A clever, moving lockdown journal, an inspirational hymn to older runners and an insightful analysis of our volatile consumer economy. The Observer, January 2023
Toby Litt
Galley Beggar, £10.99, pp400
One of the great online reading pleasures of 2022 was Toby Litt’s Substack, A Writer’s Diary. As the daily entries accumulated, it became clear that the seemingly innocuous posts were actually a really clever blend of quotidian fact and intriguing fiction. It also became a deeply moving treatise on life, death, parenthood and the function of writing. As a mildly edited book it’s a different experience – a year passes quickly in these 400 pages – but that’s tribute to the compelling narrative Litt conjures from the normality of daily life.
The Race Against Time
Richard Askwith
Yellow Jersey Press, £16.99, pp368
Nearly 20 years after his award-winning exploration of fell running, Feet in the Clouds, Richard Askwith finds himself trying to sprint up more hills – except he’s older, slower, more unsteady. The Race Against Time is a really thoughtful sequel of sorts, an investigation into what happens mentally and athletically when the inevitable physiological decay sets in. A combination of reportage at older-age events and some hard-won life lessons, it’s a hymn to the benefits of running, of being active, of the resilience of the human spirit, no matter your age. Inspirational.
Price Wars
Rupert Russell
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £10.99, pp352 (paperback)
If you’re desperately searching for a single reason why Brexit, Trump or the war in Ukraine have caused such chaos, then sociologist and documentarian Rupert Russell might have the answer: it’s all in the wild swings of commodity prices. That might seem like an over-simple thesis, but Russell is a really engaging guide to the butterfly effect of volatile markets. In travelling to Ukraine, Iraq and Kenya, he offers real insight into how price shocks fuel conflict and extremism; there are no answers here, but plenty of food for thought.
The Observer, January 2023
