Current Listen: Alexander Hamilton by Rob Chernow
Hello friends! Happy holidays! It's been a crazy time (just did my fifth performance of the weekend), so I thought I'd get you caught up on how my reading life is going.
First, a little while ago I finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This is a nonfiction book about Savannah, Georgia in the early 1980's. This book was later adapted into a movie starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey (two of my absolute favorites). The book portrays Savannah as a town that is very resistant to both outsiders and change, which, according to Berendt, is the perfect atmosphere for eccentricities to flourish. My personal favorite character (and I think most people's favorite) is the Lady Chablis, a larger than life drag queen who is a tourist attraction in Savannah with her outrageous personality and even more outrageous gowns.
The book focuses on a murder that took place in Savannah in the early 80's. Jim Williams, quite the character himself, is accused of murdering his assistant, Danny Hansford, who may or may not have also been his lover. Berendt befriends Williams, giving him total access to the inner workings of his home, Mercer House, which is filled with invaluable objects such as an extensive Fabrege collection and is still a tourist attraction in Savannah today. Savannah is incontestably the main character of the story, and Berendt does a wonderful job of telling that story while also incorporating Jim Williams' four trials (the record in Georgia for the most trials for the same crime). This book completed the "book with antonyms in the title" portion of my reading challenge.
Next, I finally finished Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, one that has been on my reading list for a very long time. Now I can finally see the movie! The story takes place in a dystopian future in which humanity is fighting off an alien race. Ender is a young boy who is chosen at age 6 to be trained for military command at the Battle School. He must grapple with growing up in a world in which most children are not given the chance to do so. He struggles to maintain his humanity and empathy when everyone around him needs him to become an alien-killing machine.
This book started a bit slow for me, but as the story went along I became very interested in the way Card immerses his readers into this alternate future and into Ender's mind. It was difficult to read this book from the perspective of a teacher, since most of the "teachers" in this book are abusive and manipulative. The book was published in 1985 and has been really influential in the further development of dystopian novels written for young people.
Finally, last night I finished the final installment of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series, Library of Souls. I love, love, love this series by Ransom Riggs. Riggs began collecting old, strange photographs, and he uses them to create a story about children with supernatural abilities.
The resulting story about Jacob Portman, a boy who discovers that he, too, is peculiar, is a wonderful adventure story filled with incredible characters that are for the most part based on these strange photographs. I plan to eventually read them again.
Alright. It's getting very, very close to the end of the year, and I have a few things left to read that are stressing me out a bit. I still need to read Let It Snow, but that one I've been holding off on on purpose. I have started Far From the Madding Crowd, and that's going better than expected so far. The problem is that it's really hard to focus on that when the last Lunar Chronicles book is also sitting on your shelf and will not renew from the library, so that's happening presently. I'll get it done, though, since it's break. Youtube is also still happening, and you can check out my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/eleanorrigby7390/videos
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and for now, that's all she read!
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