Today on the Life on Books Podcast we are doing a deep dive on the hidden literary gem of Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter. Hard Rain Falling was Carpenter's debut novel, and despite it being the work of a master of his craft, Carpenter's career never seemed to materialize in the same way as his contemporaries. In Hard Rain Falling you won't be wowed by pyrotechnic prose, or need to keep a dictionary nearby as is the case with so many respected authors. Instead what you'll get is a gritty, bleak, and unique story that sinks its hooks into you and won't let you go until you've finished. In our modern time, so many books are described as "daring" "bold" or "ambitious" but often fail to live up to those claims. Hard Rain Falling is all of those things, and more. In 1966, when the novel debuted, tackling topics like race relations, gay romance, class struggle, questioning the morality of the prison system and capitalism were all taboo subjects, yet Carpenter fearlessly took these head on. Don Carpenter has been called the "American Dostoevsky" and after reading Hard Rain Falling, I'm inclined to agree. Here are all the books mentioned in the podcast: Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781590... Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson https://amzn.to/3RPVvcj Angels by Denis Johnson https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780060... The Garden by Aiden Scott Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780679... What Kingdom by Fine Grabal https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781953... An Apprenticeship of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780811... Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakely https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781982... History a Mess by Sigrun Palsdottir https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781940... Hamas from Resistance to Regime by Paola Caridi https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781644... Memed, My Hawk by Yashar Kemal https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781590... Fox by Dubravka Ugresic https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781940... On the Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krieza https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780811...