Books I Read July 24th 2023

Hope you're not melting.

Last Call by Angus Wilson – An intelligent but frustrated grandmother must reinvent herself when she moves to a live with her intellectual son and his family. There aren't enough books about old people, because books aren't really marketed to old people and young people generally don't like being reminded that they are growing old, which is too bad because there's a lot of territory to be mined here. Wilson's depiction of unexceptional but admirable people requires a lot of talent, and I found myself enjoying this.

Forgotten Journey by Silvina Ocampo – Eerie children murder / are murdered in many of the 28 very short stories by Argentina's rediscovered matron of the surreal. Silliness aside I love Ocampo, and these works of enigmatic microfiction (few run above 1,000 words) had me puzzling over every sentence, trying to find the throw away sentence explaining each narrative riddle, sometimes coming to the conclusion they were deliberately inexplicable, and rarely caring either way, so masterful is the language and tone. Apparently she wrote a ton of stuff, I hope more is translated quickly.

Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes – Gen X's last great wastrel falls into penury, catching hold of a wide spectrum of French society on the way down. Combining a not-quite-completely-black satire of French society with the nostalgic anarchy of The Savage Detectives. Really, really fun, there are apparently two more of these and I'm excited to jump in.