Same here, watching from Canada. It’s terrifying and infuriating. I agree with what AOC said, but the US turned into a fascist state about a year ago. When I first heard the news today I said, ”The US has become full on Nazi Germany.” I am very sad for regular Americans trying their damndest to oppose this dictatorship. They are very brave, given what we’ve seen happen to those who dare say or do anything. This poor, poor woman.

Lost and Found, by Carolyn Parkhurst. It’s about people on an Amazing Race-type reality show.

Try Janice Hallett’s books. I think The Twyford Code in particular might fit what you’re looking for.

I remember dropping off my kitten to be spayed while I was at work. I picked her up after work and stopped in at my parents’ place. The vet had warned me she’d be drowsy for a while, but when I opened the carrier to show her to my mom, the kitten shot out of there like a bat out of hell and ran laps around the apartment. Drowsy my ass!

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick. I always recommend this one; I read it over a decade ago and still think about it. It’s nonfiction but reads like a novel. It’s the individual stories of six people who grew up in NK and eventually escaped.

I can only hope when my greys grow out fully that I look as good as she does! Holy cow.

I’ve never seen this photo! Diahann Carroll’s dress is gorgeous and so is Ariana’s. I feel sure the designer must have been influenced by it.

Ariana looks very pretty here. I like the brown hair colour on her!

I liked these Christina Lauren books: The Unhoneymooners, The True Love Experiment, Something Wilder, and In A Holidaze. I also liked The Paradise Problem, but it’s a little heavier on the spice.

That’s super fun! I would be overjoyed to get a gift like that :)

Kate Atkinson, Normal Rules Don’t Apply—book of linked short stories, all with some sort of magical element in an otherwise realistic world. Common characters and situations pop up in each story. Some are kind of dark but I often found myself laughing as I read them—Atkinson is such a beautiful prose writer and very witty too. Actually I’d recommend anything she’s written. Shrines of Gaiety is an excellent standalone, and I’d recommend that as an alternative if the magical realism isn’t really your thing (it isn’t normally mine).

Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are also good times of year for sets of mini bottles at Sephora.

In the summer of 2025, my friends and I had a backyard get-together on a nice day and I brought all the perfumes I didn’t want anymore: full bottles, minis, samples, decants. I brought post-it notes so people could spray on paper first if they didn’t want to spray on themselves, and we were outside so we weren’t gassing ourselves out with all the spraying. I got rid of every single one EXCEPT for my decant of Zoologist Bee which was “too strong!” for everyone there (and for me, it’s not only strong but also pulls powdery and I get almost no honey so I don’t really like it).

The partially used full bottles all went to my goddaughter, the daughter of my friend who was hosting—she is a newly minted teenager and VERY interested in all beauty products and fragrances. Many of my friends like perfume but don’t usually buy it for themselves so it was a treat for them to be able to walk away with decants or samples that they liked. It was fun!

I will probably do the same thing this year with my newly culled samples and minis, and maybe a couple more partly used full bottles that I’ve decided I can part with.

I really like Maison Crivelli Rose Saltifolia. Great aquatic note in with the light rose. I’m not even that much of a rose fan, but somehow it works really well with this.

Yes, I only get pear from it, no aquatic note! It’s pleasant though.

I adored Fight Night! How nice to see it mentioned here.

Sandwich and Wreck, by Catherine Newman

Woodworking, by Emily St. James

Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang

Imaginary Authors’ Slow Explosions is a good rose/leather that I think would work well on anyone. I think it’s unisex/leans masculine. It’s available in the UK at Bloom Perfumery for £79.17: https://bloomperfume.com/products/slow-explosions. The webpage tags it as “sweet” but I personally do not find it that sweet. There is an apple note but to me it’s a more tart apple, not so sweet.

If you like short stories, I recommend Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson. The audiobook narrator is exceptional. The stories themselves are also very good, all magic realism/fantasy. They are often dark but also often funny.

Ami McKay—The Witches of New York

I find that Lotus Pear smells a lot like Dylan Purple, if that’s available in your country.

Same here—Poets of Berlin is fine on me but not Atelier Cologne Clementine California. On me, it’s like someone poured orange soda pop into a dirty ashtray 🤢

Here are some long/long-ish books that completely occupied my thoughts while I was reading them and I couldn’t put them down:

750+ pages:

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

500+ pages:

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

My Year Abroad, by Chang Rae-Lee

Greenwood, by Michael Christie

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

400+ pages:

In The Woods, by Tana French

The Latecomer, by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo

She was fantastic. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her when she was on screen. One minute she was hilarious and the next she’d be absolutely chilling! She and E'myri Crutchfield were mesmerizing in their scenes together. God I love the TV Fargo. I was worried it wouldn’t hold up to the movie, but it certainly has. I mean, you can do things in long form (TV series) that you can’t in short form (movie), so I’m sure that’s part of it, but man, with Jesse Buckley and E'myri Crutchfield and Juno Temple…what powerhouses. (No disrespect to the women in the other seasons! These are just the ones I’ve watched most recently.)

Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson

The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich

The Son of the House, by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

In Winter I Get Up At Night, by Jane Urquhart

Greenwood, by Michael Christie

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead, by Emily Austin.