Overall the start of my pop cultural year has felt a big sluggish. So I’ll reflect on that a bit during the deep dive section today. But first, the roundup.
Roundup
Music
The past couple of weeks have been slow again for new album releases, with the only standout for me being indie group Ratboy’s Singin’ to an Empty Chair. For the most part, the past two week’s albums have only highlighted for me how good Shhugar by Baby Nova Is. Released towards the start of January, it could very well be in the running for my album of the year. While new album drops have been pretty ‘meh’, there have been some great singles, whether following up successful 2025 albums (sombr and Lights) or pre-release singles promoting upcoming albums (Harry Styles, Holly Humberstone, Arkells, Metric).
Albums
- Shhugar (Baby Nova)
- Singin’ to an Empty Chair (Ratboy)
Songs
- “COME GET YOUR GIRL” (Lights)
- “Virgin Heartbreak” (Baby Nova)
- “Homewrecker” (sombr)
- “Aperture” (Harry Styles) – album to be released March 6
- “To Love Somebody” (Holy Humberstone) – album to be released April 17
- “Next Summer” (Arkells) – album to be released April 17
- “Victim of Luck (Metric) – album to be released April 24
- “My Regards” (Maisie Peters) – album to be released 15
Reading
My reading year has gotten off to a frustrating start, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had some wins recently:
- Vigil, by George Saunders (2026)
- First Time, Last Time, by Amy Silverberg (2025)
- Searching for Terry Punchout, by Tyler Hellard (2018)
- Passion Project, by London Sperry (2025)
- Nova Scotia House, by Charlie Porter (2025)
- 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, by Elif Shafak (2019)
- Apocalypse Baby, by Virginie Despentes (2010, transl. 2015)
In Focus: Diminishing Returns
I read a lot of books. But one of the main reasons I read is to encounter different kinds of stories, and the more books I read, the more books start to overlap in plot, theme, and voice. There’s an old joke in the bookish community about how the literary ‘canon’ is just “books about privileged white men finding themselves.” But, as tired as that trope may be, I’m finding lots of similar recurring themes, and the diminishing returns that brings, in other demographics too. My ‘diverse’ reading has not felt very diverse for a long time. Whether it’s diaspora homegoing stories, African or Latin American corruption stories, tales of women in academia getting screwed over by their advisors, or YA stories about kids whose lives will absolutely be ruined if they don’t win the contest/scholarship/award, or voicy satires of contemporary society by whip-smart Gen Z women, a lot of books are feeling very ‘same same’ for me.
The only solution for this that I can see is simply to continue reading widely, not just in different genres and authors from different backgrounds, but also in publication date. The good thing about literary fads is that they don’t last long. So by dipping more into the backlist, I can avoid drowning in a sea of too-similar new releases. At least that’s the hope!
Matthew Root 