What if Louis XVI was a wizard?

A charming post-revolutionary wizard fantasy, some Gene Hackman faves, and songs I love: Roundup 03/02/25

Greetings from Read Max HQ, and welcome to our weekly roundup column, 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 fantastic, unique fantasy novel set in a kind of post-revolutionary world of toppled wizard-aristocrats and democratic armies;

• essays and columns on Elon Musk’s habits, Pankaj Mishra’s new book, the politics of the world’s worst podcast, and the deciphering of Linear Elamite;

• three under-appreciated Gene Hackman movies, none of which are The Conversation or Royal Tenenbaums;

• four tracks I’ve been loving.

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. 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.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to subscribers you think might like it! Word of mouth is the best marketing I’ve got.

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

Now, the roundup: