Hello! Today: getting to the bottom of why all my friends know what their star signs say about them... plus a beautiful French film about a severed hand, an Argentinian novel about relationships, and BBC radio dramas.

Article: Modern Life: Astrology in the Age of Uncertainty by Christine Smallwood, published by the New Yorker in October 2019 
This article explores one of the greatest mysteries of my adult life; why are so many people my age into astrology? The answer seems to be that what psychoanalysis was to the 50s (see Iris Murdoch's weirder novels), astrology is to today: an explanation, an easily accessible version of psychology. In typical New Yorker-style, this piece digs into the apps and the politicians and the sociopolitical context of it all. Did you know that Reagan consulted an astrologer before every major decision he made?

Film: J'ai perdu mon corps / I Lost My Body, directed by Jérémy Clapin (2019)
This is the story of a hand trying to get back to the rest of its body; and of Naoufel, the young man who the hand belonged to. Recounting his life from his happy childhood in Morocco to his unhappy adolescence in Paris, this is a beautifully realised film, jumping back and forth between the hand – trying to escape from animals, jumping from buildings, observing people – and Naoufel, making friends and losing them, all leading up to the moment when he and his hand become separated. More melancholy and lovely than the premise might sound, this is worth your time even if you never usually watch animated films.
Note: J'ai perdu mon corps is streaming on Netflix.

Book: Fate by Jorge Consiglio, transl. by Fionn Petch and Carolina Orloff (2019)
I like short books and precise language. This one is under 120 pages and I read it quickly and with much enthusiasm last week. Three middle-aged characters in Buenos Aires take a series of spontaneous decisions that lead to changes in their lives: relationships start or fall apart, bodies are injured, ants exterminated, bees acquired. Jorge Consiglio is absolutely brilliant at describing minute details of everyday lives without being boring or getting lost in descriptions; he is wry and subtle and funny and occasionally slips in sentences of – how shall I put this – real beauty. A real feat of translation, too. And the rare book that I wish had been longer.
Note: Fate is published by Charco Press. You can buy a print or ebook copy from their website or via one of your favourite bookshops. If you're in Vienna, you can borrow my copy (at some point). I read this book for a book club I'm co-organising with work – you should join us if you want!

Other: BBC audiobooks and radio dramas
The other day, I listened to the entire BBC audiobook of Persuasion, probably my favourite Jane Austen novel, while trying to draw my bedroom (badly, angles are hard). The week before, we listened to an audio drama about Falco, a detective in Ancient Rome, while falling asleep. (I vividly remember reading the book series by Lindsey Davies as a teen.) And on the weekend, it was Emma while cooking dinner. What I'm saying is: they're really good, and there are a lot of them. It's all free and you can download the BBC Sounds app to listen on your phone in bed. 

That's it for now. Tell me what you loved this week. Take care!