8. (tie) “Looking for Alaska” by John Green

8. (tie) “Storm and Fury” by Jennifer L. Armentrout

5. (tie) “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo

5. (tie) “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins

7. “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas

8. (tie) “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess

8. (tie) “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins

2026's Must Read booklist just came out!

The ALA’s list of the most challenged books of 2025
1. “Sold” by Patricia McCormick

2. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky

3. “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe

4. “Empire of Storms” by Sarah J. Maas

‘You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation’: Ruth E Carter on building the bold world of Sinners The two-time Oscar winner on dressing Michael B Jordan’s twin antiheroes, her start with Spike Lee and crafting the period detail of Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending epic

www.theguardian.com/fashion/cost...

A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans ...

Interesting breakdown on the intelligence community around the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Robert Duvall was a vigorous and subtle actor who always performed with passion and conviction From his steely self-effacing consigliere in The Godfather to his surf-crazed Wagner enthusiast in Apocalypse Now, just to see him on screen made me smile

www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...

A Yale professor recommended a ‘good-looking blonde’ student for a job with Epstein. He's not sorry Yale University says a prominent computer science professor will not teach classes while it reviews his conduct related to his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.

A news headline I would never have dreamed up in a million years: "Professor almost blown up by Ted Kaczynski is in the Epstein Files."

apnews.com/article/jeff...

‘Deeply illogical’: this man’s life work could end homelessness – and Trump is doing all he can to stop it After four decades of research and over a decade of federal support, Housing First’s Sam Tsemberis is ‘back to being an outlaw’ in the US

In case you want to see what our Government is up to "improving" the US, it's... *checks notes* censoring the slides of a housing advocate at a private event.

www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

‘We stole the Super Bowl audience’: how In Living Color pulled off the greatest heist in US TV history Turning Point USA is plotting its own half-time broadcast in defiance of Bad Bunny – but one of TV’s Blackest shows already perfected the alt-cast in 1992

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Joe Montgomery, Who Made Bicycles Lighter, Dies at 86

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...

Farewell to the guy whose company made the bikes that really got me into cycling, and helped shape my life in a lot of ways.

‘Rage knitting’ against the machine: the hobbyists putting anti-ICE messages into crafts Makers take a stand through ‘Melt the ICE’ red knit caps and sparkly nails – all while raising funds for those affected by immigration raids

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

🥰

Silent Key - Acoustic

open.spotify.com/track/6tjNRy...

Every kid around my age remembers where they were today. This was a first glimpse of mortality for many young people. Soar in Peace to the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, 1986.

Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations Ryan Coogler’s ghost story breaks records as One Battle After Another trails in second with 13 nods and Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Frankenstein trail with nine apiece

Hell Yes!

www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ja...

Horses can smell fear in humans, researchers say Tests showed horses that smelled body odour from people watching scary films startled more easily

I'm not surprised by this. I'd love to see what other animals other than Horses and Dogs they can prove this to be true.

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

‘It was inspired by a snog in a photo-booth’: how Thompson Twins made Hold Me Now ‘We had a disagreement that spilled over into personal insults. But we soon made up – and wrote this about the process’

www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid

It's about time. Those shitty blue masks that they insist you wear in the doctor's office, even if you already have an N95 mask on, are pretty much worthless.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Iceland has hottest Christmas Eve ever with temperature of 19.8C recorded Meteorological office reports high temperatures across country and record measured at Seyðisfjörður in east

:(

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Calibri font becomes the latest DEI target as Rubio orders return to Times New Roman Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman.

THANK GOD our government is dealing with the truly important issues of healthcare, poverty, and peaceful existence of its citizens.

apnews.com/article/rubi...

I'm not sure if you're missing my point purposely. If you are an illegal person to the system, even if you have family in that system, that family will let YOUR FACE GET EATEN BY THE LEOPARDS. Not sure how much more clear about this I can make it.

100% agree. My point was that even having a family member "in the system" won't protect those the system deems illegal.

New England warming faster than most places on Earth, study finds Pace of area’s temperature rise, outpaced in US only by Alaskan Arctic, apparently increased in past five years

Boston's Mattapan line still going strong! Interesting picture to lead with for a piece on climate in New England, but I love the trolleys.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

ICE arrests woman with family ties to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt The mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's nephew is currently in ICE custody, after she was arrested for overstaying her visa by 26 years, a source familiar with the matter confirms...

Family doesn't matter. They'll definitely let the leopards eat YOUR faces. www.wmur.com/article/woma...

‘An idealized version of LA’: fabled mid-century Stahl house on sale for first time Home perched in Hollywood Hills, constructed for $37,500 and made famous by Julius Shulman photo, listed for $25m

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

From a few to more than 350, children and parents ride together to school as a 'bike bus' In the New Jersey township of Montclair, a group bicycle ride to school has become a weekly community ritual.

apnews.com/article/bike...

Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology “Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum...

"I’m not looking so bad now, huh? Absolute best case, the LLM-generated legal advice you get is merely plagiarizing, probably from me. But more likely, it’s a mish-mash of Reddit posts filtered through an algorithm coded by a Belarusian teen on the run from Interpol."

I tried lab-grown chocolate. Could it be the future of Halloween? It could eventually cut down on the production of traditional chocolate, which degrades soil and requires much fertilizer and pesticides

I'd try it.

www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...

‘It’s dark in the US right now. But I turn on a light, you know?’: Mavis Staples on Prince, Martin Luther King and her 75-year singing career As she releases a new album, the soul and gospel legend answers your questions on Stax Records, duetting with David Byrne, and the fight for civil rights

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

Microsoft Azure cloud service hit with outage Microsoft says users of its Azure cloud portal may be not be able to access Office 365, Minecraft or other services due to issues with its global content delivery network services.

Fair is fair, I guess.

apnews.com/article/micr...

I don't think there's any descriptor powerful enough to describe what is going to happen to Jamaica.