Dear readers, this weekend I’d rather be scouring arcades for a Space Harrier cabinet than packing my bookcase into boxes to move house. Fortunately this week delivered so many amazing book extracts that one missed the cut. Read on for more.
1. The schoolkid who interviewed rock’n’roll greatsAlmost Famous no more: the film-maker and journalist Cameron Crowe has written a memoir. Photograph: Philip Cheung/The Guardian
What were you doing at 14? Cameron Crowe was blagging his way backstage to interview Black Sabbath, setting a storied career as a music journalist on its way. The scribe turned film director has already fictionalised his life story in the Oscar-winning Almost Famous; he’s now put it down in book form. John Harris has the scoop.
How long will it take to read: Eight minutes.
Further reading: How Crowe, age 15, wore Jimmy Page down to secure a Led Zeppelin cover story for Rolling Stone.
2. What happened when Malala Yousafzai inhaledMalala Yousafzai with members of the Afghan women’s football team in Melbourne in 2023. Photograph: Kelly Defina/Getty Images
On to another child prodigy, Malala Yousafzai, who sees Crowe’s Led Zep cover story at 15 and raises with a Nobel prize at 17. A decade on, the global icon of women’s education talks Sirin Kale through her surprise marriage and what it’s like to be used as a photo op by the world’s male leaders.
How long will it take to read: Ten minutes.
Further reading: Yousafzai recalls how smoking a bong in a garden shed unlocked horrific repressed memories in an extract from her new memoir, Finding My Way.
3. Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine MaxwellJeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Photograph: US Department of Justice/PA
The word “chilling” is overused but there are times when it is appropriate. Such as this extract from the late Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, in which she details how getting a job as a teenager at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort put her in the orbit of an “apex predator” and, eventually, Prince Andrew.
“While they usually slept in separate bedrooms, and rarely kissed or held hands, it seemed to me that Maxwell and Epstein lived in complete symbiosis.” – Virginia Giuffre in Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice.
How long will it take to read: Ten minutes.
Further reading: The philosopher who tried to understand Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Five Great Reads
Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
4. How far should cultural boycotts go?Activists protest against Boiler Room outside KKR’s offices in Hudson Yards, New York. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Imagine you’re an emerging DJ offered a high-profile, real-money gig – only to discover the source of that money crosses your moral boundaries. Do you sell your soul or take a stand?
That is the conundrum facing artists booked by the livestreaming behemoth Boiler Room, whose parent company’s parent company has links to Israel. It is generating fierce debate about the best way to protest and how to remain uncompromised.
Devil’s advocate: “As a result of the moralising approach of campaigners,” says Ben UFO, one of the UK’s most respected DJs, “many professional artists and other industry participants feel as though they can’t speak their minds without being accused of hypocrisy for simply trying to navigate the music industry.”
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Further reading: A separate boycott movement is targeting Spotify for its founder’s investments in a firm developing AI for military tech.
5. ‘You are constantly told you are evil’Few psychiatric conditions are as stigmatised or as misunderstood as narcissistic personality disorder. Illustration: Pete Reynolds/The Guardian
Though people have been labelled as narcissists for more than a century, it’s not always clear what is meant by the term. Lucy Knight hears from diagnosed narcissists on how the disorder can damage careers and relationships.
How to spot a narcissist: Symptoms include an inflated view of oneself, a lack of empathy and a strategy of using people to bolster one’s self-esteem or social status by seeking admiration, displaying material goods or seeking power.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Sign up
If you would like to receive these Five Great Reads to your email inbox every weekend, sign up here. And check out out the full list of our local and international newsletters.