Books I Read June 2nd, 2021

Spent the last few week sunning myself on hidden Cornish beaches, taking long London walks and rambling briefly out to Oxford, and not reading or writing so much, which is why I'm behind on this and not up to my usual standards. I plan to make up for it this week, which will be spent revisiting Brooklyn haunts, taking ferociously long treks out towards strange side corners of a city I once loved (and even wrote a book about). In any event, these are the books I read since the last entry.

The Floating Republic by C.E. Manwaring – A history of two mass mutinies by the British navy during the early (losing) portions of the Napoleonic conflict, during which the sea tars rose up and demanded an extra shilling and to be whipped slightly less often. I've largely lost my taste for this sort of minor military history but this was an interesting subject at least.

The Sandcastle Iris Murdoch – An aging Don reconsiders throwing over his shitty wife and crappy family for the love of a young artist. The characters are well drawn and the language is subtly skillful. My only complaint really is that it was English as hell, but then I've been up to my neck in that lately so its probably on me.

Rogue Justice by Geoffrey Household – Unable to assassinate Hitler, an unnamed, archetypal English big game hunter wages a personal war against Nazi Germany across southern and central Europe. Household is a ton of fun and this is cleverer than the synopsis.

Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginsberg – The mocking if ultimately loving recollections of the author's family, childhood, and life. Coming from a large, loud, sort of Italian family myself I found the power struggles and confused affections engagingly familiar, even if the Polansky clan did less to fight fascism.

People of the City by Cyprian Ekwenesi – A cad makes his way in a bustling metropolis, grappling with the morals and mores of modern Africa.

The Last Two Weeks of Georges Rivac by Geoffrey Household – A cosmopolitan businessman is drawn into the world of international intrigue. Competent but I didn't love it.

The Mask of Demitrios by Eric Ambler – A hack mystery writer is also drawn into the word of international intrigue, only some fifty years previous. Ambler was brilliant and has a real insight (one feels) into the authentically nasty nature of pre-War Europe, and there's a ton to like about this but also a few too many chapter-long monologues.

The Great Fire of London by Peter Ackroyd – An attempt to film Dickens results in a series of minor misfortunes culminating in terrible catastrophe. Caustic and well-observed..

Calamities by Renee Goldman – An experimental text intended to differentiate between the act of writing and the conscious progress of thought, I guess? I mean this isn't really the kind of book to which you give give a concrete summation.

So Long, See you Tomorrow by William Maxwell – A semi-autobiographical count of a youth spent in rural Illinois twinned with the fictitious history of a provincial murder. A poignant meditation on regret, love and despair. I dug it.