Damn it my book anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF = I just laid out 2025 TBR and now Lincoln hits me with these beauties ... ah well ... I guess the weekly call to the college-bound son must be cut ;)
"The Singularity is apparently one of, if not the, first serious works of Italian science fiction." People think of Primo Levi primarily as a Holocaust writer, which, sure, of course. But he's also got some science fiction from around this time, written under the pen name Damiano Malabaila, though I think Buzzati has him beat for the claim of first by a year or two. In particular there's a series of short stories about a salesman of the strange inventions of the fictional NATCA company.
Ah interesting! (I will not pretend to be any kind of Italian SFF scholar. The claim that it was perhaps the first serious Italian SF novel was in the promotional material.)
Nice. I'll give these a read. Another good step into the Kafkaesque is Mircea Cărtărescu's "Solenoid." A surrealist novel based in Romania again picking up on the soviet occupation themes. Not a short read by any means though.
I have just got a copy of The Stronghold, thank you; I love a good hand sell… I’m wondering if you’ve read much Magnus Mills. When I came across The Restraint of Beasts and All Quiet on the Orient Express I thought of him immediately as the Scottish Kafka, but funnier, and I return to his books often.
Damn it my book anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF = I just laid out 2025 TBR and now Lincoln hits me with these beauties ... ah well ... I guess the weekly call to the college-bound son must be cut ;)
Haha same issue with the TBR list.
"The Singularity is apparently one of, if not the, first serious works of Italian science fiction." People think of Primo Levi primarily as a Holocaust writer, which, sure, of course. But he's also got some science fiction from around this time, written under the pen name Damiano Malabaila, though I think Buzzati has him beat for the claim of first by a year or two. In particular there's a series of short stories about a salesman of the strange inventions of the fictional NATCA company.
Ah interesting! (I will not pretend to be any kind of Italian SFF scholar. The claim that it was perhaps the first serious Italian SF novel was in the promotional material.)
Thanks for the recs. They all seem quite up my alley, especially the Buzzati.
I love kafkaesque books,, thanks for the interesting recs!!
Nice. I'll give these a read. Another good step into the Kafkaesque is Mircea Cărtărescu's "Solenoid." A surrealist novel based in Romania again picking up on the soviet occupation themes. Not a short read by any means though.
I have just got a copy of The Stronghold, thank you; I love a good hand sell… I’m wondering if you’ve read much Magnus Mills. When I came across The Restraint of Beasts and All Quiet on the Orient Express I thought of him immediately as the Scottish Kafka, but funnier, and I return to his books often.
Hope you dig it. I really, really loved The Stronghold.
These all sound fascinating! Can't wait to pick one of these up