Are we there yet? This is my final Five Great Reads for the year, so we must be close. Thanks for reading in 2023 – Imogen Dewey will see you out and I’ll catch you on the other side of the fireworks.
But first, five reads (and one timeless megabomb) to tide you over.
1. ‘Ostracised by her husband for 40 years’
Sometimes arguments can be resolved in an instant; sometimes, you have to sleep on it. Sometimes, the only solution is the silent treatment. And it can extend to nation-states, as Australia and China’s recently thawed diplomatic deep freeze attests.
Why do we give people we love the cold shoulder? The reasons are varied according to Kip Williams, who has studied the silent treatment for 40 years. “Sometimes people do it even if it’s not really part of their repertoire.”
‘At least I’ve got a roof over my head’: Why the woman given the silent treatment by her husband for 40 years stayed.
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
2. The musicians behind the ‘singer-songwriters’
Next time you catch The B-52s’ Love Shack on the radio, have a listen to the bassline. It’s the song’s driving force, provided by a session player (Sara Lee, ex-Gang of Four) who has not received nearly enough accolades for her contribution to a classic.
Such is the lot of the session muso – unless you were part of Immediate Family, whose work laid the foundations for James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne to become stars. A new documentary, also called Immediate Family, celebrates the crack quartet of LA studio players who (almost) became stars in their own right.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Further viewing: The Wrecking Crew, from the same director as Immediate Family. Your mind will be blown. (The Wrecking Crew is available on various Australian streaming platforms; Immediate Family has no local release date yet.)
3. Exiled in Australia: the citizen journalist who went viral
Before the Israel-Gaza war, Plestia Alaqad worked in a marketing agency and used Instagram to photograph everyday life in the territory. Her goal? To teach her followers there was more to Gaza than conflict and destruction.
After Hamas launched its 7 October attacks on Israel, her Instagram became a personal account of the war: of destroyed neighbourhoods and strangers sharing their food. From an uncomfortable exile in Australia, Alaqad recalls how her video of sheltering inside a building in the firing line went viral.
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“I understand why the video went viral, why people ask how I can be calm in a situation like that, whether I’m used to these things, or traumatised. People wonder, because I wonder too.” – Plestia Alaqad
How long will it take to read: Three minutes.
4. The weird world of celebrity training
How hard does your favourite pop star work during a stadium show? Dan Roberts, London personal trainer to the stars, reckons they would burn at least 1,000 calories a night – and up to two or three times as much.
Roberts provides some insights into how Taylor Swift, Madonna and Beyoncé might prepare for the exertion of their three-hour concert extravaganzas – and how they can sustain it.
On one client whose body fat was too low to safely exert herself: “She was getting away with it in terms of health, but she wasn’t menstruating, which is always a warning sign.”
How long will it take to read: Three minutes.
5. Tree vandalism on Australia’s foreshores
Australia’s property obsession is a sickness, Exhibit 379: when hundreds of trees were recently illegally cut down on Sydney’s north shore, it was speculated the newly enhanced views would boost the value of some of the nation’s most exclusive houses.
“Trees are a public asset,” writes Paul Daley, who investigates possible deterrents to the practice, councils’ increasingly cunning counter-strategies, and how seeking to control nature is rooted in the colonial-settler impulse.
Councils strike back: In Victoria, view-blocking billboards have been erected in front of poisoned or removed trees. Others councils stack shipping containers where trees once flourished.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
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