1/8/2026: On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej Balle

Beautifully written, very hypnotic, and very bleak. It made me think a lot about the ways I myself occupy space and move through time, as well as all the minutiae that makes up a day (or a year, or a life). I do plan on continuing the series, but I need a break from the 18th of November for a little while.

11/26/2025: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

11/12/2025: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh

10/28/2025: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

10/5/2025: I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

8/3/2025: All Fours by Miranda July

5/18/2025: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

4/15/2025: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

2/21/2025: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

A brief, practical introduction to identifying and resisting tyranny. Snyder doesn't delve too deeply into any of these 20 lessons, but he provides a solid starting place for those who are unfamiliar with fascist ideologies and/or the indicators of an impending fascist regime. An important read for anyone living in the US right now (Feb 2025) who is struggling to make sense of our current political landscape.

2/16/2025: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

This was... an experience. Funny, deeply disturbing, and unlike anything else I've read. I think a base-level familiarity with the dystopian landscape of 2020s-era internet is necessary for this book to make any sense. Also comically NSFW, so definitely skip this one if you don't want to read a truly unhinged 4000-word custom porn order.

2/10/2025: Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv

A fascinating, rigorous, and sensitive account of four individuals' struggles with mental illness. These narratives illustrate how the boundary between illness and health is much blurrier and more culturally-determined than we often realize. Aviv raises important points about the ways that diagnoses can both liberate and constrain, and how the stories we tell (or are told) about ourselves have a material impact on our identities and lived realities.

1/31/2025: Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

1/18/2025: Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast

1/13/2025: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

I wanted to like this, but there was nothing here that someone else hasn't already said in a more compelling & convincing way elsewhere.

1/2/2025: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

A beautiful, solemn exploration of the mother-daughter relationship, what Adrienne Rich called the great unwritten story. The universal contained within the particular: "this is my story, and yet it is the story of many." Strout does not draw moral conclusions or provide any sense of finality. To be a writer and a daughter is to hold that knot of hurt and wonder and anger and inexpressible love, to know that it can never be fully untangled, and to try anyway.

1/7/2026: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

1/4/2026: Wake Up Dead Man (2025)

1/3/2026: Groundhog Day (1993)

1/2/2026: Felicity (1998)

12/29/2025: The Holdovers (2023)

12/6/2025: The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

11/8/2025: Materialists (2025)

10/252025: Fresh (2022)

10/12/2025: Happy Death Day (2017)

10/4/2025: The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

7/26/2025: Thumbsucker (2005)

7/25/2025: Trees Lounge (1996)

7/5/2025: Jurassic Park (1993)

January 2026

The Idler Wheel... - Fiona Apple

Soul Zodiac - Cannonball Adderly, Rick Holmes, the Nat Adderley Sextet

Headlights - Alex G

NPR