Yet another intense month, so keeping the personal part short and going directly to recommendations.
What I’ve read / Texte
📚 Books / Livres
In English
- Fiction
- Vera Wong’s unsolicited advice for murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto, was brilliant. It was also my first fiction audiobook (not counting World War Z since I had read it half a dozen times already) and a great one to start with.
- We Computers, by Hamid Ismailov, was fascinating.
- I really liked Sascha Stonach’s The Dawnhounds, which could reconcile me with science-fiction (possibly because it’s more fantasy than science-fiction, sure); it’s a story of biopunk and war and identity and Maori culture.
- I normally don’t include my Stephen King books in this list but Misery was exceptionally good.
- Non-fiction
- Translating myself and others is a collection of essays by Jhumpa Lahiri, mostly about language and her own writing (both her writing in Italian, which is not her first language, and her translating her own work, thus the title). Some of the essays are really great.
- How to keep house while drowning is a quick and easy read with actual advice in it. I was sometimes a bit annoyed by the whole « the environment only matters if you’re in the right mental space for it » (which I think is true, but not to that extent), but overall, it was worth reading.
En français
- Fiction
- J’avais abandonné Les sept maris d’Evelyn Hugo qui était extrêmement mal traduit, pour le finir en anglais sans enthousiasme. Taylor Jenkins Reid rattrape à peu près tout ce que je lui reprochais dans l’excellent Atmosphère.
- Non-fiction
- Évidemment, Le petit Narvalo 2: Double viande.
📰 Web links / Liens web
In English
- Ness Labs tells us that Discipline is overrated and introduces the devotion-friction matrix.
- Margaret Killjoy doesn’t think her phone is her friend. Relatable.
- Katja Hoyer shares a fascinating recounting of the last year of Eastern Germany.
En français
- J’ai adoré Pourquoi et comment je souhaite rester le maire de ma commune où Nicolas Loeillet fait l’exercice d’expliquer son poste et ce que ça implique.
- Malbouffe et désertification : quelles recettes pour repenser l’attractivité des centres-villes ?, un débat qui m’intéresse, sur The Conversation
- De saison : ce que la ville la plus froide du monde nous enseigne, sur The Conversation. Chez moi, en l’absence de chauffage en dehors d’un radiateur d’appoint et en plein « ça caille », j’ai mis un drap autour de ma table de cuisine et le radiateur dessous : ça marche super bien.
- Un dernier de The Conversation : Comment pictogrammes et émojis traitent la question du genre.
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
📺 TV Shows / Séries
Another season of Jet Lag, and another month of Abbott Elementary.
📷 Online video / Vidéos en ligne
January means that my friends post their « 365 seconds of video » compilations: they make a one-second video every single day, edit it, and post it. It’s pretty great! I can’t see myself doing this, but I love watching theirs.
What I’ve listened to / Audio
🎤 Podcasts
I only include links if the podcast has bothered to have a website. All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader. 🔏 are Patreon episodes: send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
- I usually don’t share NotAPodcast episodes since they’re chapter-by-chapter reviews of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I listened to Shiloh’s guest episode on Medievalism and it was great.
- On The Ringer’s 60 songs that explain the ’90s:
- Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls
- Give me one reason by Tracy Chapman
En français
- Chez Méta de choc :
- Complotisme : si loin, si proche, une série en 5 épisodes avec Marie Peltier
- Manipulation et développement personnel en entreprise, avec Albert Moukheiber
- Raz-de-marée ésotérique en librairie, avec Noémi Schaub
- Sur Le Code a changé, de France Inter, la série en 3 épisodes « Pour quelques dollars de plus » sur un trader amateur
- L’excellent épisode de C’est quoi le plan ?, par Spectre, sur L’épuisement militant, une question stratégique. J’ai envie de l’envoyer à tous les gens que je connais c’est terrible.
- Enfin, l’épisode du podcast de Marine Tondelier Tenez bon, nous arrivons ! sur la solitude, un enjeu politique ? avec Kévin André.
🎹 Music / Musique
I was recently reminded of the existence of The Pretty Reckless, ten years after my initial love for them, so I listened to more recent tracks and they were glorious.
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This sent me on a teenage bender, featuring a lot of The Offspring.
What I’ve played / Jeux
I’m still wayyyy too busy with jigsaw puzzles to spend time on video games, and my social life has been pretty quiet recently, so no particular board games either particular board games either. Oops!
I did suddenly remember that my Le Monde subscription included their daily crosswords, so that might have been my game of the month.
Where I’ve been / Lieux
New Year’s Eve was spent with my high school friends at Paladru Lake, pretty close to Grenoble. It was gorgeous and very sunny.
M. and I went to the « La France au travail » exposition at the musée de l’ancien évêché de Grenoble. It’s photographs of early 20th century workers of all types of industries, and it was gorgeous and really interesting.
Finally, I reffed at another roller derby tournament. Given that I’m constantly injured, I think there’s a good chance I’ll just give up on skating and become a « full-time » referee to keep the community aspect that matters a lot to me.