Capitalism: a global history

Capitalism: a global history by Sven Beckert (2025) 1325 pages

Full disclosure – I have not finished this yet.  Hardly anything makes me happier than a book with 200 pages of notes – unfortunately the font size for the note section is considerably smaller than the text, forcing me to use a magnifying glass as I flip to the notes. Humor aside, this book is a monumental achievement. Following in the footsteps of the incredibly detailed overview of the ubiquitous economic system published by Thomas Piketty -- Capital in the Twenty-First Century in 2014 which received tremendous attention for a book on economics, this tome takes a similar approach, using historical datasets and archives. Beckert, an acclaimed Harvard academic, is a gifted researcher and accomplished writer.  If you think of capitalism as water, you can trace the history from a droplet to a rivulet and on to the ocean -- many rivers to cross. And the waterways are worldwide, including the Tigris, Yangtze, Rhine rivers, the Caribbean and Red seas, a whole world of water – i.e. capitalism. Traditionally the origin of capitalism is attributed to Adam Smith circa 1700s, but the Beckert defines the economic model more broadly, extrapolating the role of traders – his first example in the port of Aden in Yemen circa 1100-1200 – as prototype capitalists. The traders acquired capital and worked to grow that capital by expanding trade networks, increasing their fleets, and delegating to subordinates. Beckert’s Capitalism is everywhere -- regardless of the ideology of the client state.  The epilogue is inconclusive; there is no way to predict the future of capitalism, but he does emphasize the lack of sustainability of the current pernicious manifestation of this economic system.

The Librarians

The Librarians (2025) by Sherry Thomas, 354 pgs. 

You often find a very interesting cast of characters working at your local library. This small branch in the suburbs of Austin, Texas is no different. Hazel, the newest clerk, just moved back to escape her mysterious past. Astrid, one of the librarians, keeps up a facade at work--hiding heartbreak and other secrets. Jonathan, a hulking ex-veteran and football player, is dealing with his own troubles of the heart. Even Sophie, the branch manager, has a secret which could completely destroy her life. When two patrons are found dead under suspicious circumstances after attending a library event, the librarians must come together to investigate. The staff members must let go of their secrets and their pasts in order to solve this case before any more patrons get hurt. 

A mystery about messy library workers? Sign me up! This is a pretty fun read, although some of the secrets are definitely more interesting and/or believable than others. I would say overall I liked the characters, but the plot was a little convoluted. Still, as far as library mysteries go, this is not a bad place to start.

Everybody's Perfect

 

Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton, 272 pages.

The Serenissima is a world of mists and uncertainty, a mythical shadow of Venice and the crossroads of the nine worlds, and on a level of reality that is just a little less fixed than any of the worlds. Here anything can be true is people believe strongly enough that it is, and anything unobserved or believed in may disappear entirely.

It's hard to say exactly what this book is about. Structurally it passes from hand to hand through the peoples of the Serenissima, each story flowing smoothly into the next. It starts when Tiry dreams that the doge will marry the sea (which is strange because the Serenissima has never had a doge) and ends the next day when it comes to pass, but from one point to another it goes through many different lives, most of whom couldn't care less about the city having a doge.

This is a strange, dreamlike book that throws the reader into the deep end. For the first few chapters I had no real idea what was going on. However, as the world started to breathe (and I had enough context to understand anything), I found myself compelled. For a book that is less than 300 pages long, this is absolutely overflowing with ideas and contemplations on disease, perfection, faith, and love. I think this is a book that would have a lot to offer on a reread, and I could definitely see myself doing that in the future. 

This book is scheduled to be published 6/30/2026

How to Fake It in Society

 

 How to Fake It in Society by K.J. Charles, 320 pages.

 Titus Pilcrow didn't expect to marry the extremely old lady when he went to deliver her order of paints; but an unfortunate inheritance clause, a terrible nephew, and an unprosecutable murder nevertheless leave him a very wealthy widower. This attracts all sorts of hangers on, including the Comte de Valois de La Motte (Nico to his friends) who was planning to marry the old lady himself, and now hopes Titus is a rube who can help him out of an extremely sticky situation. However, when he finds Titus desperately in need of guidance to navigate society he hatches another plan, and has to hope that his growing feelings won't ruin the con, or maybe that the con won't ruin the feelings. 

This was a fun book! There was a little less con-artistry and hijinks than I was expecting, but I did still enjoy it. I really liked both Titus and Nico as characters, and found the writing pretty solid. I will say it is quickly fading from my memory about a week from when I finished it, so maybe not the most impactful, but a nice casual book.

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands

 Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole, 304 pages 

 

Originally published in 1857, this is the true story of a mixed-race Jamaican woman who travels around the Caribbean, Central and North America, and eventually to the Crimean Peninsula. Fans of Mark Twain, especially his classic travel stories in Following the Equator, A Tramp Abroad, and The Innocents Abroad will appreciate Mrs. Seacole’s writing style.        The best part of this book is that you really feel like you’ve gotten to know the author, which doesn’t always happen with older works.  At times she is terribly funny, and at others incredibly moving when she recounts caring for cholera patients.        As with any work from that time, readers should be prepared to encounter language about race that reflects contemporary attitudes.

Nine Goblins

 

 Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher, 160 pages.

Goblin troops aren't exactly elite, to put things mildly. They're smelly, rude, cowardly, and lack any intelligence to speak of. But when a troop of nine of them end up deep behind enemy lines after an unfortunate encounter with an enemy wizard, it's up to sergeant Nessilka to get her troops home safely. But despite its calm appearance, the forest they find themselves in is somehow even more dangerous than the battlefield they left, and Nessilka will need help if she wants to get anyone out of this alive.

This was a disappointingly unoriginal take on goblins from Kingfisher, who I expected something really interesting from. I was unsurprised to learn when I read the author's note that this was a reprint of her first book, which was originally self-published. It is still a fun, if fairly basic plot, but the amount of disbelief I had to suspend that the goblins hadn't driven themselves to extinction yet was a little hard to scrounge up. I would recommend reading any other Kingfisher.  

A Longer Fall

 

A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris, 291 pages.

After the dramatic events of An Easy Death Lizbeth Rose has signed up with a new gun crew for what she hopes is a pretty straightforward job guarding a crate into the neighboring nation of Dixie. Unfortunately, no such luck. A disaster leaves Lizbeth stuck in Dixie, whose conservative norms make it the last place she wants to be, trying to track down her cargo again. When Eli shows up she can't decide if it is a good sign or bad, she is happy to see him again despite herself, but it's also obvious he is hiding things from her. 

This was a fun book, quick and easy to read. I'm enjoying seeing a little more of this post-fractured United States setting. I do think that the plot was weaker in this book than the first one, and the pacing of the climax was a little strange, but I still enjoyed it. I actually listened to the GraphicAudio version of this audiobook on Hoopla, which made it even easier to consume, and I found myself sucked in. I expect to be listening to more of this series soon. 

The Summer Share

The Summer Share by Jenn McKinlay, 368 pages

When travel influencer Hannah stops at her late grandfather's vacation home on the Outer Banks, she assumes her inheritance will be a bit of a fixer upper, but home nonetheless. However, when she arrives, she learns that her grandpa only owned half the house, and the other half has been willed to Simon O'Malley, the grandson of her grandfather's co-owner. The pair of them must live there for two months, and then decide jointly to keep or sell the house, which seems to be a big problem as Hannah's determined to keep the house while Simon is dead set on selling it.

This was an OK romance novel, with a pretty standard setup for an uncomfortable shared space forcing the romance to the surface, and a ridiculously fantastic dog. My main quibbles are that the two main characters' voices don't change much chapter to chapter, which makes it hard to tell whose chapter I was reading at a given time (this is not helped by the characters' tendency to refer to each other by surnames). Also, there's a brief conversation about the viral "man vs. bear" question, which felt really out of place and came to some disturbingly bad conclusions (They agree that only women who have been traumatized by men would choose the bear? Seriously?? I'll happily rant about this to you IRL, if you want.) It was a small bit, but it distracted me SO MUCH from the rest of the book, that it's the main thing I'll remember. Well, that and the dog.

The Hospital at the End of the World

The Hospital at the End of the World by Justin C. Key, 400 pages

Pok is at the head of his class, with a bright future in medical school ahead of him. Or so he thinks, until he learns that none of the 12 biggest medical schools — all affiliated with the global AI-based corporation Shepherd Organization — have accepted him, and the only one that has is the AI-averse Hippocrates. A deft coder, Pok pokes around in the Shepherd application files to discover that his files have been tampered with and tries to fix the issues. His anti-AI dad and fellow doctor is convinced that Hippocrates is the right move for Pok, but after Pok's dad dies under mysterious circumstances, Pok realizes that he must flee to Hippocrates. And somehow he must avoid all technological tracking until he gets there if he wants to survive.

With so many technological advancements happening in medicine today, including the integration of some AI elements, this near-future tale functions as a giant flashing, honking warning of the problems that may be on our horizon. It's an interesting, though also terrifying, idea to ponder in this book, especially as Pok begins his classes at Hippocrates and learns how far behind he is by relying on technology to do the heavy lifting of medical care. I'd recommend this for fans of Cory Doctorow and others who amplify the technological issues of today in fiction.

The Sea Child

The Sea Child by Linda Wilgus, 304 pages

When Isabel was a young girl, she washed ashore in a small Cornish town, apparently orphaned by a shipwreck. A naval officer and his wife soon adopted her and raised her to become the wife of another wealthy up-and-coming officer. But after the Napoleonic wars soon made her a widow, and her discovery of her husband's poor financial choices left her penniless, Isabel moved back to that Cornish town to make a home for herself and possibly learn a bit more about where she came from. What she didn't expect was to get involved in piracy and be the source of local superstition that she's the child of a sea god.

What a captivating historical adventure! Filled with smuggling, espionage, and piracy, this novel encapsulates the word "swashbuckling" to a T. I enjoyed seeing Isabel's transformation from coddled to scrappy, and the antics at sea kept the plot moving. A good summer read for someone who always wanted to be Keira Knightley's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.