Hump day recommendations, April 30, 2025

Hear: the sounds of lost souls. In 1964, as US involvement in Vietnam was deepening, the US army unveiled a terrifying new psychological weapon. Sound designers working with early audio editing technology made harrowing soundscapes featuring the “lost souls” of North Vietnamese soldiers whose bodies hadn’t been properly buried. The wailing and shrieking of these “souls” – in reality, they were the voices of local US army employees – was broadcast via speakers at night in the jungles around villages thought to be sympathetic to the Communists. The idea, cooked up by army psyop experts and Madison Avenue advertising mavens, was to tap into deep-seated Vietnamese fears about the spiritual anguish of being left unburied. This Radiolab episode tells the whole story and makes a (perhaps imperfect) parallel with the recorded voices of America’s own dead. – Alex K

Read: “Ministry of Time,” by Kaliane Bradley. If you are fascinated by the ill-fated 1840s explorations to find the Northwest Passage – an Arctic link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans – you will enjoy this fictional, time-traveling romp, which focuses on Lt. Graham Gore, who was aboard the doomed HMS Erebus when it went missing. The “Ministry” of the title rescues Gore from death and throws him two centuries forward into modern London, where the story follows his struggle to understand today’s world amid a budding romance with an unnamed minder from the Ministry. It’s the debut novel from Bradley, a British-Cambodian writer who started it as a fan fiction of sorts. While you could poke holes in the plot, it’s intriguing, fast-paced, and will leave you wanting a sequel. Alas, she hasn’t committed to one – yet. (Perhaps the Ministry knows more than we do about this!) – Tracy

Read: “Too Much Happiness,”by Alice Munro. Munro never ceases to amaze me, and this collection of 10 short stories that my editor, Tracy Moran, plucked out of one of those free library boxes for me, is no different. Each is so full of humanity, empathy, and powerful portrayals of women’s experiences. If the election this week is inspiring you to read something Canadian, I highly recommend this collection. – Riley