New additions to “Steve’s Bookshelf”…
Those readers familiar with this website probably have visited the webpage “Steve’s Bookshelf” at least once. A new addition to the subsection “Non-Fiction Recommendations” is Matt Taibbi’s Griftopia. I also have introduced the new subsection “Stealth Reads—Books by New And Promising Authors” where you will find Donna Carrick’s The First Excellence and Carolyn J. Rose’s Hemlock Lake. Each of these books receives my recommendation, as does every book that appears on this page of my website. I should hasten to add that neither Donna’s nor Carolyn’s novels is related to Matt’s book—they are associated only in that they appear in the same update to this webpage. Matt’s blog can be found at the Rolling Stone website. Donna and Carolyn also have their own websites. All can be found on Facebook.
Matt’s book puts the financial meltdown of 2008-2009 under a microscope to reveal persons and actions that definitely will cause you to wonder about the future of our democracy—or should I say griftocracy? Donna’s book is a mystery-suspense novel set in China that features a group of westerners that are adopting Chinese infants and one Chinese-American girl that has more connections to mainland China than she realized. Carolyn’s book is also a mystery-suspense novel set in the Catskill region of upstate New York and involves a sheriff’s deputy who is trying to find himself while solving a murder related to an unpopular land development.
You heard about Carolyn in my review of Hemlock Lake, my blog post of June 26th last year. Take a look at that review again if you’ve forgotten the details. I also reviewed her books The Big Grabowski and its sequel Sometimes a Great Commotion on January 4th and October 28th of last year, respectively. These are hilarious comic-mysteries written with hubby Mike Nettleton—not so profound as Hemlock Lake but worth many a chuckle.
I have not reviewed Donna’s book. It was an education for me—westerners can gain an understanding of China and tell a damn good story filled with that understanding. I already knew that, of course—see Ludlum’s The Bourne Supremacy, number two in the Bourne trilogy (the book, not the movie!)—but Donna’s China is present day. There is a lot going on behind that Great Wall that we should know about. Donna’s novel will help you discover some of it.
Both Donna’s and Carolyn’s books could be placed in the “Fiction Recommendations” subsection. They are that good. But since they are not as well known as some of the authors listed there, I think it’s fair to single them out and give them a special place of honor. You will find their novels both thought provoking and entertaining. I guarantee it (warranty conditioned on you liking mystery-suspense novels, of course). For eBook addicts, I think both are also available in Kindle format.
I have not reviewed Matt’s book—not directly. Some definitions might be in order: Matt Taibbi’s griftopia = Simon Johnson’s oligarchy = Steve’s ruling elites. These all correspond to the class warfare now occurring where vast amounts of wealth are being passed from the middle class to the ruling elites, as I noted in my December 31st post from last year where I mentioned Matt’s book. After reading his book, I have returned to it many times. You will also enjoy his blog, as well as Simon Johnson’s, if you want to find out what happened to the world’s economy in 2008-2009 and what we’re failing to do about it now.
Let me just say that I have found someone to pass the torch to, at least for matters concerning the financial crisis in America and the scams Wall Street is perpetrating on the American public. Where my heroes Bob Kuttner (his book The Squandering of America is also on my shelf), Nouriel Roubini, and Simon Johnson (his book 13 Bankers, with James Kwak, is more sedate than Griftopia, but should be on my shelf too), are my age, more or less, and have led the charge (unacknowledged by Matt, by the way), Taibbi is a young blood whose mighty pen will strike blows at the griftocrats for many years to come, or so I hope.
As teasers, I single out two chapters from Matt’s book. The first is the introductory chapter describing how the griftocrats co-opted the Tea Partiers, turning them into mindless zombies ready to do the griftocracy’s bidding. The second is the one-chapter biography of Alan Greenspan (titled “The Biggest A$!&^#e in the Universe”), the previous leader of the Federal Reserve, who should be turned in at the Hague for crimes against humanity.
These two chapters are worth the price of the book alone. Matt’s expose of Ayn Rand as a pompous and illiterate cult hero isn’t too shabby either—this is also contained in the Greenspan chapter (Alan was a disciple, surprise, surprise). I personally prefer the satire found in my novel The Midas Bomb, but the latter is fiction and goes far beyond an attack on Ms. Rand. I recommend all the books mentioned in the next-to-last paragraph to anyone who wants to understand what happened to us in 2008-2009, especially Tea Party members, who need to find something really worth screaming about.
Thank you, Carolyn, Donna, and Matt. You are an inspiration to writers. You also have given me many hours of reading joy—and quite a few things to contemplate. And that, dear readers, is what reading is all about.
