Books I Read Feburary 28th, 2024

February was, by and large, another month best seen from a rear view. I had a book released, should that be of any strong interest to you. I also read...

1919 by John Dos Passos – America goes to war in the second of Dos Passos' epic, tragic U.S.A. trilogy. A scintillating tableau of selfish people making cruel or foolish decisions, along with some slightly less effective literary flourishes.

The Man Who Snapped his Fingers by Fariba Hachtroudi – An Iranian interrogator and his former captive reconstruct their relationship, history while exiled in Europe in this paean to the power of love, false and true.

Skeletons in the Closet by Jean-Paul Manchette – A PI investigates a drug conspiracy in one of Manchette's more traditional, less effective efforts.

Living Better by Alastair Campbell – Tony Blair's head of communications discusses his lifetime of depression.

The Hunters by Jamers Salter – The author's experiences as a fighter pilot in the Korean war are reworked into this fascinating study of the nature of masculinity and violence. Reminded me a bit of Norman Mailer's Naked and the Dead (AKA, the not-shitty Norman Mailer book) in its pitiless exposition of the cult of the warrior.

A Scarcity of Love by Anna Kavan – Anna Kavan's shitty mother is the subject/target of this slim but still slightly interminable novel about weak-willed people controlled by the menacing egos of minor monsters. Elegant but self-pitying.

The Burnt Ones by Patrick White – A series of shorts about the repressed lives of middle-class Australians, Greeks. White is very talented but I might have hit my quota for vividly limned drawing room ennui.

Ambient by Jack Womack – A corporate soldier fights to survive a post-Apocalyptic NYC that's as much de Sade.