Status Updates From Regency Etiquette: The Mirr...

The section about the uses of women is making my feminist eye twitch.

The end of the text (before the many recipes enclosed) is so near, I can almost touch it.

As much of a historical document this is, I can't help but think, especially regarding her opinions of dancing, this author is old-fashioned, stuck in her ways and exceedingly snobbish in how she talks down to her audience.

There was a discussion by people online recently asking where or how feet became a fetish/sexual object by society.

All I could think about was the several pages in this book breaking down how feet are a desirable sexual object to "accentuate."

And I'm thinking, "Here is an example of how society made feet into a fetish." Ankles at least anyway...

"The modern taste for exhibition of all kinds is the chief source of this depravity."

The authoress clearly is not a fan of Samuel Richardson and the cult of sensibility he encouraged by way of his novels. A bit snobbish the way she dismisses the behaviour as vulgar though.

I've concluded it wasn't the audiobook's fault why I had a hard time grasping the contents of this book.

It's hard. It's hard to stay on top of, mostly due to the fact that you have to consider the context of the period and the dated ideals dictating its advice. And the language is more different than I expected too.

Reading primary source documents are hard. Add in the fact Regency writing is very different from our more literal narrative tendancies in the present means it takes that much extra time translating what is being said.

Supersizers is who tipped me off to this text, and I'm bound to finish. So I persevere.

Despite restarting this book by actually reading it after my struggles following the audiobook, admittedly, I keep hearing my audiobook's narrator's voice in my head while going over the words.

Clearly I absorbed more than I had anticipated.

While I will endeavour to finish the audiobook, I've already decided to grab the ebook and read it the old fashioned way once done.

Truth is, the audio quality, the vernacular and the content of this book proved too much for my brain to process as an audiobook right now. The words kept escaping me. So... I will switch to reading it.

This start is the convergence of 4 things. First, me not having a nonfiction book on tap. Second, me having all 3 audiobooks being rereads at the moment. Third this book being burned out of Audible Plus' free book library on Nov. 8 (or so the page warns me). And fourth, this being an only 4 hour long sojourn (less due to my listening speed)

Thus, I pull this forward.