Summer 2024 Book List
Polek, Boryga, Eire, et al
Here’s the first of our biannual book lists. Pick up one (or all) of these books so you can read them at the beach and look very cultured and intelligent, and then you will incite people’s mimetic desire and they will envy you, or better yet, try to emulate you and pick up a copy of their own!
But of course, nothing will make you look as cool as will reading a copy of the zine vol. ii! Or attending our launch party on 7/11!
1. Bitter Water Opera by Nicolette Polek: This is a truly brilliant novel. Overflowing with subtle beauty…it gives a similar vibe to watching Babette’s Feast. Some whiffs of Marilynn Robinson, but really original—in a class of its own. Read some of the behind the scenes in my interview with Nicolette for Interview Magazine.
2. The Uses of Idolatry by William T. Cavanaugh: We are very big Bill Cavanaugh stans here at cracks in pomo (he’s been on the pod and did a written interview for us). His new book is about how our allegedly secular age is in fact very religious, and how those in power use the mask of “neutrality” to hide the false idols that it sets up.
3. The House of Gazes by Daniele Mencarelli: Like Houellebecq if he weren’t so nihilistic and decadent. But just as entertaining and provocative. About an addict who works in a children’s hospital and finds hope in suffering. Read my review at RealClear.
4. Victim by Andrew Boryga: Bronx kid realizes he can wield his underprivileged background to win sympathy points and work his way up in his career—without actually having to work very hard or have much integrity as a person. Fun, suspenseful, edgy without being reactionary. Listen to Andrew on the pod and my review in The Critic.
5. They Flew: A History of the Impossible by Carlos Eire: A true scholarly masterpiece. Eire tells the stories of medieval levitators without being overly pious or skeptical. Rather, as a true historian, he lets the fact speak for themselves. Few academics manage to pull off such a perfect balance of objectivity and sincerity. Listen to him on the pod and my review in RealClear.
6. Palo Alto by James Franco: As you may already know, we LOVE James Franco (no, we don’t endorse his creeper tendencies). He released this collection of short stories back in 2010…later made into a movie. They’re weird, a bit vulgar, but quite compelling and thought-provoking. They have some very blatant cracks in pomo-adjacent moments having to do with suburbia, gender identity, and faith.
7. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again) by Andy Warhol: This collection of random vignettes by Warhol are rife with his signature brand of paradox, as he reflects on the unsuspecting intersections between consumerism and Christianity, artifice and human nature, the ugly and the beautiful. An essential for those interested in camp, media studies, and weird Catholic content.
8. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger: This novella juxtaposes two siblings, one who is normie-pilled and has no issue conforming himself to the expectations of the bourgeois upper-middle class society he was born into, while his schizobrained sister starts obsessing over Zen Buddhism and the Jesus Prayer as a cope for her disillusionment with said society. A fun little story, loaded with depth that those of us interested in theories of secularization (Taylor, MacIntyre, Milbank) will surely enjoy.
9. The Male Gazed by Manuel Betancourt: The author, born in Colombia, sets out to examines his homoerotic longing through the lens of of queer theory, Lacanian psychoanalysis, Disney films, MTV shows, and telenovelas. I’ll warn you (trads) that it’s quite raunchy, and he certainly has little regard for chastity—both as a moral virtue and as an artistic tool. But it’s refreshing to see a non-trad engaging with homosexuality as a reality that is ontologically (not only culturally/sociologically) distinct from heterosexuality (I follow him up to there, but not his conclusions—much like Billy Eichner’s film Bros which I reviewed for Spectator Australia).
10. Spiritual Counsels I: With Pain and Love For Contemporary Man by Elder Paisios: This transcript of a conversation between the recently canonized Greek Orthodox Saint Paisios of Mount Athos with one of his spiritual daughters will be an interesting read for those of us more steeped in Western theology and spirituality. His way of confronting secularism in Greece is deeply eastern, eschewing western constructs of rationalism—which Western religious folk tend to rely on quite heavily—and instead opting for a very Greek style of magical thinking which at one moment makes him sound completely psycho, the next makes him sound like a complete genius. Give it a try.
BUY THE ZINE VOL. II
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Great list. I have They Flew by Carlos Eire already. Fantastic to see it on this list. His work is amazing and The Christian Mysticism podcast he hosts is the one I wait for with bated breath. I envy anyone who gets to start from scratch.