I recently finished Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, by John Carreyrou.
I thought it would be a mostly factual breakdown but turned out to be a page-turner based a real case. Definitely want to see what happens next.
The big take aways were: Folie à Deux and sociopathic fraud…enough to hoodwink major league board members like George Shultz and Henry Kissinger. Hoover Institute takes a hit. But the future is okay if young whistleblower step up.
I’m kind of curious about the Netflix miniseries…but maybe not.
I read it a couple of weeks ago and liked it didn’t love it. I think her memoirs are fascinating and I loved Save Me the Plums about editorship of Gourmet magazine and watching the magazine business dying a slow death.
Yes, that book was fascinating and the mini series is also excellent. Raised our kids in Silicon Valley so I’m always interested in reading about the highs and lows of the area. I also really really liked Kara Swisher’s Burn Book which is a great memoir of her decades of tech reporting and friendship with the titans of Silicon Valley.
My dad worked in Silicon Valley before the dot com boom, and I dated someone from the peninsula during dot com. Knowing the landmarks, restaurants, coffee houses and vibe added something to the read. Maybe I’ll check out the miniseries. Despite the fake it until you make it puffery, Bad Blood was still off the dial crazy.
Currently reading and loving Christa Comes Out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill). Snails, scientists, tv host a la Steve Irwin, sisters, and more!
I finished Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans. Really interesting - the story of NO from Hurricane Betsy through the aftermath of Katrina told from the POV of 9 characters. If anyone has read Isaac’s Storm, NO saga seemed in the same vein although minus the meteorology.
James Lee Burke’s work has always celebrated Southwest Louisiana cuisine.
"When I arrived at Dave’s house at 12:03, his truck was gone and the house was locked. A box of food was on the small front porch, a receipt from Victor’s was taped on the cardboard. I put my hand on one of the sacks and felt the greasy heat in the paper. Dave had ordered ham and onion sandwiches, a special treat he had taught the cook at Victor’s to make. If there is a better sandwich on the planet, I’ve yet to eat it. Ask anyone.
“I waited twenty-five minutes, then gave up . . . I started to leave, then smelled those sandwiches. I couldn’t resist. I unwrapped one and sat on the back step and bit into the French bread and the sliced onions and ham and mayonnaise and sauce piquante, and almost fainted at how good it was. Let’s face it. We’re talking about food some people consider orgasmic.”
I only skimmed it (didn’t want to be rude and read the entire thing w/out buying it).
Had no idea it even existed. Do you recall when it was published?
This YA book about the partition of India through the eyes of a mixed-religion teenage girl (given to me by a middle school teacher friend who has her class read it):
I recommend the movie: Earth … shows in a fictional way what happened in Partition. It’s a shame that history taught in high school here can be so boring. If only a teacher had shown this movie, it would have really opened my eyes and provoked great discussions. (Takes place in Lahore, English subtitles. I guess it’s in Urdu or Hindi.)
Very familiar with it — it’s part of a trilogy by Deepa Mehta centered on female characters. You should watch the other two if you haven’t yet: Water and Fire.
The most powerful depiction of Partition I’ve seen might have been the TV series Tamas (later joined into a film) based on the book of the same name by Bhisham Sahni, based on the author’s personal experience.
I was very young when it was on, but growing up in a still-young post-Independence India and with living family elders who went to jail for the freedom struggle and wore only khadi till they died, my parents considered it part of history education and not entertainment, so we were allowed to stay up and watch it (the content would not be considered “age appropriate” today).
