Worth the Click + Books 📚

A ton of “Best of 2026 so far” lists dropped so I thought I’d round those up, there’s some new stuff to watch, why I hate the idea of going viral, and a bunch of interesting things to share.

Books 📚

• Darker Times

• NPR

• New Yorker

• Book Riot

• Esquire

• Barnes & Noble

• Liberty Hardy (Patreon)

• Kirkus
  

Music 🎶

• Variety

• Billboard

• Rolling Stone

• NPR

• Elle

TV 📺

• Variety

• Teen Vogue (K-Dramas)

• Esquire

• Rolling Stone

• Collider

• Time

• Hollywood Reporter

• BBC

Film 🎬

• AP News

• EW

• Collider

• Roger Ebert

• Variety

• Esquire

• Hollywood Reporter

• Elle

• Vulture

• Indie Wire

I love wild stories like this

Elisabeth Garber-Paul wrote for Rolling Stone about Cynthia Plaster Caster, who was famous for her plaster created penis statues of rock stars.

Martha Ann Lillard, the last polio survivor living in an iron lung in the US has died of long-haul COVID

People Magazine: Last U.S. Polio Survivor in an Iron Lung Dies After the Machine Started to Break Down and They Couldn’t Find Anyone to Repair It

Tate Modern’s new exhibition dedicated to Ana Mendieta

Rebecca Mead wrote about Ana Mendieta’s life and legacy and her current exhibition at London’s Tate Modern. Ana Mendieta, the Body Artist: Decades after her death, her bold innovations are finally coming into focus.

Hannah Gadsby has a new special!

I loved the Netflix stand-up special Hannah Gadsby: Nanette and their memoir Ten Steps to Nanette so I am super excited that there is a new special. It appears to be slightly untraditional in that you don’t watch Gadsby perform their stand up but rather hear it with puppet visuals? Either way I love them and can’t wait to have time this weekend to watch.

Vanity Fair with the important questions

All Your Favorite Celebrities Are Artists Now. Are Any of Them Good?

Bang My Box is THE best title

Salon wrote about the new documentary on HBO about Robin Byrd, known for her cable-access show in the ‘80s/’90s that was X-rated, taught safe sex, and fought for queer rights. Now she’s 70 and looking back on her life and what to do with her collection of tapes.

I love this cover and title

Viola Davis and Lavaille Lavette have co-authored a 2027 middle grade mystery book with the excellent title Girl, I Think My Grandma’s a Spy and they just revealed the cover, which makes me also want this as a graphic novel.

One of the worst aspects of the internet

The Woman in the Photo Wanted to Be Alone. Instead, She Went Viral.

And some recently acquired galleys I’m excited to read

And Then There Were None, Vol. 1 by Agatha Christie; Aya Nikaido (Sept 2026)

How to Have Sex In A Poem by Anahid Nersessian (2027)

The Trusted by Marisa de los Santos (2027)

The Mountain Woman by Fernanda Trías (2027)

This Never Happens Here by Wanda M. Morris (2027)

Doppelbänger by W.H. Lockwood (audiobook released July 14th)