LAST DAY OF SALE! A cool history of "barbarians," a new comedy about gig work and the manosphere, and a shoegaze album with an All Saints cover

Roundup 06/02/2024

Greetings from Read Max HQ! Today is the final day of our special WEEK-LONG SALES EVENT, THE READ MAX PAY FOR MY SON’S SUMMER CAMP SPECIAL, during which Read Max subscriptions have been a whopping 20 percent off. We encourage you to take advantage of this discount TODAY, before it ends and you are forced to subscribe to Read Max for its “extraordinarly cheap” normal price instead of its “impossibly, insanity-inducingly cheap” sale price.

Subscribers will get access to all of our weekly roundup columns, in which I pick out some worthwhile and often overlooked books, articles, movies, and music to recommend to paying subscribers. For this week’s round-up, I’ve got:

• A cool, expansive history of the “barbarians” who made Europe and Asia what they are;

• a wonderfully contemporary art-house comedy about modern cinema and manosphere influencers; and

• a great jangle-y shoegaze-y indie-rock album with a top-notch All Sants cover.

If any of that sounds interesting -- and if you want to support Read Max in its continuing mission of explaining the future to relatively normal people -- please subscribe below, where the 20 percent discount will be pre-applied. Subscribers get access to these weekly emails and to the comprehensive Read Max Master Lists of Good Movies to Watch and Good Books to Read--as well as preferred pricing on merchandise like the Read Max “EMAIL SUPPLY” caps. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you.

I love to hear from readers who want to recommend a cool book or movie (or whatever!) to me, or from readers who are looking for specific kinds of recommendations. Just leave a comment or drop me a line at maxread@gmail.com.

Finally, please note that I may receive a small commission if you purchase books via links in this email.

Now, the roundup. First, as always, a dispatch from the future: