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