Five Great Reads: how Animalia became a global bestseller, hand-me-down recipes, and the genius of Miles Davis

Guardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Imogen Dewey

Good morning. Food, books, jazz … today’s spread of good stories from around the Guardian takes in some reliable ingredients for a pleasant weekend. The two other great reads here (about a post-nuclear ghost town, and the fear of dying alone) may not exactly fit that bill … but you can save them for Sunday night.

Put on a record, butter yourself some toast, and enjoy.

1. Graeme Base didn’t even want to be a children’s book author

Base specialises in the best kind of children’s books: in Sian Cain’s words, “the ones adults think children won’t like – too difficult, too weird, too wordy”.

Writing and illustrating kids’ stories was never a path he meant to go down, he tells her – he would have happily designed, say, record covers. But a talent for drawing and an intricate, esoteric eye set him on a charmed road to the NYT bestseller list.

First, there was Animalia, “quite unlike any alphabet book published before or since”. Then, after reading some Agatha Christie on holiday, Base got the idea for his next huge hit, The Eleventh Hour.

How long will it take to read: A few minutes.

Dive into our best kids’ books poll: Both Animalia and The Eleventh Hour have been chosen by Guardian readers among the 50 best Australian picture books ever published – you can cast your vote until Wednesday. And don’t miss Lenore Taylor’s moving piece on finally understanding Mem Fox, or Alexis Wright’s tribute to Dick Roughsey.

2. The Fukushima towns frozen in time

Fifteen years ago, a tsunami – and the most powerful earthquake in Japan’s recorded history – caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.

At a local primary school, “there are still textbooks lying on the desks, pencil cases are strewn across the floor; empty bento boxes that were never taken home. Along the corridor, shoes line the route the children took when they fled.”

Justin McCurry has drawn an evocative picture of a region put on pause. Nature has thrived since – now only bears, raccoons, and boar are seen on the streets. But what happens if the humans come back? And even if they want to, can they?

How long will it take to read: Four or five minutes.

3. Bapa’s beans, and other family heirloom recipes

“Family recipes are a form of time travel,” writes Jimi Famurewa. “An act of cultural preservation that connects us deeply to people we may not have met and places we may not have visited.”

Guardian readers have shared the dishes that have joined their families across the generations – from a Turkish spinaka (spinach and feta pie) to tinned baked beans turned into a delicious Indian curry.

***

“My grandparents could make a meal out of anything. Even though there was not much money, there was always a feast, and whoever was there would be included.” – Sonia, 40, Manchester

How long will it take to read: Eight minutes – much longer if you stop to cook (and eat!) along the way.

4. Are You Dead? How a viral Chinese app exposed single people’s deepest, darkest fears

The Are You Dead? app released by Moonscape Technologies last year surged in popularity in recent weeks, at one point becoming the most downloaded paid-for app in China, Amy Hawkins reports. It’s since rebranded (to “Demumu” – a portmanteau of “Death” and cutesy suffix “Mumu”) – but the controversial bluntness of its original name offers plenty of food for thought.

What does it do? Users check in daily by clicking a big green button. If you miss two consecutive days, the app sends an automated alert to your designated emergency contact.

Why has it hit such a nerve? The topic of social isolation feels particularly acute in Chinese cities, Hawkins explains, where marriage and birthrates have hit record lows, and many people live alone.

And there’s a compounding factor: one analyst she speaks to notes a growing “loneliness economy”. Liberation from traditional family structures may give freedom to many, but can leave a gap in human connection that technology (and companies) are quick to fill.

How long will it take to read: Five minutes.

5. One hundred years of Miles Davis

This year is the centenary of the jazz giant’s birth, and music critic Ammar Kalia asked some of his surviving collaborators, as well as contemporary heavyweights, to analyse what exactly made him so brilliant.

Sonny Rollins: “He would hear every note each person played, and we all took something different away from his wisdom.”

Ambrose Akinmusire: “The thing I love about Miles is the same thing I love about Dizzy Gillespie or Joni Mitchell or Björk, which is that they ask themselves daily if they’re the same person they were yesterday.”

Bill Evans: “Miles had a way of writing a song or putting a band together that felt like he was playing to just one person.”

Terence Blanchard: “Miles didn’t play the trumpet like a trumpet … he always played the moment, since it’s what was happening at the time in the music that would dictate what he expressed through his horn.”

Melissa Aldana: “You hear one note and you know it’s Miles. You can’t play like that and not be spiritual.”

Did you know: 1959’s Kind of Blue is the bestselling jazz album of all time.

How long will it take to read: Five minutes.

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