The Penguin Book of Pirates

Edited by Katherine Howe.

@storkmuffin .... seems like something that may interest you! I have to say I am intrigued by this book and author!

A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself

Katherine Howe

I finished this book. I listened on audiobook, and it fits in with my Black Sails theme of late. The book merits a B- from me. Competently written, engrossing enough to finish, but would not recommend to a friend.

Most favorite bit: Someone shoots John-something-or-other (never named), the peg-legged young cook on Ned Low's pirate ship, right in the gut, as he stokes the embers under the suckling pig he's cooked.

Spoiler filled thoughts under the cut:

The book structure is quite sturdy & simple: In the 1930s, a Radcliffe student brings a spinster professor an old looking manuscript she says she found, which is an 18th century memoir of a girl, Hannah Masury, who went pirating disguised as a boy in her mid teens, and describes the location of a buried pirate treasure. The professor and student go on a trip to find the treasure. The manuscript and story of Hannah Masury, girl pirate, is sprinkled throughout.

The author's note at the end states that Howe comes from sailing people, that she sails, herself, etc, and so she definitely isn't someone who watched Black Sails, the show that ended in 2017. (The author's note is dated 2023).

BUT I WONDER.

Not only does John-something-or-other appear in the Hannah Masury memoir, but the woman professor encounters a Captain Flint (whom she notes is "improbably named" that) who takes her to the place where she thinks the treasure may be buried.

The manuscript the student, Kay, finds turns out to be Treasure Island fanfiction that Kay wrote in order to scam her professor into drumming up the funds to go on this 'treasure hunting' adventure so that Kay can get a lot of media attention in order to gain publicity to jumpstart her Hollywood ambitions.

So, it's a scam artist story - which I don't like, obviously. It's a story about a liar, which I also don't like. SIGH. I guess there's no way to tell a Treasure Island prequel or fan story without this element?

It also made me think about fanfiction in general. The writing and characters of the Hannah Masury memoir is vastly superior in verve to the dull-as-dishwater boring-queer-spinster-gets-conned-by-student framing story that I kind of wish there wasn't a need for the framing story at all. It dragged me down. The author seemed to also find her boring character - the one 'pursuing' the treasure who is also the one who gets conned - a deadweight. Cut all that out and just write me an AU with a genderbending girl pirate! LIke a fanfic author would! Because in the end, the professor finds the actual treasure, which is real, hidden inside an old writing desk in an archive of a historical society - so this is a fantasy anyway, but it doesn't come by its thrills in a good faith fashion. By reaching for "prestige" the author saddled her actually inspired, fun story (about the girl pirate Hannah) with this deadweight middle aged academic who is a boring dullard.

Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe #BookReview #AudiobookReview #September2023Books #AmericanHistory #Biography

The bestselling authors of #Vanderbilt return with the history of the #Astors, and how they built and lavished their fortune. #AndersonCooper #KatherineHowe #Bookreview #newbooks #biography #americanhistory #harpercollins #blackstoneaudio #bargainsleuth

The number one New York Times bestselling authors of Vanderbilt return with another riveting history of a legendary American family, the Astors, and how they built and lavished their fortune. The story of the Astors is a quintessentially American story–of ambition, invention, destruction, and reinvention. From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until…

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(via Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Katherine Howe , Anderson Cooper)

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Mass Hysteria & Dark Academia Connections

Hysteria & Women have a long and tense relationship (not going to dive deep here - if you just type those words into a search engine you will see *so many* results). However, there's plenty of interesting commentary on the power behind or because of mass hsyteria.

The Salem Witch trials are a popular proving ground for this in American media. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is the tip of the iceberg here. I want to point out two recent works of media that home in on the intersection of mass hysteria and the academia - specifically high school girls and who gets believes/who gets to speak up in the public arena.

Conversion by Katherine Howe is a 2015 dark academia YA novel with a dual narrative. One takes place in a 21st century intense all-girls college prep school, St Joans while the other takes the same story from Miller's The Crucible and alters the narrative perspective. These two narratives weave back and forth on each other with the main narrator in the 21st century even reading and analyzing The Crucible to form her own conclusions on what is going on with the girls at her school. Howe was inspired to write the novel when 16 girls in nearby LeRoy, NY all ended up experiencing a slew of similar physical symptoms. The book takes a deep look at what controls the lives of young women and what power these girls hold over their own lives and voices in both the modern day and earlier in American history. I can't say it is a favorite book of mine, but what Howe has done is fascinating! If you have any interest in public perception of hysteria I'd adore hearing what you think of the book.

Now onto the film - The Falling is a 2014 British mystery film starring Maisie Williams (oh, and introducing Florence Pugh so it looks a little star-studded in retrospect). It is an unsettling film that is, similarly to the 21st century timeline of Conversion, set at an all-girls school. It follows two best friends, a growing obsession, and power and control regarding sexuality. Then death and mysterious fainting spells increase resulting in psychiatric wards and the shutdown of the school. Sex, power, death, friendship, and yes, hysteria, all feature on screen here.

Together it is fascinating to lump together and connect the thread (and the mental thought is perhaps stirred as I also just read Mary Beard's Women & Power about who gets to speak in the works of the classical Western literary canon) of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Conversion by Katherine Howe, and The Falling directed by Carol Morley. Perception, belief, hysteria, and female power concoct some fascinating discussion about voices in today's world.

13 year old tea

designs // first meeting

shiny duo pokemon au "Pokémon’s Shiny Jewels Sun&Moonstone" by @wyvernspirit and I

ALL of the animorphs audiobooks are available NOW on libro.fm!!!

(via Katherine Applegate! )

an alternate universe where katherine absolutely decks jack during something to believe in

guys this is how it SHOULD have gone. Trust me i was literally there when it happened.

‘Conversion’ by Katherine Howe

Okay the plot was interesting but- personally I hated the historical part of it- like- It was so different and I couldn’t focus lmao- but like- it was a good book- so many plot twists-

Like-

I can’t even explain properly.

It’s just a complicated story in general-

I recommend it though.

(I had this book borrowed for so long lmaoo- oops-)

This is kind of historical fiction though-

Anyways.

9/10

i love how awkward people sound in minecraft live. like i used to think it was just bc the mojang team arent used to speaking on camera but even the streamer guests sound the same? maybe they dont get a lot of preperation time but it ends up kind of charming. the highschool presentation vibes of it all.

a single pale rose

I am tired, blissfully tired. Do you suppose that daisies feel blissfully tired when they shut for the night and the dews descend upon them?

Katherine Mansfield, The Complete Works of Katherine Mansfield

KNOW THY ENEMY, katherine + elena.

From Beyond (1986) dir. Stuart Gordon

the west end newsies cast performing king of new york at the big night of musicals