The mother of all 'to do' lists

Let's get cracking

September’s most exciting non-fiction

• The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher

  • If you’ve ever had the uneasy feeling that social media isn’t great for you, or anyone else, this devastating book will confirm all your fears and more. New York Times reporter Max Fisher’s incisive reporting tracks how the tech giants dominating our world were designed, from the start, to exploit our psychological vulnerabilities in pursuit of our money and attention, resulting in extremism, misinformation, abuse, and even genocide. The Chaos Machine travels around an increasingly destabilised world, meeting the researchers, activists and whistleblowers who tried to raise the alarm, only to be met with inaction from platforms that cast their reality-warping algorithms as the ultimate in freedom of speech. It may be too late to shake the hold that the engagement economy has on our politics, media and social lives, but this book offers a stark insight into how tiny changes within powerful companies might lead to our rescue - or our ruin. (Tara)

• Second City: Birmingham and the Forging of Modern Britain by Richard Vinen

  • Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production, full employment and prosperity from the 1930s to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. For most of that time, Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Indeed, much of British history - the passage of the first reform bill, the rise and fall of the Chamberlain dynasty, racial tension - can be explained, in large measure, with reference to Birmingham.

• The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel

  • How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Have your sense of art history overturned, and your eyes opened to many art forms often overlooked or dismissed.

• A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant

  • “An immensely personal and profound memoir” from Grant, whose wife, Joan, died last year after nearly 40 years together. No doubt it will be as warm as the man himself.

First, a thank you. Given the lovely comments and interaction I have had with some of you over the last few months, I dared to hope that the crowdfunder might pull in a little bit of cash to help kit out the shop. But the response has been far more resounding - and quicker - than I could have expected, especially in the current pinch we are all in. The campaign hit its target in five days. In some ways as useful as the cash has been your comments on the crowdfunder page - it is so reassuring to know how deeply many of you feel about the contribution a bookshop can make to its community. I am very, very grateful. Thank you.

(In part because I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, the crowdfunder will stay up until its original deadline of this coming Saturday. So if you fancy your name above the bookcases, there is still time! Given the kit out in total comes to about £35k, all such contributions will be very handy and get us off to an even more roaring start.)

The hoopla of the campaign rather diverted my week. Between trying to keep track of pledges and responding to some very lovely messages, I bashed out an article for The Times and did interviews with BBC Radio London (about 17 minutes in here) and Riverside Radio, a community station that covers my neck of the woods.

One diversion led to another. I was looking out of the upstairs window at home while on the phone doing one of the radio interviews. With excellent timing, a courier turned up with a large book delivery as I was in mid flow. As soon as the interview was over, I hopped on a bike and scoured the nearby streets until I found the UPS van - the behaviour of a madman, I know. But I got the books.

Now that I have dispatched all these diversions, it has dawned on me that I have about three weeks left until I open a bookshop. Which doesn’t seem very long! I’ve still got to place all the orders with publishers for thousands of books and decide what else (stationery and magazines?) to stock. Then I need to choose beer and soft drinks (for some reason, I prioritised wine!)…and what about cake? One requirement leads to another: books need bags; gifts need wrapping paper or vouchers; drinks need glasses and mugs, and plates and spoons…and milk; stationery and magazines need to be displayed on something other than a bookcase.

Then there are more practical considerations: finding flexible part-time staff, finalising opening hours and rotas, making sure i’s are dotted and t’s crossed on insurance, health & safety, food standards.

Not forgetting that all of this needs to be done in budget. And said budget needs to be regularly updated to reflect changing costs (did somebody mention inflation?) and my shifting vision of what Backstory should be.

So, yeah, there’s quite a bit to do.

I know what I’m going to do first though: tomorrow morning I will sit down and write the mother of all to-do lists. I’ve always found them comforting, no matter how long, bringing order to the multitude of tasks whizzing around my head. Then I’ll sit down with my (so far only!) colleague Rory, who some of you have met on the stall or received postcards from with your books, and split up the tasks.

After that, I suppose we better get cracking. I’ll keep you posted!

Finally, though, I wanted to tell you about something I did manage to get sorted last week. I’m very excited to launch the Backstory non-fiction book club, and even more excited by the calibre of writers who are going to be joining us: Patrick Radden Keefe, Barbara Demick and Lea Ypi are our first three. I’m so, so happy they said yes.

There’s more info online but this is how it works: book club members will receive an excellent work of history, biography or reportage a month or so in advance of each meeting. Then we’ll all come together on Zoom to talk about the book and its broader themes before the author her/himself joins us for a live interview and the chance to put your questions. I really can’t wait! I hope you can join us.

Next week: an update on that to-do list….

Tom