Becoming by Michelle Obama. Probably needs no introduction’ it’s her fairly candid view on her life, family, motherhood, politics, Barack’s ambition, and Trump. I’m reading it now – very well written and engaging, it’s a pleasure to read. 

Still Lives by Maria Hummel. Fiction about a swanky art gallery in LA which is in dire financial straits, and puts on an exhibition by an avant garde artist which might just save it. It’s called Still Lives by a woman named Kim Lord who has taken a series of photographs of herself dressed as a number of different murdered women, in the poses they were in when found (famous ones, like Nicole Brown and the Black Dahlia). It is of course a statement on the risks which women face in their everyday lives and the difficulties of staying safe. LA glitterati are all there for the opening, but when the artist fails to turn up to the gala event, everything goes pear shaped. It has recently been picked up by Reese Witherspoon for her book club which is one of the reasons it’s getting lots of attention.

LISTEN TO JOAN MACKENZIE TALK WITH KERRE MCIVOR ABOVE