The Reading List for September 2023

 

Reviews for two of the books read in September - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Harlem Shuffle - can, of course be read by clicking on their respective links.

As I mentioned in the post on Harlem Shuffle, I had come across that book by following a link to the 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. I had already placed that book into the queue for September when I heard a recommendation for the sequel, Crook Manifesto on the Commentary Magazine podcast. Finding Harlem Shuffle one of the best of the "nine books", I put the sequel next in line in the queue. Colson Whitehead is a wonderful writer and I highly recommend both books.

Book # 4 for September is another recommendation from the Commentary Magazine podcast. - Social Justice Fallacies by the incomparable Thomas Sowell. Sowell is an important figure in the conservative movement, having written more than fifty books. Social Justice Fallacies was published this year. An amazing accomplishment for someone in his 90s.

I can recommend three of the four books that I read this month - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle wasn't horrible. I just felt it didn't live up to the hype.

The list for September, 2023.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle               by Stuart Turton
Harlem Shuffle                                                  by Colson Whitehead
Crook Manifesto                                               by Colson Whitehead
Social Justice Fallacies                                    by Thomas Sowell

Harlem Shuffle

Back in May of this year, I came upon a list of  the 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. Although I was unfamiliar with six of the nine writers, I was determined to read those books - I would not read exclusively from the list however; I'd venture off to other books as the feeling struck me.

So far, I've read seven of the nine books with  Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead coming in at #7. I had already placed the book into the queue for upcoming books when another of Whitehead's novels made the "Commentary Recommends" list on an episode of the Commentary Magazine podcast. In that episode, Whitehead's most recent novel, Crook Manifesto was given a thumbs up. Naturally, I had to bump up Harlem Shuffle and then download his newest work.

The wikipedia article covering the novel describes the novel as "a work of crime fiction and a family saga that takes place in Harlem between 1959 and 1964".

The Wikipedia synopsis:
In 1959, Ray Carney lives in Harlem with his wife Elizabeth, with whom he is expecting a second child. Although descending from a criminal family, Ray makes his living working as an upstanding furniture salesman on 125th Street. However, he occasionally fences stolen goods through his furniture store, including those from his cousin Freddie. Whereas Ray has steered his way toward an honest living, Freddie is descending into Harlem's criminal underworld. Freddie orchestrates a robbery of the Hotel Theresa with his associates and volunteers Ray to fence what is stolen. The heist goes wrong and a cast of criminal figures enter Ray's life, forcing him into a personal struggle between aspects of his fractured self. The novel is divided in three parts and covers three separate capers, set in 1959, 1961 and 1964. It culminates with the Harlem riot of 1964.

Harlem Shuffle most definitely belongs on a list of books to read this year. It is one of the best novels I've read in the past few months - only being surpassed by the works of Patricia Highsmith or Donna Leon.

I'll be going on to Crook Manifesto before going on to the final two books on the "nine books" list.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

I recently came upon an ad on Facebook for an audio book version of  The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (also known as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the U.K.) I immediately did a web search and found quite a few good reviews for the book. The wikipedia article of the book says the novel won the Best First Novel prize in the 2018 Costa Book Awards and reached number one on The Saturday Times Bestseller list and number five on The Sunday Times Bestseller list.

 Seeing such high praise, I went to my "go to" place for free e books and downloaded a copy.

Sadly, I was not impressed with the book. I found the book unnecessarily complicated and the writer's use of multiple character incarnations gimmicky. There were interesting parts, but overall, I thought the book was not worth my time (as they might say on the The Dispatch Podcast). I'd recommend you skip this one.