6) Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey The subtitle to this book is 'understanding the anger of Britain's underclass', which gives you some sense of what its pages contain. It is a journey (a safari, perhaps) through lives in poor communities, and particularly McGarvey's own in Glasgow - in that sense it is part-memoir, part-polemic and… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 6: Poverty Safari
Category: non-fiction
Year 4 / Book 1: October
1) October by China Miéville First book of year 4 of this blog, and we were in St Petersburg for the New Year, so it felt appropriate to read a book about the Russian Revolution. In this case, a rewriting of the momentous events of the year of 1917 by Miéville, a writer best known… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 1: October
Year 3 / Book 45: Priestdaddy
45) Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood This is a difficult book to categorise or introduce; I guess it's best described as a memoir, but it's also at points poetic, often a true picture of parts of America, and has much to say beyond the depiction of a family living in the shadow of a mercurial father… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 45: Priestdaddy
Year 3 / Book 44: The Hard Thing About Hard Things
44) The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz This book came to me recommended by the facilitator of the Action Learning Set I'm in for new CEOs (if I can still be counted as new 9 months in). It's written by Ben Horowitz who I hadn't heard of, but is clearly pretty well… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 44: The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Year 3 / Book 42: This Is Going To Hurt
42) This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay This memoir / diary of a junior doctor working in the NHS has been at the top of the bestseller lists for months, so I am late to this - or at least several months behind many thousands of readers. Based (I assume) on a diary… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 42: This Is Going To Hurt
Year 3 / Book 39: Hope in the Dark
39) Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit If you are not familiar with Rebecca Solnit's work, then I heartily recommend starting to do so - I've read Men Explain Things To Me (the essay/book that gave rise to 'mansplaining') and A Field Guide to Getting Lost is waiting on the bookshelf. This collection of… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 39: Hope in the Dark
Year 3 / Book 38: The People vs Tech
38) The People vs Tech by Jamie Bartlett This book was recommended to me by Amir, and to be honest at the end of it I don't know entirely whether to thank him or throw the book at him (in the literal sense). Not because it's not good and fascinating, but because it is, at… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 38: The People vs Tech
Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
29) The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrere This is a curious and affecting short book, which opens with a powerful hook and never really lets go. It's about a man, Jean-Claude Romand, who has lived his life (as the subtitle has it) as a 'monstrous deception'. A deception that unravels as this book opens - his… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
Year 3 / Book 28: Evicted
28) Evicted by Matthew Desmond Bit of a backlog on updating the reviews, but thought I would get this one in first. It's a painstaking and detailed book about America's housing crisis and its role in he widening inequality in that country. It is, by turns, enlightening and insightful but also bleak, unremitting and depressing.… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 28: Evicted
Year 3 / Book 27: Work Rules!
27) Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock I got given this book when starting my new job (hat tip Jeremy R), and I've been gradually going through it in my first few months, folding down corners of pages and taking notes when coming across a little nugget or two. It's written by Google's Head of HR… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 27: Work Rules!
