The January Wrap-Up
We Don't Love the Cut of Your Jib So Far, 2026
Hello and welcome to our January wrap-up! I’m glad we’re not wrapping up the news because, JFC.
We just… wow.
What a month.
Instead of getting into all that went awry, here are all the ways in which we’ve been escaping/coping.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Jen: I have been slogging through H.R. McMaster’s book At War with Ourselves, which is about his time as the National Security Advisor for TFG. (Karyn, do I need to explain TFG, or will people get it from context?) (You know what, never mind, people are smart.) Anyway, it’s a slow read and likely one I won’t finish because I kind of know how it ends. But it’s an interesting perspective on the guardrails of the first administration, as we’re currently living in a hellscape where those guardrails no longer exist. I actually respect McMasters, but I feel like he might have been a bit of a wonk and none of the cool kids like Mattis or Tillerson liked him. That makes me sad for him.
In better book news, there’s an author I find completely charming on Threads. He’s brand new to the book biz and he’s so fucking psyched about all of it that his enthusiasm gives me great joy. His name is Marc Avery and I just read his book Discipline. While police procedural books are not normally my jam, he did a great job of keeping my interest and I’m rooting so hard for him. He’s one to watch.
In best book news, Gina and I are supposed to host a live book club with her friend Amy DuBois Barnett. (I’ll post more details when I have them.) Her novel If I Ruled the World just came out and I CANNOT PUT IT DOWN, OMG. It’s about a Black magazine editor who leaves her job at a fashion magazine to save a struggling hip hop and music lifestyle mag. This has been one of the most anticipated books of 2026, and for damn good reason. It’s already going to be a show on Hulu, too. Do yourself a favor and read it NOW. In reference to the current hellscape, I haven’t been able to concentrate on a ton of fiction but this book is a magic carpet ride back to the 1990s and I am fully obsessed.
