August 2019 Staff Picks

Updated 2019/07/31

David’s Pick: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

One of Orwell’s funniest and most visceral books, Down and Out describes, in glorious and squalid detail, some months that Orwell spent among the poor, living a precarious existence. Despite the tone of desperation throughout, it’s really very entertaining, and Orwell’s renowned clarity of vision and description is already fully formed in this, his first published book.

David’s Pick: The killing of a sacred deer [videorecording]

A meditation on fate, vengeance, and responsibility; a dark fable that looks and sounds gorgeous; a strange trip into a world of magical realism where terrible things happen. Mysterious, troubling, a fantastic piece of true cinema that never loses the courage of its convictions.

Natalie’s Pick: Tracks by Robyn Davidson

Tracks is Robyn Davidson’s courageous account of traveling solo across the Australian desert by camel in 1977, interspersed with her views on the prejudice she encounters and the racism she observes towards Aborigines. Her experience was featured in the National Geographic at the time. If you loved Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild, here’s another fantastic female-led adventure story that was also made into a movie! An inspiring read and the film is equally engaging.