À l’époque, j’en ai ri très fort et j’ai poussé le trait à fond pour montrer à quel point je trouvais ça rigolo et inoffensif et j’étais bien plus fort que ça. Qu’est-ce que je pouvais faire d’autre ?
Qu’est-ce que j’aurais pu faire d’autre ?
Qu’est-ce que je dois faire ?
]]>J’ai toujours mal au pied depuis ma blessure d’octobre et n’ai donc toujours pas skié ni randonné ni ne serait-ce qu’approché la neige, mais je garde espoir d’y aller une fois en mars et de ne pas rater deux hivers de suite, ce qui serait dévastateur.
Bref : j’ai pris un mur, j’ai subi un repos forcé, et maintenant, je reconstruis doucement les bases pour ne pas repartir à pleine vitesse dans le mur suivant. Si ça se trouve, je m’en sortirai tellement bien que je reviendrai écrire des trucs ici − mais pour l’instant, c’est encore repos, et c’est encore « juste les récaps mensuels », aussi longtemps que nécessaire.
Au-delà du mur, je suis allé aux Jeux olympiques à Milan et c’était incroyable ! Un vrai bonheur, que je vous raconterai peut-être dans un prochain article ou, plus raisonnablement, en message privé pour toute personne qui souhaiterait que je lui en parle (mes infos de contact sont dans ma sidebar).
What I’ve read / Texte
Profitez-en pour découvrir mes meilleures lectures de 2025 !
Books / Livres
The wall I hit means that I didn’t read a lot last month, and out of what I read, I didn’t enjoy much, so this February list is short.
In English
- Fiction
- I expected Mia Tsai’s Bitter Medicine to be mediocre romantasy that would make me pass the time. It was pretty much that, but really not that mediocre at all.
- I never managed to get into Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt (although I’m going to give it one last try in French soon-ish), but I really enjoyed Black Flame.
- Jonathan Coe’s The Proof of my Innocence was really good!
En français
- Fiction
- Bleus, blancs, rouges, premier tome d’une trilogie de Benjamin Dierstein sur les terroristes d’extrême-gauche, les flics généralement pourris, et les criminels des années 1970 en France. Excellent.
In italiano
- Fiction
- I loved Gotico salentino by Marina Pierri, with its rich prose (sometimes a bit too rich for my level of Italian) and cool characters. Lots of dialogue in dialect, but I made it through.
Web links / Liens web
In English
- An excellent page on RSS readers and the phantom obligation that makes us feel like we must read everything, as well as some ideas for different RSS feed readers, by Terry Godier
- « I’m turning 32 this year, and something I think isn’t talked about enough is that it’s a lot harder to find big milestones to hit, which means you need to find purpose in other things. » on Basement Community (I will be turning 32 this month, so that was relatable)
- Fascinating account of how one casts babies for ads, on Lux Magazine
- Lydia Kiesling tells us about the horror of writing literature listicles on The Baffler
- Pudding.cool revisits the issue of women’s clothing sizes
- Katja Hoyer shares about Austria’s long reckoning with its Nazi past
- Xandra shares tips on starting a print magazine
- Joan Westenberg thinks that the discourse is a DDoS attack on our brains
- Anil Dash shares questions to ask yourself to know if that new job will crush your soul
En français
Sur L’Équipe, la débrouillardise des athlètes qui s’entraînent en France et représentent des petites nations aux JO d’hiver- The Conversation se dit que l’addiction aux écrans a peut-être commencé avec la télévision en couleurs, et aussi que les jeux de société sont plus populaires que jamais
- Sur La Lune Mauve, on parle de club du cringe et de renaissance des blogs (coucou)
- Séverine Bavon fait un rappel salutaire de ce qu’est le burnout, et déglingue le « qu’est-ce qu’on peut faire pour t’aider » au passage
- Un presque-zine sur la Rugosité chérie et l’IA
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
Movies / Films
J’ai encore (encore) (encore) regardé le premier Twilight, cette fois en version québécoise (c’est encore mieux), avec une pote.
TV Shows / Séries
Coup de cœur pour Ginny and Georgia, mais j’ai pas téléchargé la deuxième saison. Reprise en douceur de Abbott Elementary, qui me donne un peu l’impression de sortir un épisode tous les deux mois en ce moment.
What I’ve listened to / Audio
Podcasts
I only include links if the podcast has bothered to have a website. All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader. are Patreon episodes: send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
- You’re Wrong About Bonus Room: Dolls with Dolls with Chelsey Weber-Smith
- On The Layover (which is the Jet Lag team’s podcast), Ben, Adam, and Sam give you life advice on literally anything you can think of, part 2
En français
- Chez Méta de choc :
- Émotion et rationalité avec Albert Moukheiber
- Contes et légendes de l’intelligence avec Stéphanie Aubertin
- Sur Et parfois, on gagne d’Arte Radio, Comment fracasser les vitres pour être entendues
- Du côté de Torchon, Heated Rivalry de Rachel Reid est une bonne surprise, contre toute attente
What I’ve played / Jeux
Pas mal d’Animal Crossing et un peu de Hadès. D’ailleurs, j’ai fini l’histoire principale de Hadès (en tout cas, j’ai eu le générique de fin) et ça m’a fait un choc, je ne m’y attendais pas du tout ! Je n’ai pas du tout, du tout fini les bouts d’histoire qui m’intéressent, donc ça ne marque pas la fin de mon expérience de jeu.
Where I’ve been / Lieux
À Milan pour les Jeux olympiques d’hiver, et c’était vraiment cool ! Je suis allé voir une session de short-track, évidemment (et c’était trop bien), et le lendemain M. m’a rejoint et on a regardé deux matchs de hockey, un match de pool de l’équipe de France masculine et un quart de finale électrique du tournoi féminin plus tard dans la soirée.
En bonus : Melle van ‘t Wout donne un coup de main à son petit frère, Jens, pour que ce dernier, champion olympique depuis environ 3 minutes, aille embrasser leurs parents. J’ai presque pas pleuré. (Photo disponible aussi sur Wikimédia Commons.)
wonderful list of Resources
]]>Ça y est, l’heure est venue de vous présenter mon bilan de lecture de 2025 !
Cette année, je ne me suis donné aucun défi : pas de nombre minimum de livres à lire, pas de challenges de lecture par thème, et une approche très tranquille de mes deux défis géographiques. Résultat : la lecture est redevenue un plaisir, et/mais je me suis beaucoup réfugié dans ce que je connais déjà. J’ai continué ma relecture des romans du Disque-monde et mon défi de lire tous les romans de Stephen King par ordre chronologique ; j’ai ajouté des lauréats des Lambda Literary Awards et beaucoup de thrillers et de romances.
Pour 2026, je souhaite (sans m’y efforcer, parce que le maître mot de 2026 pour moi sera de ne pas fournir d’efforts superflus !) ressortir un peu de cette zone de confort et repartir sur des nouvelles littératures, que ce soit de pays que je connais mal ou de personnes, de genres, de thèmes dont je n’ai pas l’habitude.
Note du premier février 2026 : ça fait un mois que cet article traîne dans mes brouillons et que je ne trouve pas l’énergie de l’écrire proprement, je vous balance donc une liste moins travaillée que d’habitude. Désolé.
Reading challenges
Comme ces deux dernières années, je n’ai pas fait de défis de lecture à thème ou annuels. Je pense que je vais continuer comme ça.
J’ai aussi très peu avancé mes challenges géographiques :
- MyReadingChallenge54 consiste à lire un livre écrit par une femme de chacun des pays d’Afrique. Je n’ai ajouté que le Kenya, arrivant à 31/54.
- Le challenge Around The World consiste à lire un livre de chaque pays du monde. J’en suis maintenant à 95, seulement 5 de plus que l’an dernier, pour un objectif de 195. J’ai ajouté la Slovaquie, la Slovénie, le Kenya, et deux autres que je ne retrouve plus (oups).
Ça, je vais essayer de l’améliorer en 2026 !
Ce que je lis et où je le trouve
- Le réseau de bibliothèques municipales: 22 livres cette année, moins que l’an dernier mais je crois qu’en pourcentage ça reste stable.
- Quelques librairies, surtout Les Modernes à Grenoble.
- Des recommandations d’autres blogueurs et de copains.
- Des recommandations dans les médias que je suis, y compris les interviews d’auteurs.
- 2 livres obtenus par prêt ou don et 11 de plus dans des boîtes à livres, en grosse partie parce que ma mère a trouvé une grosse boîte de polars jetés par une voisine et me l’a donnée.
- Le prix Lambda Literary pour la littérature LGBTQ ; j’ai oublié de regarder le Women’s Prize et le Booker Prize, oups.
Statistiques !
En 2025, j’ai lu 86% de fiction. Avec les relectures et la fatigue généralisée, ce n’est pas très étonnant.
Mon genre favori était la fantasy (forcément, avec mes lectures de Terry Pratchett et Stephen King…), suivi de la littérature contemporaine, des thrillers, des romans historiques et de ceux d’horreur.
J’ai lu 64% de livres en format numérique, et donc un peu plus du tiers en format papier : c’est quasiment exactement le même ratio que l’an dernier (63%), malgré mes efforts pour lire plus de papier. Côté langues, j’ai réussi à rétablir l’équilibre que je voulais : le français repasse en première position avec 54% de mes livres lus, le reste en anglais et un livre lu pour un cours d’allemand. Rien en italien, malheureusement, malgré une tentative abandonnée à mi-chemin.
The Storygraph m’indique que mes livres lus faisaient en moyenne 365 pages : c’est plus que l’an dernier et ça me conforte dans ma conviction que sans objectif de livres lus, je m’autorise à étendre mes horizons avec des ouvrages plus longs ou plus difficiles.
Mes auteurs les plus lus sont sans surprise Terry Pratchett (23 livres) et Stephen King. Tasha Suri prend la troisième place avec 5 livres lus, une duologie et une trilogie.
Le livre le plus populaire que j’ai lu était Les Sept Maris d’Evelyn Hugo (commencé en français et fini en anglais en raison d’une traduction absolument honteuse) et il y en avait un certain nombre que personne d’autre n’avait lus sur The Storygraph, dont l’autobiographie de Tifany Huot-Marchand, Avec toute mon âme.
Sur 166 livres, il y avait 27 relectures, quasi exclusivement de Pratchett et King. J’ai découvert 115 auteur·ices.
Toutes ces statistiques proviennent de The Storygraph, où vous trouverez aussi la liste de toutes mes lectures.
Mes meilleures lectures de 2025
Pour une liste plus complète, bien sûr, il y a mes récaps mensuels.
Fiction
In English:
- Mystery / Thriller
- Have you seen this girl, Nita Tyndall
- Penance, Eliza Clark
- The Verifiers, Jane Pek
- Small Game, Blair Braverman (not really mystery/thriller, but it’s about survival)
- Fantasy
- The Sapling Cage, Margaret Killjoy
- Romance
- How you get the girl, Anita Kelly
- Make room for love, Darcy Liao
- Loser of the year, Carrie Byrd
- General Fiction
- 1984 − Julia, Sandra Newman
- Woodworking, Emily St. James
En français :
- Polar
- Arab Jazz, Karim Miské
- Rigolo
- Les meufs, c’est des mecs bien, Mourad Winter
- Fantasy
- Le Trône de jasmin, Tasha Suri
- Fiction générale
- Bien-être, Nathan Hill (traduit de l’anglais)
- Amiante, Sébastien Dulude
- Frapper l’épopée, Alice Zeniter
- Jouer le jeu, Fatima Daas
- Bande dessinée : L’Essentiel des gouines à suivre, Alison Bechdel (traduit de l’anglais)
Non-fiction
In English:
- Chasing the scream: the first and last days of the war on drugs, Johann Hari
- The house of my mother, Shari Franke, about life under a « mommy vlogger »
- Log off: why posting and politics (almost) never mix, Katherine Cross
- Queering Anarchism, essay anthology
- Why we fight: essays on fascism, resistance, and surviving the apocalypse, dir. Shane Burley
- The Siren’s call: how attention became the world’s most endangered resources, Chris Hayes
En français :
- Au-delà du mur : histoire de la RDA, Katja Hoyer (traduit de l’anglais)
- La ville d’après : Détroit, une enquête narrative, Raphaëlle Guidée
- Avec toute mon âme, Tifany Huot-Marchand, sur sa carrière de short-trackeuse olympique, sa terrible blessure, son histoire
Rendez-vous l’année prochaine pour le prochain récap, ou dans quelques semaines pour mes ouvrages préférés du mois de janvier !
Et comme toujours, les remarques et suggestions sont très appréciées, les questions pareil, et les demandes de suggestion tout autant !
]]>What I’ve read / Texte
Books / Livres
In English
- Fiction
- Vera Wong’s unsolicited advice for murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto, was brilliant. It was also my first fiction audiobook (not counting World War Z since I had read it half a dozen times already) and a great one to start with.
- We Computers, by Hamid Ismailov, was fascinating.
- I really liked Sascha Stonach’s The Dawnhounds, which could reconcile me with science-fiction (possibly because it’s more fantasy than science-fiction, sure); it’s a story of biopunk and war and identity and Maori culture.
- I normally don’t include my Stephen King books in this list but Misery was exceptionally good.
- Non-fiction
- Translating myself and others is a collection of essays by Jhumpa Lahiri, mostly about language and her own writing (both her writing in Italian, which is not her first language, and her translating her own work, thus the title). Some of the essays are really great.
- How to keep house while drowning is a quick and easy read with actual advice in it. I was sometimes a bit annoyed by the whole « the environment only matters if you’re in the right mental space for it » (which I think is true, but not to that extent), but overall, it was worth reading.
En français
- Fiction
- J’avais abandonné Les sept maris d’Evelyn Hugo qui était extrêmement mal traduit, pour le finir en anglais sans enthousiasme. Taylor Jenkins Reid rattrape à peu près tout ce que je lui reprochais dans l’excellent Atmosphère.
- Non-fiction
- Évidemment, Le petit Narvalo 2: Double viande.
Web links / Liens web
In English
- Ness Labs tells us that Discipline is overrated and introduces the devotion-friction matrix.
- Margaret Killjoy doesn’t think her phone is her friend. Relatable.
- Katja Hoyer shares a fascinating recounting of the last year of Eastern Germany.
En français
- J’ai adoré Pourquoi et comment je souhaite rester le maire de ma commune où Nicolas Loeillet fait l’exercice d’expliquer son poste et ce que ça implique.
- Malbouffe et désertification : quelles recettes pour repenser l’attractivité des centres-villes ?, un débat qui m’intéresse, sur The Conversation
- De saison : ce que la ville la plus froide du monde nous enseigne, sur The Conversation. Chez moi, en l’absence de chauffage en dehors d’un radiateur d’appoint et en plein « ça caille », j’ai mis un drap autour de ma table de cuisine et le radiateur dessous : ça marche super bien.
- Un dernier de The Conversation : Comment pictogrammes et émojis traitent la question du genre.
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
TV Shows / Séries
Another season of Jet Lag, and another month of Abbott Elementary.
Online video / Vidéos en ligne
January means that my friends post their « 365 seconds of video » compilations: they make a one-second video every single day, edit it, and post it. It’s pretty great! I can’t see myself doing this, but I love watching theirs.
What I’ve listened to / Audio
Podcasts
I only include links if the podcast has bothered to have a website. All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader. are Patreon episodes: send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
- I usually don’t share NotAPodcast episodes since they’re chapter-by-chapter reviews of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I listened to Shiloh’s guest episode on Medievalism and it was great.
- On The Ringer’s 60 songs that explain the ’90s:
- Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls
- Give me one reason by Tracy Chapman
En français
- Chez Méta de choc :
- Complotisme : si loin, si proche, une série en 5 épisodes avec Marie Peltier
- Manipulation et développement personnel en entreprise, avec Albert Moukheiber
- Raz-de-marée ésotérique en librairie, avec Noémi Schaub
- Sur Le Code a changé, de France Inter, la série en 3 épisodes « Pour quelques dollars de plus » sur un trader amateur
- L’excellent épisode de C’est quoi le plan ?, par Spectre, sur L’épuisement militant, une question stratégique. J’ai envie de l’envoyer à tous les gens que je connais c’est terrible.
- Enfin, l’épisode du podcast de Marine Tondelier Tenez bon, nous arrivons ! sur la solitude, un enjeu politique ? avec Kévin André.
Music / Musique
I was recently reminded of the existence of The Pretty Reckless, ten years after my initial love for them, so I listened to more recent tracks and they were glorious.
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This sent me on a teenage bender, featuring a lot of The Offspring.
What I’ve played / Jeux
I’m still wayyyy too busy with jigsaw puzzles to spend time on video games, and my social life has been pretty quiet recently, so no particular board games either particular board games either. Oops!
I did suddenly remember that my Le Monde subscription included their daily crosswords, so that might have been my game of the month.
Where I’ve been / Lieux
New Year’s Eve was spent with my high school friends at Paladru Lake, pretty close to Grenoble. It was gorgeous and very sunny.
M. and I went to the « La France au travail » exposition at the musée de l’ancien évêché de Grenoble. It’s photographs of early 20th century workers of all types of industries, and it was gorgeous and really interesting.
Finally, I reffed at another roller derby tournament. Given that I’m constantly injured, I think there’s a good chance I’ll just give up on skating and become a « full-time » referee to keep the community aspect that matters a lot to me.
]]>What I’ve read / Texte
Books / Livres
I only have fiction to recommend this month. Oops!
In English
- Woodworking by Emily St. James, a novel with two great storylines entertwined. It’s about being trans and knowing it (or not) and living with it (or not) and being accepted as you are (or not) and trying to change the world for the better (or not).
En français
- Jouer le jeu de Fatima Daas m’a fait serrer les dents un certain temps, jusqu’à ce que je décide que sûrement elle voulait que je serre les dents en lisant. Effectivement, et c’était une lecture superbe.
Web links / Liens web
In English
- The F-off contact page
- Creating new tongues: languages in the wake of the Yugoslavian dissolution
- Workers, students, and socialism in East Germany
- Brutalist architecture explained
- How crossword puzzles underwrote three of America’s major publishers
- By Ben Werdmüller:
- Disagree and let’s see
- Where do the children play?
- Every decision has three costs: time, focus, and optionality. I’m a big optionality person, at the expense of focus and especially time, and these days I’m trying to do this a bit less, if only because it’s the end of the December and I still haven’t settled on a winter coat that will fill all my criteria, so I’m running around in 3 sweaters and a flimsy jean jacket.
En français
Mage 
@[email protected] - Le train de nuit Paris-Berlin va être relancé par une coopérative belgo-néerlandaise après son abandon par la SNCF
- Rien de pire qu’un bon patron
- Les agressions LGBTQIphobes en forte progression depuis 8 ans
- Rap feat narcotrafic : tout pour le fric
- L’artisanat redevient-il désirable ?
- Mes recommandations pour consommer (le plus) responsable (possible)
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
Movies / Films
I went to the movies! I hadn’t done that in so long! There’s a tiny one-room cinema super close to where I live (I had no idea!) where the ticket is 7€ which is very reasonable and you can bring your own food and drinks. So I went to see One Battle After Another, since all the podcasts I like seem to really want us to watch it. I don’t feel like I wasted my money but I strongly doubt it was the best movie of the entire year, honestly.
TV Shows / Séries
- Still on Abbott Elementary
- New Jet Lag season is set in the UK, so it has a lot of English people, but we bravely watch it nonetheless.
What I’ve listened to / Audio
Podcasts
I only include links if the podcast has bothered to have a website. All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader. are Patreon episodes: send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
I’ve spent most of the month listening to NotACast (the chapter-by-chapter analysis of A Song of Ice and Fire, as I just finished my A Storm of Swords read-through) and, more importantly (?), The Magnus Archives, which I had never heard of and my friend recommended to me, probably without realizing the magnitude of the rabbit hole she was sending me towards. It’s great.
Also:
- On 60 Songs that explain the ’90s (Spotify original but not exclusive):
- Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
- Macarena by Los del Rio
- …and pretty much every episode
- On The Devil You Know (CBC original but not exclusive):
- A second helping from Satan: SATANISM 101
- Episode 8: Where are we now?
- …and pretty much every episode, except for the Taylor Swift one, I guess.
En français
- Sur Méta de choc : De l’ostéopathie à la spiritualité New Age
- Sur Le Phil d’actu : Une philosophie de Noël
What I’ve played / Jeux
Did a bit of Animal Crossing and pretty much immediately gave up again.
Finished It Takes Two, which was truly wonderful all the way through. If you enjoy other local co-op games with forgiving gameplay, not too enigma-based, for 2, and on Switch, please do recommend them!
Played a few really cool board games (notably King of Tokyo, Castle Combo, and, well, always more Skyjo).
And mostly, I completed several jigsaw puzzles (the perfect activity while listening to podcasts, really).
Where I’ve been / Lieux
M. and I went to Lyon for a nice 24-hour time away from home. Lyon can be really pretty. This time, it was not, but it’s fine, because we spent most of our time inside restaurants and Halles Bocuse. Three weeks later, I’m still digesting. I strongly recommend semi-splurging on a meal at Brasserie des Brotteaux if you’re in the neighborhood.
We went to more hockey games (yay!) and of course, I went through the usual (but unusually enjoyable!) circus of Christmas meals with various parts of my family.
Happy new year to everyone, and see you soon!
]]>Let’s go through them!
Personal energy
But, older me knows when you hike up the mountain, you use the plateaus for what they are meant for. − Throwing off my groove, by Bobby Hiltz
I talked about cycles and about fluctuations, but I didn’t include stability, because I too forget to take time off and pause the cycles once in a while without necessarily needing to start new ones. What a great insight!
My days are slightly different. Long covid forces me to divide the day into smaller cycles of roughly 1½ hours of activity followed by 15–20 minutes of rest. On the bright side, this gives me at least eight chances each day to start a new cycle. − Cycles and Fluctuations, by Ruben Verweij
Long covid is awful. I do like the approach of many mini-cycles during the day, though, and the doors that it opens, as small as they may be compared to the ones that have closed.
It’s tough to identify potential cycles, or patterns in any fluctuations from baseline functioning, when your memory just doesn’t keep track of things in the “right’ way. This, too, then becomes an example of how I’ve used the blog as an extension os my own cognition, the way I use my phone for planning and reminders, and the physical extent of my own body to make up for a lack of spatial relations and movement coordination. − On Cycles And Fluctuations: Bears, Birthdays, And Burnout, by Bix Frankonis
An amazing exploration of autistic burnout, with very relatable parts, and also a polar bear.
Fluctuations in writing
Sometimes the smart thing to do is to take a break. Doing something completely different usually helps get tangled mind untangled, to get some distance between yourself and the problem and to see things from new perspectives. But it’s hard to do when I still want to write. And I’ve gotten quite attached to my weekly blogging streak — which probably is the sign that it needs to break because streaks can become obsessions and obsessions are rarely good for you. − My writing inspiration lives through cycles, by Juha-Matti Santala
I definitely relate to this, both in terms of it being hard to take a break even when you need it the most and in terms of easily getting obsessed with streaks rather than the results.
It’s not about feeling, for me. I have to be. I have to enter the cycle, then I will get picked up by it. − The washing machine cycle of creativity, by Fran
Sometimes you might need to « eat the frog » for a minute indeed. One part of our ADHD support club was about learning the 5-minute timer method: if you don’t want to do a task, and your brain struggles with task initiation, put a 5-minute timer and promise yourself that if you’re still not into it, you’ll stop when it rings. 30% of the time the washing machine cycle works well enough that I’ll carry the task to completion; 30% of the time, I find out that I vastly overestimated the task and it didn’t even take 5 minutes to complete; and the rest of the time, I’ve made 5 minutes of progress on something I wasn’t going to do at all.
Passions and activities
I’m very passionate about one thing today, only to forget it exists for the following eight months. We’re humans living in a mostly-digital world where we’re bombarded with thousands of little pieces of informations each day, with social media “helping” us microdosing dopamine. And it’s okay to feel tired, and it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. You’re not mentally ill, you’re just stuck in a bad cycle. A cycle which you can break. Which you must break. − Cycles and Patterns, by Andrei
Outside of the few snide remarks about ADHD (which I didn’t choose to have, I promise!), a very good post with a great list of passions and activities.
[Machine-translated from Slovenian] I notice in all my hobbies how I have periods when I devote more time and energy to something and less. And then, after a while, I’m back to these topics. Let it be mathematics and logic (what I am currently satisfying with programming), learning foreign languages, dancing, reading, writing, understanding people and others. − Vračanje k mojim zanimanjem by Sara Jakša
Great thoughts about hyperfocus and about our relationship to hobbies.
Then I heard someone say I was just riding the Hobby-go-round. − Riding the hobby-go-round, by Patricia Oyson-Matthan
Amazing! I’m this close to printing out the set of rules for when I’ll inevitably change my area of interest in a few weeks at most.
Imperfect circles
I believe not all cycles are perfect circles. There are moments in life that will never come again, once-in-a-lifetime phases. Some cycles are oval, with troughs and crests, peaks, trenches, and plateaus of wins and failures, love and hatred, birth and death, both of those close to us and those unknown whose actions still affect us deeply. − The endless cycles of life, by Arun
Cycles are not circles, that’s true, and considering them this way can lead to negative unintended consequences. Great thoughts about this.
I am not regimented about having a morning routine at certain times any more – if I read a bit more or less, that’s okay. If I start breakfast a bit later than normal, that’s okay, too. I am also not sleeping in, either. − Routines, by JamesG
I used to have a morning routine which I would never follow, then always beat myself up for not following. These thoughts make sense to me, and while I hate coffee with a passion, I do love whenever James talks about coffee, and it’s very much the case here once again.
The weather
Even though I find the dark months difficult I do find the cycle of sunrise and sunset, equinox and solstice very comforting. A cycle we can plan by, a cycle so far beyond human ability to change, one we celebrate and mark in many ways around the world. It’s a bit of a reminder that we all share this place and we should look after it. Each year is unique, the seasons change, but the cycle of solstice and equinox is constant. − The personal season, by Britt Coxon
I loved this take.
Even in the city, it’s easy to pay attention to these fluctuations. You might not know when bears start hibernating in their caves (kuma ana ni komoru), but you know when your neighbours start closing their windows and lighting candles. Sekki might just be the antidote we need to the dreary monotony of the passing days and the growing inadequacy of our four seasons. − ’tis the (small) season, by Z1NZ0L1N
Being in Paris right now, I’m fascinated with this and very curious about the other mini-seasons. (Also, it was very hard to choose whether this belonged in « weather » or « linguists ».)
The phase of the moon impacts the gravitational forces on the water on planet earth; the time of the year impacts gravity and season, which impacts weather systems, temperature and wind flows, which are transmitted to the water. And each spot where the wave meets the land is impacted by rock and sand, pier and jetty: EVERYTHING. And all of it contributes to whether a guy who makes web pages has fun in the water. − Cycles, fluctuations, by Joe Crawford
I remember first being told that surfing only happens in the winter and being so shocked, and yet, everything makes some kind of sense when you think about it. Love these cycles that are invisible to someone who wouldn’t have a specific activity or knowledge or constraints.
Timed milestones
The days around the New Year is naturally a self-reflective time. Resolutions are a trend that attempt to change course, but without the understanding of how those steps take you to where you want to go, or why you even want to be there. Without that, we flounder to maintain our resolutions, especially once the habits we are trying to build become grueling. − New Year’s Self-Reflection: Resolutions Revolutionized by Errant
I love auditing my year in December (and should get started soon, too!) and the questions suggested by Errant in this post are going to guide me this year. Also, some great thoughts about resolutions and this period of the year!
Coffee in hand while looking out my kitchen window, I saw the last few leaves from my oak tree land on the tall pile in my front lawn. “Felicidades a mi”, I whispered as I dreaded starting my birthday with an unpleasant chore. − Cycles and fluctuations, by Ana Olivia
So many experiences in just one twelfth of a month, and it’s beautiful to see them all laid there.
[Machine-translated from Slovenian] When I walk around abandoned houses, I think about how wasteful all this is. All these houses, all these hotels, in places most close to the sea, where people can enjoy the view of the sea and wake up to the sounds of the waves. However, all this has been abandoned for more than six months. In the summer, people pay good money for this privilege, and the rest of the year is alone. − Obala duhov, by Sara Jakša
I sometimes wish I could go to the mountaintops anytime I wanted for a few days, then realize that these few days would always fall at the same time of the year, so I choose day trips or camping/hotels. Temporary housing kind of sucks, exactly for this reason. Francis Cabrel made a song about it, called Hors Saison, which breaks my heart every time I hear it.
Finally, I haven’t really been able to pull a unified representative quote, but Cycles and fluctuations, by esgeroth, is really interesting. Esgeroth lists a few November fluctuations, with special emphasis on the chicken coop’s automated doors, which I thought was a surprisingly fascinating insight!
The linguists
Nagori comes from nami-nokori, beautifully translated as “remains of the waves”. Have you ever walked along the beach, in that magical place where the water glides over the sand, where you can feel the coolness of the water on your toes? By the time you register the sensation of the cool, salty water on your skin, the water begins its journey back to the depths from which it came. It’s relaxing, it’s welcome, there’s a wish to freeze time while also knowing that time only moves forward, you pause, you notice, you honor the moment, it’s over. − Where the tide speaks, by Crystal Touchton
Gorgeous.
In toki pona much is open to interpretation, thanks to its very small vocabulary. « tenpo » means time or anything to do with time and « sike » means circle, circular, round, wheel and the like. Used in combination it’s usually interpreted to mean « year ». The year is a time that runs in a circle, a cycle of repeating events. − Cycle of life and death, by Jo
Toki pona is so fun, and I love when it falls into poetry like this.
Some language changes have been observed to happen in cycles.1 I have a story like this for you: It’s about one linguistic cycle that is among the earliest to have been recognized as a cycle, and arguably the most well-known. − The (un-)Jespersen cycle, by Preterit.me
Absolutely fascinating, I learned so much!
Cycles of power
Humans invent technology. It eases their lives. Then it becomes their lives. Those who wield the tech then control and influence these lives. − Cycles and Fluctuations, by Jatan
In normal circumstances, the Netherlands elects a new government every four years. However, fluctuations may happen, and have happened. As a consequence, new elections have been held last week. − Cycles and Fluctuations, by Henrique Dias
How many times must a series of events repeat before it may be recognised as a cycle? Once. At least as far as history is concerned, waiting for more examples without learning from the few we do have borders on idiocy. − Fascist cycles, by V.H. Belvadi
I didn’t expect two of you to talk about fascisation, although the current state of the world shouldn’t make it too surprising.
I read and enjoyed all your entries and updated the beginning of month post as I went. I hope I didn’t forget any!
]]>It’s November and I’ve been blaming all my issues on it being November, the bleakest month of the year.
It is totally unfair of me as I am struggling on a lot of planes that have nothing to do with the lack of sunlight, but this way I can keep ignoring the fact that I am exhausted and overworked. I dyed my hair blonde, though, so not all is sad and bleak.
Speaking of ignoring stuff, I injured my foot again at roller derby practice and am once again going to need at least two months off the skates to recover. It’s already been nearly a month, but I did not even get close to any kind of rest in the past weeks, so I guess I’m still at square one.
The main reason why I didn’t get rest last week, though, is pretty great news, as I became the treasurer of the Wikimedia France nonprofit, of which I’ve been a board member for two years already! I’ll be up for reelection next November (unless things go awfully wrong) for a second and final three-year mandate. Reelection or not, I’ll really do my best as I’m super proud and honored that I was chosen on such an important role.
Also, hosting the IndieWeb carnival was really great, there was so much participation! I still need to make a couple of updates to the roundup post and start preparing the conclusion.
A final note: it’s winter sports season, baby! This weekend I’ve been watching curling, alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, and short-track speed skating, and it was glorious! This is the best time of the year for my winter sports nerdery.
Speaking of winter sports nerdery, if you read French, I’m proud to say that you can now rely on Wikipedia to learn about bobsleigh, and that I’m working on the curling page right now. I was hoping to work on all winter Olympics sports articles and get them to a quality label before the Olympics kick off, but I have not had the energy and probably will not have it given how much there is left to do. Improving some of the bleakest pages will already be a good start.
What I’ve read / Texte
Books / Livres
I didn’t read much, and didn’t enjoy much of what I’ve read, so this recommendation list is even shorter than it’s been in recent months.
In English
- Fiction
- Loser of the Year, by Carrie Byrd, is a Lambda Literary laureate for romance and deserves to be.
- The Verifiers, by Jane Pek, is brilliant. I accidentally started with volume 2, so coming back to part 1 was sometimes confusing and always very fun. I hope there’s another one coming soon!
En français
- Fiction
- Frapper l’épopée, d’Alice Zeniter, est super, comme tous les livres d’Alice Zeniter. Les sursauts du scénario et du style d’écriture nécessitent un petit temps d’adaptation et ne plairont peut-être pas à tout le monde.
- L’Essentiel des gouines à suivre 1998-2008, d’Alison Bechdel, est un tome 2 et je ne le savais pas au moment de l’achat. En dehors de ça, c’était excellent, j’ai passé un super moment.
- J’ai fini L’Empire de lotus, dernier tome de cette trilogie de Tasha Suri. C’était bien !
Web links / Liens web
Links marked are paywalled; send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
- A cable tech tells her story for the HuffPost
- The Nazi dilemma facing German actors, by Katja Hoyer
- Audra McNamee tells us that RSS is not dead (yet) in a gorgeous comic.
- Imperfect tells us: Resurrect your web.
- Adam Mastroianni tells us that things could be better (and that’s why we, as humans, are great, but also unhappy).
En français
- Quel relou êtes-vous en visio ?, chez Cdlt. Moi, je suis à peu près tous à la fois, et ça m’inquiète un peu.
- Le lent effacement des boîtes postales à la campagne chez Le Monde pour déprimer, puis…
- …comment un village de 500 habitants au fin fond du Trièves a su se revitaliser grâce à sa solidarité sur Le Dauphiné pour se requinquer
- Caudron, A. (2023). Carrière queer et (dés)engagements professionnels : à la recherche d’une radicalité soutenable. Travail, genre et sociétés, 49(1), 103-120
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
Movies / Films
Arte helped me build a bit more cinema culture so I watched Stromboli, which was pretty fascinating and confusing.
Rewatched Twilight 3 with a friend as part of our regular spa-then-Twilight ritual. I can only recommend it.
TV Shows / Séries
Following Abbott Elementary as it comes out.
On Arte, watched episode 1 of La mafia uccide solo d’estate, which was fun enough to make me want to watch episode 2 but not to actually make me watch it.
Online video / Vidéos en ligne
The Devil wears Prada is Scorsese for women, argues (correctly) Broey Deschanel. (I believe this video is also available for free on YouTube.)
What I’ve listened to / Audio
Podcasts
I only include links if the podcast has bothered to have a website. All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader. are Patreon episodes: send me a message and I’ll send you the file.
In English
- I have a new favorite tech + business podcast. Also, love that it’s made by a woman.
- Sarah Marshall has a CBC series on the Satanic Panic. It’s called The Devil You Know and it’s pretty good.
En français
- Torchon a produit un excellent roast du bouquin de Dan Brown Le secret des secrets.
- Dans le podcast Un hit, une histoire, j’ai appris l’histoire de la chanson « Angels » de Robbie Williams.
Music
I forgot about my Deezer subscription and listened to about 3 songs, all of them in my October history. Oops.
What I’ve played / Jeux
I had a nice reset and early game phase on Animal Crossing: New Horizons after talking about it with an old friend.
Otherwise, not much playing – I was a bit too burnt out to play something as demanding as Hades, so most of my more action-oriented gaming was with my partner as we progress through the lovely It Takes Two.
I discovered a few board games, too, at La Tanière au coin du jeu! Still enjoying Pina Coladice enough that I’m seriously considering buying it, and discovered the very fun Castle Combo as well.
Where I’ve been / Lieux
Went back to La Tanière au coin du jeu, which is still the best place in Grenoble these days. Meraki is still brilliant for brunch, and I discovered the delicious restaurant Viet Gourmet in my own neighbourhood.
Also, I spent the first weekend of the month doing non-skating official training for roller derby in Valence! The training was great! There was a « foire du livre » (book fair) right next to the venue, and it was infested with far-right authors and literature. I felt queasy, but it gave me renewed appreciation for the politics of my own city, with a few months to go before we elect a new mayor.
]]>Let’s do this.
(Also, I’ve renamed this monthly post from review to recommendations, which is more accurate. Feel free to give feedback on that.)
What I’ve read / Texte
Books / Livres
In English
- Fiction
- Emma Pattee’s Tilt is about an extremely pregnant woman getting stuck in The Big One, the giant and very real earthquake that the US West Coast is not at all prepared for. It’s pretty good.
- Non-fiction
- The Siren’s call: how attention became the world’s most endangered resources by Chris Hayes is another step in my attempt at understanding why the entire world feels like it’s screaming at me all the time and very loudly. It was not groundbreaking, but generally good.
- Chasing the scream: the first and last days of the war on drugs by Johann Hari may be my top nonfiction read of 2025. I highly recommend reading it, as it spends less time than most books on how the war on drugs is failing, and more on why the war on drugs is dangerous bullshit in the first place.
En français
- Fiction
- Arab Jazz de Karim Miské est un polar sur les fondamentalismes religieux, étonnamment rafraîchissant surtout vu le thème (on n’y parle pas que d’islamistes !). C’était très bien dans la catégorie « polar où l’auteur oublie que les flics sont censés être moins détestables que les tueurs ». À lire.
Web links / Liens web
In English
- On Eater, an investigation of how food makes you gay (and, more seriously, what gender stereotypes we associate with eating specific food)
- On Type-A burnout: when is it enough (Ashley Janssen), and a prescription for getting better (Allison NB)
- No surprise here: HBR explains that AI generated workslop is wasting our time, not saving it.
- Tracy Durnell dives into how æsthetics destroyed privacy and polarized us. It’s great (not the topic, that’s depressing; the article).
En français
- Sur L’Équipe, une étude de quand la musculation devient une porte d’entrée vers le masculinisme
- Sur Diacritik, une interview de Pierre Niedergang sur la normativité queer
- Bonne nouvelle : l’écoscore de la mode est entré en vigueur !
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
TV Shows / Séries
Abbott Elementary is back!
What I’ve listened to / Audio
Podcasts
All episodes are available for free on your favourite podcast app / web reader.
In English
- On 60 songs that explain the 90s, « Sinéad O’Connor − Nothing Compare 2 U »
- On You’re wrong about: the Auralyn with Blair Braverman
En français
- J’ai découvert le podcast Le Book Club Lesbien (en cherchant sur Podcast Addict un autre truc qui commençait par « book club », que je n’ai pas trouvé. aucun regret.)
- Sur Minuit dans le siècle (Spectre), Comment le FN/RN cherche à s’ancrer localement
- Sur Et parfois, on gagne (Arte radio), comment inventer le meilleur système de santé au monde
- Sur Torchon, un épisode live (et pour que j’aime un live, il faut que ce soit vraiment bon !) sur les Quatre accords toltèques
Music
My obsession this month was italo disco, and I’m ok with that.
I’ve dusted off some of my favourite songs to belt under the shower:
And finally, some of my all-time faves:
chalalalalalala la
chalalalalalala la
chalalalalalala la
chalalalalalala smoke a joint.
What I’ve played / Jeux
In terms of video games, an inordinate amount of Hades (yes, the first – I will get the second when the first has no more surprises for me, so probably in 10 years).
As for board games, I still have a perfect 100% loss rate at Clank. This is who I am now.
Where I’ve been / Lieux
I officiated a game of roller derby in a Grenoble gymnasium and it was really really cool − at least as cool as playing, to be fully honest with you! I hope there will be many more of those!
]]>Today, I don’t have a lot of energy. I feel a bit tired, a bit weak. There’s a monthly cycle inside my body, and right now I keep forgetting to take a break when there’s nothing I need more. I’m better at listening and reflecting, less comfortable with chatting and interacting. I’m more careful with how I move, trying to stretch and hold positions that will give me more strength; cardio is out of the question. In a week or two, my energy will be at its peak, and I’ll be happy to give it my all, while needing to be very careful about avoiding injuries, which are much more common at this stage of the hormonal fluctuations.
My work day is exactly the same as it is every Tuesday. I work the same hours and I have the same meetings, because my part of the world has created a concept of time and decided that the best way to organize life was a clock and a recurring all-hands and year-round strawberries at the supermarket.
There’s one more cycle I need to talk about today: the monthly IndieWeb Carnival cycle. Because here we are: it’s my turn to host! Let’s talk about cycles and fluctuations and give our world just a little more grace.
About the IndieWeb carnival
Every month, one person signs up to host the IndieWeb carnival. They choose a theme and encourage other people to write or create something about it. This month, it’s me!
Here are my rules for this month:
- You can write in English or in any language you want. I’m always glad to see the web escape the domination of the English language!
- If you’re not a writer, you can choose any medium you wish to talk about community and belonging. The only thing I ask is that whatever medium you choose, it’s available on an independent platform – your own website, or a friend’s website, not a walled garden like Instagram or Medium.
- You can make several entries.
- Don’t forget to ping this article in yours and/or email me at the address in my sidebar so that I can read what you made!
- The deadline to post is November 30th, but it’s a soft deadline: if you message me one or two days late I won’t hold it against you.
I’ll update this post with your creations all month, and may or may not do a roundup post (if it happens, it will probably come closer to mid-December) have been told that the roundup post is actually mandatory, so that will happen too.
If I hate an entry (in terms of message, not of quality), I won’t share it: freedom of speech is great, and I’m also exercising my freedom of speech by only showcasing what I feel doesn’t make our world worse.
Entries:
- Cycles and Fluctuations, by Jatan
- My writing inspiration lives through cycles, by Juha-Matti Santala
- Cycles and Fluctuations, by Henrique Dias
- Cycles and Patterns, by Andrei
- Fascist cycles, by V.H. Belvadi
- Throwing off my groove, by Bobby Hiltz
- ’tis the (small) season, by Z1NZ0L1N
- Where the tide speaks, by Crystal Touchton
- Cycle of life and death, by Jo
- The endless cycles of life, by Arun
- On Cycles And Fluctuations: Bears, Birthdays, And Burnout, by Bix Frankonis
- Cycles and Fluctuations, by Ruben Verweij
- Riding the hobby-go-round, by Patricia Oyson-Matthan
- The (un-)Jespersen cycle, by Preterit.me
- Cycles, fluctuations, by Joe Crawford
- Routines, by JamesG
- Cycles and fluctuations, by esgeroth
- Cycles and fluctuations, by Ana Olivia
- The personal season, by Britt Coxon
- The washing machine cycle of creativity, by Fran
- Vračanje k mojim zanimanjem and Obala duhov by Sara Jakša
- New Year’s Self-Reflection: Resolutions Revolutionized by Errant
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