Anthony Powell's epic A Dance to the Music of Time is probably my all-time favourite read, but it would be cheating to include it here as there are 12 novels in the series. I read fiction voraciously as a teenager, lapping up the 20th-century schoolboy English classics – Orwell, Wyndham, Wells and Greene – for pleasure, as well as plenty of Thomas Hardy at school (and not for light relief). I'm from a family of journalists, and after some resistance to following in familial footsteps, I think my favourite books from my teens and early adulthood suggest I was always destined to cave in and follow that path. Curiosity about the world around you is a basic requirement for any journalist. Otherwise go and do something else. Either way, try to make more time for reading – it is good for the soul.
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (1938)
Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy includes some of the finest writing of the 20th century, but this little marvel of his is perhaps the most biting and witty novel I know. Scoop is the ultimate satire on old Fleet Street. Dispatched by Lord Copper's Daily Beast to cover a brewing conflict in Ishmaelia (actually Abyssinia), countryman William Boot is out of his depth, overloaded with superfluous supplies and while cutting his teeth as a foreign correspondent attempting to wade through the fog of a phoney war. The experience transforms him from near-bumpkin to knowing adult. If you haven't read it, do. It will not fail to make you smile.
The Fruit Palace by Charles Nicholl (1985)
More than just a breakneck attempt at an exposé of the cocaine trade, The Fruit Palace is a travelogue of roughing it around Colombia in a crazy, Wild West period in the country's history. Good humoured, with fact dressed up as fiction at times (as Nicholl has since admitted), but best of all a great romp of a read that is breathless, conjures up a mosquito-plagued country hijacked by an illicit trade and never fails to entertain.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966)
The single greatest piece of American journalism and the benchmark for all fine, spare writing in the modern age. No purple prose, just facts. Capote’s unpicking of a notorious murder case in the Midwest is an unmissable book for anyone who wants to understand how to tell a story using the written word. In contemporary parlance, it is the ultimate “long-form” journalism.
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov (1840)
I adore Gogol’s surrealism and Turgenev’s ability to survey the state of Russia at his time of writing, but Lermontov’s sketch of the life of his self-knowing, often cynical Byronic hero Pechorin is a gently written masterpiece, well-known and yet I doubt well-read these days. His evocative descriptions of horsemanship and Pechorin’s courtships in the Caucasus in this episodic tale provides a snapshot of a Russia that is so long gone and yet the reader always feels right at the centre of the action.
The 39 Steps by John Buchan (1915)
This has been chosen before, but I have to say that this novel of intrigue, spycraft and mistaken identity is a little gem, and the basis for Hitchcock's wonderful 1935 film, which developed the plot brilliantly, but is not a true reflection of Buchan's story. Buchan tapped into British wartime paranoia about German spies, with his dashing hero Richard Hannay fleeing from London to the wilds of Scotland in his one-man effort to survive – and disrupt – a foreign plot as the outbreak of war approaches.
Joe Jenkins is Assistant Editor-in-Chief of The National
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Read more:
My favourite reads: Sarah Maisey
My favourite reads: Liz Cookman
My favourite reads: Alex Belman
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
