Books I Read June 1st, 2026

Been a while. May was a busy month, too busy to read much or even chronicle that modest catch. But a good one! Mine are healthy and well, at the moment, at least, and that's all there is.

Riders inn the Chariot by Patrick White – This was a big part of the reason I didn't read much in May. Most of the stuff I've been re-reading has been noir or short, punchy weird fiction, this was the first really significant thing I've worked through. And it was well worth the effort, a brilliantly written, surrealist fantasy of an almost-second-coming taking place in a suburb of Sydney. White's vision of God is so strange and potent, a searing vision of the impossible beauty and awfulness of existence, that I could only read it in bits. It sat on my night table a while kind of challenging me to get back to it. The language is incredibly good, almost every sentence feels fresh and strange and needs to be considered closely for meaning, but the work invariably pays off. A side plot depicting the pair of demonic crones supernaturally willing their neighbors towards mob violence compares to Dostoevsky in its insight into the savage punishment life enacts for selfishness and cruelty. And it's heroic cast of outsiders, ruined creatures united in their shared capacity for suffering, is equally uplifting and tragic. I think I'd have to put this somewhere on the list of top novels of the 20th century, full stop. Definitely pick it up if you don't mind a challenge.

The Strangers in the House by Simenon – A washed up lawyer, long given over to introversion and alcohol, is stimulated back to life by the discovery of a corpse in an unused bedroom. This is great literature but second rate mystery, with a fascinating anti-hero and an arbitrary conclusion. Still lots of fun.

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller – A pair of couples in rural post-war Britain feel things, notice the weather. I didn't hate it, but it does feel like something that would be shortlisted for the Booker.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood – A lovely little novel about growing old, loving a man, Los Angeles, time and death. Isherwood's surrogate is sad, desperate, sympathetic, and admirable. Life-affirming though never mawkish

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky Brothers – Maybe the best sci-fi book of all time? Re-reading it I was struck by how interesting it is that it's set in America, and also how structurally strange and fun it is. Scary and mean and smart and sad and sweet.

War of Time by Alejo Carpentier – Short stories by an under-appreciated master. You can see the similarities between Marquez, but on balance these more resemble Borges, tightly-crafted pseudo-mysteries set in vividly limned antiquity.

Man on Fire by A.J. Quinnell – A hollowed out superkiller discovers his humanity through his relationship with a child he's sworn to protect, goes on a mission of vengeance one she's killed, becomes an Italian folk-hero, in this enormously enjoyable basis for about 5 different films and television. Although this is weirder and more fun than any of those, a first rate pot-boiler with sharp, funny language. I totally enjoyed this.

During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase – The loves and feuds of a country matriarchy as written by the collective spirit of the youngest generation of woman. A profound and illusive depiction of family, gender relations, and the hard edges and soft contours of the human spirit. This remains a really excellent book.