Books I Read February 27th, 2022

I wandered through Kiev about 12 years ago when I was playing itinerant, and thought it was big and fascinatingly weird and unwelcomingly charming. No one needs to hear any of my thoughts about politics. I read these books this week...

The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola – A razor sharp critique of capitalism and the burgeoning consumer culture then taking root in Paris, marred to the sort of mawkish romanticism common in literature of that era. A mixed bag, but worth the time.

Dead Boys by Robert Lange – Short stories in the 'meth-addicted Angeleno returns to his mother's house in Pasadena to obsess over his ex-wife' vein. Well-executed but predictable.

Ride on the Whirlwind by Sipho Sepamla – A fictionalized retelling of the 'Children's Revolution' in Apartheid-era Soweto. Fascinating if uneven.

Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by Chris Arnade – An exploration of America's economic and culturally abandoned. Most of the folks chronicled in this are a few steps up the ladder from the unhoused with whom I associate, but the essential injustice of the society which Arnade depicts, one which penalizes anyone incapable of or uninteresting in becoming a stockbroker, resonated. Good stuff.

Me, Detective by Leslie White – The inexplicably forgotten autobiographical adventures of a pre-war LA policeman is the ur-text for Chandler, Ross MacDonald, etc, creating almost full-form the image of the upright two-fisted detective, struggling to hold the line against a fundamentally corrupt society. Somehow this book hasn't been reprinted in 80 years, and to read it I had to go down to the LA central branch and collect it from the reserve stacks, but it was as project worth the effort and one I'd like to write more about soon.

The Axe by Ludvik Vaculik – In the days leading up to the Prague Spring, a dissident journalist returns to his village to ponder the life and career of his father, a sincere if imperfect communist. Excellent. A profound and sincere meditation on legacy, morality, family, all the important things. Vaculik was a great talent, and this is a gorgeous, complex, thoughtful book. Worth your time.

To Bury Our Fathers by Sergio Ramirez – A non-chronological, mythologized retelling of Nicaragua's bloody dictatorships. Fucking fabulous. Lurid, lyrical, bloody, fierce. Definitely a Bolano precursor, with lots of long monologues about tragic past misdeeds interrupted by really exact descriptions of a checker board or whatever. Anyway, excellent.

The OK End of Funny Town by Mark Polnzak – Short fiction.