Books Worth Your Time, Vol. 10

Self-published magical realism; the right to privacy; biography of a dictator; more (?) magical realism; Mormons; spies

Cubafruit by

Alexander Sorondo

Alexander Sorondo has written a terrific novel. It is also a self-published novel. (Sorondo has detailed this extensively on his own Substack.) Because it is a self-published novel, the overwhelming odds are that it will be ignored.

Self-publishing has been working better for authors in fantasy, romance, and other ‘genre’ genres; I don’t know how well a writer of interesting magical realist thrillers is going to fare. And yet, I want him to succeed! The world would be better if he were to succeed! This novel deserves to be read!

I don’t write this because Sorondo is a friend; we’ve corresponded, but only after I reached out to ask for an advanced copy of the novel. We share a mutual friend, but that’s about it. I write this because I think he wrote a good book, and I want to live in a world where good books get read.Please, go to Amazon and buy it on Kindle (as that’s the only place where it is available).¹ Maybe one day a publisher will wise up, realize there’s real talent here, and give this man a contract so he can hold a physical copy of this novel in his hands. That would be a good world to live in.

The Right to Oblivion by Lowry Pressly

There are few issues more relevant to our present politics and culture than the right to privacy. Yet, it is notoriously difficult to identify what this right consists in, on what moral grounds the right stands on, and what the limits of this right might be.

For other rights, like the right to self-defense, we have a clear enough on when it can be invoked (the prevention of serious personal harm, typically). For other rights, like the right to free speech, we err toward thinking that anything goes except for some extreme cases. But privacy? That’s a very different sort of beast.

I don’t know many books that have tackled the right to privacy so thoroughly as Lowry Pressly’s The Right to Oblivion.

I was going to write a review of the book, but I think I’ll be continuing my series of author interviews (which I started with Emily Herring’s biography of Bergson); Pressly has agreed to come on for an interview, so I’ll save my thoughts for that.