Weekly Reading (1/26/24)

The Governor Who Wants to Be Trump’s Next Apprentice (The Atlantic)

Skipping School: America’s Hidden Education Crisis (ProPublica)

I Am Being Pushed Out of One of the Last Public Squares, the Library (NYT)

Did an Abortion Ban Cost a Young Texas Woman Her Life? (New Yorker)

Revealing the Smithsonian’s ‘racial brain collection’ (WaPo)

‘World’s Oldest Pyramid’ in Indonesia? A Study Draws Skepticism (NYT)

The Dodgers’ Advantage Goes Deeper Than Their Pockets (The Ringer)

What to Do with Climate Emotions (New Yorker)

The Scientist Using Bugs to Help Solve Murders (Smithsonian)

Rickie Lambert, conspiracy theories – and why footballers are vulnerable (The Athletic)

The Last Frontier of Machine Translation (The Atlantic)

 'Part of the team': Andy Fade more than a barber to Twins (MLB.com)

Weekly Reading (1/19/24)

What Could Tip the Balance in the War in Ukraine? (The New Yorker)

Adam Serwer: Disqualifying Trump Is Not Antidemocratic (The Atlantic)

Jamelle Bouie: Trump Doesn’t Actually Speak for the Silent Majority (NYT)

Can anything stop the toxic smog of New Delhi? (NPR)

See How 2023 Shattered Records to Become the Hottest Year (NYT)

The Last Gasp of the Iowa Kingmakers (The New Yorker)

Sinn Féin walks immigration tightrope toward power in Ireland (Politico EU)

Dangerous Insecurity: ‘May December’ and the Rotting Core of True Crime (The Ringer)

This is delightful: 'You're dating my sister? Why?' Newly minted NL West rivals are family first (MLB.com)

Classicism in the Romantic Era I: Was Stendhal Right about the Classical Tradition? (Antigone)

How the Mother of Modern Weaving Transformed the World of Design (Smithsonian)

Why the Nats don’t ride their bullpen cart: A Washington Post investigation (WaPo)

Weekly Reading (1/13/24)

I had a weirdly busy week and Friday got away from me, so hey, Saturday links this week!

More civilian casualties recorded in 2023 than any year since 2010 (The Guardian)

Adam Serwer: Who’s Afraid of Calling Donald Trump an Insurrectionist? (The Atlantic)

Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine (WaPo)

Northern Europe’s new naval priority: Submarine sabotage (Politico EU)

Uranus and Neptune Reveal Their True Colors (NYT)

The eye-popping price of MLB starting pitching keeps going up (WaPo)

Utah Bills Itself as “Family-Friendly” Even as Lawmakers Have Long Neglected Child Care (ProPublica)

‘Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go’ Turns 50 (NYT)

On the Serious Business of 19th-Century Fairy Paintings (LitHub)

See 25 Breathtaking Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest (Smithsonian)

Zadie Smith: On Killing Charles Dickens (The New Yorker)

Talking Music With Spencer Strider, Baseball’s Resident Indie Rock Head (GQ)

Weekly Reading (1/5/24)

Happy Friday! I miss putting together link roundups for you, but not having that deadline every morning has been very good for my writing output in general. So I'm going to try something different this year - a dozen or so links once a week (usually Fridays), with a variety of topics and probably a combination of new stuff and older pieces I happened upon and wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

Kangaroos, squirrels, and treasure hunting: The unique bills of the 2024 session (New Hampshire Bulletin)

Artificial intelligence can find your location in photos, worrying privacy experts (NPR)

New Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io Capture Infernal Volcanic Landscape (NYT)

The anonymous clock-watchers behind MLB’s pitch-clock gambit (The Athletic)

He’s The Trans Son Of An Anti-Trans Influencer. It’s His Turn To Speak. (HuffPost)

Let's Talk About Lineups (Baseball Prospectus)

You are not, in fact, the granddaughter of the witches they couldn’t burn (Going Medieval)

Russia Has a Vodka Addiction. So Does Vladimir Putin – But Not the Same Way. (Politico EU)

Women over 40 jump in to save double Dutch, a lost American pastime (WaPo)

Who First Realised the Earth Was Round? (Antigone)

Daniel Bard Made an Improbable Comeback. Then He Had to Do It Again (The New Yorker)

The Essential John le Carré (NYT)

My Top Reads of 2023

Happy New Year! I started trying to make a top five or ten list of books of the year and wound up with 30! Even then, there were some tough calls. I've divided them into categories here for your browing pleasure. Note: I only included books I read for the first time in 2023, and I only included one book per author. I also didn't include any books I read early that will be published in 2024 - those will go on that list. Each list is alphabetical by author because there are only so many decisions you can ask me to make on a holiday. Stars are the top 12 I made into a pretty graphic for Instagram.

Romance:

* Game Misconduct by Ari Baran
The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller
* Diamond Ring by KD Casey
The Spare by Miranda Dubner
The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
* We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Mystery & Thriller:

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino
Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
* Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
* The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
* City of Dreams by Don Winslow

Science Fiction & Fantasy:

Kindred by Octavia Butler
* When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
* A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
* Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
Liar City by Allie Therin

Young Adult:

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
* We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
Always the Almonst by Edward Underhill

Other Fiction:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Charioteer by Mary Renault

Nonfiction:

* Winning Fixes Everything by Evan Drellich
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
* The Only Rule Is It Has to Work by Ben Lindbergh & Sam Miller

Summer Vacation

Hi everyone! Let's get right to it: I am, to put it mildly, extremely burned out. I'm in the middle of a huge stressful work project and also have had a bunch of personal stuff going on and I'm working on a writing project I actually really like and want to devote some energy to and . . . something has to give, and that something has to be these posts. Some I'm going on hiatus for a bit and then will reevaluate how to do something along these lines in a more sustainable way - maybe weekly roundups.

This wasn't an easy decision, because I really do enjoy putting these posts together, but at the same time - it's a fair amount of time and effort, making sure I have 15 links every single day, and also it's kind of a constant inescapable thing to know I have to either have time before 8am to write the post or do it the night before. I like it! But it's been YEARS of having to plan my life around this structure to some extent and I just need a break. (And since I left Substack because of their transphobia, I've been doing this totally just for free, so it's a hobby that is in fact just work. Which is often what I like in hobbies! But it has to take a back seat to actual work.)

So: Have a great rest of your summer! Pop around occasionally because I have some book reviews coming up. And I'll be back in some form in September.

Morning Coffee Link Roundup (7/19/23)

Somehow it's only Wednesday? This week is very long.

Target Letter to Trump Raises Possibility of Obstruction and Fraud Charges (NYT)

Good: Michigan's attorney general charges 16 people in fake elector scheme (NPR)

Militia units commanded by Russia named in Izium abuse investigation (The Guardian)

Republicans Have a New Target (Slate)

Thank goodness: NH applying for pandemic EBT assistance, after uncertainty (NHPR)

Inside the college newspaper investigation that got a football coach fired (WaPo)

I see: Marjorie Taylor Greene wants anti-LGBTQ+ amendments in a national air travel bill (LGBTQ Nation)

Last night was WILD: A historic night for offense in MLB produced runs galore (MLB)

Over the Edge: Cliffs, Coasts and Liminal Spaces in Crime Fiction (CrimeReads)

Why the Country’s Best Sandwich Makers Are Expanding Into Fine Dining (Eater)

And some longer reads:

A Current War Collides With the Past: Remnants of World War II in Ukraine (NYT)

Peak TV Has Peaked: From Exhausted Talent to Massive Losses, the Writers Strike Magnifies an Industry in Freefall (Variety)

‘No one is talking about it’: the cruelty of long Covid in the global south (The Guardian)

A talk with the left-hander who helped craft the minor leagues’ first CBA (WaPo)

Meagan Lucas’s Dark New Fiction: “I Was Tired of Hiding the Ugly” (CrimeReads)

Morning Coffee Link Roundup (7/18/23)

Unfortunately, it seems to only be Tuesday.

Russia says decision not to extend Black Sea grain deal is final (The Guardian)

Alabama Republicans Are Daring the Supreme Court to Uphold Its Own Voting Rights Ruling (Slate)

Iowa judge blocks state’s six-week abortion ban (The 19th*)

Sinkholes, flooded basements, road closures: More rain brings more damage across NH (NHPR)

This headline is bad - they're ANTI-ban bills, yay! Massachusetts Legislators Propose Book Ban Bills (Book Riot)

All the prison's presidents: Peru's special jail for ex-leaders is all full up (NPR)

In Gilgo Beach Killings, an Arrest Bears Out a Decade-Old Prediction (NYT)

Celebrities use social media as a new picket line for Hollywood strike (WaPo)

Taylor Swift Makes History As First Woman With Four Albums In Top 10 At The Same Time As ‘Speak Now’ Debuts At No. 1 (Deadline)

Umpiring Our Existential Crisis (Baseball Prospectus)

And some longer reads:

This is, uh, bad!! Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 (NYT)

The West Is Returning Priceless African Art to a Single Nigerian Citizen (The Atlantic)

Masters of Their Own Realities (The Ringer)

The Replacement Player: Inside the hunt for difference-making talent on the margins of MLB rosters (Yahoo! Sports)

I wish to read this romance novel IMMEDIATELY: Who Was Tessa Kelso? A Feminist History of the Librarian Pioneer (Book Riot)

Morning Coffee Link Roundup (7/17/23)

Today is Monday! My TV news roundup at The Televixen is on hiatus in solidarity with the striking workers.

I usually try to link to specific articles rather than liveblogs, but there's a bunch of breaking Russia/Ukraine news so: Ukraine attacked Crimean Bridge, official says; Russia says grain deal ‘being terminated’ (WaPo)

Of course: Iran's morality police to resume headscarf patrols (BBC)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Airs Bigoted New Covid Conspiracy Theory About Jews and Chinese (NYT)

With Democratic ballot filling out, the 2024 race for NH governor begins to take shape (NHPR)

Tomato crisis hits India as rain ravages crops and prices rise 400% (The Guardian)

Thousands of authors urge AI companies to stop using work without permission (NPR)

WNBA players take offseason into their own hands with new winter league (The 19th*)

Never Too Young: Why Kids Deserve Queer Friendly Libraries (Book Riot)

My hot take is that if they do this they need to make it universal, or it will just increase the problem of only wealthy kids getting into the higher levels: Electronic communication devices for high school baseball may be coming to Connecticut (Yahoo! Sports)

Painting reattributed to Gainsborough after six decades labelled unknown (The Guardian)

And some longer reads:

Riots in France Highlight a Vicious Cycle Between Police and Minorities (NYT)

‘A long slog’: Inside DeSantis’s early struggles and effort to rebound (WaPo)

Maryland Is Becoming the Patron State of Abortions (Slate)

An Era of Dynamic Catchers Is Upon Us (NYT)

How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City (New Yorker)

Morning Coffee Link Roundup (7/16/23)

Today is Sunday and it's very rainy here.

Severe and prolonged heat wave nears peak: Live weather updates (WaPo)

New York Is Ordered by Appeals Court to Redraw House Map (NYT)

Trump's former AG Bill Barr says failing to prosecute Trump would be 'unjust' (NPR)

Ugh: Winnipeg can remove blockade over indigenous murders, court rules (BBC)

I... see. Trailing Trump by 30 Points, Ron DeSantis Plans Attack on Tim Scott (Slate)

This week's flooding caused significant crop loss for some NH farmers (NHPR)

Huw Edwards: how BBC news arm is driving story about one of its own (The Guardian)

New data shows hunger is a ‘really big issue’ for LGBTQ+ people in state, region (NH Bulletin)

Classrooms are dominating the culture war (The 19th*)

For Ronald Acuña Jr., superstardom is as simple as taking the field (WaPo)

And some longer reads:

The biggest obstacle to Ukraine’s counteroffensive? Minefields. (WaPo)

A National Treasure, Tarnished: Can Britain Fix Its Health Service? (NYT)

The Negro League revolutionized baseball – MLB's new rules are part of its legacy (NPR)

Dying Onstage: Performance, Theater, and Deception in Classic Murder Mysteries (CrimeReads)

This pitching/catching staff just seems to have really good vibes: Sean Murphy a star with Braves, who are getting elite offense from former A’s catcher (The Athletic)