DM recommends for November

Mes Amis!

We are now knee deep in what my most Yorkshire-est, youngest brother, Jack likes to call ’the most northern time of the year’.
For international readers, The folk from the north of England like to pride themselves on being tougher and more resilient than their southern counterparts. This manifests itself in Jack’s internal battle with the central heating - ‘When is it acceptable to turn on the heating?’ he asks himself. Every time he is about to break, he has to imagine Sean Bean (the ultimate Northern male), and what would Sean Bean say to him. 
So what’s been good? Culturewise in the DM universe? The nights are drawing in and the prestige tv mines are spewing forth their treasure. Particular favourites our house are the new His Dark Materials, so far a faithful retelling of P.Pullman’s oeuvre (with the exceptions of the Gyptians, who for my money looked like a socially and ethnically diverse community BBQ). The ladies have worn me down and I have finally, in the manner of someone succumbing to a potentially deadly illness, I have gotten into This Is Us. It’s a sometimes schlocky, always well meaning story of one family. It jumps around time and place, pulling thematic threads from across the generations. 

Book wise, I have been really enjoying ’The Plague and I’ by Betty MacDonald. It’s an American memoir from the 1930s about recovering from TB. It sounds grim, but is in fact hilarious. I finally got round to reading ’Swing Time’ by Zadie Smith. I was a pleasant enough read, but like recent feted novels from the likes of Sally Rooney, I fail to see what all the hype was about. 

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