Books I Read December 6th, 2021

Another week, during which I read these.

The Life of Thomas Moore by Peter Ackroyd – This readable history of Catholicism's first English martyr really hammered home to me how glad I am not to have lived in the middle ages.

Mother Spring by Driss Chraibi – A peculiar, challenging story of the advance of Islam/civilization into pagan North Africa. Chraibi is strange and lyrical and confounding as ever, though I am getting the increasing sense that these are not well translated.

The Book on Ending Homelessness by Iain de Jong – Probably unfair to give a capsule review of a book of this sort. It did reinforce how utterly awful LA's homelessness situation is, even by the standards.

The Years by Annie Ernaux – A history of the author as an archtype for her generation. Whistful and clever if sometimes self-indulgent.

The Fetish and Other Stories by Albert Moravia – Post-war Italians suffer existential breakdowns. Spare, clever and engaging.