Draft Four: 5 things to read, watch and listen to

It’s a busy time for me, with two live storytelling shows coming up in Brașov and Sibiu over the next 10 days, so I wasn’t able to find the time and mental energy to put together a letter. (I still hope to see some of you – or some of your local friends – in the audience; it’ll be a blast).

All I’ll do today is share a few recommendations, in case you were looking for some October inspiration.

Intermezzo is Sally Rooney’s latest novel. I love Rooney, have read all her books, and have often argued with her characters about their inability to say things to one another. I’m still making my way through this story of two brothers grieving their father and trying to piece together both complicated love stories and professional doubts, but I’m not arguing with them. If anything, I want to give them both a hug. Rooney is a political writer, and I love how she talks about writing in the midst of the war and chaos all around us: “I tell myself that in the midst of all of this, people need not become so incredibly overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems that we’re facing as to feel that life itself is no longer meaningful and that there’s no reason to go on. Part of what I feel is that art has a role in giving people a reason to go on, and that is an important thing in and of itself.”

Mr. McMahon is a Netflix documentary about the man that created the WWE empire. WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment, which I’ve been a fan of for over 30 years. Its theatrics have been storytelling-training for me – the way you build a character and then switch them to be good or bad depending on the situation. The now former owner, who faces countless lawsuits and accusations ranging from sexual misconduct to trafficking, is a story himself, and the documentary asks what the line between fact and fiction is when it comes to him. Pretty porous it turns out.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel and Palestine. Coates is one of the writers with the clearest voice when it comes to injustice. His work on reparations for slavery or the trauma of living in a Black body have been formative. In his most recent book, The Message, he tackles the stories we tell without understanding the full picture. So, among other things, he travels to the West Bank in the spring of 2023 to see for himself what Israeli occupation looks like, and how it can’t be morally compatible with the values of a liberal democracy. He talks about all this in a conversation with Ezra Klein, and they do differ on some things, but also show the power a conversation can have when it makes space for difference. (I have recommended this book before, but the best on the ground story of Israel’s apartheid regime in Palestine is A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall).

Prima abatere (The First Offense) is a hardcore punk Romanian record that just came out. It’s by the recently-formed band Pârnaie (slang for prison), and I went to see them live this week – one of the best shows I’ve been to this year. Their lyrics paint a stark picture of modern life (here in Romania for sure). They sing about Putin and the threat of his autocratic and warmongering tendencies, about the microplastic in all of us, and about being young and unable to make rent and pay bills even after 12 years of school, and an extra 4 years of college. Even though, the song remarks, “I haven’t done anything wrong”.

Also, don’t forgot to follow the March 2025 return of our conference, The Power of Storytelling. Speakers and tickets will be announced in the next few weeks on our Instagram and in our dedicated newsletter.

See you next week.