{"id":2792,"date":"2021-07-20T08:04:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T22:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/?p=2792"},"modified":"2021-07-20T08:04:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T22:04:11","slug":"488-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/488-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"488 Rules for Life: The Thankless Art of Being Correct, Kitty Flanagan, Australia, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This delightful book can be read cover to cover in one go, or else it can be spaced out between other books: either way it is worth reading.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/488-Rules.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"246\" height=\"390\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/488-Rules.jpg 246w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/488-Rules-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/488-Rules-170x270.jpg 170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 246px) 100vw, 246px\" \/>The 488 rules are either just plain common-sense or else slightly tongue-in-cheek, and the presentation (or is it just the fact that they have even been mentioned?) creates many laugh-out-loud moments. Anyone familiar with Kitty Flanagan&#8217;s stand-up comedy acts on the ABC will be able to see and hear her behind the words on the page. <\/p>\n<p>As she writes in the beginning of the book: &#8220;I think, deep down, people are crying out for rules. Once it was commonplace to look to published guides for advice on behaviour, protocol and etiquette&#8230; &#8221; and &#8220;&#8230; if you don&#8217;t know the rules, how are you supposed to abide by them? Which is why I say, thank god for me&#8230; &#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2797\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2797\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kitty-Flanagan-SMH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kitty-Flanagan-SMH.jpg 800w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kitty-Flanagan-SMH-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kitty-Flanagan-SMH-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Kitty-Flanagan-SMH-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2797\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kitty Flanagan from SMH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The rules &#8211; all 487 of them &#8211; are divided into different sections: Around the Home, Health &#038; Lifestyle, Parenting etc. (you have to read the book to find out about the 488th rule) and cover practically all aspects of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>The only criticism I would make of this wonderful book is Flanagan&#8217;s use of the American word &#8216;Mom&#8217; instead of the Australian &#8216;Mum&#8217;. It is difficult to know how this could have happened (should we blame the editor?), seeing as she makes a point of saying that we should not be using the American expression &#8216;candy&#8217; (Rule 401): &#8220;Embracing American tradition (Halloween) is one thing but let&#8217;s maintain our own language standards.&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_-NonVtxyAk\"><figure id=\"attachment_2795\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2795\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rule-62-YouTube.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2795\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rule 62 from YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><br \/>\nYou may not agree with every single rule in the book, but there will be plenty there to give you food for thought and a lot of laughs.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This delightful book can be read cover to cover in one go, or else it can be spaced out between other books: either way it is worth reading. The 488 rules are either just plain common-sense or else slightly tongue-in-cheek, and the presentation (or is it just the fact that they have even been mentioned?) &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"readmore-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/488-rules\/\">+<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}