Reading - October 2022

This New Noise by Charlotte Higgins (2015)

I found this because it contributed its title to Public Service Broadcasting's concert this year at the Proms (which I was at!) This is not a history of the BBC, although that's not obvious until well over a third of the way through the book. Instead, Higgins uses stories from the formation of the organisation to inform a discussion about its place in British society and its many detractors over the decades. In a way, it's heartening to see that the kind of idiotic comment made recently by Jacob Rees-Mogg (who questioned the BBC's impartiality in a pathetically transparent attempt to avoid an awkward question) has been going on for almost as long as the BBC has been in existence, and that many of the newspapers - particularly the Daily Wail - have always been against the BBC, probably initially through worry over competition and then latterly just because they'll moan about anything. Sadly, although I don't think the BBC should change, it probably will, because in a subscription world, it's very hard to justify a license fee. 

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (1933)

I always like a good whodunnit, from back when I first started reading Poirot stories. At the time I wouldn't have noticed how dated they were (given that this book would have been already fifty years old at the time!) but now it's glaringly apparent. Still, it doesn't spoil the ingenuity of the plot. Simple, easy reading. (Although what I wanted to read was Death on the Nile, as I had just watched it, but for some reason I don't own that)

Open by Andre Agassi (2009)

This is the first autobiography I've read that really articulates the struggle, hard word and pain that surely all world-class athletes (and probably greats in other fields) go through. Most play this down or just don't mention the hours, weeks and years spent tortuously refining the skills that put them at the top - presumably because they think it wouldn't be interesting. Agassi's book disproves that theory, but then it has a slight flavour of misery memoir about it that means all the pain is part of the story. And, of course, the story has redemption and a happy ending, as Agassi learns to love the game he was forced to play as a child and finally gets his dream girl. Indeed, this does also seem like a very extended love note to Stefanie (not Steffi) Graf, which is very sweet. Superbly written (with someone else, who is credited at the back), moving and insightful.

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1982)

Great story-telling, maybe a little clunky in places, but never dragging. However, perhaps it's a bit over-familiar, so even though I chose it because I wanted something easy to read, it was a little unsatisfying. Which is a shame, because it's a classic.