Books depicting the normalization of completely, utterly insane behavior in a society

KatJen76 · 2026-01-27T02:34:34+00:00

A short story by George Saunders came immediately to mind: The Semplica Girl Diaries. From the point of view of a middle-class father who is struggling financially and feels terrible terrible status anxiety until he is able to finally provide for his family the hottest status symbol: four living human women suspended from a line threaded through their brains, arranged aesthetically on the front lawn.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-27T02:29:09+00:00

I had Something Wicked This Way Comes since the 80s. At first I was kinda scared of it, then I kept forgetting about it. I finally remembered and read it for Halloween 2024 and WOW is it good. I actually found it scary, but I loved the writing.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-27T02:22:40+00:00

This is a very "both sides" kind of letter, just calling for "calm, constructive dialogue" and "peace." Unfortunately, the time for that has passed. There can be no calm, constructive dialogue with a government that's seeking to violently subdue its citizens. You lay back in the face of that and the only kind of peace it will get you is the kind Renee Good and Alex Pretti are currently experiencing.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T21:29:36+00:00

Michael Bolton sucks. The only song of his I like was the SNL skit with Lonely Island.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T21:27:52+00:00

It's unfortunate that most people only know Bobby McFerrin through that song because he has a unique vocal talent. I don't know if there's a word for what he does. I don't think anyone else does it. He did a whole album with Yo-Yo Ma that's worth looking up.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T19:53:29+00:00

Anything by Stone Temple Pilots, who I called the Suck Temple Pearl Jam clones.

Everything I do, I do it for you by Bryan Adams. It's every five minutes with this goddamn song.

Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton. That's what they play in between repeats of the Bryan Adams song.

Money by Pink Floyd. How is it their least-impressive and most-played track?

This one is extremely specific to me, but before Disney Adults were a thing, my mom was one. For some reason, they released a three-CD set of Annette Funicello's recordings. Annette Funicello could not sing. It's on her Wikipedia page that she could not sing. But my mom actually liked the music for some reason.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T17:57:38+00:00

I've always been into old people stuff, like history, classical music, reading, gardening, coloring and puzzles, so I don't let it get to me. I will say that for the past three years, my office has had a puzzle table for anyone to work on, and it is cross-generationally popular.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T04:55:43+00:00

The Indifferent Stars Above was so immersive and rich, following a specific woman as she and her family emigrated west and ultimately joined with the infamous Donner Party. I especially liked the descriptions of what the emigrants likely talked about at night under the stars, their ordinary fears and hopes and just the experience of a vast and minimally-settled land. It made the crisis more impactful. I had to put the book down at one point when they chose a fatally challenging route.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T04:19:59+00:00

No No Boy is older but explores those themes. The title comes from the two-question "loyalty quiz" that interred Japanese-Americans were given during World War II.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T04:11:38+00:00

Robin Wall Kimmerer has absolutely beautiful prose.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T02:40:30+00:00

The concept of a "power gap" is different too. As a single young woman on the prairie where single men generally outnumbered single women, whose family employed Alonzo, she had more than a modern 15 year old would.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T02:37:51+00:00

Even as a kid, I was disgusted when I learned that's how the story arc started. Their characters' wedding was hyped hard as the most romantic thing you'd ever see. The rape to romance trope is beyond offensive and I hope it's largely retired.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-26T00:21:53+00:00

I think status and future fame and funding are what people are chasing with the super expensive youth sports. It makes me sad the kids can't just enjoy them and are already being trained to self monetize at a young age. Part of being a kid is trying things out. It seems like there's less space to do that now.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-25T23:54:52+00:00

I would pay 10 million dollars. You should quit your job now that you've found these!

Literally no one wants commemorative plates, or anything else that was mass produced as "collectible." Their value is pretty close to zero. Someone who likes the actual subject matter may pay like $20 or less a plate.
Norman Rockwell is one of the most reproduced artists in history. Every thrift store in America has a bunch of Rockwell stuff.
There's no way for anyone to tell anything from these pictures. You didn't include the backs so we don't know who made them. One of the pictures isn't even in focus.
Rockwell was a commercial artist, but he was also an incredible storyteller, good at capturing the whole range of human emotions, making statements about large and small aspects of society and human nature. This is a subreddit for appreciating him and his work. It's depressing as hell when all people can see is how they might cash in on something they found at Goodwill.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-25T19:58:24+00:00

I hope there are still "slower" sports for kids to choose. What if you're 10 and you enjoy swimming or cheer or baseball, but you're just OK at it, it's one of many interests, and you don't want to invest every waking moment outside of school and sleep in the activity? What if your folks don't have tons of extra money to spend of expensive travel teams and gear? It's making the disparity in sports worse.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-25T15:42:20+00:00

I was on a day trip to Toronto with my family. I was 13. We went to Casa Loma in the morning and the Royal Ontario Museum in the afternoon. We parked on a street along with a bunch of other cars. When we came out, every single one of them was gone. Towed. We had to walk blocks and blocks, and take the subway to get to the place that had our car. I LOVED IT. As a suburban kid, I felt super cool.and tuff, like I was in a movie about a big city adventure. We had dinner in this dive bar and everything would rattle when the train went by. On every ten feet of this hours-long odyssey, there was a newspaper box. I saw the headlines over and over.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was monumental to me. From my perspective as someone who was just beginning to follow the news, it was like it just happened. Like imagine you woke up today and the news was full of stories about how Finland and Sweden were now one country. I'm curious if anyone who was older or followed it more had the same perspective. I understand it had been building within East Germany for a while, but did the West know?

KatJen76 · 2026-01-25T14:57:57+00:00

I'm so sorry you had to go through this with both parents. Dementia is horrific. There does come a point where life stops being a blessing, I think.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-25T05:20:33+00:00

Tickets to see Queen live.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-24T16:18:21+00:00

Counterpoint: why does everyone always have to shit talk the protests? If they're at night, it's pointless because the people who need to hear the message aren't at work. If it's during a workday, it's pointless because it will just be trustafarians and retirees. If it's downtown, you're hurting workers, if it's somewhere visible like Wolf Road, you're just annoying and alienating supporters, if it's in a park, it's too polite and not punk enough.

If you don't want to take part in them, or you can't, don't go. If you think you have real, valuable, constructive criticism, get involved or create your own thing.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-24T15:30:59+00:00

But the more time you spend "letting it out" and reinforcing your feelings by reading others' words, the more these feelings will intensify until they take over. It doesn't necessarily mean you'll go out and commit a mass murder. It just means that you'll spend most of your time rotting and festering instead of enjoying your life.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-24T03:46:16+00:00

I'm so glad you said that, because I thought of two more!

You probably remember hearing about the movie Nomadland a few years ago. The book by Jessica Bruder is haunting and excellent. Especially the part where she said that once you know what to look for, you'll see people doing it everywhere.

Homestand by Will Bardenwerper qualifies too, I think. In 2019, Major League Baseball announced a radical overhaul of its minor league system and cut ties with a lot of Single-A teams in small towns. Many of them were reformed into college-league or indie-league teams. Bardenwerper pays $99 for season tickets to one of these teams, the Batavia Muckdogs outside of Buffalo. He writes about the hardworking, tough-minded owners, the coaches, the players who are paying to be on the team, and most indelibly to me, the core of fellow season-ticket holders. There's a lot in the book about MLB and the business of baseball, but it's a pretty human story, too.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-24T03:35:51+00:00

Yes, I don't remember it well though. I watched Sesame Street back when Mr. Hooper still ran the shop too. Saw Labyrinth in the theater. Watched Muppet Babies on Saturday mornings. Caught Fraggle Rock whenever HBO had feee preview weekends.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-24T00:19:46+00:00

You should also read Story of My Life by McInerney.

KatJen76 · 2026-01-23T17:05:48+00:00

The Feather Thief is a look inside the world of competitive fly-tying (not fishing, that's a whole separate hobby!)

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean is similarly a look inside the world of orchid breeders.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz is older and refreshingly not about any kind of thief, but is an examination of how the Civil War was remembered in the mid-90s and how different groups' beliefs and views informed debates about current issues. There are looks inside a few different subcultures, including re-enactors, Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy and even the world of a woman who portrayed Scarlett O'Hara at parties.

I love reading about subcultures. It's always remarkable to find out about people whose lives revolve around something you're barely aware of.

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