Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Anaïs Flogny (2024) 240 pages 

Cinematic and expansive. Parallels some of the Godfather trilogy organized crime milieu, but with a gay man at the center. Closeted gay men, who are both immigrants in America, find the underworld of importing and selling alcohol and, later, other drugs to be their way to success and power. Jules, the younger protege, and Adam are scrappy. The story moves from 1930s Chicago to 1940s New York. Eufrasio is a more violent and ambitious partner from the Mafia family in New York who comes between Jules and Adam. Jules begins to hate himself as he confronts betrayal and guilt.

Sunrise on the Reaping

 

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (2025), 400 pgs.

Haymitch Abernathy is up before the sun. He has chores to complete if he is going to see his girl before the reaping, and she is the main thing on his mind. At first glance, this day is just like the reaping day of last year, and the year before that one, but today will change Haymitch's entire life. Before the sun sets, he will be carted off to the 50th annual Hunger Games, where he and forty-nine other teenagers will fight to the death until one "victor" prevails. Haymitch will soon learn that nothing is certain, and as much as one may try to mold their future (and past), outside forces are constantly trying to change its shape.

We have heard part of Haymitch's story before, told second-hand in the original Hunger Games trilogy, but his first-person account adds so much depth to what we already know. As readers, we come to realize that our prior knowledge is largely based on the Capitol-sponsored version of events, and we see how Haymitch's experience was twisted and misrepresented. Suzanne Collins has done it again.

Neuromancer

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984) 288 pages

This originated the term Cyberpunk. It is a hard-boiled crime novel with a heist as the central plot device. It takes place in a futuristic world that would inspire the Blade Runner movies and The Matrix movies. Designer drugs, genetic manipulation, violence, and virtual reality are present everywhere. The main character Chase, while working to plant a computer virus as part of the heist, has to navigate three layers of virtual reality. The technobabble, made up terms for the future technology and the slang used in talking about it, is pretty dense. It was a struggle to find my bearings in the beginning. What is a noun and what is a verb in the sentence? From context, I'm pretty sure this is a noun. But is it a person, place, or thing? It is a bit shocking being dropped into this world, and each scene moves along very quickly. Eventually, I did become more accustomed to Gibson's use of language and went along for the fast-paced ride.
 

Palestine

 

Palestine by Joe Sacco (1996) 288 pages

I've had reporter and artist Sacco's The Fixer and Other Stories on my reading list for awhile. Then I saw he wrote this book of graphic journalism called Palestine. It is available on Hoopla. Considering current events I thought this was a great opportunity to learn more about the Palestinian perspective. This was written back in the 1990s. I was in high school and definitely not paying attention to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. There are nine chapters. It took some time to get used to the chaos of some of the comic panels. Narration and speech bubbles are at angles or follow an "S" curve. Eventually I did grow to enjoy the style of Sacco's black and white sketches. Joe Sacco (illustrated with prominent round glasses and lips) is there on the ground meeting and interviewing everyone he can. He shares the history with chapter 2 containing columns of text and smaller illustrations compared to the rest of the book. Sacco witnesses and hears dozens of stories about the Occupation, the colonial power of Israel taking land and homes and lives to control and reduce the Arab/Muslim presence of Palestinians. He visits multiple refugee camps. He encounters the red tape of the Israeli military. He experiences the hospitality of tea served in every Palestinian home. He hears prison stories and stories of violence. He hears how the court system works against Palestinians and the Israeli hospitals avoid treating serious injuries of refugees. He discovers the differences of opinion about peace talks from the different Palestinian factions. Chapter 8 contains an especially heartbreaking tragic story from a Palestinian mother. Old folks tell stories of this happening decades ago. Teenagers tell stories of it happening then in the '90s. The news shows it is still happening now. Joe Sacco talks to Israelis, who have come from other Western countries, too. It is a complicated political issue, but identifying which group Sacco sees as the colonizers and which are the oppressed is not hard.

In My Father's House

In My Father's House: a New View of How Crime Runs in the Family / Fox Butterfield, 265 p.

An in-depth examination of one extended family, the Bogles, who have at least 60 members over several generations who have been in prison.  Juxtaposing current research on how and why crime is 'inherited' with the real life stories of these men and women makes for fascinating reading. 

Flight

Flight by Sherman Alexie  181 pp.

I first read and blogged about this book about four years ago. I just re-read it in preparation for the Great Stories Club Grant workshop on the theme of "Empathy: The Cost of Switching Sides." From the perspective of looking at empathy, I understand why this was one of the selections available. However, I had to select three titles out of five and chose a different three. (Watch for upcoming blogs on those titles.) I still agree with my earlier review of the novel but this time I grasped more of the way the main character, Zits, learns empathy. It's a very good story but watch out for lots of profanity.

Roughneck

Roughneck by Jeff Lemire, 272 pages

A few years removed from his job as an enforcer in the NHL, Derek Oulette is back in his hometown, drinking too much, and fighting the ghosts of his violent hockey career, which ended after a particularly brutal hit on another player. His anger is challenged when his little sister Beth comes home, beaten up by an ex-boyfriend and addicted to Oxycontin. It's a bleak tale, but beautifully told, exploring Derek and Beth's childhood, Derek's hockey career, and their current situation. Lemire's artwork (a mixture of rough sketches and watercolors) is perfect for this story. I liked this a lot, though its depiction of a hockey player as a thug on skates (they're not all like that!) put a bit of a damper on the playoff season in which I read it.

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever by John Feinstein, 366 pages.

This was another of the books pulled from the list of those that had not left our shelves in a long while. I had always meant to read Feinstein. He's a well-regarded sportswriter, and many of his books circulate well. The fact that this one had not had a reader in while had me suspecting that it was one of those lesser books by a good writer. I was surprised to find out that this was not the case. The story Feinstein tells of a fateful night in 1977, when the Los Angeles Lakers played the Houston Rockets, and of the fight that broke out during the game was and is an interesting one.Kermit Washington, the Lakers power forward, was involved in a fight of sorts with the Houston center, Kevin Kunnert. As players from both teams rushed toward the altercation, Washington turned and punched one man who was running toward him, Rudy Tomjanovich. Tomjanovich was seriously injured. Both men were haunted by that split-second action, and though both continued to play, neither one had the career they seemed destined to have before that night. Feinstein does a great job of putting the events in context, of giving a balanced view of the incident and of the many consequences, and of letting all of the principals tell their stories.
This one is a keeper.
I also enjoyed reading a book that featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a character as I was beginning to read Abdul-Jabbar's excellent novel, Mycroft Holmes.

Flight

Flight by Sherman Alexie  181 pp.

Fifteen year old "Zits" is a half Irish-half Native American who has bounced around 20 different foster homes after the death of his mother when he was six. Because his father never claimed him, he has no status as a Native American and is ineligible for assistance via that route. He was thrown out by his aunt at age 10 after trying to kill her molester boyfriend. Zits ultimately finds himself about to commit a horrible deed during a crime and suddenly finds himself traveling backwards in time, inhabiting the bodies of people present for horrific moments of violence in history including the Battle of Little Big Horn, traveling with an Indian tracker, the civil rights era, and as a flight instructor who teaches a terrorist how to fly a plane. Zits returns from this historic sojourn a changed boy and one who finds there is someone who can care about him after all. I listened to the excellent audio version read by the actor Adam Beach, the First Nations Canadian actor who appeared in the film version of Alexie's "Smoke Signals" and as Officer Jim Chee in the PBS adaptations of Tony Hillerman's "Leaphorn & Chee" mysteries.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon  200 pp. (of 452)

It's rare that I don't finish a book but I just couldn't take any more of this one. Warren Zevon was a great musician but an awful person. This book, which is a series of narratives, anecdotes, vignettes from family, friends, fellow musicians, and his own diaries tells the whole ugly truth of his addictions, womanizing, obsessions, violence, and other bad behavior. I didn't know much about him other than his music and I'm sorry I found out. Before his death, Zevon asked his ex-wife to write this book and spare no gory details. She followed his wishes. Maybe in the future I'll pick it up and finish it. 

Violent Cases

Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman  64 pp.

This is a reissue of a graphic novel based on a short story by Neil Gaiman. The story is narrated by Gaiman who is depicted as being behind bars. The jailed Gaiman reminisces about a time in his childhood when he was cared for by Al Capone's osteopath and witnesses events involving gangsters and a creepy magician. The title references the line "Gangsters had tommy guns,- which they kept in violent cases." It's a dark story and the illustrations by Dave McKean are dark and suit the story well. In addition to the story there are commentaries by Gaiman and Alan Moore as well as alternate cover illustrations.

The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt  771 pp.

This is a long book which seems even longer when you listen to the audio version (26 discs). Theo Decker was twelve when his mother is killed in a terrorist bombing at a museum. Theo survives the blast with a concussion but leaves the museum with a famous and highly prized 17th century painting of a goldfinch by Dutch painter Carel Fabritius.  That one event leads Theo into a life of missteps, alcohol, drugs, theft, high class antique dealing, forgery, blackmail, violence, love, and a friendship with a street smart Ukrainian named Boris. This is the first book by Tartt that I have read. I understand why she has so many fans. This is a well crafted and well written novel. However, I feel Theo waxing philosophical at the end was anticlimactic.

Bitch

Bitch by Deja King p. 219

Precious Cummings lives in the projects with her crack addicted mother. Her mother supports her habit by selling her body. When that's not working anymore she tells Precious she has to come up with an exorbitant amount of money (although Precious is already paying all the bills). She has a job but because she's still in school she only works part-time she can't raise the amount her mother is demanding. She works at a car wash that all the "ballers" frequent. She's going to date a baller, get access to his money, and pay her mother. Her first boyfriend was killed but she hits the jackpot when she begins dating Nico Carter. But of course that's when all the trouble begins.
Pretty good book in the series. Would I recommend it to anyone? It depends on what they're looking for but maybe. As far as Urban Literature goes this one didn't have a lot of mistakes and it was pretty well written. The plot was believable and so were the characters.