Open Tabs #41
12.28.25 -- reading, watching, listening, googling
Welcome to this week’s edition of Open Tabs, where I share my recent reads, current curiosities, and media consumptions every(ish) Sunday!
Now that we are firmly on the other side of the winter solstice, I can finally begin to look forward. It’s been a very long December, and a very long year. I cannot put into words how happy I am to say goodbye to 2025 and start anew. As much as I dislike the cold of winter, there is something refreshing and transformative about this season—perhaps partially because I am a winter baby.
I already have a few letters I’m looking forward to sending out in 2026, so keep an eye out. Thanks for following along through this rocky year.
Reading [Books]
Paradise by Toni Morrison
I mentioned this in my last letter, but since then I did finish Paradise and really loved it. I haven’t had the best reading year so I don’t have many top contenders, but this is definitely one of the best novels I read in 2025. Morrison tells the story of an all-Black town in Oklahoma, alongside the nearby “Convent” that houses a slowly-amassing group of women considered to be rudderless outsiders. What level of exclusion becomes necessary to maintain power in the name of safety? Which invisible hierarchies go unquestioned, shaping “new” legacies? This novel is gripping and incisive.
If Only by Vigdis Hjorth
I have enjoyed Hjorth’s work in the past, so I thought I was really going to love this one. Instead I DNFd it at 50%. It reminded me of Annie Ernaux’s Simple Passion (a woman recounting her affair and obsession with some man), but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I loved Simple Passion, but if it were any longer, it would become torturous. And If Only was indeed torturously boring. It took me 2 weeks to get as far as I did, and I had no desire to continue reading.
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei
This was my audiobook for the month. A cli-fi dystopian story about 3 sisters living in a famine-plagued world with rising sea levels and company towns. When one of the sisters goes missing, the other two set sail to find her—and whatever she was looking for.
The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke
A mysterious, dual timeline historical narrative set in Orkney, taking inspiration from 16th century witch trials, with some folk horror elements. Every once in a while, I need a story that is just a story. Something to read for the plot, not for analysis. I burned through this one in a couple of days, which is a real change of pace for me lately.
Reading [Online]
Critical Navel-Gazing (The Yale Review)
Liner Notes for an Elm Tree in Silver Lake (LA Times)
Reading [Substack]
major arcana, major terror: archetypes of horror in tarot (The Pale Horse)
losing joan didion by decontextualizing her packing list (Girlquixote)
Watching [Movie]
Frankenstein (2025)
I finally watched Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein…it seems unnecessary to say, well that’s not Frankenstein! I don’t think adaptations need to be 100% faithful to the source material, and I enjoyed the movie. But THAT was not Frankenstein. You know?
I think in 2026 I want to both re-read the 1818 text (which I’ve read multiple times), and finally read the 1831 text (for the first time).
Watching [YouTube]
You Don’t Need to be Productive (Mina Le)
I suppose this topic is always relevant, but it feels super relevant to what’s on my mind lately. Always trying to be efficient and feel productive in every area of life, and the unnecessary guilt/stress that comes along with this insidious motive. It is extremely difficult to let go of this invisible drive, which fuels my perfectionism and interferes with my ability to simply live…
Also: Honor your curiosity & get your brain back (anna howard); The Rise and Fall of the Theosophical Society (Hymorphia).
Listening [Music]
Rock a Bye Baby / Glimmer of God — Jean Dawson
Listening [Podcast]
it’s okay to not be okay (the gray area)
new year, new neighborhood (99% invisible)
Googling
EMDR
christmas folklore
2026 book releases
creative healing
Giovanni battista piranesi
Beltane
triskele
Books on my Radar [TBR]
Black Moses by Caleb Gayle
Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu
previously…
Open Tabs #40
Welcome to this week’s edition of Open Tabs, where I share my recent reads, current curiosities, and media consumptions every(ish) Sunday!
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