I Just Finished “Bad Blood”

European Straits #131

Dear all,

We’re nearing the summer break, which always comes as a paradox. On one hand, many things are winding down, starting with fewer messages in my mailbox and fewer meetings. On the other hand, there are so many things to be completed within the next few days that I can’t really enjoy the unwinding 😧.

In this context, I’m experimenting with some rebalancing: less social media (I’ve uninstalled Twitter from my phone) and more books, including novels (I have my wife Laetitia to thank for that). Here’s what I’ve been reading lately.

Fleishman is in Trouble is a recently published masterpiece. The author, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, is best known for her long-form profiles of personalities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Bradley Cooper, once in GQ and now in the New York Times Magazine. This novel (her first) is a masterful depiction of the divorce of a high-flying New York couple, with so many different perspectives and unexpected twists that you end up with that all-too-rare feeling: realit…