On my culture radar this month June 2025.

Novel of the Month

Gabriële by Anna Bereste & Claire Bereste.

This recently translated novel is based on the life of the authors’ great grandmother, Gabriële Buffet. Neither sister had heard of Gabriële until after she died in 1985, aged 104; but it turns out that she lived an exceptional life.

In this fantastic novel the sisters reassemble Gabriële’s life with a combination of meticulous research and novelist’s imagination. The result is a warm, intelligent, almost unbelievable biography of an extraordinary woman who was a central figure in the art movement of the early/mid 1900s as Cubism and Dada emerged to change the world.

There is so much colour, insanity, love, sex, drug taking, art, globetrotting travel, glory and despair as the protagonists flip between Paris, New York and Switzerland that it is hard to believe that this is essentially a true story. But it is and as such it is educational too. I mean, it doesn’t get much better.

Four Short Books That I Enjoyed This Month

Cooking in the Wrong Century by Teresa Präauer.

This elegant, witty and unusual Austrian novel follows a hostess as she prepares for and then throws a dinner party. It’s a satire of sorts with characters writ large as if in a play; the crémant flows liberally, there’s endless jazz, a smoking professor and maybe even sex.

This is a beautifully written, original novel and another good reason for going into a bookshop and choosing from that shop’s picks (in this case Hatchards) because I can’t imagine it will be a big hit, but it is highly recommended.

Air by John Boyne.

(And its siblings Water, Earth and Fire)

This is the final part of Boyne’s Elements quartet. It deals with family, the impact of the past, redemption, loss and more, as a father and son travel across the world to meet someone who isn’t expecting them.

Boyne is a brilliant storyteller, and crams so much strong narrative into a short space that this feels much longer than its 160 pages. I am not sure he’s my favourite writer, sometimes the prose feels a little clunky, but I definitely recommend this quartet which deals in some extraordinarily difficult subject matter and chronicles the lives of some memorable characters.

A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar.

Caroline gave me this because she’d loved it, and because not only had we both seen the recent Siena exhibition at the National Gallery, but because we’re going to Siena soon.

Matar is a Pulitzer Prize winner and this shows. This is an exceptionally beautiful and deeply serious meditation on love, loss, family and the relationship between Matar and Sienese art which he first discovered in his teens. It’s wonderful and you will find a great deal to reread and fall in love with here.

A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappé.

I read this because I simply didn’t know enough to really understand the subtext of the recent events in Israel and Gaza. Pappé is an Israeli professor, political scientist and former politician and this book was exactly what I needed, leading me through the last 150 years of the area’s history. This is a dense but very readable book that never patronises the reader. I am now moving onto more of Pappé’s writing.

Music

Get Sunk by Matt Berninger.

Berninger’s day job is as the singer for one of my favourite bands, The National. But I haven’t been able to listen to them much recently, having overplayed them. This is entirely my fault and a constant issue with my most-loved music.

But, lo! This is great, so I am back in the zone. There are inevitable shades of The National, but bits of REM too and that alt country thing to which his voice is so well-suited, shines here, too.

And I have also enjoyed:

Pulp’s new album, More, seems good, which is a lovely surprise. There are definitely some excellent singles here.

Have you heard Baxter Dury’s single Allbarone? He is really starting to create his own musical universe.

Find them all, and other good stuff, in my ever-changing Spotify playlist.

Exhibition

Grayson Perry, Delusions of Grandeur at The Wallace Collection.

You will no doubt have already made your mind up whether you like Perry’s work or not. If you do, this is absolutely worth a visit. I’ve been twice and enjoyed it enormously both times. I think it’s wonderful; original, fun, cheerful, thought-provoking. Real effort has gone into staging it, and even though it’s small it may well be Perry’s best exhibition yet.

Perry mixes site-specific pieces of his original art with pieces from the Wallace Collection and imagines life through the lens of an alter ego.

The explanation cards are written by Perry and (although I never use these) the audio guide is narrated by him. This is an original and creative show bursting with vitality and fun (though looking at reviews, possibly not high-minded enough for some of the art establishment, which is fine by me).

Over and out.
See you soon.

Charlie x