Books I Read March 27th, 2022

I will tell you a secret: sometimes, I make myself read books even when I don't really want to.

Every Man a Murderer by Heimito von Doderer – A conventionally minded young German man finds a new sense of purpose in investigating his sister-in-law's death. About a 100 pages into this, and despite there being nothing directly anti-Semitic in the text, I got the (later confirmed) impression that Heimito was a Nazi. Apart from it being the only apolitical book I've read written in Central Europe between the wars, there's a lot of that strand of German self-obsession which runs through Nietzsche and back (at least) to Goethe, a style of writing/thinking in which enormous and elaborate attention is paid to one's moods, as if they were storm clouds seen from a leaky vessel. At its most extreme this becomes a form of introversion which mythologizes selfishness, and, imagining genuine morality to be conventional and common (when of course it is nothing of the kind), assigns unjustified weight to ethical transgressions. All that said there's some sharp and funny stuff in here, the book is structured in a really interesting way, with the first 2/3 being sort of a backwards bildungsroman turning abruptly into a murder mystery. So, yeah, some mixed feelings on this one but I couldn't honestly say I hated it.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy – A month-long dance marathon (apparently a real thing during the Depression) reveals the degradation of the human condition. The sort of noir which makes Andre Gide look like Mitch Albom.

Salka Valka by Halldor Laxness – TK

The Silentiary by Antonio di Benedotto – A highly strung middle manager is driven insane by urban noise/modernity. There are five different housing projects being erected within a two block radius of my house (no foolin'), so I was sympathetic to this one, and it certainly sets out what it means to do, if, you know, somewhat predictably.

Little Snow Landscape by Robert Walser – Collected short fictions by everyone's favorite eternal innocent. I like Walser in small doses but honestly after a couple of pages it feels like being force fed bonbons. Maybe that's me.

Dead Calm by Charles Williams – A competent if dated commercial thriller.