Sanguinity

David Macaulay, Ship (1993)

Lengthy (96 pages!) illustrated for-older-readers children's book detailing an underwater archaeology expedition to investigate the wreck of a fifteenth-century caravel, finishing with a builder's journal documenting the caravel's construction. Lots of information about archaeological planning, research, and methods, followed by a similarly detailed section on historic ship construction. The illustrations and diagrams are as information-rich as the text. (When reading this aloud to grrlpup, I often stopped to elaborate further on some detail in the drawings.) For a fully-illustrated picture book, the reading level is fairly advanced (verbose and with lots of specialized vocabulary), providing lots of opportunity for an older child to nerd out undisturbed. (An older child -- or me!)


Lois McMaster Bujold, The Paladin of Souls (2003)

Immediate sequel to The Curse of Chalion, plus a few years. Our point-of-view character is someone who was mostly dismissed in the first novel for alleged madness -- and in fact, her early motivations are wholly about getting out from under the "protection" of people who think she's mad.

Of course, once she does get out, adventures start being had. And she's mad about it, because she wasn't planning on having adventures, she just wanted to have a nice life being left alone on her own terms. Alas.

Ripping yarn, I liveblogged most of it to phoenixfalls as I read it, things kept snowballing in that classically Bujold way, and much like in The Curse of Chalion we were a good ways into it before figuring out what the larger plot ultimately even was. There were a number of moments that made me laugh out loud. (When she experimentally kisses the literally too-handsome-for-his-own-good guy to see if it will break a spell, and he isn't fazed in the least, just kisses her back as if this happens every so often and he considers it "impolite to duck".) Ista reminds me more than a little bit of Cordelia, and I wouldn't call that a bad thing.


Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore (2025) -- DNF

I don't usually post about my DNFs (Did Not Finish), because why bother, but I did read about half of this, and was hugely conflicted.

( Did Not Finish )

Anyway, it's a month overdue and four hundred people are waiting for it at the library, and I keep thinking about other books on my tbr list that I want to read but I "have to" read this one first. Boo. I hate it when I can see the book I would have found compelling around the margins of the book the author actually chose to write.

2025 media in review! I'm not gonna try to do a best-of/highlights summary, but please do ask me about anything that interests you. (There's a Mesoamerican books post still coming, plus another general books post.)

( 2025 Books )

( 2025 Movies )

( 2025 TV )

There's a bunch of reading I need to write up, but there was a little knot of Bujold books in there, so let's begin with those.

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion (2001)

The initial offering in Bujold's Five Gods universe, a set of several loosely-related fantasy series. This particular novel has medieval-Spanish inspirations with an original theology; I can't speak to the others.

I went into this 100% unspoiled, and enjoyed that experience very much. Since finishing the book, I've read a number of jacket blurbs and library catalog summaries and... meh. 1) We're AT LEAST two-thirds of the way through the book before ANY of that stuff happens, and 2) none of those blurbs had anything to do with what I enjoyed about the book.

So let me see if I can say some spoiler-free things I loved right from the beginning.

1. Lupe dy Cazaril, our protagonist, spends the entire book trying to solve the problem directly in front of him. He's got shit resources, shit influence, and shit big-picture perspective -- in fact, it's not until near the end of the book that he figures out what the plot arc even was! -- but by god he'll solve the problem right in front of him or he'll die trying. I love this for him.
   
   
2. A couple of chapters in, when we started to unlock Cazaril's backstory, I incredulously messaged phoenixfalls: "omg. Bujold took Aral Vorkosigan and broke him. Made him realize the tyrrany of meat. Put him through so much trauma that his only remaining ambition is to live."
   
   And I hold by that characterization of Cazaril: the once noble and principled master strategist, for whom everything, but everything, has gone so wrong that he has surrendered pride and principles and ambition and is grubbing in the mud after dropped coins. He is physically disabled. He has crippling PTSD. He would be content to live life as a kitchen scullion if it meant a guaranteed warm place by the fire to sleep.
   
   (But first he has to solve the problem in front of him.)

It is also worth mentioning that Bujold's plotting is as masterful as ever, and as usual, there is a fine array of worthy female characters across a wide range of ages.

It is probably also worth talking about the theology of this world? Except 1) I haven't really made up my mind about it, and 2) that discussion is nothing but spoilers all the way down.

I already have its immediate sequel, Paladin of Souls, in my hot little hands, although from the state of my reading list, it might be a bit before I can get there.


Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Flowers of Vashnoi (2018)

Read alouds to grrlpup; re-reads for me and first reads for her.

My reviews from last year, which I still largely stand by.

re Ivan: I still laugh to see Ivan thwarted; I still have fine-but-lukewarm feelings about Ivan and Tej. This time around, I particularly enjoyed how EVERYONE who found out about Ivan's emergency marriage IMMEDIATELY asked the important question: DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YET?? Sadly, the second half of the novel doesn't compel me the way the first half does: the in-law circus just can't live up to all of Ivan's nearest and dearest getting in line to make him squirm.

re Vashnoi: I still think this is a great novella, still appreciate how messy and intractable history is, and still very much appreciate Bujold leaving the ending as an exercise for the reader. Fair warning: this is one of the darker books in the series.

Two recent historical romances, both featuring two working class protagonists. I know both authors, which I take to be a sign of my exquisite taste in friends and acquaintances.


Alison McKenzie, The Blacksmith's Bride (2025)

Elizabeth finds herself pregnant by her local lord, and thereby at grave risk of punishment for bearing a child out of wedlock. Happily, her childhood friend Matthew, who works in the nearby town and has been carrying a torch for her for years, is willing to marry her, thus kicking off a quiet and lovely marriage-of-convenience to love-match arc. Elizabeth, who has endured years of emotional abuse at her mother's hands, and who has poured all of her wherewithal into protecting her younger siblings from their mother, has to learn to make herself open and vulnerable to love. Meanwhile, Matthew, has to learn to temper his protective streak: when it is wise to speak out and when it isn't, and to respect his loved ones' decisions on their own behalves, however much he yearns to thrash anyone who is cruel to them.

Set two years after the Peasants Revolt of 1381, there's a good deal here about trying to safely navigate the whims of those with wealth and power. To marry, Elizabeth must first get the permission of her lord, who stands to lose both her labor and that of her future child. Likewise, Elizabeth's efforts to save her younger brothers from their mother's abuse must take into account their lord's interest in the boys' economic value. Meanwhile, Matthew's sister, who married up into the merchant class, is thrown upon the mercy of her husband's family after his death. But while everyone is subject to the whims of wealthy and powerful men, no one is powerless, either: there is space for cleverness, and the possibility of carving out a tolerable space for oneself in the larger system.

The Blacksmith's Bride is billed as the first in a series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next, whoever it centers. But I'm hoping the second book will feature Matthew's sister and his best friend: I'd enjoy seeing Isabel's pov centered and her getting a happier ending than she manages here; I'd likewise enjoy seeing the feckless Roger buckle down to the task of making Isabel happy -- God knows, she deserves some happiness.


Annick Trent, By Marsh and By Moor (2025)

Jed is a deserted pressed sailor, desperate to return to his family, village, and former career. Within minutes of washing up on the beach, he falls in with Solomon, who, in addition to aiding Jed in his escape, is also helping a friend escape an abusive former lover. Unhappily for all, the former officer turns out to be in charge of the local press gang.

I've been eagerly looking forward to this volume since I first learned it would be about a pressed sailor, and it did not disappoint. The textural details are lovely, as is the lived-in-ness of their lives. Both Jed and Solomon have prior lives and entanglements, so no matter how smoothly and naturally they come together in the liminal in-between now, they each have loyalties and desires that complicate a more lasting partnership.

Along those lines, I liked how messy things got:

spoilers

At a key moment, Solomon betrays Jed, giving way his position to the press gang, but it holds up as a tactical calculation: Jed would likely eventually have been found in any case, but by giving up Jed right then, Solomon created a distraction for Wallace to get away -- and Wallace having his liberty ennabled him to rescue the other two later. One of the three having his liberty is undeniably a better tactical position than none of the three, and it's easy to see why Solomon chose it -- even if he didn't already feel protective of Wallace, even without a solid plan in mind for Jed's own escape, it was still the smart move.

And yet there is no denying how cold-blooded a betrayal that felt to Jed, hearing Solomon choose Wallace's liberty over Jed's; no denying how it intensified every weakness and insecurity in the relationship between the two. Jed, after all, didn't see them as a trio. Instead, ever since they first met, Wallace had been Solomon's first loyalty, sometimes to the detriment of his relationship with Jed. Of course this felt like more of the same!

Naturally, that moment sandbagged any further opportunity for Jed and Solomon to work as a team during their capture and imprisonment -- especially with the pressers determined to prevent them working as a team! But I did like how things ultimately worked out -- and liked, likewise, Solomon acknowledging that it had been hugely presumptuous for him to make that decision for all three of them, and that Jed had every right to feel as he did.

While we're talking about spoilers:

a man and his horse

I did very much want a tender reunion between Jed and Bess. I'm down with Jed not returning to his former village and profession -- he had been fantasizing about a world in which those five years of impressment had never happened, and I'm glad he finally came to grips with the impossibility of that. But I would have liked him to have a tender moment alone with his horse.

ETA: Bess is okay! She seems to be well taken care of by the guy who currently has her. No need to worry about Bess! I just wanted Jed to feed her an apple and share a nuzzle with her -- whatever it is you do with horses.

I am very brain-dead from going to a work conference in Atlanta this week. Getting up at what amounts to 4am personal time, to then spend sixteen hours go go go with way too many people, none of whom are comfortably anonymous strangers but also none of whom are friends, is exhausting. I got home late Thursday and took Friday off, even napping on Friday afternoon, which is something that I'm generally incapable of. But that's exhaustion for you, I suppose.

(The last time I napped, come to think of it, was after my last work conference, in which not only was I sleep deprived all week, but I came down with a case of literal hives on the airplane home. Ugh.)

Anyway. None of you are here to hear about all that. ;-)


Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign (1999)

Read aloud with grrlpup. First time for her; re-read for me.

This was one of my favorites from my first read of the series; I'm happy to say I liked it even better on re-read. I'm not sure how well it can be read as a stand-alone, as it assumes a working knowledge of Komarr. But I do like the strong ensemble of characters, and that the conflicts are mostly social and personal, instead of military or mystery. (Which does not stop it from rising to an action-packed climax at the end: I believe Grrlpup and I read the final three chapters in one day!)

Grrlpup's favorite characters were Dr. Enrique Borgos and his beloved butter bugs, and it is true: it is always a delight when they come on the page. Armsman Pym was also a favorite; she'd very much like to see his pov. (Alas, we do not, as I recall, ever get it in the series. I wonder if anyone has written Jeevsian fic for him?) And once again Lady Alys is serving strong Judith Martin vibes -- I do wonder if Martin was an inspiration for the character.


Lois McMaster Bujold, "Winterfair Gifts" (2004)

Read aloud with grrlpup. First time for her; re-read for me.

Taura, my beloved! *hearts-eyes* And I am fond of Armsman Roic, too (although I don't think this satisfied Grrlpup's desire for a Pym-centered story). Quick and sweet read, like a delicious chocolate truffle.


Daniel M. Lavery, Dear Prudence: Liberating Lessons from SLATE.com's Beloved Advice Column (2023)

I don't read many advice columns, but I find them most satisfying when there is an implied code of social logic that underlies them. (Make! The social! World! Make! Sense!) Lavery clearly has such a code, and the code tallies nicely with mine, which made this a pleasant read. I do enjoy the bits where he reconsiders the advice he originally gave; it's nice to know that even confident advice-givers grow and change over time. There's a chapter or two of letters on transitioning and/or coming out, presumably as Lavery himself was transitioning at the time and drawing more of that kind of question than I usually expect to see in a general-topics advice column.


Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir (2019)

Brief, lyrical, eminently readable memoir of growing up gay and black in the 1990s in Texas, attending university in the 2000s in Kentucky, and the death of his mother in the 2010s. There are some painful topics (gaybashing, homophobia, Christian evangelism, racism, a sexually self-destructive phase, and his mother's aforementioned death), and consequently the material gets heavy at times, but I raced through this in a day, always willing to turn the page and see what other thoughts and experiences he had had.


I also have a gob of Hum 110 bookgroup reading to write up, but I'll save that for their own posts.

Skip Finley, Whaling Captains of Color: America's First Meritocracy (2020)

Whaling was one of the few (perhaps the only?) eighteenth and nineteenth century major American industries that was racially integrated. Part of this was due to Quaker ownership of the early whaling fleet, but a good deal was intrinsic to the job itself: whaling was dangerous, demanding, and deeply unpleasant work, requiring great bravery and stamina in exchange for low wages. White laborers often had better options available to them and took them; black laborers often did not, leading to a large percentage of black mariners on whaling crews. But it wasn't all negatives! Because the success of these voyages so strongly depended on the skill, strength, and courage of the officers and crews, the whaling industry promoted without (much) of an eye to race: it was possible for a black mariner to become a mate and even a captain of these voyages, exercising authority (including physical discipline, unheard of in the greater social context!) over white crew members. With the knowledge and wealth they acquired as captains, more than a few continued on to become investors and owners.

Whaling Captains of Color is a sprawling 150-year history of the whaling industry, with a strong focus on its black, indigenous, and Cape Verdean captains and sailing masters. "Black" and "indigenous" were not distinct categories: many of the early captains of color, such as Paul Cuffe, were of mixed African and Wampanoag descent. Meanwhile, Cape Verdean sailors, who came to the industry late, typically identified as white and Portuguese, even as American society classed them as black based on their African descent.

About half of the text is profiles of individual captains and their careers, interspersed in the larger history of the American whaling industry. The length of the profiles depend on the available documentation: Paul Cuffe and his dynasty gets most of a chapter, many of the better-documented captains get one or two pages, while many, many more get a scant paragraph. (Meanwhile, the final chapter contains profiles of men who require further research to verify either to their race or captaincy.) Chapters are organized into broad topics, and captains' profiles are placed wherever they seem to fit best, which makes for a bit haphazard reading. Some profiles are mundane lists of voyages, ranks, and profits, while others are wild tales of maritime adventures or encounters with (or escapes from!) slave-holders and their enforcers. (One page I'd be bored and skimming, and the next page I'd be slackjawed with the wtf-ery.)

While it was a satisfying read in its own right, I'd particularly recommend the book as a source for further reading. Some of these memoirs and logbooks mentioned herein are available on Gutenberg or Internet Archive, and there's a good eighty pages of backmatter (appendices, tables, end notes, and bibiliography) to use as a jumping off place into whatever you find particularly interesting.


Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017)

Slim little pocket-sized book of history-informed advice for Americans in the face of the oncoming wave of fascism.

( cut for US politics )

( Snyder's Suggested Reading List )


Carys Davies, Clear (2024)

Gorgeous, wrenching novella set during the Clearances, about a Presbyterian minister hired to clear an island between Norway and the Orkneys, the sole resident of that island, and the minister's wife, who is determined to rescue her husband from an insupportable situation. I read it in tiny little bits peeking between my fingers because I love Ivar (the island resident) so so much and could not stand anything bad happening to him -- but also the story and imagery and feeling and character portraits were so compelling that I couldn't put it down, either.

Apparently some out there in the wilds of internet claim that the story's resolution is too happy? Such opinion-havers can go jump off a cliff. I found the resolution bittersweet but hopeful, and I desperately want to believe that Mary's gamble worked out.

(I may also have to commit fic. I don't want to commit fic -- I know nothing of 1843 Scotland, or Presbyterianism, and I don't think I can rise to Davies' prose -- but I also want to see the hard work of Mary's gamble paying off. ARGH.)

(If by "recent" we mean "since before the new year"...)

Kelley Armstrong, Cocktails and Chloroform (2023)

A Rip Through Time novella, a series in which a modern Vancouver B.C. police detective gets time warped to 1860s Edinburgh. This one is a fairly lightweight adventure in which Mallory, with the aid of the junior housemaid and their employer, get to foil some sex traffickers and throw a Molotov cocktail or two. Pleasant enough way to pass the time if you already like the characters, but pretty skippable, too.


Kelley Armstrong, Schemes and Scandals (2024)

Another novella in the series! Mallory and Duncan foil a blackmailer who is targeting one of Duncan's former lovers over erotic letters. I enjoyed this installment much better than Cocktails and Chloroform, as it leans heavily into the Mallory and Duncan slow burn. As much as I want them to get together already, I very much enjoy their dynamic as it stands, too.


Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory (1996)

Read-aloud with grrlpup; first time for her and re-read for me. Her comments are here.

Spoilers

I will always love this book for finally giving Miles consequences for his own hubris. He has spent far too long thinking he's smarter than everyone around him, constitutionally above what the rules and bureauracracy were put in place to prevent. Well, dude, all that fast-talking has finally caught up with you. Happily, though, unlike many sons of privilege, Miles actually learns something from the reckoning.

Unlike most books in this series (which start out leisurely and snowball in the back half), there's a great big lull in the middle of this one; we kept joking around that the remaining two-hundred pages were going to be the after-action report that Miles was compiling. That said, the Sylvy Gale trip aside (which I don't exactly object to, but which did feel like an unnecessary digression), I liked the leisurely rhythm of the story and the chance to sit and reflect with so many favorite characters. I am very much a fan of Alys Vorpatril; I 100% read her as the Judith Martin of Barrayar. (Up to and including Martin's ability to get scoops on political news because her targets dismissed her as a "social" reporter! And here I will insert a rec for philomytha's The Huntsman's Reel, which leans hard into those Judith Martin vibes.)


Lois McMaster Bujold, Cetaganda (1995)

Read-aloud with grrlpup; first time for her and re-read for me. Rather than moving forward with the Miles in Love omnibus, we dropped back to an earlier novel in the timeline (earlier by internal chronology, although it was published at about this point in the larger sequence).

Miles and Ivan, official Barrayaran envoys to a Cetagandan imperial funeral, get framed for a political murder and must clear Barrayar's name. (Well, Miles must clear it. Ivan would very much like to drop the whole mess in the hands of his superiors for them to clean up.) The Miles-and-Ivan comedy show is on point, with Ivan at his charming best. (Unfortunately, Miles comes off as a horrible little incel in this one.) As always, the side characters are excellently drawn, and I commiserate with Miles' long-suffering superior officers -- Vorreedi and Galeni need to get together at some point and share notes.

( Side note, re the fic I wrote for this novel )


Ivan McClellan, Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture (2024)

Contrary to Hollywood whitewashing, historical American cowboys were frequently men of color, both Black and Latino. Despite the stereotype associating Black people with urban centers, the tradition of the Black American cowboy is still alive and well today, with there even being a Black rodeo circuit.

This book is a photo tribute to Black cowboys (gender inclusive), documenting their lives on the ranch, their performances in the arena, and their celebrations after. This collection was a joy to peruse: people of all ages and genders showing off their fashion, their families, their horses, and their accomplishments. I particularly liked the drama of the photos taken under the arena lights against the black of night: sequins and acrylic nails and rodeo clowns and calf-roping and trophies.

The photographer is local, and there have been several news articles about the book. Check out some of the photographs, or this interview with the photographer.

2024 Media in Review. I'm happy to chatter about anything people want to hear more about!

( Books )

( Movies )

( Television )

~

In other news, I'm happy to report that sabrage will open a mini bottle of champagne just as well as a full-sized one. This year I used my Chinese practice saber (as opposed to the European practice saber I received for Christmas last year) and it worked much better: a heavier blade and no finger guard (which makes reversing the grip and using the back of the blade MUCH easier).

P.G. Wodehouse, Mike and Psmith (1909)

(known variously as "The Lost Lambs", Enter Psmith, or the second half of the novel Mike.)

I confess, this didn't take me strongly. Part of it, no doubt, was the focus on English institutions that mean little to me (public schools, cricket). A greater part is that the main characters are such asses, who always manage to elude getting what they have coming to them -- I spent a good deal of time sympathizing with the other boys who had to deal with them. (It isn't everyone else's problem that Mike and Psmith consider themselves too good for the place!) Happily, our protagonists do eventually get over themselves to some degree, at which point it was easier to enjoy the shenanigans.


P.G. Wodehouse, Psmith in the City (1910)

(aka "The New Fold")

Weirdly, for as poor an impression as these two made on me in the previous book, I enjoyed them greatly here. Mostly I shake my head, sympathizing with the managers and senior clerks who are charged with taking these two in hand and teaching them to at least pretend to be good employees. I am also bemused by Psmith's favored technique of defusing any criticism by yes-and-ing it. (How old was he when he learned that strategy, do you think? Eleven? It occurs to me that in his own day, Psmith was absolutely one of those horrible small boys that so infest Wodehouse's work. Hmmmm.)

Anyway, it was fun! But alas, they're off to Cambridge now. I have never yet enjoyed a comic novel about Oxbridge, so I am not optimistic.


Ryoko Kui, Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon, Vol 1-14 (2014-2023)

When I began this series, the D&D adventuring party that survives on monsters that they kill, cook, and eat mostly seemed a cute and harmless gimmick. Each issue would see our heroes defeating and preparing a monster, culminating with a recipe and nutritional info, in between pursuing their quest of recovering and reviving a dead party member. I enjoyed the fancy and the imaginative exercise of how exactly one might best prepare various classic monsters.

As the story continued, more and more lore was introduced about the dungeon, the demon that powered it, and its lord. While I was initially pretty meh about the lore (and the ever expanding cast of characters!), by the time the story climaxed in volumes 12 and 13, it all had become a tightly woven, well-developed, and suspenseful exploration of power and desire, with monster-eating elevated from an amusing gimmick to a key and thematically-relevant mechanic. Watching it all come together into a coherent whole was immensely satisfying, and from Volume 11 onwards I itched with impatience while waiting for the library to bring me each new volume.

I'm pleased to say that Volume 14 was an extended denouement, permitting us a leisurely good-by to the world and its characters -- with an extended "monster tales" coda to show us how the characters were adjusting in the aftermath. I don't feel like I often get a leisurely "wind-down" like that anymore, and it was a luxury to have it here.

All in all, a satisfying read, and makes me want to check out the mangaka's other work!

Lois McMaster Bujold, Brothers in Arms (1989)

Read-aloud book with grrlpup; re-read for me and first read for her.

I was surprised to learn that, excepting the novellas, the Miles publication timeline jumped straight from Warrior's Apprentice to Brother in Arms. That made this a decent jumping-in point for grrlpup, as it presumes little in the way of prior knowledge (only Warrior's Apprentice and "Borders of Infinity", both of which I was happy to summarize for her as needed.) As with the last several Bujold books I read to her, we began at the sedate pace of a third-of-a-chapter a couple of times a week, and ended with multiple chapters daily -- Bujold can plot a climax! I was a little surprised to see how much this novel sets up later books; quite a lot in here is going to matter later.

grrlpup enjoyed herself (she pronounced it "exciting" and "funny", and expressed appreciation for Elli, Galeni, and the cat blanket), so we shall be continuing on to Mirror Dance next. Wish us luck in getting through the MilSF at the beginning!


Priya Krishna, Priya's Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids (2024)

International cookbook, featuring recipes from Greece, Mexico, France, China, Italy, Morocco, England, India, Japan, Peru, and Trinidad & Tobago. (Whew!) In its range of spiciness and flavors, it's much more adventurous than I usually see in kids' cookbooks, which often assume a narrow palate. (Adults will definitely have to help with sourcing ingredients, possibly even by mail-order for some dishes.) There's also a wide range of skill represented, but the recipes are rated for difficulty, and the very youngest cooks will need assistance in any case. (For reference, the kid testers in the acknowledgments ranged from 5 to 13 years old. The layout is very middle-readers; I'd hesitate before giving it to a teenager.) A good number of recipes require a fair amount of manual forming, shaping, or arranging (baklava, Chinese dumplings, tarte aux pommes, ravioli, tiramisu) which can be fun with younger kids. Other dishes include stews, soups, or roasting, which are probably only accessible for older kids -- although certainly younger ones can assist with measuring and adding to the pot! Most recipes are vegetarian, and recipes default to Imperial (American) measurement, although metric measurements are included for some ingredients for some recipes.

Haven't had a chance to test any of the recipes mystelf (let alone with a kid!), although there are many old favorites in here, and a good dozen new-to-us recipes that we've marked to scan and investigate later. I expect good things, though: we're big fans of Krishna's Indian-Ish, and Krishna clearly is writing for kids who want to taste all the flavours and textures!


Amy Miller, Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857 (2007)

I've long heard this book's praises sung, and I must say I enjoyed it thoroughly. Miller traces a century of Royal Navy uniforms, from their inception for commissioned officers through their eventual extension to enlisted men a century later, and ties each uniform revision to current fashion and the professional and national anxieties that motivated the change. Full-color large-format photography and illustrations throughout, both of the historical uniforms in the National Maritime Museum's collection (including full-view photographs, detail photographs, and pencil sketches of their construction) and a generous supply of period fashion plates, portraiture, and caricatures illustrating the larger context of these uniforms.

Meanwhile, there's a ton of great gossip: the pearl-clutching over the first dress uniforms taking their inspiration from French court dress (and so soon after the French had backed the Jacobite Rebellion, how dare!); Nelson, as a young officer, refusing to truck with enterprisingly fashionable officers who adopted French epaulettes against regulation (and then Nelson later needing one of those fashionable youngbloods to help him pick out his first pair of epaulettes after they became regulation); the period of confusion in 1812 when everyone was prematurely wearing all the wrong epaulettes willy-nilly; the rather pointed bearskin in that one super-dishy Captain Ross portrait; the tension between choosing a London or Portsmouth tailor, the former being more fashionable and the latter being more correct; all the non-regulation ways a fashionable officer might edit a uniform -- or, flip-side, a poor officer might try to upgrade a secondhand uniform from an older pattern to the new regs... grrlpup is usually patient but long-suffering when I go on about Royal Navy minutiae, but here she attended with great interest as I went through the pictures in the book with her, giving her the dish or snark behind each one.

For my own notes: the 1812 uniform change was promulgated in March, to be enacted on August 2nd, although not all officers waited until August 2 to begin sporting their new epaulettes. (I care, because Bush was fictionally promoted to captain that summer. Was he one of the officers who jumped the gun? I am still deciding, but there may be a fic in that.)

Also, a few references I want to chase down for myself:

• Chesterfield's letters on gentlemanly behavior
  
• John Davis, The Post-Captain, or These Wooden Walls Defended: A View of Naval Society and Manners (1805)
  
• William Johnstoune Nelson Neale, The Pride of the Mess (1855) -- the first post-Nelson naval novel that wasn't about Nelson's era.

Austen, Marryat, and Gaskell were also discussed, as were a goodly number of memoirs of men who served during these eras.