Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. My library hold came in after I’d already cried my face off during the movie, but I’m actually glad it worked out that way. The movie is beautiful, with a painterly attention to colors and textures and the physicality of made things–books, poseys, jars. The book is also gorgeously textured with attention to the work of making candles, of preparing herbs, of cutting quills for writing. The movie hews very closely to one character’s POV while the book explores more perspectives–even following the unlikely path of the fleas that (in this telling) carried plague into Warwickshire and into the house of Hamnet. This gave me the sensation of having a moving story broadened and deepened, which I really enjoyed.
Dangerous Fictions: The Fear of Fantasy and the Invention of Reality by Lyta Gold. I’ve actually been working on this one for a few months–it was slow going, but that’s not a criticism. I actually ordered my own copy so I could reread at leisure and make notes. This book examines our contemporary culture war zones–book bans, toxic fan culture, etc.–and places them in historical context. Critics have always claimed that books can mislead or deceive the weak-minded–but the particular targets of each age’s censure and censorship reveal much about power dynamics of their time.
I DNFed the The Stone Door by Leonora Carrington. The first 30 pages had some lovely moments, but it is very much of its time and also the sort of surrealist fairytale you have to float through lightly, and that is very much not my vibe lately.
And that’s that for my library holds, for the time being. My local library branch is closed for repairs, so I’ve been taking the bus to another branch to pick up and drop off my books. For now, I’ll focus on books I already have in my possession.
For example, I borrowed Why Fish Don’t Exist:A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller from a friend ages ago, and I wish I’d read it sooner. It’s short, sparkling nonfiction about a pioneering taxonomist at the turn of the 20th century who obsessively “discovered” and named hundreds of species of fish. At first, the author turns to this historical figure as a paragon of order, purpose, and perseverence, and these early chapters reminded me of reading Andrea Barrett’s short fiction of scientific discovery. But the more the author learns about her paragon, the darker his story is revealed to be–there’s murder! nepotism! eugenics!!–and she is forced to find her own version of order and purpose, or embrace chaos.
And on the many snowy nights we had this month, I reread A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik because I just wanted to lose myself in a story, and I reread all my favorite stories from White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link because they are delicious and full of magic.
There’s a lot of poems and short prose I loved this month–The Slowdown was on fire! But there are other sources as well:
in which the poet find something to do with herself by M. Anne Avera
ars poetica, 2019 by Airea D. Matthews
An Elegy for My Neighbor, Renee Nicole Good by Danez Smith
New Year by Kate Baer
Come Back! by Camille Guthrie (addressed to my girl Hilda Doolittle, or H.D.)
Congratulations! Your Grief Is About to Stop Being Relevant! by Bridget Bell
Not new but someone reshared to Bluesky, and it still slaps: A Few Normal Things That Happen A Lot by Gwen E. Kirby
Elsewhere
It has been so hard to read coverage of the DHS crackdown on Minnesota and to feel too far away to do much. But I loved reading this slice-of-life, “this is how we live now” essay from someone who lives there; it lifted my spirits.
I have not seen either of the recent film releases critiqued here, but Notes Toward a Theory of Ball Smell was extremely funny and all too recognizable to me.
I’m not sure I am satisfied with where this essay ends up, but I really enjoyed the insider’s look at the proliferation of book lists in online periodicals (which necessarily touches on the impact of AI, but also obliquely on climate fiction).
I always run, not walk, to click on a new Isaac Chotiner interview–and while he does often publish respectful and informative exchanges with serious people who are doing serious work, obviously my favorites interviews are with people with questionable beliefs and flimsy arguments that cannot withstand a cold “I see.” This AO3 Yuletide story nails that dynamic: Isaac Chotiner interviews the man who runs the lottery in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
AI in the news:
‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate? (The Guardian, January 3, 2026)
We Need to Talk About How We Talk About ‘AI’ (Tech Policy Press, January 7, 2026)
The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says (NPR, January 14, 2026)
Could ChatGPT convince you to buy something? Threat of manipulation looms as AI companies gear up to sell ads (The Conversation, January 14, 2026)
AI cannot automate science – a philosopher explains the uniquely human aspects of doing research (The Conversation, January 20, 2026)
Pro-AI Super PACs Are Already All In on the Midterms (WIRED, January 21, 2026)
YouTube chief says ‘managing AI slop’ is a priority for 2026 (CNBC, January 21, 2026)
AI chatbots share climate disinformation and recommend climate denialists to susceptible personas (Global Witness, December 18, 2025)
CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story. (Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2026)
Minnesota activist releases video of arrest after manipulated White House version (AP News, January 23, 2026)
Government by AI? Trump Administration Plans to Write Regulations Using Artificial Intelligence (ProPublica, January 26, 2025)
We Need A Word That Goes Beyond ‘Slop’ For This One (Aftermath, January 29, 2026)
lol: Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest (Art News, January 16, 2026)
Meet the Alaska Student Arrested for Eating an AI Art Exhibit (The Nation, January 22, 2026)
Minutiae
I’ve always loved the aesthetics of the musical Cabaret–the art of creating beauty, humor, sensuality, and storytelling out of scavanged clothes and chairs, the gorgeous absurdity of dancing and singing as the world collapses. But I loved this because it felt like fantasy. And now here we are, in 2026. I spent a gorgeous winter holiday with my family; the US government launched airstrikes on Nigeria on Christmas Day.
I rang in New Year’s Day with a tranquil walk in the park with some friends. We saw a bald eagle sitting high up in a tree, yet close enough I could make out his eyes and curved beak. That afternoon, I poured cider and wine for some of my dearest friends and filled my house with laughter. I spent the second day of the year in New York City, where the holiday lights were still up and it snowed just enough to be picturesque, not slippery. We laughed until our sides hurt at a musical, looked at antique books at the public library, and bought too-expensive slices of gluten-free cake. On the third day of the year, I went to a daytime dance party for thirtysomethings and up. We danced for a few hours–it’s wonderful how the body remembers–and then went ice skating by the river.
Meanwhile, the US government kidnapped the president of Venezeula and began making noise about taking over Greenland.
And on and on. I went to the movies. (The Testament of Ann Lee, deeply weird but the music is great.) I went to a vigil for a woman killed by a supposed immigration officer. I went on a long walk in the snowy woods after I helped lay a path in my favorite park. I went on a long walk to the detention center in my city and yelled and waved a sign that said SHAME. I enjoyed getting snowed in for a few days and finally reconnected with my thesis project. I sat with one of my partners while he put his cat to sleep, and that is never not a terrible thing to see and to feel, even when it is competely necessary.
It’s a weird way to live, alternating joy and rage and deep deep sadness.
What else? I played Tiny Bookshop, which is lovely and perfect. I loved that most of the books are real books, so when customers asked for recommendations, I often drew from books I’d read. I played Forgotten City because it was on sale, and I really enjoyed playing it while knowing little about it. I have been canceling and pausing most of my streaming, but I got a good deal on Peacock so I watched Laid (grim, but it has its charms) and Poker Face (grim, but offers the narrative satisfaction of a good case-of-the-week procedural while being anti-cop). My modem died, and the replacement modem failed to mode, so I spent a lot of time reconnecting with old CDs and thrift shop vinyl records while I waited for the replacement of the replacement. Now I’m going to be that guy…. a physical media guy.
Sara Davis 