Another of Oprah’s Book Club picks, this was an incredible read. The story follows a mother and son from the moment of an horrific family tragedy in Mexico through their desperate attempts to flee the country and find their way into the United States. It provides a deep and moving portrayal of how quickly things can change for a seemingly settled and untroubled family and how horrifying the journey is when you are just trying to look for safety.

This was another pick in Oprah’s book club but it took me a while to get to it because I had to read the original Olive Kitteridge book first. I loved that one 100%, and this one lived up to the promise although I’m not sure I loved it quite as much as I did the first. It follows the same lines - a glimpse into the lives of a variety of people in a small coastal town in the US, including the title character Olive, who is getting older and dealing with many changes in her life.

Apple TV+ launched on Friday and yes, you can expect plenty of future updates on the content that came with it. Dickinson was mega! But this isn’t about that. This is about the first episode of Oprah’s Book Club distributed by Apple. I’ve already discussed how I dived right in and started reading the book as Apple quite cleverly coincided the book club with their new reading goals in the Books app.

It took me a while to get into the flow of the book, it has a dream-like quality and one where no extraneous explanations are given. The facts, the dialogue, they’re all there if you choose to find them, and I’m confident plenty of it went over my head. That took nothing away from it though, the story grabs you and, for want of a better word, conducts you through the various adventures.

One of the things Apple is renowned for, and also vilified for, is their unified approach to technology. They make the software and they make the devices which helps to have a more seamless experience as a user (although not at the moment!) and now they’ve added content to their list as well. When I wrote the post about enjoying the new reading goals in association with Oprah’s book club moving to the Apple platform, I hadn’t realised quite what a crossover experience the team have created.

In the latest iOS release, Apple have got a lot wrong. Many things that used to function now no longer do so, and everything is just that little bit more flaky. I’ve never restarted my devices quite so much as I have these past few weeks. However, one thing that I have enjoyed is the new reading goals. The Books app, or iBooks as I can’t help but keep calling it, was always a tangential thing for me.