When one has school age children the September ‘back to school’ week feels very much like the start of a new year. September as the new January and all that. Even if you aren’t raising kids, the shift from summer to autumn can feel like a natural time to assess one’s habits and take up some new intentions for the twelve weeks before the festivities of December begin.
With this in mind, I’ve curated a few short lists of resources for reading. I was about to add ‘and listening and watching’ but, in truth, I rarely listen to much other than music and I rarely watch things that aren’t at the request of the aforementioned children. So, given their ages and current obsessions, I can recommend ‘The Meg 2’ for some Statham and megalodon-filled silliness as well as anything with Michael Sheen in it. And it goes without saying, surely, that I love and highly recommend ‘The Bear’.
Personal development
This is How – Augusten Burroughs. A series of lively essays that tackle everything from loneliness to over and under-eating written in a razor-sharp, insightful way by someone who has survived huge loss and illness with grace and humour. Genuinely life-changing.
On Eating – Susie Orbach. The inspiration behind all those intuitive eating videos and posts you see online. Read the original and understand why her simple message is so powerful.
Newsletters / emails
The Unpublishable – Jessica DeFino does an amazing job of untangling the knotty pile of social and cultural messages around beauty, drawing parallels with diet culture which I have talked about here.
Cory Doctorow – emails on a regular basis on the issues of tech, capitalism, content creation and power. One of the most informed voices on the internet.
Anne Helen Petersen – Culture Study is interesting, stimulating and well-written as well as having a lively online community. Weekly posts and ideas from the auth0r of ‘Can’t Even’.
Burnt Toast – newsletter about food, families and diet culture. Well researched and evidence based discussions on food and day to day life by the author of ‘The Eating Instinct’ Virginia Sole-Smith.
Current social and cultural issues
Empire of Pain – you’ve probably watched or heard about the Netflix show ‘Painkiller’ but this is the book that inspired the series. Patrick Radden Keefe’s journalistic skills were put to the test by the secrecy of the Sackler family. A searing insight into the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Cannibal Capitalism – Nancy Fraser. A technical but fascinating insight into the nature, and likely future, of contemporary capitalism.
Care Work, Dreaming Disability Justice – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. An important book about the ways in which we all benefit from making sure that anyone with care needs receives the support and justice they deserve.
The Quest for a Moral Compass – Kenan Malik. Really wonderful overview of philosophical and cultural thoughts and development over the last 2,000 years. Easy to read and a treasure trove of wisdom.
Unmaking Autism – Devon Price. A really helpful and engaging read about the process of accepting neuro-diversity (ND) within one self and others outside of the diagnosis and assessment process. Useful for those who are, or suspect they are, ND and even more so for the rest of us.
History
The Untold History of the United States – Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Vital insights into the military industrial complex and business interests that have controlled foreign policy with the US for the last 60 years.
The Gallery of Miracles and Madness – Charlie English. Interesting account of the art created by psychiatric patients and how Hitler used the concept of ‘degeneracy’ to legitimise killing tens of thousands of disabled and sick people in the years before the second world war.
Thomas Cromwell – Tracy Borman. Well written and engaging account of one of Tudor history’s most fascinating characters (and one of my crushes).
A History of Modern Japan – Christopher Harding. A well researched and easy to read account of Japan from the years they opened their borders after 200 years of them being closed to the current day. Did I mention I went to Japan in April…
Art
The Sale of the Late King’s Goods – Jerry Brotton. The paintings collected by King Charles I were sold off after he was beheaded. This is a great account of a little known part of English history that ends with an impassioned plea for the current monarch to return the royal art collection to the people of Great Britain.
The Man in the Blue Scarf – Martin Gayford. Art critic Gayford writes about the year long process of sitting for a portrait painted by Lucian Freud. Fascinating.
Keeping an Eye Open – Julian Barnes. An award winning fiction writer (and a favourite of mine), I was delighted when I discovered that Barnes had produced this absolutely magical book of essays on art. Inspiring.
Fiction
Mockingbird – Walter Tevis. From the writer of The Hustler and The Queen’s Gambit as well as The Man Who Fell to Earth, a truly underrated piece of science fiction that is one of the best books of the 1980s.
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood. Atwood at her shining best.
The Wolf Hall books – Hilary Mantel. With nearly a year having passed since she died, I can only encourage you to read the best pieces of historical fiction ever written. They all won Bookers for a reason.
What would you recommend to read, watch or listen to?
Anita
