Euan Lawson
March 2020 reading list
Better late that never, here’s the March reading list. Just in time for the end of April. It all coincided with full COVID-19 busy-ness so has had to wait a while. Here are the books for the past month:
- Hired by James Bloodworth°
- American Overdose by James McGreal°
- In Extremis by Lindsey Hilsum°
- The People Vs Tech by Jamie Bartlett
- The Myth of Meritocracy by James Bloodworth
- Moneyland by Oliver Bullough
- The Joy of Work by Bruce Daisley
- The Lines Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Heimat by Nora Krug
- Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
- Criminology: A Very Short Introduction by Tim Newburn
Recommendation of the Month
Looking back this is not an easy choice for this month and there are some fine books here. Heimat is a graphic novel and not the kind of book I would have picked up, if it hadn’t been an Orwell Long List book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Both books by Bloodworth were excellent and I particullarly liked the short punchy nature of The Myth of Meritocracy. Last month I read Myers’ memoir of Northern Ireland Watching the Door and Say Nothing is the perfect companion — it’s easy to see how it won the Orwell Prize. I wasn’t sure I would like Permanent Record and I was completely won over by Snowden. A close runner up for my recommendation this month is The Line Becomes a River which tells of the experiences of Cantú, a border guard patrolling between Mexico and the USA. It is beguiling, haunting and humanises the struggles at the border. Rather wonderful.
However, if recommendations are based on how many times I actually tell people about a book then McGreal hits the spot in American Overdose. You can read the comments and quotes° I picked out. It’s obviously a cliché to suggest ‘all doctors should read this’ but it has been a very powerful stimulus for me while working in clinical settings of dependence and substance misuse. I’ll keep on recommending it to anyone within earshot who stands still long enough.
Monthly Reading List Scribbles