In The Desert We Were Most Easily Ourselves

if you comment RECIPE she will dm you the sedative formula

Dónal Finn as Dick Turpin

I know this one is probably just for me but I needed to see him in costume.

The best ones have advice on decor, how to select high-quality furniture, childrearing, fashion, etc--from a contemporary perspective, and the things the authors feel the need to clarify vs the wild shit that will just casually mention like it's something everyone knows and agrees on is REALLY revealing of the culture and how it's shifted.

And while a lot of the advice is WILDLY bigoted or just outright funny, you'd be surprised how much of it is...just genuinely timeless, and shockingly compassionate.

They ALSO, as a writer, have INVALUABLE resources--because, again, they're talking about things that are so MUNDANE that a lot of the time nobody really sat down to formally document what normal, everyday people thought or cared about--because that's boring! But a book written to provide advice and information to, say, a young woman who's never run her own home before? You can fully expect an entire chapter dedicated to The Types Of Oven, and which features are useful and worth spending money on, and which features are a huge hassle to clean and a waste of space, and what to spend that money on instead.

And like. As a writer who frequently works in the 1800s? Fuck inflation calculators, this is the kind of thing I need. This is absolutely priceless.

Now that being said.

My current favorite 'etiquette guide' in the world is actually like....70% purely practical advice, written by a gentleman the groupchat has affectionately dubbed History's Most Autistic Man In The World, and thank god they didn't have Aderall back then

Because the AuDHD is strong in this one and as a result, in addition to the deeply practical and useful everyday reference points, we also have:

“If you’re not the beautiful one, the quick-witted one, or the ones that are good at games and full of youthful energy, then who are you? And what can you do if you’re the odd one out? Is it possible you’ll ever find a way to fit in?”

just the ol' nine-to-five

You think the devil has horns? Well, so did I But I was wrong, his hair is combed and he wears a suit and tie He's nice, polite, he'll catch you by surprise A smile so bright, he's the devil in disguise