Media and literary criticism

Please visit our Book Bulletin 2019 crowdfunding project at CrowdPatch to buy recommendations for our Winter 2019 catalogue and to volunteer your skills, experience and contacts. All funds raised will support not-for-profit Jolabokaflod CIC’s forthcoming programme of events.

The Bedside Guardian 2018
Lisa Allardice (editor)
(UK: Guardian Books, @guardian, 2018)

What to make of a year of such highs and lows as 2018? On the one hand, we had the toe-curling farce of Trump’s visit to the UK, the revelation of the Windrush scandal, and the ongoing debacle of Brexit. On the other, there were the unexpected triumphs of the Irish abortion referendum, the miraculous Thai cave rescue, and the glorious sunny weeks in which the England football team got within a whisker of reaching the World Cup final.

This was also the year that – despite the background of continuous political doom and gloom – certain popular trends seemed to offer a chink of hope. The #MeToo movement has focused attention on women’s voices as never before. Veganism is on the rise. Plastic has become a dirty word.

In such confusing times, it is more important than ever that we have balanced, trustworthy reporting to make sense of our fast-changing world. The Bedside Guardian brings together the best writing from the year, reflecting the range of voices that make up The Guardian: incisive, witty, provocative and hard-hitting. In an era when news organisations are under attack, this collection showcases the importance and power of intelligent journalism.

UK: Bookshop Search (independents) | Amazon | The Guardian Bookshop
India: Bookstores in India (independents) | Goodreads
Ireland: Bookshop Search (independents) | Amazon

Recommended by:
The Guardian: at The Book Marketing Society

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to ‘secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference’. The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. The current editor is Katharine Viner: since 2018, the paper’s main newsprint sections have been published in tabloid format.

The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies
Ben Fritz
(UK: Mariner Books, @HMHbooks, 2019; USA: Mariner Books, @HMHbooks, 2019)

Ben Fritz chronicles the dramatic shake-up of America’s film industry, bringing equal fluency to both the financial and entertainment aspects of Hollywood. He offers us an unprecedented look deep inside a Hollywood studio to explain why sophisticated movies for adults are an endangered species whilst franchises and superheroes have come to dominate the cinematic landscape. Through interviews with dozens of key players at Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Amazon, Imax and others, he reveals how the movie business is being reinvented.

Despite the destruction of the studios’ traditional playbook, Fritz argues that these seismic shifts signal the dawn of a new heyday for film. The Big Picture shows the first glimmers of this new golden age through the eyes of the creative mavericks who are defining what entertainment will look like in the new era.

Recommended by:
Dan Calladine, Head of Media Futures, Carat Global Management | Founder, London Pop-ups

Dan Calladine is a media industry maven who tracks online and offline media trends and the effectiveness of media strategy for Carat, a media agency within the Dentsu Aegis Network. He is an expert commentator on media, having been interviewed by BBC Radio 4, the Financial Times, Campaign and The Guardian, among other channels and publications. Dan is an expert on social media, including and social media tracking: he is a keen user, being active on YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest. Dan also heads and runs London Pop-ups, a online listings hub for pop-up events in the capital city.

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
Jon Ronson
(UK: Picador, @picadorbooks, 2015; USA: Riverhead Books, @riverheadbooks, 2016)

Jon Ronson travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The ‘shamed’ are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they’re being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonised, sometimes even fired from their job.

A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratised. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people’s faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.

Powerful and hilarious, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life – full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws and the very scary part we all play in it.

Recommended by:
Dan Calladine, Head of Media Futures, Carat Global Management | Founder, London Pop-ups
Dan says: ‘An account of how public shaming has grown with the rise of online media, especially Facebook and Twitter. It will make you think about how you tweet!’

	Christopher Norris on Secret Santa 2022
	Bronwyn on Secret Santa 2022
	Richard on Let’s get the Icelanders…

Please visit our Book Bulletin 2019 crowdfunding project at CrowdPatch to buy recommendations for our Winter 2019 catalogue and to volunteer your skills, experience and contacts. All funds raised will support not-for-profit Jolabokaflod CIC’s forthcoming programme of events.

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