Brenna

One sentence synopsis... The history of the internet - from forums, to Friendster, and eventually Facebook - from the perspective of the user.

Read it if you like... ‘Halt and Catch Fire'. Both the show and this book look at the early stages of building communities online and how the utopian dreams of the World Wide Web have failed to play out in reality.

Further reading... for another personal story told against the backdrop of Silicon Valley and Big Tech try Anna Wiener's ‘Uncanny Valley'.

One sentence synopsis... Four women who live in the same apartment building in Seoul, Korea run up against the country's repressive beauty standards and deep seated misogyny.

Read it if you like... ‘Her Body and Other Parties', ‘Breasts and Eggs', or ‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982'.

Dream casting... really into Blackpink since watching the documentary on Netflix so just cast Jisoo in everything.

One sentence synopsis... An exploration of absurdity through the life of Meursault, a French Algerian whose apathetic responses to society's standards of behaviour lead him to his death.

Read it if you like... nothing. And dislike nothing. And have no feelings for anything at all. Perfect book for you. Far stretch comparison but at times Meursault gives off some very Patrick Bateman, dead-behind-the-eyes vibes.

Dream casting... I don't think a film version of this book makes any sense but somehow I'd trust Joaquin Phoenix to find a way to make it work.

One sentence synopsis... This book follows two half-sisters separated from birth in 18th century Ghana, alternating each chapter to tell the story of a different descendant of each sister. .

Read it If you like... short stories. Despite continuing themes of colonialism and slavery, read all together they felt like a collection of short stories rather than a wholly realized plot. Still enjoyable but about halfway through the stories lose their momentum and become a series of emotionally distressing vingnettes. .

Further reading... for a better version of the many-alternating-narrators book: try ‘There, There'. For a better version of the American-racism-shaping-families: try ‘An American Marriage'. For a better version of family-followed-across-generations: try ‘Pachinko'. It's not that ‘Homegoing' is bad, it's just not as good as other books about the same ideas.

One sentence synopsis... A critique of the dysfunctional power dynamics of relationships under capitalism disguised as a will-they-won't-they love story between two millennial Irish intellectuals. .

Read it if you liked... ‘One Day' by Dave Nicholls (the book, not the movie... the movie was a disaster, Anne Hathaway's accent is a disgrace, it's painful to watch). .

Dream casting... turns out Hulu is already all over this casting Daisy Edgar-Jones as bookish and strange Marianne and Paul Mescal as popular jock Connell.