Call It Sleep

This week I urge you to read Call It Sleep, by Henry Roth. This is my first almost complete departure from the scifi/fantasy theme of my recommendations so far (although otherworldliness does figure as a theme in the book), but so be it. The next proselytization will pertain to anime, I promise.

You could call this a book about a Jewish immigrant kid, but that would be like saying To the Lighthouse is about a British mom. The story is heartbreaking, but it's just an occasion for the transcendent games with voice and point of view. One moment you're listening to the mind of young David Schearl, and the next it's as if the New York cityscape has transformed into one big burning bush whispering revelations. High modernism in the ghetto, written by a janitor.

The Bear

I had this thing about Strange and Norrell all worked up, but then I picked up Rafi Zabor's The Bear Comes Home and reread a few pages. So this week's recommendation is The Bear. I suspect that you don't have to be into jazz to like this novel about a bear who plays saxophone, although I can't verify that from personal experience. In any case, it's about the nature of improvisation and nature as improvisation. It's on my lifetime list, right up there with The Lord of the Rings (not that it's fantasy). Try it.