I had to pause my reading to binge watch Schitt’s Creek before it came off Netflix UK. I’d been slow to get into it and then really warmed to it, a lovely heartwarming show which had me laughing and crying at the same scenes. A great Canadian production. And after the binge, it appeared on both BBC iPlayer and Disney+, oh well.
Wilful Blindness – Margaret Heffernan
Once again Margaret has delivered a masterful business book, or is it one on philosophy? Probably both and more. I read the updated 2019 edition which could include references to Brexit and Trump in some detail, but nothing on pandemics.
It’s a great book, superbly argued and structured, powerfully illustrated with stories reported in the best journalistic style. You finish the book wanting to ‘see better’.
Vernon Subutex 2 & 3 – Virginie Despentes
Extraordinary in every sense. Despentes has a breathtaking ability to take her characters in unexpected directions, to create compelling new characters as needed, and then shock us. Nothing is beyond her acerbic critique: religion, politics (of the left and right), society, culture, the arts, media, capitalism, the rich and the poor. Nobody is saved from Despentes, through her characters, highlighting their hypocrisy and inconsistencies. The book finishes by completely flipping our perspectives on what might be considered terrorism and religion. Nothing is sacred. Yet anything might be in the world of Subutex.
These books will stay with me for a long time, all the harsh, beautiful and shocking scenes Despentes has imagined ring with a caustic truth which we need to consider. I didn’t want the ending Despentes chose for her trilogy, I didn’t even like it, but clearly it felt necessary for the author and I respect her commitment to challenging us throughout.
Careless People – Sarah Wynn-Williams
In many senses nothing was surprising in this book. Rich, powerful people being horrible bosses and thoughtless about the moral implications of their actions. What’s new?
The horror of the book is the specifics about characters who have worked so hard to build public images contrary to their true nature on products and services we know. All people and companies are flawed, but one really must think long and hard before relying on the products from this lot.
Jason Kitcat 