Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind

Is Margaret Mitchell's classic novel Gone with the Wind (affiliate link) a "love letter to racism and slavery"?

I watched my favorite movie, Gone with the Wind, at Easter 2025, and then I was struck by the idea of ​​rereading the book. I can't remember how many times I've read it before.

Scarlett O'Hara is a Southern beauty whose secure life is upended by the American Civil War. Scarlett is a selfish and hard-hearted woman, some might even describe her as cruel. 16-year-old Scarlett's life falls apart when the man she loves, Ashley, marries his cousin Melanie. In revenge for this, Scarlett marries Melanie's brother Charles.

Modern readers find Gone with the Wind's depictions of racism terrible. I personally don't understand why people should lie and sweep history under the rug. It would be worse if they pretended that certain things never happened. That's what is done a lot these days, for example with covid vaccinations.

 

 

Miranda Cowley Heller: The Paper Palace

I picked up Miranda Cowley Heller's The Paper Palace (affiliate link) from the library's free book section with the idea of ​​giving it to my mother to read. Luckily, I immediately went to Goodreads to read the reviews for this book. They said that The Paper Palace is full of child rape and incest.

Elle has a handsome British husband, Peter, and three children. Yet she yearns for her childhood sweetheart, Jonas. Which one will she choose? Definitely the wrong one.

Elle really started to make me sick because of her hatred of cats. White cats in particular make her sick. Well, Elle, you make me sick. Because of that hatred of cats, I hoped that something bad would happen to Elle. It was a vain hope, of course.

How many similar books have I read recently? One where a cheating woman draws lots between two men? What if the gender roles were reversed? Would the book get as much praise?

 

 

Book review: Stephen King's Holly

"The Best of King" - New York Times

"The Worst of King" - some random person online

I had already removed Holly (affiliate link) from my reading list, but I still borrowed it from the library in a panic. The supporting character Holly was first seen in King's Mr Mercedes-trilogy.

After Bill Hodges' death, Holly Gibney works as a private investigator. The mother of a missing young woman hires her to find her daughter. But there are more missing people. Is there a serial killer on the loose?

Holly is full of vomit-inducing propaganda. Of course, a Trump supporter and an opponent of covid vaccines must die, because that person is an evil and stupid person in every way. I hate it when covid is stuffed into fictional works anyway. Hey, hello, fiction is supposed to be an escape from reality.

The book is also literally vomit-inducing. If you can't stand cannibalism, don't read Holly.

I should like Holly as a character because I am a so-called different person myself. But I don't.

Does King write about old people as serial killers because he himself is old?

A completely disgusting work.

 

 

Dan Simmons: Song of Kali

I wanted to read Dan Simmons' book Song of Kali (affiliate link) only because one of my cats was named Kali.

In the book an author goes to India to retrieve a manuscript of a poet who has been presumed dead. Easier said than done. Of course, the family has to be dragged along to get some nice plot twists.

The evil Kali has her own, deadly cult. Kali demands, and Kali takes.

A rather racist book, even in my opinion. India is a dirty and disgusting place, the next step from hell.

This book accompanied me on a train ride. I skipped a lot of the text. I don't recommend Song of Kali to anyone.