Now

June 2024

Culture:

  • Books I’ve enjoyed since November:

    • The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse
    • Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
    • Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
    • His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
    • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
    • The Finckler Question by Howard Jacobson
    • Dune by Frank Herbert
    • The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
    • The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
    • The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
    • The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
  • Have finished listening to the entire back catalogue of The Rest is History podcast, which I highly recommend. Have finally broadened the range of podcasts I listen to.

Sport:

  • 5k PB now down to 20:16 from a recent Park Run - sub 20:00 is a possibility for this year.

Misc:

November 2023

Culture:

  • Books I’ve enjoyed since July:

    • The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
    • Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
    • A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
    • Being Mungo by Douglas Stuart
    • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

  • Beef is the only notably good TV series I’ve seen recently.

  • Still working my way through The Rest is History podcast - almost listened to the whole back catalogue now.

Sport:

  • 5k PB now down to 20:32 from a July Park run.

July 2023

Culture:

  • Books I’ve enjoyed since last update:

    • Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
    • The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
    • The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
    • The GoldFinch by Donna Tartt
    • The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    • Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
    • The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
    • The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
    • The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
    • The Promise by Damon Galgut
    • Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
    • White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
    • The Day of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
    • The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

    Also enjoyed Python Architecture Patterns by Harry Percival and Bob Gregory. Need to get back into reading more non-fiction.

  • Seen lot of series over recent months but only Severance and The Underground Railroad stand out.

  • Am working my way through the entire back catalogue of The Rest is History podcast. Have listened back to around episode 180 so still quite a few to go.

Sport:

  • 5k PB now down to 20:57.

July 2022

Culture:

  • Read so far this year:

    • The Sellout by Paul Beatty
    • Maus by Art Siegelman
    • Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
    • Masters of Doom by David Kushner
    • How to be a woman by Caitlin Moran
    • The Colour by Rose Tremain
    • Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

    Reading Booker prize winners is still paying dividends.

  • Recently finished the first season of Gomorrah plus the accompanying L’Immortal. — really enjoyed it all. Nothing beats Better Call Saul though.

  • Have stumbled upon some good French music on Spotify. Artists like Lewis OfMan, Blue Toucan, Papooz, Polo and Pan — always good when you find a rich vein of new music.

Life:

  • Surprising broke my 5k PB the other day by running 21:31 in a local Park Run.

September 2021

Culture:

  • Reading Iain Banks’ The Crow Road as part of my mission to read more of his non-sci-fi work.

  • Recently read Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys and Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments; both of which are excellent.

  • Haven’t watched much TV in recent months. Haven’t even finished Band of Brothers yet but am also part way through Fargo: Season 4 and White Lotus.

  • Haven’t been to the cinema this year.

  • Gaming: still only about 40% through Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

Life:

May 2021

Culture:

  • Reading William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition. Have recently finished two excellent books: Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain and Grace Dent’s Hungry.

  • Still plodding through Band of Brothers. Recently enjoyed The Terror and Netflix’s Suburra.

  • Am playing Watchdogs: Legion and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla when I get the chance.

Life:

  • Starting getting back into bouldering.

  • Am hoping to start playing cricket again at Enfield Cricket Club.

January 2021

Culture:

  • Reading Zadie Smith’s White Teeth as part of an attempt to avoid exclusively reading books by white men.

  • Haven’t finished any of the series mentioned in November update but have also started Mindhunter season 2 and The Queen’s Gambit.

  • Speaking of chess, I highly recommend Daniel Naroditsky’s “speed run” YouTube series, which I’m working my way through.

Life:

  • Doing a lot of lockdown runs; am trying to get my running time below 4:30 per km — am getting closer.

November 2020

Culture:

  • Reading Ian Dunt’s How to be a liberal, which I’m enjoying greatly.

  • Watching Schitt’s Creek with Katy and juggling Gomorrah Season 3, Band of Brothers and Dark Season 1 on my own.

  • Not started any new podcasts for a while — am listening to old favourites like Guardian: Today in Focus, Athletico Mince, Desert Island Discs and The Economist.

  • Still working my way through Red Dead Redemption on an old Xbox 360. Looking forward to getting a Series X later this year and playing something more modern than 2010.

Life:

  • Gutted that the second UK lockdown is forcing Stronghold to close its doors for an unknown period.

This page is inspired by Joe Tsoi’s Now Page, which will lead you down a rabbit hole of other “Now” pages.