The September Culture Catalogue

Brains : Love

13 September 2021

Watched everything on Netflix? Coming to the end of your pile of books? Need a top of culture and don't know where to look? Don't fret, the Because team have got you covered. Find their reviews of the books, TV shows, podcasts and exhibitions they've been consuming throughout the month.

Caroline Issa, Editor-in-Chief
"The Garden Museum is a gem of a London institution that definitely doesn't get as much buzz as the blockbuster shows the V&A or the Tate or Serpentine put on, but their space in South London is dedicated to the most natural beauty there is; flowers and, you guessed it... gardens! The Constance Spry and the Fashion for Flowers show now on celebrates the (back then) rebel and queen of flowers, apparently the 20th century’s most influential floral decorator, Constance Spry. It's a feast for the eyes, and after a year where nature has been at the forefront of our minds, this is an exhibition to take a gander in and dream of wild, open spaces."

Carmen Bellot, Managing Editor
"My podcast rotation usually consists of those that feature a group of women – who are almost always as good friends as they are podcast hosts – who spend an hour or so discussing an extensive list of topics. You'll know the type; a podcast that sounds like your listening to your best friends knatter away as opposed to strangers you haven't met, and After Work Drinks falls straight into that category. Isabelle Truman and Grace O'Neil are a pair of writers and best friends who discuss a mixture of high brow cultural discourse as well low brow celebrity news over a glass of Pinot, making for a captivating listen that will have you, at moments, laugh out loud. Any late-twenties early thirty year olds should especially listen to their episode, "The Panic Years", where they interview author Nell Frizzel – who wrote a book of the same name – about why that period in our lives is so transformational for women."

Nasreen Osman, Project Co-Ordinator
"I've been trying to get back into reading fiction after I found myself re-reading sentences countless times from books on the impending doom our society faces. Noam Chomsky is great, but I needed a story to keep me hooked and I found that in the novel Identity by Franco-Czech writer Milan Kundera. The novel follows a couple's life and the intricacies of their singular relationship but it's not an ordinary love story and instead offers a philosophical commentary on identity. The episodes rapidly diverge from reality into fantasy and yet at an indistinguishable point which can only mean you have to go back and read it again. Identity is likely not popping up on your IG feeds or doing the rounds on book clubs, but it's a clever gripping novel worth the read and re-read."

Delia Wagner, Assistant Publisher
"The WeWork documentary uncovers the story of the rise and (very quick) fall of WeWork and their CEO/ cult leader Adam Neumann. It's a movie showcasing what happens when faking it until you make it goes horribly wrong in a strangely comforting 'not everything that shines is golden' tale."