newsletter issue 211

It’s that time of the year when we’re all trying to wrap things up neatly before we go into our (much needed) Diwali mini-break. Deadlines are looming as the tinsel office decorations flutter in our peripheral vision. What do you do when you suddenly have some time on your hands? Travel? What about those moments of limbo that travel throws you into—the cold airport waits, the long drives, those 90-minute flights where, between armrest grabbers and barreling food carts and loo-goers, sleep seems ridiculous? You can people-watch, catch up on the newest reasons why everyone’s dissing Taylor Swift’s diss track (“why is she punching down?!”), or reunite with the dearies from the Thursday Murder Club in Richard Osman’s latest, The Impossible Fortune. 

If you’re home, you could mentally travel to a cold place with Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter and pat yourself on the back as the Booker Prize 2025 announcement approaches. Interested in a workplace caper that’s a little (a lot) more interesting than The Paper? May we offer Help Wanted, The Nod Book Club’s October pick? Or pick up that 800-page tome that you’ve been meaning to open. My recommendation: Susanna Clarke’s 2004 novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell; nothing will drown out the noise than this magical book about magic and two warring magicians. Just a warning: thanks to the over 200 footnotes on the completely made-up scholarship on magic that this novel comes with, it’s one of those books that don’t translate too well to an e-reader experience. Consider this an arm workout for all the mithai you’ll be inhaling.