An overlooked cyberpunk novel, a great political thriller, and more

Roundup 9/16/2022

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Every week, in an effort to bring to the surface books, articles, movies, and music I think are interesting and worthwhile that might otherwise be lost or overlooked in your regular content cascade, I sift through the media I’ve consumed recently and pull out a handful of recommendations for paid subscribers. This week’s roundup includes a lesser-known cyberpunk novel, a great political thriller, and music to enjoy. To read these recommendations, please subscribe!

Astute readers (is there any other kind of Read Max subscriber?) will notice that Read Max’s product team is still messing around with the format of these weekly posts. Without making a whole thing of it, I will say I’m still trying to calibrate the form and feel of the roundup. The goal is to eventually find a regular format that feels substantive without being overwhelming, structured without being rote, “charmingly loose” without being “embarrassingly incompetent,” and most importantly leaves paid subscribers feeling like they got (at least a portion of) their money’s worth.

(To that end, in addition to rejigging the media recommendations format a little I’m bringing back an old recurring gimmick for sharing “weird/stupid future” tweets, stories, etc. It needs a better name than the one it has now, but we can go on that journey together.)

If this housekeeping note is starting to sound a bit like an editorial memo around changes you don’t really even notice, that’s because I was in editorial middle-management for so long I don’t really know how to think except in memos. The bottom line is this: I’m going to be experimenting with the roundup format to try and make something that feels valuable to subscribers. Reactions, suggestions, comments, questions, etc. are welcome -- encouraged! -- at maxread@gmail.com.

Now, the recs.