complicated relationship with myself, and posited it as an important factor for learning to love, though she seemed to be mostly extrapolating her personal experiences. While she did talk a little about how patriarchy has impacted society's ability to build loving connections with one another by maintaining a hierarchical social order which perpetuates systems of suppression and oppression, I feel like she has done abetter job explaining those ideas in her other works. I definitely had higher hopes for this book based off what I had heard people say about it, I was ultimately disappointed in this book, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone.
Everything is Tuberculosis
I want to preface by saying I have never read a John Green novel. In fact I knew very little about the Green brothers until about 2022. I had known about them culturally, that they existed, that people liked them, and that one of them wrote depressing books, but not much else. I started following Hank Green on tiktok in 2022 because I enjoyed his informational videos, through him I found John's tiktok, where he was mostly talking about tuberculosis and mentioned working on a book about the disease. I did delete my tiktok account before Hank's cancer diagnosis, and I don't really follow them on any other platforms. (although I do follow John Green on tumblr) Also, like the aforementioned Accidentally on Purpose, I only started to read this book because it would get me 2 reading awards on GoodReads. All of this to say, no previously held sentiments or nostalgia is tinting this review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. John's writing is accessible, informative, engaging, and honest. I appreciate the way he writes matter of factly about the disease and its effects, not sanitizing descriptions for his reader's comfort, while also humanizing those suffering from it.
Far too many texts talking about topics like this, especially in a historical context, dehumanize the subjects they're discussing to put the readers at ease, either through raising them to a level above humans, sanctifying their suffering, painting them as similar enough to the reader to be understandable, but different enough that the reader need not worry about becoming like them, or by negatively dehumanizing them, saying it's the diseased's fault they are suffering, that it was because of some decision or moral failing that led them to this point, again with the goal of putting the reader at ease, because if they're not human, it's easier to ignore their suffering, and if they're less than human, the reader, again, doesn't have to worry about becoming them.
Not only does John Green humanize the subjects of his writing, he calls out the tendencies of other works on the same topics to dehumanize the suffering in the aforementioned ways. He talks at length about this stigma affects not just how we treat the disease, but also how we treat the diseased. He also talks at length about how the systems we've set up for treating the disease worldwide are failing, and why they're failing, discussing the social inequities that allow TB to flourish in impoverished areas.
I would definetly reccomend this book to anyone interested in beginning to learn about how healthcare inequities have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so, or if you're interested in the intersection of disability, class, and race.