Love in the Time of Covid

A Memoir in 50 Essays

De: Ian Patrick

Narrado por: Michael Richard

Love in the Time of Covid is a memoir in fifty short essays written during the Covid era between 2020 and 2024. The essays describe the author's responses to media reports, debates, and public commentaries on a range of current affairs during the course of the pandemic. His primary focus is on the poisoning of social discourse during this period, when there was 'no love lost' in conflicts between adversarial parties.

©2025 Ian Patrick (P)2025 Ian Patrick

Very good writing and narration

I read my first Ian Patrick book six or seven years ago and wasn't too much into it because of the foreign names, although I thought lots of it was very good. But then I read more, and became transfixed. I thought my first review was a bit harsh but now I think he's a wonderful writer. So this book is very different. It's not a crime thriller but a memoir of the Covid years. It's not about Covid so much as about how we were all misled by the media. I think it is a very, very intelligent analysis of all that went wrong during the 2020-2024 period. I heartily recommend it to readers and listeners (I had read it before I listened to the audio (I got a complimentary voucher for the audio after buying the kindle version), and that was even better than reading it, because the voice and speech of the narrator are very good. All in all, it is brilliant, although I wish the book covered more international politics, but I can't complain because it is very comprehensive, and the essays are all short and very succinct.

I didn't expect this

I didn't expect to get a memoir when I signed up for a crime-thriller newsletter. I liked the writer's police dramas of a few years back so I approached this with trepidation. But I have to admit I was caught, and read the whole book quite quickly. This is mainly because I share the writer's opinions about the press. I also purchased the digital version with all its links to videos and interviews. That was really fascinating. Then, out of the blue, I received a token to get the audio version, so this adds to the review I had already put on Goodreads. The narration was very clear and comfortable to listen to. All together, then, this is a very good book.

How the press takes sides

I read a book by this author four years ago so when I got a newsletter about this latest book I thought I'd try it, then I soon received an offer to get the audio version free because I had bought the digital one. I was strictly advised that if I reviewed, then I should do so completely freely. In other words, I suppose, they were telling me that I was not being bribed to write a positive review. They needn't have bothered - I never review to anyone's specifications.

I am really enjoying this writing (about half-way through), with nobody prompting me in any direction. I happen to agree with just about everything I'm reading in the book so far. And the narration is crisp and clear, so I'm feeling good about it as I listen along with reading.

UPDATE: FINAL THOUGHTS

Finished. The book is very good. Chapter 45, especially, is very enlightening; showing in detail, with lots of examples, how the press take sides and do everything they can to spin their chosen side of things. I think everyone should read this book: and cross-referencing to the videos and lectures and interviews by clicking on the digital text is very helpful.

The only thing, like other readers have said, is that I wish there was a chapter on Gaza and one on Ukraine, which both seem to me to be important omissions.

Very good: wish it were even longer

An excellent critique of the media during a strange period. I agree with the author, and his examples are brilliant but still only the tip of the iceberg. I remember some even more outlandish claims of the main media outlets, claims that turned out to be false, that the author doesn't touch on, but he certainly is, nevertheless, comprehensive. I received a link to the audiobook for free after having bought the ebook, so that was good. Excellent voice and diction form the narrator.

The book is sharp, incisive, and humorous at times (the essay "A bag of poo") is hilarious. I only wish he hadn't stopped with the election of Trump. I would have liked to see what he thought about the period from January 2025, when Trump took over. Maybe that will come in another book.

The audiobook is even better than the book itself

Albany, NY.

I've had this book on my Goodreads shelf for a few months and have only just got to it recently. I read the writer's "Ryder Quartet" crime thriller six or seven years ago and loved it, so I wasn't expecting this, which is not a crime thriller. It really is a solid analysis of the failures of the media during the Covid -19 period. Some people will say it's a book about Trump but it's not - the author in fact says on half a dozen occasions that although it might sound like a Trump-supporting book, it's not - he only refers to some very outrageous lies told about Trump as a way of showing how the media can't be trusted to be objective, because they are so deranged by Trump. As I wrote this I looked at a totally scandalous BBC Panorama manipulation of Trump's words in order to spin a defective narrative about the man. They take his speech on January 6th 2021 and cut together two sentences nearly an hour apart, to make it seem as if he's exhorting his followers to violence. It is a total fabrication and I hope he sues them, just as he successfully sued ABC and CBS for similar behaviour. Anyway, I recently received an audio token after having bought this book a few months ago, and it has been a real pleasure to listen to the whole thing again after having already read it once. A really good book.