I’d been looking forward to reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for quite some time. Ever since I read Capote’s In Cold Blood, I’ve been really interested in well-written true crime books, particularly ones written in the form of a non-fiction novel, a form that Capote pioneered. What I ended up getting was one but not really the other. This book isn’t really true-crime, although it has elements of that genre, and there is a murder at the heart of the narrative. But that’s not what […]
This is what happens when a comedian writes a true crime book.
Man, it’s been a really long time since I’ve had a book hangover, I forgot what it was like. I also forgot that you can usually tell when it’s about to happen. Towards the end of the book–which you have finished at all costs, ignoring sleep and food–you start to feel a little funny, like the boundaries between real life and book life have disappeared. And then afterwards, you’re just done. With books, with stories, with bathing. After I finished it, I ended up starting […]
Devastating, but entirely necessary.
Initially, I only gave this four stars because it was just such a difficult reading experience. And I don’t mean difficult as in skill level. I mean it in terms of emotional effort. I usually reserve my five star rating for those books that end with me fist-pumping in the air and running screeching around the room while my pores ooze out excitement and love, and this is not the sort of book that inspires that kind of reaction. I think this says a lot about […]