The Daily Update’s beach-read series returns for summer 2024.
As we hit August, many readers are looking forward to escaping from the world of work and heading to a warm, sunny locale to lose themselves in a good book.
To help you get the most out of your holiday, each week we’ll be offering three suggestions for your summer reading list.
Why Politicians Lie About Trade, Dmitry Grozoubinski
A fun, engaging book all about trade, policy and why politicians lie about trade, as well as why the media often struggles to cover trade topics properly.
Grozoubinski rose to prominence in the Brexit debates. His frustration, as public debate quickly degenerated into the exchange of empty slogans, without any real engagement on the realities importers and exporters face on a day-to-day basis, prompted him to write the book.
Each chapter is dedicated to a particular topic in trade – from whether trade deals really impact jobs, to what the WTO actually does, to what goes on inside trade negotiations – and provides nuanced explanations of what choices made by governments means for businesses and citizens.
Grozoubinski also provides questions to ask politicians and policymakers when talking about trade deals, environmental protections, customs rules and other significant topics.
The book is entertaining, clear and extremely funny, often in the same page, and is a worthwhile read for anyone who cares about trade and explaining trade to the wider world. If you want a gentle reminder of the world of trade on your holiday beach somewhere, this is for you.
The Crow Eaters, Bapsi Sidhwa
Set in pre-partition India in 1901, Sidhwa’s novel covers the life and times of Faredoon “Freddy” Junglewalla, a parsi businessman who moves from Mumbai to Lahore to seek his fortune.
In Lahore, Sidhwa paints a comic and charming picture of a now-disappeared world. The constant conflict between Freddy and his mother-in-law, the overbearing Jerbanoo, are some of the book’s best parts, as well as the constant struggles of Freddy to build his business empire as India enters the 20th century.
Initially self-published in 1978, the Crow Eaters has gone onto critical acclaim, and has been praised by writers such as Fatima Bhutto and Salman Rushdie.
A great edition to any travel suitcase, the book featured in the Big Jubilee Read to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2022.
A Certain Idea of France, Julian Jackson
For those of you who want a bit more of a reading challenge, Jackson’s biography on one of Europe’s 20th century political giants, Charles de Gaulle, might be for you.
For many in the anglophone world, de Gaulle remains a lesser-known figure, often relegated to the second tier of Second World War figures or remembered for blocking the UK’s entry into the early version of the EU, the European Economic Community.
He also remains a hugely controversial character, adored and condemned in equal measure. But to understand modern Europe, and the EU, is to know more about the figures that helped put shattered nations back together after the war and re-energise a broken continent.
Jackson’s account is detailed, intelligent and nuanced, with plenty of critical insight into De Gaulle’s actions and how he played a crucial part in rebuilding France and creating the Europe we know today.
Clocking in at over 800 pages, this tome of a book is ideal for the true holiday bookworm who wants to spend hours of their holiday reading by the pool.