Reviews - The Things They Fancied

15 reviews for:

This zine was fascinating! I was recommended it by a coworker and fellow librarian, and being the nosey little peasant I am, immediately went to buy it. I'm obsessed with reading about the infuriating nonsense that rich people love to drop big bucks on, so this was the perfect read for me. It's the closest I can get to rifling through a rich mf's medicine cabinet like a little rat, which is something I would totally do if I ever found myself in said rich mf's bathroom.

Like the author mentions, people of all classes love to spend money on stupid stuff, but often the most unnecessary and bizarre of purchases are made by those who have already spent money on literally everything else that exists on the planet. A person with 50k lying around might cash it in on a custom perfume tailor-made to their sensory desires. Or, if this were the 1700s, they might spend the equivalent of 11,000 present-day USD on pineapple. I could see this one zine easily turn into an infinite series spanning the gazillion years that man has walked this god forsaken earth. This was so much fun and such a quick read, and I was surprised but pleased to see it on Goodreads to give it a well-earned 5 stars!

tianajklol's review

5.0

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

layton93's review

4.0

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

futurama's review

4.0

funny informative lighthearted relaxing

enjoyable read. forced myself to read it slowly. was worth it. my new favorite factoid is about pineapples now

katiejames's review

funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

annmariereads's review

5.0

The second I read the synopsis of this book on NPR’s 2020 best books of the year list and saw the Fragonard cover, I immediately added it to my TBR and it did not disappoint!