Books I Read in June 2024

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein won the first Women’s Prize for Non Fiction last month. I read Klein’s first book No Logo several years ago, which I felt had already dated somewhat over a decade after its release. In contrast, the ideas explored in ‘Doppelganger’ are very much of the here and now, having been published just last year, but I think this book will remain relevant for a long time. What starts out as an amusing anecdote about being repeatedly mistaken for anti-vax right-wing conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf becomes a deep dive in the world of post-truth politics and the ways in which doubles are reflected in the “mirror world” particularly online. This includes frequently discussed topics such as how people curate their online personas and how political divisions are fuelled by disinformation and misinformation, alongside digressions about autism, doubles in literature, climate change and antisemitism. This sounds like a jumbled mix of ideas, but Klein is astute and erudite and balances personal reflections with rigorous journalistic analysis.

The Rejects by Jamie Collinson presents an alternative history of popular music through the stories of those kicked out of bands. There are the iconic tales that lots of people will be aware of – Pete Best being replaced by Ringo Starr in the Beatles, Brian Jones leaving the Rolling Stones shortly before his death at the age of 27 – while others are a bit more niche. Collinson focuses on stories he is the most familiar with based on his own musical preferences and experience working in the music industry as well as some of the more unusual outcomes. The splits are mostly acrimonious, often involving drug use or resulting in early death, but one exception is Jason Everman who was kicked out of both Nirvana and Soundgarden and later became a special forces operative in the US Army. Spanning musical genres from Siobhan Donaghy in the Sugababes to Nick Oliveri in Queens of the Stone Age, Collinson also devotes a chapter to “all the musicians kicked out of Fleetwood Mac” and a lengthy account of working with Wiley. I skipped the experimental piece of creative writing from the point of view of Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse, but did appreciate Collinson reflecting on his own experience of rejection as an author. ‘The Rejects’ is a bittersweet book showing the more unpleasant side of fame and the challenges of group dynamics under intense pressure.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley is a debut novel which has generated a lot of buzz this year. Set in the near future, it sees an unnamed British-Cambodian civil servant recruited by the government as a time travel agent or handler known as a “bridge” to Commander Graham Gore, who was a real-life Victorian naval officer aboard HMS Erebus. There are a lot of fun ideas here about how to acclimatise Gore and the other “expats” from different historical eras to cope with life in 21st century Britain, although the quirky genre-mashing ultimately does try to be too many things at once. I think I was more invested in the humorous consequences introduced earlier in the story, rather than the latter half which veers more towards dark thriller territory. It will be interesting to see how ‘The Ministry of Time’ is adapted for TV by the BBC and how those tonal shifts are handled. Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.