Books I Read November 28th, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you felt bloated and well-loved. I read these books this week.

Renewal Time by Es'kia Mphahlele – A collection of shorts from the doyen of South African fiction. I enjoy everything I get from Mphahlele, sharply observed mid-century prose in unfamiliar settings. Miss Plum is really gorgeously nasty.

Imagined Cities: Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel by Robert Alter – Alter chronicles the changing perception of the modern city through a selection of novelists. Basically I just was so enjoying Alter's translation of the Old Testament that I didn't like the idea of being finished. I virtually never read this sort of literary criticism so I vaguely enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself through it. Apart from those two caveats there were a lot of thoughtful stuff in here, I appreciated someone explaining to me what I didn't get out of Bely and it actually made me want to give Dickens another shot. Take that as you'd like.

São Bernardo by Graciliano Ramos – A self-made rural tyrant laments his brutal past.