What I've been reading - Marginal REVOLUTION

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1. Christopher Priest and Nina Allan, The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J.G. Ballard.  Priest died before he finished this book, and his widow added material, including on Priest himself.  This is in any case a good overview and introduction to the strange worlds of Ballard.  There is only a UK edition so far.

2. Christian Kracht, Eurotrash, A Novel.  I was put off by the title, but it turns out this is a fun and high-level short Swiss novel about driving around Switzerland with your semi-crazy eighty-year-old mother on a road trip.  It helps to have some knowledge of both Switzerland and broader German-language literature.

3. Walter Kempowski, Alles Umsonst.  From 2006, could this be the best German-language novel since Sebald?  It is about the pending doom from the Russian army approaching on East Prussia in 1945, and how the different characters deal with that, set on a German estate.  Applicable to many other real world situations as well.  There is an English-language translation, I am not sure how good it is.  In any case an important and very good work of fiction.

4. Lars Behrisch, Democracy’s Double Helix: Participation, Equality and Revolution in Early Modern Europe.  A good book about how the roots of semi-democratic decision-making are found in 16th century Europe, and stemmed from new needs to assemble various military and fiscal coalitions.  Looks at the problem more broadly, in geographic terms, than most comparable studies.

5. Katie Kitamura, Audition.  A fun short novel, full of mystery and suspense, good for those who like puzzles in their writing.

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