Books I Read October 5th, 2025

Autumn has arrived in LA. I wear my slippers in the morning but a tank top in the afternoon. Might need to make some apple butter—anyone got a food mill they recommend? As a rule, I dislike single use tools but having made it for several years by mashing the apples through a strainer I can tell you how much of a hassle that is.

Why Are We So Blest by Ayi Kweh Armah – A brilliant African student loses himself amid American academia, returns to Africa with a soulless harpy girlfriend intent on destroying him. Ruthless to the point of nihilism, particularly as regards interracial romance. Makes V.S. Naipaul look like a puppet in 'It's a Small World After All.' Bits of brilliance, but I'd regard it as a misstep from an enormously talented writer.

The Heroic Client: A Revolutionary Way to Improve Effectiveness Through Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed Therapy by Barry L. Duncan, Scott D. Miller, Jacqueline A. Sparks – If you get passed the horrible title, what you find is a scathing indictment of the modern mental health system, from its false identification with conventional medicine to its over-prescription of pharmaceuticals. Fascinating and insightful.

Flaxman Low, Occult Psychologist - Collected Stories by E. and H. Heron – A supernatural Sherlock Holmes investigates the surreal and impossible, written by a mother and son duo who themselves seem to have come from a pulp novel.

How to Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina – When I read last week's One Day I Will Write About This I was unaware that the author was 1) very famous and 2) dead. I was disappointed to discover both of these facts, the first because I like to feel that I'm outside of the mainstream and the second because Wainaina was a really talented, insightful writer, as this collection attests. While his writings about Westerners views of Africa are themselves sharp and funny (particularly in writing about the African-diaspora's perceptions) his writing about Africa itself are better, rich and thoughtful. His writing leaves you with the impression of a man who was never happy with a superficial reading of a situation, an outsider who brought his critical gaze to whatever he saw. We lost a great talent in his premature death.

Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan – An ex-con's good deed gets punished, embroiling him in a vicious Dublin gang war. Nasty and cleverly plotted.

The Hustler by Walter Tevis – This book still rules.