Books I Read April 22nd, 2024

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Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan – The personal history of an obsessive surfer. Finnegan is fascinating and a good writer though my more or less complete disinterest in surfing as an activity somewhat diminished my enjoyment of this . That one's pretty well on me, obviously.

The Scorpion's Head by Hilde Vandermeeren – Technically a novel.

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo – The son of the eponymous returns to his mother's village in pursuit of his patrimony to discover it is occupied by ghosts whose surreal misfortunes serve as commentary on Mexican history, though that's to simplify a fragmented and esoteric narrative. You can see how Rulfo served as an inspiration for Central/South American magical-realism, but there's a stark quality to the prose which keeps it fresh despite having waded through an awful lot of his epigones. Good stuff.

Parade by Hiromi Kawakami – Basically everything I have to say about this I say in the review to follow.

People From my Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami – Short stories squarely in the 'impossible things described in banal fashion' sub-genre. As a specimen, these are quick and weird and reminded me more of Etgar Keret then, say, Murakami. They're exceedingly light, but I enjoyed them.

Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth by Naguib Mahfouz – A narrator interviews the survivors of the reign of the eponymous Pharaoh (yes, I know I used eponymous twice here, deal with it), whose failed attempt to convert the Egyptian Empire to monotheism remains one of the more fascinating religious manias in human history. It's a great topic and I've liked things I've read from Mahfouz in the past but this was a little blunt for my tastes.