As you read this, the latest book by Liane Moriarty, one of the most gifted (feminist) writers of our time has yet another adaptation of her books (Apples Never Fall) ordered by Peacock. Her previous book-to-screen successes include Big Little Lies with an-all star cast shepherded by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman who also featured in it. Nine Perfect Strangers followed, produced by Nicole Kidman, who also featured in the series in a lead role along with an ensemble cast. CBS Films also acquired rights to an earlier book by the Australian author called The Husband’s Secret with Blake Lively set to feature in it, but it remains unclear what happened to the project.

Moriarty has that rare ability to write flawed, brilliant female characters and protagonists, while creating a rich tapestry of the lives and lifeforce women tend to weave around themselves.

Without being pedantic or preachy, she presents deeply interesting stories, brought to life with her equally deep insight and charming wit.

If you’ve got a weekend to spare, chill out with any one of Liane Moriarty’s books, and prepare to be thoroughly entertained.

If you’re in the mood to deep-dive into why our world is the way it is, and where it is going, consider the following recommendations:

Insane Mode – How Elon Musk’s Tesla Sparked An Electric Revolution To End The Age of Oil

Reading about technology that may result in electric cars in the future and reduce dependence on oil will make you realize how far behind we are as a nation. It will also dismiss the paranoia that we, as individuals and as a collective nation, seem to find everywhere. Where in Japan, robots are a reality – whether you may like the progress or not – here we shun people who speak of taking certain ideas forward such as Elon Musk. He is what Mark Zuckerberg; the founder of Meta (Facebook) was to a great many. To disperse yourself of that notion, pick up a copy of Insane Mode – How Elon Musk’s Tesla Sparked An Electric Revolution To End The Age of Oil. At the end of this book, you still may carry some reservations, but it will also work as an informative guide on why Elon Musk is considered an innovator and voice of reason by so many. You can’t keep going to wars for the sake of oil or become billionaires via fracking, destroying the earth’s crust as a result.

We highly recommend this as a nightstand staple, so you can pick and read during moments when you want to understand more about the world around you.

Brief Answers to
Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Not everyone has the time or can take out the time to go through the books and papers by Stephen Hawking. Watching a film about him, sure. But the study, not so much. The iconic cosmologist may have passed but he has done mankind a favor yet again by condensing some of his most pivotal works in one book that is shorter than you might expect.

With a foreword by actor Eddie Redmayne – who essayed the great thinker in The Theory of Everything and won and Oscar for it, and by physicist Kip Thorne – the book is divided into chapters that ask larger questions such as ‘How Did It All Begin’, ‘Is Time Travel Possible’ and the biggest of them all: ‘Will Artificial Intelligence Outsmart Us’? It isn’t an irrelevant question to ask, as tech giants in Silicon Valley have their own A.I. and bots. The employment of technology has resulted in hacking to a point that cybercrime units have been created but can they match the technology? In the final chapter, ‘How Do We Shape The Future’, he notes: “Mankind has presented our planet with the disastrous gifts of climate change, pollution, rising temperatures, reduction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, and decimation of animal species. Our population, too, is increasing at an alarming rate. Faced with these figures, it is clear this near-exponential population growth cannot continue into the next millennium.”

Where do we go from here? That is the question you’re left pondering, and to fully understand what Hawking meant, the final book from Stephen Hawking would make a good read, irrespective of whether science and the universe fascinates you or not.

PS: If you prefer a sci-fi novel, drop Dune (the film) and opt for Dune, the original novel series by Frank Herbert