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The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Gurnaik Johal: ‘I had no idea Zadie Smith was such a big deal!'
My earliest reading memory I used to regularly reread my bright green copy of the Guinness Book of Records. I can still clearly picture the woman with the longest fingernails in the world. My favourite book growing up I loved the world-building in Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother series. Its stone age setting was different to anything I knew, but so easy to imagine being a part of. The book that changed me as a teenager I bought NW by Zadie Smith because its cover design was so striking. I had no idea she was such a big deal! Once I finished it, I sought out the books that she recommended. That's how I ended up reading Elizabeth Strout, George Saunders and Gustave Flaubert – which was a very good place to start. The writer who changed my mind I didn't read biographies until I stumbled upon Dana Stevens's book about Buster Keaton, Camera Man. She changed my mind about the genre, and now I can't watch Keaton's films without thinking about scenes from the book. The book that made me want to be a writer Reading short stories at university made me want to become a writer. Extra by Yiyun Li, A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri and Recitatif by Toni Morrison stand out as early examples that got me to think differently about reading and writing. The book or author I came back to I didn't get Heart of Darkness at all when I first read it, and was too quick to judge it. Thankfully, I revisited it and now count Joseph Conrad as one of my favourite writers. I love his prose style and the scale of ambition in his novels. The book I reread Teaching courses on the short story allowed me to regularly revisit some favourites. Two stories that never left my syllabus were Pet Milk and Paper Lantern by Stuart Dybek. After dozens of rereads, Dybek's writing always feels new – I get swept along every time. The book I could never read again I listened to Karl Ove Knausgård's My Struggle while training for a marathon. I think if I read it again, it would invoke some kind of Pavlovian response. The book I discovered later in life I have myself to blame for reading Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe later than I should have – it was on my university course but I missed the lecture. Since reading it, I struggle to get on with novels that don't have any oomph to them. To hold my wavering attention, there's got to be a sense of adventure and play either at the level of the plot or the sentence – Robinson Crusoe has both. The book I am currently reading I'm slowly making my way through Larry McMurtry's epic western Lonesome Dove, which is a comedy of manners set on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The free indirect style is very Jane Austen and the dialogue very John Wayne. My comfort read I sometimes take Sheila Heti's Alphabetical Diaries on the tube to work. Dipping in and out of it at random is as close as I can get to meditation during rush hour. Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal is published by Serpent's Tail. To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Economic Times
13-07-2025
- Climate
- Economic Times
This monsoon, stay home, work hard
You don't have to live in Gurgaon and work in Delhi to agree with this. Wherever you are - unless in some foreign tax haven climes that thinks ' Monsoon ' is a perfume brand - avoid soggy shoes, flooded streets and the faint smell of damp regret. Don't be scared of being outed as one of those WFHers. Truth is, working from home during monsoons isn't laziness, it's smart strategy. While your colleagues become aquatic mammals navigating office corridors with flippers and umbrellas - not to mention the commute that makes Joseph Conrad's 'The horror! The horror!' seem tame - you, dear home-bound visionary, are sipping ginger tea and actually getting things done. They battle traffic-induced existential crises; you battle finding your slippers from under one of the corporations insist on 'team spirit', as they herd drenched employees into offices that smell faintly of mildew and broken dreams. Meanwhile, remote workers crush deadlines while wearing the same T-shirt for three days - because rain exempts laundry. Studies (read: common sense) show that nobody has ever had a great idea while clutching their laptop in a cab stuck in traffic. But the stress apart, great ideas? They bloom where the room is dry. Zooms can confirm that. So, this monsoon, be dry. Your boss might call it antisocial. We call it meteorologically enlightened.
Metro
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Netflix adds all 4 episodes of 'gripping' spy thriller with Line of Duty star
The cast is a real who's who of British acting talent (Picture: BBC/World Productions/Matt Burlem) If you're in the mood for political intrigue, Netflix has just added a dark tale of espionage, terrorism and betrayal set in Victorian London. Based on Joseph Conrad's terrorism satire novel, The Secret Agent originally aired on the BBC back in 2016. Film critic Roger Ebert once labelled Conrad's novel of the same name 'perhaps the least filmable novel he ever wrote' – alongside a one-star review of the 1996 film adaptation. However this four-part adaptation adds plenty of plot goings-ons to the novel's character study to make it pop on the 1886-set screen. The drama centres around Verloc, the owner of a smutty Soho sex shop, who has a side hustle on the go as an informer for the Russian embassy, keeping tabs on a group of anarchists in the capital – whose aims are to 'attack the rich!' But when the Russians make new demands on Verloc, involving a bomb plot, his identity is put at risk – all the more so because his wife keeps inviting the anarchists to their home for revolutionary meetings. Get personalised updates on all things Netflix Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. The cast is a real who's who of British acting talent, with Toby Jones heading up the show as Verloc and Vicky McClure playing his wife Winnie. The Secret Agent is based on Joseph Conrad's terrorism satire novel (Picture: BBC/World Productions/Des Willie) The show taps into the hotbed of European radicalism at the time (Picture: BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz) To round out the top of the call sheet, Stephen Graham joins them as the police Chief Inspector Heat – naturally, a very cool name for the eternally cool actor. The show taps into the hotbed of European radicalism at the time, with the central terrorist attack inspired by a real-life plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Jones said it's no mistake we're drawn to spy stories, telling The Times in 2016: 'We know we live in a surveillance society, we're being watched, we're watching, we've always said we don't fully trust what politicians say, but now we know not to trust them. Conrad had the original spy story.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Toby Jones said he was 'gripped' by the show's storytelling (Picture: BBC/World Productions/Des Willie) Jones went on to say he was 'gripped' by the show's storytelling and the performances of his fellow actors, but then added: 'I don't like anything I do. All I see is what I don't do.' When the show was first released, the Radio Times hailed it as a 'gripping period tale exploring urgent modern anxieties', while The Telegraph described it as 'one of the bleakest, murkiest and most disturbing dramas this year'. However, the reviews were a mixed bag, with the Guardian dismayed at what had been lost from the original novel, while The New York Times described the show as a family soap opera that didn't get at the character's psychologies. The Secret Agent is available to stream on Netflix. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. Arrow MORE: How to stream Sleeper Cell TV series that left viewers 'in constant state of suspense' Arrow MORE: 'Chilling' crime thriller enters Netflix top 10 with all five episodes available to stream Arrow MORE: Netflix's new racy Spanish drama has fans 'bingeing it in one go'
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Which book makes Quentin Letts cry every time?
What Book... ...are you reading now? Having just chewed through Samantha Harvey 's Booker prize-winner, Orbital, I fancied another voyage story, this time more dangerous. Joseph Conrad's 1897 novella about the merchant ship Narcissus, sometimes titled The Children Of The Sea, is certainly that: surging, salt pages of muscular peril. My criticism of Orbital, though I admired its idea, its dreamy prose and brevity, is that little happens in space. Astronauts are quite boring. Conrad's 'immortal sea' is a constant threat, as are his gnarled, desperate characters – though he was terrible at dialogue. Halfway through the excellent Penguin Classics edition, I have a suspicion Narcissus and her crew may meet a pitchy end. ...would you take to a desert island? Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now. It describes, with dry humour, an opulent conman who fools 19th century London. The Victorian House of Commons leaps to life. David Suchet was perfect in the BBC 's 2001 adaptation. Trollope is good at depicting women, and in my 20s I fell in love with Madame Max Goesler, a 30-something Viennese widow in several of his novels. ...first gave you the reading bug? My father was a schoolmaster. Books were everywhere: GA Henty's imperial adventure yarns, PG Wodehouse's surreal souffles, RJ Unstead's history stories and H Rider Haggard's sultry King Solomon's Mines. Quite sexy, though as a ten-year-old I didn't realise that. I was gripped, too, by Rosemary Sutcliff's more prim The Eagle Of The Ninth and I gurgled at Gerald Durrell's animal-packed comic memoirs. We had a children's edition of The Odyssey. Disguised Odysseus returns home to Ithaca after 20 years. The only being to recognise him is his dog, Argos, who has waited for his master's return. Faithful Argos is in a bad state. He wags his tail, sighs, dies. Made me cry every time. ...left you cold? St Paul's letters in the New Testament. Too intellectual for me. I can never work out what he is saying. And I have tried, four times, Anthony Powell's A Dance To The Music Of Time. One day I'll crack it.
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Donald Trump's Congo deal: mineral riches for protection
'The vilest scramble for loot that has ever disfigured the history of human conscience' is how Joseph Conrad described colonial-era concessions granted to private companies for Congo's natural resources in Heart of Darkness. Under Donald Trump, that scramble may be back. If news reports are right, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is offering the US a blunt deal: minerals for military help – a slice of sovereignty traded for a shot at stability. The concern is this isn't a return, it's a sequel. For three decades, Washington supported Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, a cold war ally and brutal dictator who looted the Congo until his 1997 fall. That history of power politics still casts a long shadow. The Trump administration openly favours muscle over diplomacy. Fadhel Kaboub, an associate professor of economics at Denison University, notes that Biden-era talk of partnering for clean energy has been shelved, with the US driven less by green goals than by copper and cobalt for missiles and microchips. The logic is bleak but clear. Since 1996, the Congo's wars have drawn in foreign armies and proxies, leaving over 5.5 million dead. The DRC faces a worsening security crisis driven by armed groups like M23, allegedly backed by Rwanda and other regional powers. Western governments lament the violence, but focus on securing access to minerals vital to their industries. Kinshasa, seeing appeals to multilateral justice achieve little, has turned to dealmaking. If dependency is inevitable, it might as well be leveraged. The DRC's leadership is not naive. They know Mr Trump sees Africa not as a partner but as a warehouse of strategic materials, and Ukraine as proof that he will turn weakness into American gain. They know China won't send troops – citing non-interference – even as its firms dominate Congolese mining. With Russia and Gulf states offering assistance, Kinshasa pushes for US bases to guard 'strategic resources' – like cobalt, 70% of which comes from the DRC and is essential to smartphones and Nato's defence industry. Congo may want boots; Washington prefers business. The proposed deal with the US seems desperate and strategic: security support in exchange for mining rights. Don't call it protection money. After Mr Trump's Africa envoy signalled a deal was coming, the DRC repatriated three Americans tied to a failed coup, and a tin mine, which is controlled by US investors, began reopening as M23 rebels pulled back – a fragile win in a volatile landscape. Kinshasa hopes either to have Washington broker a peace that forces the rebels into retreat or to gain the firepower to crush them outright. It might also unlock IMF funding and widen access to western capital markets. But at what cost? The likeliest outcome is that the DRC will receive just enough to remain dependent. Its mineral sector will be dominated by foreign firms, its fiscal autonomy eroded by conditional loans and its economy locked into the old pattern of subservience – supplier of cheap inputs, consumer of expensive outputs. Calling this colonialism isn't quite right. Empires ruled by decree, with no pretence of consent. Today's coercion is more subtle: a sovereign state cornered, at a weak moment, into accepting colonial-style terms without soldiers or flags. The tools are different – security deals, trade exemptions, private investment. But the logic is familiar. The irony is that this is being pursued voluntarily by a government with few alternatives. What will history say about that?
