The Graveyard by Marek Hlasko.

Marek Hlasko was not a favorite of the Communist Polish government in his final years but that hadn’t always been the case. He was a pre-teen during the Warsaw Uprising and subsequent Soviet offensive. These experiences marked him as a man. He became a truck driver and then a journalist. The Communist Party that would later be the bane of his existence initially opened the door for him to become a writer. Taking a truck driver and making him a writer/worker was right in the party’s wheelhouse. He became popular and well-known, both as an interviewer and short story writer. His life was not a happy one and he died in Germany at the age of 35. 

Hlasko's books are brief, reflecting his early days as a short story writer.  He manages to pack a lot into his novels, whether they be written in his ex-patriot years or while still in his native Poland. Reading The Graveyard is bound to conjure images of Kafka but, at the same time it dispels these images with a wildly different writing style. There is a wry, painful humor underneath Hlasko's indictment of the system. You might even say he is indicting all systems because the travails of his protagonist here, while more pronounced in communist Poland are not unheard of in the West.

The Graveyard was written in 1956 and is complete with references to Uncle Joe Stalin and echoes of World War II that are already growing fainter barely ten years later. His cynicism and tendency to point out the flaws and frailties of the system is poetic and often heartbreaking.

Strangely, I kept thinking of South Florida condominium boards while I read this. That is how he paints the apparatchiks of the party--mindless automatons upholding rules with a tired, bored sort of malevolence. From the police on the street to factory managers to a feared party boss, none seem actually concerned with communism's aim to reform society and humanity, with creating a "new man." They mouth the words, usually the exact same words, but there is nothing behind them. The fervor of revolution is long gone. There is no purpose except to keep one's head down. It is a book about a man who doesn’t want to compromise, believes he fought in the war for something and believes in the system until it demonstrates to him that it doesn’t deserve belief.

It may be that  Beautiful Twentysomethings (a memoir) or his book set in Israel, Killing the Second Dog are better, more realized, efforts but if that is true it is a near thing. Hlasko is a writer who deserves more acknowledgement, especially given the state of the world.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki.

Wow.

This is a book that is difficult to define. Is it science fiction? No. Is it horror? No, it is way too charming and pleasant (mostly) for that. There are spaceships and a demon on hand as well as deals with hell and discussion of a space plague. If it can be assigned a predecessor in literature I would nominate The Master and Margarita (perhaps my favorite book). So maybe we can call it magical realism, if we have to place it in a genre.

It is a story about music as much as anything. It tells the story through food and the interconnecting legacies of immigrants to Southern California (even immigrants from outer space) .The characters, after a few chapters, feel like family. You will worry about them--from their ultimate fate to their mental well being. I kept telling myself; “They are not REAL”

There are numerous side plots in the book but they all come together seamlessly, touching, connecting, weaving the pieces together. The book truly is about the immigrant experience as noted but it is also about being an outsider. It is about mistakes and it is also about redemption. For me redemption is always a great thing for a book to be about (even if it is only partly).

This book pulls you into a world where people so diverse in outlook and origin interact that you feel yourself trying to fit in. Really it isn't “a world” but WORLDS because from one character to another they are living in different universes (even when we are not talking about aliens).

Also…donuts.

After writing this I want a giant donut. 

The book is magical, fun and thought provoking. I really think there are a lot of people who NEED to read this book out there in the world now. I hope they do.

Experimental Film by Gemma Files may sound like a textbook for an elective film studies course you thought about taking during summer semester in college.

I assure you it is not. 

I really don’t want to give too much away about this book. I try to do that with all the books on this list, even the ones that are older than I am. Who wants a plot summary? Especially in a blog like this that is basically me keeping track of what I read.

Files writes horror and this is the first thing I’ve read by her. It will not be the last. There is something mesmerizing about the book, the subtle “realness” she manages in a book about ancient gods, the silent film era, autism and the vagaries of a career as a freelance writer. She creates this mood of vague dread that is both supernatural and existential throughout Experimental Fiction.

The book is both creepy and odd. Sometimes I was forced to go back and read passages again after thinking “Wait, what just happened?” There is a style , a use of language, a use of form here that is unique. Parts are written as Q&A interviews and others, where italics are used for emphasis, seem to reference communication that isn't exactly...verbal. There are  parts that seem almost like a diary. It is intricate and elegant writing. Maybe a hint of gothic horror? But it is so, so modern at the same time.

I was constantly visualizing while reading this, wanting to SEE it and know what it LOOKS like. This is partly because the book is about (in one sense) film, a visual media, but also because there are events happening that are spectacular and frightening. Your mind wants to see them. In some cases you CAN while in others it is abstract and supernatural.

In some ways I don’t think much of this COULD be rendered into the visual as it is the stuff of dreams–nightmares. I sure wish someone would try though. It is a unique story told in a unique way. It is a story you might not want to live in but it is certainly interesting to read about.

I actually read The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle earlier this year but forgot to post about it.

This is weird because I absolutely loved the book. Next to Lone Woman it is probably my favorite book by Lavalle (and that is saying something). Interestingly enough this is another take on the Lovecraftian  from the perspective of black characters. Earlier in the year I read the second Lovecraft Country book, The Destroyer of Worlds which also revises Lovecraft using black protagonists.

Part of why this is interesting, obviously, is the contrast with the inveterate racism of H.P. Lovecraft. Please don't tell me he wasn't really racist. That is nonsense....just accept it. You can be talented and a racist. 

This book, set in New York City in the 1920s, has the feel of a fable and is actually a novella rather than a novel. This is a good thing. It makes the author get right to the point but he still creates fully realized characters. As much as anything Lavalle has written this highlights his artistry and skill as a writer.

I didn't leave this wanting more like I did with The Destroyer of Worlds. I felt this story worked at this length and needed nothing else. It is a perfect piece of writing for the world between a short story and a novel. It reminds me a little of the novellas by Phillip Pullman from the "Golden Compass" world. It is actually better than most of those however and that is partly because of the freedom of being connected to no larger story.

Once again Lavalle impressed me. It no longer comes as a surprise.

Spook Street by Mick Herron is book four in the Slough House series. I started reading the series while I was still recovering from surgery earlier this year. I PURPOSEFULLY didn't read them fast because I didn't want to finish the series too quickly. After book 1 I felt I might be bereft if there were no more to read so I slowed down.

Really, I did.

These books just get better and better. The increase the humor and still manage to surprise (even shock). I've seen comparisons to the great spy writers--Graham Greene, John LeCarre etc and these are not hyperbole. They are classics.

I don't even want to briefly describe what this one is about Start reading them. You can scroll back to read what I wrote about the first three if you like!

Grendel by John Gardner gives a valuable new perspective we don't often hear--the point of view of the monster.

You are probably familiar with Beowulf. We've all read it, parts of it or seen a movie or tv show based on it. We know the basic story even when we HAVEN'T read or seen it. It is like Sherlock Holmes (to use a more recent fictional example). You know who he is even if you've never read a word of the source material.

Gardner's book is completely  the views of Grendel. In the old epics monsters were rarely given a point of view. Here he is, sometimes, eloquent (when he isn't disemboweling people or biting off their heads).  More important Gardner 's prose is mesmerizing and intricate. One character speaks with modern idiom but there is a reason for this--a reason I will let you figure out for yourself.  There are ruminations on the meaning of life, the lack of meaning, the mundane nature of evil  and the nature of time itself. This is truly the sort of book you keep thinking about after you are done. You may even pop back and re-read passages you just finished. But keep in mind here this book never "bogs down" or becomes tiresome. You want to know what is on the next page and then the one after that.

It is a short book, under 180 pages in the edition I read (pictured). You can easily finish it in a day or so, even when you backtrack here and there. John Gardner tragically died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 49 and he also wrote a number of academic books on writing as well as children's books. This book inspired me to buy a number of the academic books on writing.

Real Tigers by Mick Herron is the third of the "Slough House" books. It is a tough thing, without recounting plot, to discuss a series. These books follow the lives and drudgery of a group of discredited spies. As noted in my discussion of the previous two books they are civil servants that is is inconvenient to fire. And yes, ultimately spies for MI5 are civil servants.

So the denizens of Slough House are sent to basically count paper clips until they quit. But action seems to keep finding them and they often prove they are, at least slightly, less incompetent than it appears on the surface. Sure there are degenerate gamblers, coke heads and alcoholics (recovering and otherwise) in the group but when push comes to shove they (sometimes) answer the call.

The books seem to get better as they go on and that is high praise because the first two in the series are the sort of book you cannot put down. Sometimes you start to put them down and think; "ok, ONE more chapter." This third book is also pretty self contained. If you haven't read the first two you will still follow it but there is no reason to not start at the beginning and get to it. 

Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth are the first books from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series that were written as novels. The three previous books were written as magazine serials. They are essentially a collection of connected short stories or, perhaps novelas. They often leap from character to character with head spinning rapidity while also leaping forward through time. Nonetheless they tell a compelling story that often takes on the tone you usually find in a mystery. I often joke that the plot points come to conclusions that call to mind Columbo or even (less charitably) Scooby Doo. There is a fairly short segment where a protagonist

Characters often have much time to be developed but the story is the thing that keeps you reading. Some characters get more "page time" and you get a feel for a personality but it is really about the story and the world (well, the GALAXY) that Asimov has created. As I noted before his galaxy became a template for many writers who followed.

These two books, while maintaining some of the episodic nature of the earlier ones, are much more cohesive. Some characters wind up developing more personality than you find in the earlier installments. This is especially true because these two books are basically sequels to one another. They could, effectively, be one book since the first chapter of Foundation and Earth immediately follows  the last of Foundation's Edge.

Despite the large gap in time between Second Foundation and Foundation's Edge, the style stays more or less the same. The early books often had people doing things you'd associate with the 1950s (everyone smokes) and even reading newspapers. While people were still reading papers in the 80s the Science Fiction conventions had moves past.

You will read flippant accounts of Asimov saying he did this for a big check from his publisher. Maybe he did but he still wrote some wonderful books.

Lone Woman by Victor Lavalle is yet another excellent offering from Lavalle. I have to confess an affinity for Lavalle. At this point I've read everything he's written. I actually held off reading this because I knew it would be awhile before anything new appeared.

One of the things about his books that I love is how each one creates its own world, its own reality. This is usually couched in some other reality--a mental institution, the streets of New York or like here, early 20th Century Montana.

In many ways these new versions of the places are more appealing than the reality (if you don't mind people occasionally being torn to pieces).  He creates a magical world and fills that world with characters you care about. You may sometimes hate them but even the ones you hate you can relate to.

Here is the other thing; Lone Woman may be his best effort yet. Previously I would have said Big Machine but Im revising my opinion. When you ask fans of the writer what their favorite is you are likely to get different answers. I will confess that I didn't love The Ecstatic but given how much I loved his other work I more question myself than Lavalle. What is wrong with ME that I didn't get the book?

Another of his books, The Changeling, is about to become a limited series. Truth is that most of his books really lend themselves to translation into movies or TV.  I just hope Lavalle was involved in the script.