Books I Read August 21st 2023

I spent the week in bay-swept inlets, at Methodist sing-alongs, inspecting prize-winning chickens, and reading the following.

The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn – The fractured testimonials of a mixed crew of humans and androids going mad on a spaceship in a distant galaxy. Weird and funny and sad.

Not Russian by Mikhail Shevelev – A loosely fictionalized apologia for the crimes of post-Soviet Russia by a dissident journalist.

The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell – Burnouts, bereaved fathers, brutalized woman and Civil War monsters occupy this selection of shorts from the Ozark's (favorite?) child. Woodrell is an excellent writer, effortlessly shifting between genres, with a sympathetic if judgmental eye for the flaws and tragedies of his cousins and characters.

Fatale by Jean Patrick Manchette – The eponymous wreaks havoc on a town of bourgeois monsters. Still lots of fun.

The Last Day of the Terranova by Manuel Rivas – The closing of his bookshop in a small Gallician town occasions reminiscences on revolution, woman, drugs, nostalgia, etc. I liked it page by page but found the end too neat.

Mightier than the Sword by KJ Parker – A princeling in an alternate world Byzantium investigates a series of pirate raids, considers the importance of literature.