New books this month, plus more

I’m reading a novel by Walter Kempowski, All for Nothing. It takes place in January 1945 at a manorial estate in Germany’s East Prussia, a time in history when Russian military forces were lined up at the border. Invasion hovers as we get to know the von Globig family — father and mother, their 12-year-old son, auntie, two Ukranian cooks, and a Polish groundskeeper — living day to day in relative comfort on the estate. They have income from the patriarch Eberhard von Globig, who’s a special officer in the German army serving in Italy. Also available: chickens and a stashed pantry. It’s one of those stories I can sink into, deeply absorbing, the one that came along and fit exactly what I was looking for: well-written, of another time period, characters to care about, and no idea what’s going to happen. It was a surprise discovery. I was roaming publishers’ websites and happened upon it, Kempowski’s masterpiece.

All for Nothing was published years ago, but the two novels below are new this month. They also were discovered in my roaming. They seem interesting and different, enough so that my curiosity wants to give them a try.

I have to admit to being in love with this cover illustration. It’s not a reason to buy or read let alone recommend a book and yet maybe it is? Isn’t a cover illustration supposed to be that first snap of connection? The plot summary of The Bullet Swallower speaks of a Texas train robbery gone wrong in 1895 involving Antonio Sonoro, a fearsome bandido from northern Mexico and his younger brother. A mysterious figure and what’s described as a cosmic debt come into play that reaches forward to 1964. Antonio’s grandson Jaime, whom the author describes on her website as “Mexico’s favorite singing cowboy,” learns his family history and the ancestral crimes committed. The mysterious figure again appears. From the book’s description:

Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.

The author casts the book as a magical realism western about violence and revenge, “a story that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.”

There’s lots about Martyr! that intrigues, the story of a young poet who’s also a drunk and an addict. Similar to Gonzalez James’ Bullet Swallower, the intersection of past and present are at play: The drunk, addicted poet is occupied with questions about “an inheritance of violence and loss” and a meaningful life. This part of the description sounds particularly interesting, where it says:

[his] obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

The novel’s getting a lot of pre-publication excitement. The publishing industry’s forecasting magazine Kirkus Reviews says Martyr! is intense, original, and smart. They also say it’s imperfect, citing big coincidences and other minor flaws. Nevertheless, they emphasize the flaws don’t mar the book’s overall excellence.

I love reading about the Sixties, and here’s a biography of The Beatles’ long-time roadie. It’s not new this month (it was published last year), but it’s a book I keep seeing and then thinking I might add to the pile of want-to-reads. In my roaming I came upon it yet again. I don’t know anything about Mal Evans, who worked alongside The Beatles from the very beginning when they were unknown through the breakup of the band. He had no music experience. He was married with children, working in the telecommunications industry. And then he hits the road to become indispensable to four long-haired kids about to make it big. The January 2024 Wall Street Journal review includes this memorable example of the Fab Four’s new stardom that shook the music industry:

In Chicago, Evans blocked a woman from handcuffing Mr. McCartney to her arm. There was no electricity for the stage at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium because the promoter didn’t understand that the band played electric guitars. The Dallas police sent only two motorcyclists to the airport, and girls climbed onto the wings of the Beatles’ plane as it taxied in.

Unseen photos and ephemera from Mal Evans’ archives are included in Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans. It’s a long read at 592 pages. An article in The Guardian says the book is “a celebration not just of Evans, but of all the unsung supporting characters who make creative life possible.” (You can read the article here.)