9
As promised! No cat pics as I post pics of them under my known profile and you know: better safe than sorry.
Anyway, it's already an adventure. I had a plan: Firecracker in the kitchen to slowly feel safe and at home, and a slow introduction.
WRONG: Firecracker felt at home as soon as she saw me in the shelter, and wasn't having it with staying in the kitchen. She escaped and met Cat Princess. Unfortunately, Cat Princess started yodelling and Firecracker didn't appreciate that.
So for now Firecracker stays in the living room & kitchen, Cat Princess in the hall and bedroom, and I divide my time, swap textiles with their scents, and the likes. Both girls get attention & love, Cat Princess is for now the only one allowed to be with me when I sleep. I hate the term but my bedroom has always been her safe space.
Sometimes Cat Princess does wander into the living room as she can open the door (why????), and as long as they don't see each other, it's fine. In fact: Firecracker was under a blanket on the couch, Cat Princess jumped in the couch to cuddle with me, and basically sat on Firecracker. No sound and they must have known.
Cat Princess seems to want to make amends, Firecracker is still mad and growls like a goddamn pitbull.
So, we are taking baby steps. I grew up with cats but I've never had a cat who felt right at home with me. Usually they need time but Firecracker is special. It's just day 2 so I'm not worried yet.
Feel free to give advice to make the transition a bit smoother.
Few important things:
Well, there's the update!
I enjoyed The Story Of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel. There's other books on women's art history, but this one's the only one I've been able to get my hands on so far, so unfortunately I don't know how it compares.
One of the (too many) books I'm currently reading is Women Warriors: An Unexpected History by Pamela D. Toler. So far it's promising.
The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss is fabulous--I could not put it down!
Jennifer Worth's memoirs (Call the Midwife series) discusses the lives of women in the slums during the Baby Boom, but Jennifer takes the time to discuss historical events that relate to women.
Before her books, I was completely unaware the English government past a law that allowed women and girls over the age of 13 to be taken by police on suspicion of carrying venereal diseases. Jennifer tells us the story of one 13-year-old girl who was taken, and Jenny describes in uncomfortable detail how the police would put pliers to the cervix and pull on it 😱
Not a historian, so I tend to read glimpses of history* not so much the overarching historical thomes. Here is a list of a few I recently** finished--take it or leave it!
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After; Little House on the Prairie series; Florence Nightingale; Overture of Hope: Two Sisters' Daring Plan That Saved Opera's Jewish Stars from the Third Reich; The Personal Librarian; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; The Story of My Life (Helen Keller); Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women's Struggle for Reproductive Freedom; The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State; The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty; My Life in France (Julia Child); Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide; Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx; From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death***; First: Sandra Day O'Connor; In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom; History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know; I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban; Becoming (Michelle Obama); I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
*Sometimes history is very recent... **In the last 5 years ***I count this as women's history because women took care of the dead until very recently
Caliban and the Witch is a great book that connects women's oppression to the growth of capital accumulation.
My personal favourite:
https://archive.org/details/womenofideaswhat00spenrich/mode/2up
I just got a copy of this, haven't started it yet:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442293/femina-by-ramirez-janina/9780753558256
I would recommend the classic Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles. I read it after seeing it recommended multiple times here on Ovarit and I can honestly say it changed my life.
I think I remember recommending it. Yes, agreed.