"Life is a Dream", by Gyula Krúdy

Fiction, 1931

Short stories, many of which can't really be called 'stories', examining the lives of mainly working Hungarians through the food they are served and eat. The proliferation of broths, marrow bones and sour lungs give the collection a really earthy feeling, with many pieces not resolving and the imminent and sometimes actual presence of death giving the book a dreamy quality. Ten stories do give a feeling of being a 'bit samey', with the longer "The Green Ace" particularly meandering, but some lovely atmospherics along the way.

"The Babadook", directed by Jennifer Kent

Movie, 2014

A powerful atmospheric horror about a bogeyman, taking many of the genre's tropes (creepy house with a cellar, strange magical texts and a family battling good versus evil) and fits them in an Australian suburban set up, very much focusing on young mothers. This fresh approach to older, conservative forms reaps huge dividends, with the mother/son relationship swinging wildly and the absence of a male dominant figure striking. The plot swerves a little too wildly here and there, but this is a really bold, interesting and gripping horror.

Image: Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42530460

"Slouching Towards Bethlehem," by Joan Didion

Non-fiction, 1968

New Journalism without quite the crushing egotism and boorishness of either Hunter S Thompson or Tom Wolfe, focusing around a piece describing, in human terms, the human wreckage around Haight-Ashbury in the Summer of Love. This, and other pieces, are often wonderfully written, mixing an air of despair with one of nonchalance and painting an America roiling and clashing with itself and in no way showing any kind of social decorum. Refreshing change from the over-eulogising efforts of others, but still reportage of and within the moment.