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:

• Three beautiful and charming picture books my 4-year-old loves;

• some great essays and columns on DOGE, Elon Musk’s relationship to South African politics, bad Instagram poetry, and the money behind cooking YouTube channels;

• a great, perfectly drab John Le Carré adaptation I’d never seen;

• four new tracks I’ve been listening to on repeat.

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.

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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 [email protected].

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

Now, the roundup: