Hey there! I read just two books this month… the second one was fairly dense and I took a lot of notes. Here they are!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: a Savannah Story, by John Berendt.
This novel-like nonfiction book was a huge sensation in the 90s, and I read it now because I have a novella set in Savannah. I’m not surprised that it was so difficult to translate into film, because the structure is odd. The first half of the book is essentially sketches of the various colorful characters the author met in Savannah, and the second half is all about how Jim Williams was tried four times for the same crime: the killing of his lover and assistant Danny Hansford.
This makes it sound like the first half of the book would be boring, but it’s not, because the characters are fascinating. Considering this book was written a while back, I think Berendt gets credit for the nonjudgmental portrayal of a transgender performer, Lady Chablis. I think he was also more than a bit in love with her, and it was easy to understand why.
I would especially recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Southern folk magic, which plays a big part in the trials.
Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, by Ha-Joon Chang.
This was from my “50 Books That Might Make Me Smarter” list, and it certainly made me more informed.
“Bad Samaritans” is actually a pretty bad metaphor for proponents of neo-liberal economic policies, but then again, The World Is Flat was a poor metaphor on Thomas Friedman’s part. Economists should probably enlist the help of poets when they write books. Chang is a much better prose writer than Friedman, and he has a thorough and scathing criticism of Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Chang argues convincingly that most rich countries became rich partly through protectionist measures that nurtured “infant industries.” His discussion of the dramatic economic rise of the country of his birth, South Korea, was particularly persuasive. He also makes the argument that state-owned enterprises are not all bad — look at Singapore Airlines, for example.
Occasionally he would point to a country that didn’t do well at a certain time and say, “Neo-liberalism!”, and it would occur to me one or more other factors — a fragile environment, a health epidemic, the rise of criminal cartels, a succession of corrupt military regimes — had also hurt the country economically.
I was not at all convinced by his argument that patent and copyright laws should be weakened. I think he drastically underestimates money as an incentive for invention, and as someone who has had her creative work stolen and pirated, I’m a very hard sell.
When you don’t know much about a topic, there’s a danger of reading one book and being persuaded by the author’s arguments without reading any counter-arguments to them. I would need to read much more on the topic before having a strong opinion myself. But I learned a ton from this book, and I highly recommend it.
If you’ve read something you loved lately, or if you have thoughts about Savannah, global economics, or murder, let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt is an incredible read, while getting an inside glimpse of Savannah social circles. If you’ve ever been to Savannah, Ga you’ll understand this was not a far fetched story. I loved it and am looking forward to Bad Samaritan by Ha-Joon Chang.
We actually started reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil right after going to Savannah… it was great because we had just seem all the placed it talks about! Savannah is such an interesting place. Thanks for reading, Christine!
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I’m currently lost in the world of Sang in Delilah Dawson’s Blud series. I’m on the second book, Wicked As She Wants. Great world building, a little bit steam punk, a whole lot quirky…really enjoying it.
Delilah Dawson… I think she might have been in that Southern gothic anthology I read a few months back! Either way, sounds terrific!
Hi sweetie! I always like to read your posts on books. Because one can never have too many books on her to-read list. 🙂 I’m currently reading ‘The Bone Woman’ which is written by a forensic anthropologist who worked on teams digging up mass graves and gathering evidence in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Croatia to prosecute war criminals. She doesn’t talk a lot about the larger historical, sociopolitical context or describe the atrocities ahead of time. She just tells you her day to day life, and job tasks, and what it was like performing that work. It’s deeply disturbing and painful to the reader to even hear what that entails but of course she has to keep a professional distance to be able to do the work. Which, sometimes that slips obviously. This is illuminating for so many reasons. The news tends to focus on the bloodshed of genocide and war then move on to the next headline. But how do people rebuild, continue living among the same people who killed their loved ones? How do you find out what really happened when there is so much spin by governments and when so many people are invested in keeping secrets. I admire this woman and value greatly the work that she is brave enough to do. A lot of the book is spent describing how badly her boss/coworkers get on each other’s nerves. It’s next to impossible it seems to do that work and be chipper with each other. Anyway, that’s my latest read. I’m not quite done but I hope to finish today.
Good post, Bryn. My Kindle reads in May 2016 included a new contemporary romance and a new Regency romance:
Lizbeth Selvig’s Going Out on a Limb novella is a great contemporary romance with a solid story and the best handling of the patient/provider (boss/employee, etc.) conundrum that I’ve seen. The secondary characters are interesting, including Miri’s horse-obsessed niece Daria. Fun phrases include Jace’s “ugly pickup with its strangely comfortable seats.” Want something longer? Check out the Seven Brides for Seven Cowboys series and other books by Lizbeth Selvig.
Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt (book 10 in her Maiden Lane series) is a good, angsty Regency-era read for fans of the series. It’s the most effective and convincing rake-with-a-hidden-heart-of-gold story I’ve read to date. This novel is not a gentle, clean read—it’s not supposed to be. Nothing paranormal. There is a Happily Ever After (HEA). Content note: mature sex, memories of childhood abuse and trauma, homicidal orgies.
Bryn, I found Hoyt based on your Thief of Shadows recommendation in your post, 20 Books That Changed My Life. My favorite Hoyt book is Dearest Rogue (#8 in the Maiden Lane series)—start there if you want something sweeter—the adventures of blind Lady Phoebe and her horse-loving body guard with the bum leg, Captain Trevillion.
Aww Kathryn, I’m so glad you like Elizabeth Hoyt! I can’t wait to read this one. I like them dark and gritty sometimes. I’ll have to check out Lizbeth Selvig! Thank you so much for sharing.