I read some fantastic books in April, so let's talk about them right here!
My first book of the month was HANG ON ST CHRISTOPHER, by Adrian McKinty--perhaps my favorite of the three dude-penned thriller series that I listen to as soon as they are published. (The other two are Mick Herron's Slough House books and SA Cosby's not-technically-a-series series set in Virginia.) This was the eighth, and maybe the last, of the Sean Duffy books. Duffy is a Catholic cop in the (very Protestant) Royal Ulster Constabulary during the period of the Troubles. He's smart, sensitive, with exquisite taste in music and art and books--that guy would love A PLACE OF OUR OWN--but the thing that always blows me away is how effectively McKinty introduces truly shocking aspects of Northern Irish history into every book. I fancy myself relatively well-informed, but I always seem to find myself Googling something like "Oliver North, Belfast" and discovering that what seemed like an unlikely flight of fancy was actually the dirty truth. This one was the least shocking in that regard, but Duffy was at his absolute Duffy-est, which made up for it. (Reading this book also allowed me to have an informed conversation about the Irish town of Knock with a woman I met in Lockerbie train station the other day!)
There are so many important things I know nothing about, and one of them is how East Pakistan became Bangladesh. I addressed that with THE BLOOD TELEGRAM: NIXON, KISSINGER, AND A FORGOTTEN GENOCIDE, by Gary J. Bass., which was fascinating and maddening and superinformative, but OMeffingG the horror that was Nixon and Kissinger! What a hateful pair of bigoted snakes! Foul.
Next I got an early peek at SPENT: A COMIC NOVEL, Alison Bechdel's new graphic novel, which is out on May 20 and is wonderfully funny and smart and heart-warming and has characters called Alison Bechdel and Holly Taylor, who hang out with their buddies Lois and Ginger and Sparrow and Stuart. (IT WAS SO AMAZING TO SEE THOSE OLD PALS AGAIN!) It's very, very meta, and so, so great. I doubt anyone reading this newsletter needs any encouragement to go buy it, but you absolutely should! (There will also be an audiobook version, which I am very excited to listen to!)
I have wanted to read more about Scotland and Scottish history, and so I checked out QUEEN JAMES: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF BRITAIN'S FIRST KING, by Gareth Russell, which was an EXCELLENT choice! It's about King James VI of Scotland and I of England (1566-1625), who loved (a bunch of) men and (a few) women, and more or less got away with it because he was the king. It's wonderfully accessible but deeply researched--and I highly recommend it. When it is published in the US in December, it will have a different title: The Six Loves of James I, which strikes me as much better. James' sexuality is a sizable part of the story, but there's a lot more to it, and the UK title doesn't convey the tone of the book very accurately.
Come at me if you must, but I love Michael Wolff's books about Trumpworld. The new one, ALL OR NOTHING: HOW TRUMP RECAPTURED AMERICA, is very different from the earliest, where Wolff had access to Trump and his circle. Those days are long gone, and that has changed the focus of the books, as have Trump's changing fortunes. In 2024--yes, the year of the presidential campaign!--Trump spent the bulk of the year wrapped up in multi-front legal travails ... and if you think you can imagine how poorly Trump dealt with his legal situation ... well, it was much, much worse. And the toadies are much more craven and pathetic than you could ever imagine.
My last read of the month was Lionel Barber's GAMBLING MAN: THE SECRET STORY OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST DISRUPTOR, MASAYOSHI SON (or as the subtitle goes on this side of the Atlantic, "The Wild Ride of Japan's Masayoshi Son"--Son, of course being the founder/chairman/CEO of Softbank.). If you are wondering why I find myself reading so many business books when I never go anywhere near an airport bookstore, it's that I listen to the "Money Talks" episodes of America's best business/finance podcast, Slate Money, which make a whole lot of books that would otherwise never enter my consciousness seem utterly irresistible. I am both drawn to and usually exasperated by biographies that explain their subject by pointing to a single aspect of their life, but Barber makes a convincing case that much of Son's personality and, um, idiosyncratic decision-making style is shaped by his identity as a Zainichi Korean. (Gareth Russell managed to resist that temptation in retelling James VI/I's life story--and that guy's mother had her head chopped off!) A super-interesting book, even though I still don't really understand how Son is still leading a major international company, given how spectacularly so many of his business deals have flopped.
RECOMMENDATIONS: I have nothing but good things to say about Netflix's Running Point. I love a fast-talking, sweary show about a woman running a male sports franchise. As an added bonus, though the real-estate aspects of the show never quite convinced me--do NBA franchises really have their training facilities in the same building, heck, on the same floor, as their executive offices?--I thought the actors playing the Los Angeles Waves were fabulous.
READ ME: I reviewed James Miller's odd but wonderful new book THE PASSION OF PEDRO ALMODÓVAR for the Washington Post. (It's the second Almodóvar-related title I've reviewed for them in the last nine months or so--and I am definitely NOT complaining!)
BRITS AND RESIDENTS OF OTHER MARKETS SERVED BY VIRAGO BOOKS: The paperback version of A PLACE OF OUR OWN will be out on June 5. Until 11:59 p.m. on June 4, you can get a 25% discount by ordering from the Virago store! (No U.S. paperback plans just yet.)
UPCOMING EVENTS: On Wednesday, June 4, I'll be appearing with Jane Cholmeley, one of the owners of London's Silver Moon Bookshop (1984-2001) and author of A Bookshop of One's Own at Edinburgh's Lighthouse Bookshop. I'll also be on a fabulous-looking panel in Manchester on Wednesday, June 25--more details TK.
I'll be visiting the Pacific Northwest in mid-October. I'll definitely be in Eugene, Oregon, and I very much hope to add stops in Portland and Seattle, but more on that once we figure it all out!
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