January 2026 R.E.P.O.R.T.

I read 10 books in January, including Return of the King and a few comics collections. My favorite book this month was (a long overdue read of) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which tells the story of her adolescence in Iran set against the Islamic revolution and the emergence of the restrictive regime of Ayatollah Khomeini. Seeing Marjane growing up with parents who are open to multiple cultural ideas, like reading books and listening to Western music and then having to adapt to getting in trouble in school for not wearing a veil is both heartbreaking and fascinating. Those are just two examples, but the way that the revolution and conservative regime changes Marjane’s relationship with her birth country, her friends, and authority is absolutely captivating and relevant to what is happening in both the United States and Iran at present.

The other book I wanted to spotlight is A Mouthful of Dust, the latest entry in Nghi Vo’s Singling Hills Cycle, which follows the episodic adventures of a Cleric, Chih, charged with collecting stories around this Asian-influenced fantasy setting. While A Mouthful of Dust is not quite as good as some of the previous Singing Hills novellas, the setting for this story—in an area still recovering from a famine that occurred a generation ago—made me think about what happens after and how we rebuild, and what we need to prioritize. These can be read in any order, so I highly recommend you check out one or all of the books in this series.

I received Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden as a Christmas present this year, and I’m excited to cook my way through a lot of the recipes this year. First up was a butternut squash and leek risotto, which turned out fantastically. I love risotto, both eating and cooking it because I honestly love a dish that all comes together in one pot, and because making risotto is attention-intensive. Cooking is one of the ways that I find a way to practice mindfulness, because it helps me zero in and focus on a specific set of tasks with specific goals, and risotto is one of the best kinds of meals for that. This one turned out to be excellent, and I’m already looking forward to making it again!

Sometimes all I really need from a video game is to run around a pretty environment doing chores. And that aptly describes the experience of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. It’s fun experiencing James Cameron’s storyworld in an interactive setting, the game looks great, and you get to fly around on an Ikran anytime you want. It isn’t pushing boundaries, but it really hits me in the nostalgia for the days where games like Goldeneye, Spider-Man 2, and Enter the Matrix would extend the experience of a movie a bit further.

Our household decided to watch all of the Disney Renaissance movies—from The Little Mermaid (1989) through Tarzan (1999)—as a way to chill out and take care of ourselves given everything happening in the news today. One fun aspect of this watch through is that age-wise I am the “middle child” between me and my two roommates, so we each have different kinds of memories based on how old each of us was when these movies came out, which has also made it a fun nostalgia ride.

As someone who has been looking for a job since last March, seeing a Park Chan-wook character struggle with the same journey was comforting. This dark comedy sees You Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) get so desperate in his search that he starts murdering other men who have similar resumes to increase his odds of getting hired. Through its respective characters, No Other Choice shows how joblessness affects men, how vocation and experience can trap us in an endless cycle of being trapped in a box for our careers, and even how trying to have a part-time job makes looking for a job more difficult. There are a lot of layers here, and this Hitchcockian comedy was one of my favorite movies of last year.

As budgets are tight right now, my treats are small, but one thing I did recently that made me happy was reorganizing all of the books in my apartment. Sorting things into genres, placing like books together and being thoughtful about it made me feel even better about the books I have chosen to keep and the ones I plan on trying to read this year.

▶ Working at: My desk at home

▶ Podcast in my ears: Cerebro, an X-men Podcast

▶ Current reads: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter

▶ Song on repeat: “Streets of Minneapolis” by Bruce Springsteen

▶ Find me: https://linktr.ee/silberwhatever