May Meetup

Fantastic turn out for our April meet up – great to see some new faces and, as always, to see some more familiar ones too. Even better, as always, to have so much good book discussion with both books generating plenty of varied and provoking comment. Our Hideous Progeny scored 64 while The Perfect Golden Circle scored 62.

For May, I’ve unfortunately had to replace one of the books we voted for, One’s Company, because while it has good availability in the US it has very limited availability in the UK (and the one that seems to be available is pretty pricey!). Sorry for not picking that up at the time.

Instead we’ll be reading two non-fiction books; one is an the story of a recent start up business scandal in the US, the other explores how the seven deadly sins have dictated the way women police themselves and other women.

As things went well in terms of attendance in April, we'll stick with payment of £1.50 on the day and avoid the expensive (and problematic!) online payment system.

Happy reading.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (nominated by Rebecca)

The shocking true story of the breathtaking rise and collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes, written by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end.

Seen as the female Steve Jobs, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup ‘unicorn’ promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Backed by wealthy investors, Theranos sold shares that valued the company at more than $9 billion.

There was just one problem: the technology didn’t work . . .

Despite threats of legal action, brave whistleblowers started to talk. They revealed a culture of intimidation and secrecy, technology that repeatedly failed, results sent to real patients that were incorrect but upon which life-changing medical decisions were being made, with devastating consequences.

The riveting story behind The Dropout, in Bad Blood, John Carreyrou investigates the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and scandal set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

On Our Best Behaviour: The Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen (nominated by Julia)

Why do women equate self-denial with being 'good'?

We congratulate ourselves when we resist the donut in the office breakroom. We celebrate our restraint when we hold back from sending an email in anger. We put others' needs ahead of our own and believe this makes us exemplary. Journalist and podcast host Elise Loehnen explains that these impulses – often lauded as distinctly feminine instincts – are actually ingrained in us by a culture that reaps the benefits, via an extraordinarily effective collection of social mores:

Lust. Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Wrath. Envy. Pride.

These so-called 'deadly sins' have been used by the patriarchy to control women throughout our history. For instance, a fear of gluttony drives us to ignore our appetites and an aversion to greed prevents us from negotiating a better salary at work.

So, what would happen if we stopped trying to be 'good'?

Provocative and bold, On Our Best Behaviour is a probing analysis of history and contemporary culture that explains how women have internalised the patriarchy, and how they unwittingly reinforce it. By sharing her own story and the spiritual wisdom of other traditions, Elise Loehnen shows how we can break free and discover a path toward a more balanced, fulfilled way to live.

Other books nominated were:

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Recursion by Blake Crouch
First Into Action by Duncan Falconer
The Dirtiest Race in History by Richard Moore
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn