Idiotprogrammer Blog

What I’m Watching/Reading 2026

As of October 2011, I created an index of books I reviewed here. I will continue to list books I am currently reading here, but I will not attempt to write capsule reviews or even to link to them. For that you should check the index of books I reviewed. Movie Reviews will continue to be listed and annotated as before. See also my 2025 reading list, 2024 reading list,  2023 reading list, 2022 reading list, 2021 reading list,  2020 reading list,  my 2019 reading list, 2018 reading list,  2017 reading list,  2016 Reading/Watching List, my 2014 Reading/Watching List, my 2013 Reading/Watching List, 2012 Reading/Watching List, 2011 Reading/Watching List,  2010 Reading/Watching List, 2009 Reading/Watching List, 2008 Reading/Watching List , 2007 Reading/Watching List my previous Sept 2004 to Oct 2005 reading list or my Nov 2005 to Nov 2006 Reading List , so definitely check that out as well. See also my Best of 2006 for a scoop about favorites. See also Writers who have Changed Me and Favorite Childhood Reads. A few remarks. I’m reading several books at a time, and to be honest, sometimes I don’t read all of them depending on the content or my interest. Usually however, it’s been a matter of attention span and what other projects I’ve been doing. Also, you might want to check my favorite novels, and my Amazon.com wishlist. Also here’s an annotated photo of my bookshelf Also, I haven’t read most of these books, but I’ve been setting up Amazon lists of classic Texas novels (100 novels and counting). You also might enjoy reading my Amazon list of Unforgettable Forgettable Novels. and my Film Recommendations for 1st year college students. Also see my Best of 2017 list. I’ve also started adding my book inventory to librarything.com. At the bottom of this page you will find a list of movies I’ve been watching. Here is a lengthy list of my favorite sitcoms (which I update regularly). Also, here’s a series of posts about cultural works which came out in 1965.

Starting in late 2018 I started writing a weekly Robert’s Roundup column of ebook deals. This actually gives you a better idea of what I’ve been reading. In 2021 I started a monthly column called Music Discoveries and a parallel one called Auditory Ruminations (about one artist).

Reading

  1. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino.
  2. Catastrophe and Other Stories by Dino Buzzati
  3. Memories Before and After the Sound of Music: An Autobiography by Agathe von Trapp.
  4. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
  5. Art of Creative Writing by Lajos Egri. Deep thoughts about dramaturgy.
  6. Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag. Rereading. God, I wish this ebook would go on sale!
  7. Humor/Current events columns by Lynn Ashby (former Houston Post columnist).
  8. Best of Me by Dave Sedaris. I am really trying to read more humor/comedy to help me write my own. Update: this is not a compilation, but merely a collection of his latest New Yorker essays.
  9. I’m Mature when I’m Dead by Dave Barry. Longer than usual humor pieces by noted newspaper columnist.
  10. Fab 4 Mania: Beatles Obsession and a concert of a lifetime by Carol Taylor.
  11. All Flesh is Grass by Clifford Simak
  12. 60 Things to Do when you turn 60. Anthology edited by Ronnie Sellers. A fun anthology with great leading essay by Garrison Keilor.
  13. Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander.
  14. Softcore by Brittany Newell.
  15. Wake, siren : Ovid resung by Nina McLaughlin.

Watching

  1. One Battle After Another
  2. Jay Kelly.
  3. Sinners (half-watched)
  4. Two German movies about Von Trapp family. Die Trapp-Familie and Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika. Both are lovely! (I wrote about them here).
  5. Drew Carey show. Rewatching.
  6. Somewhere in Berlin. Great example of rubble films from post-war Germany. Really good writing and acting, especially of child actors.
  7. F1. Average race car movie.
  8. Cat Ballou. Light-hearted Western. Dated but fun
  9. Alphaville
  10. Bookish. Extremely mediocre British mystery series.
  11. Immoral Tales. Directed by Walerian Borowczyk.
  12. Naked Gun. (Reboot with Liam Neeson). Unexpectedly good.
  13. Sorry Baby
  14. A New Leaf with Walter Matthau.
  15. Pierrot le Fou. unremarkable and pretentious Godard film from 1965. The absurd plot really doesn’t matter; it’s all about attitude and style. Godard has done much better.
  16. Ballad of Wallis Island, Written by and starring Tom Basden and Tim Key. Surprisingly good movie about a rich man who hires his favorite singer to perform on the island where he lives. Great writing and acting and singing (the star wrote and sang his own music).
  17. If I had legs, I would kick you.
  18. Cover UP. Seymour Hersch documentary.
  19. Nuremberg. Excellent historical drama.
  20. Hamnet.
  21. Portobello. Italian series about a talk show host bullied by the mafia. (Didn’t impress me).
  22. Song Song Blue. Based on the true story of a Neil Diamond impersonator. Update: Saw it twice!
  23. Scarpetta. Limited murder-detective series based on a book series. Great acting, dull, far-fetched plot.
  24. Comeback. Parody of Reality/Celebrity TV shows starring Lisa Kudrow. Most interesting thing is that there are gigantic gaps between seasons.
  25. That They May Face the Rising Sun. Pleasant film adaptation of John McGahern’s 2003 novel about a writer/artist couple who live in a small rural Irish town and must adapt to its slow pace and natural cycles. Has comic moments, but it generally is a reflection on the attractions and challenges of rural living. Filmed in the Galway area, and it is gorgeous to look at.
  26. Letdown. Wacky Australian pregnancy/mother sitcom.
  27. Mindfully Murder. German murder-comedy. Brilliant!
  28. A Simple Plan. 90s film noir about three men who stumble upon a giant sum of money in a crashed airplane. Brilliant acting and script, with lots of unexpected plot twists.
  29. Ship of Theseus. Beautiful Indian art movie.
  30. Rocket Science. Movie about high school debate competitions. Written and directed by JHU classmate Jeffrey Blitz.
  31. I was on a Sitcom (Youtube) Eden Scher. Harrowing one person show about her childbirth experience with two premie identical twins. The actress reflects also about her alter ego (Sue Heck) from the Middle Sitcom.
  32. 2 Netflix comedy shows by Sheng Wang. Pretty terrific and clean observational comedy.
  33. Harry and the Hendersons. 80s family comedy film starring Jon Lithgow and Melinda Dillon about a family who stumble upon Bigfoot and want to protect him from hunters and various malign actors.
  34. Damnation Alley. Very mediocre 70s survivalist drama after nuclear war.
  35. For all Mankind. Alternate history of the NASA moon landing, with lots of unexpected twists. Season 1 was unbelievably good. Unsure if the rest of the series will keep it up.
  36. Deadloch. Tasmanian mystery comedy series with a lesbian sheriff and an uncouth outrageous detective. The very premise of a serial killer happening in so provincial a place seems implausible, but the suspense and red herrings were well done. That last episode really floored me! Season 2 was shocking and incredible too (though hard to follow).
  37. Band of Brothers.
  38. Marty Supreme. Although the violent subplot was excessive, this action-packed 2 1/2 movie kept my interest. It’s important to keep in mind that the protagonist was never supposed to be considered a positive character.
  39. London Irish. New Irish comedy about Irish/Northern Irish young adults living in London. Outrageous as expected. Written by Lisa McGee who did Derry Girls.
  40. World of Henry Orient.
  41. Greenland. Competent and dare I say even good disaster flick with subtle political overtones. Earnestly told story, but I almost prefer the light-hearted satirical edge of Don’t Look Up.
  42. Outfit. Brilliant character drama about a cutter (like a tailor) trying to accommodate the mob gangsters he shares a shop with. Lots of twists, great acting.
  43. Kaos. British retelling of Greek myths in modern times, starring Jeff Goldblum hilariously as Zeus.
  44. Suffs. This amazing/uplifting play retells the turbulent story about the women instrumental in leading protests to obtain woman’s right to vote in USA. Great music, great cast (starring Shaina Taub, who wrote the musical), it’s a moving & entertaining history lesson and raises question strikingly similar to those we face during the Trump era.
  45. Submarine.Welsh coming-of-age movie about a cerebral, manic-depressive, artsy teen dealing with the rocky relationship of his parents and his own interest in a cute but brusque girl in his class. Low-budget, with frighteningly talent actors (including Sally Hawkins as the mother!) and great narrative style (think Amelie), it reflected the manic emotional rollercoaster of teenage boys, with a lot of comedy. Although many moments felt properly teenage, some of the melodrama involving the next door neighbor seemed out of character. The girlfriend played by Yasmin Paige, was great fun.
  46. When Fall is Coming., Directed by Francois Ozon.
  47. Wrecking Crew. Again.
  48. Clockwatchers.
  49. Broken English. Smart Romantic comedy starring Parker Posey as a lovelorn New Yorker
  50. 100 Years of Solitude. Big budget Netflix adaptation. The TV adaptation of Marquez’s “100 Years of Solitude” was tragic, beautiful, hilarious, colorful, lusty, historic and full of magic and mystery. I read the novel almost 40 years ago , but actually have no memory whatsoever of the book. I can attest that this grand TV series captures the heart & soul of it (and Part 2 arrives in August). Great acting, great script, great everything!
  51. Roofman.
  52. World of Henry Orient. Surprisingly and innocently delightful story about 2 15 year old girls playing around in NYC. Peter Sellers stars as a pianist one of them has a crush on. Despite the acclaim, apparently the director slept with the lead girl (he was 29 years older than her) which derailed her acting career.
  53. Madigan Again. Comedy special with Kathleen Madigan. Also, the Bigfoot comedy special by Madigan is also great.
  54. Mr. Nobody against Putin.
  55. DTP in St. Louis. Jason Bateman and Linda Cardellini.
  56. Don’t Tell Larry. Workplace horror comedy.
  57. Magic Trip. Documentary about the 1965 road trip of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters.
  58. Last Right. Aoife Crehan directed this zany feel-good story about an Irish-American returning to Ireland to bury his mother, but then ends up helping a random stranger get buried in Northern Ireland.
  59. Joe. Odd and contrived tale of a father who manages to kill his daughter’s drug dealer boyfriend and then gets sucked into a friendship with a loathsome man who knows what he did. Great character portraits and good script. Like how the protagonist is forced into uncomfortable situations, but the ending seems totally out of character. This is a pretty wild and unpredictable movie.
  60. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. Formulaic and insufferable movie about a serial killer terrorizing a woman getting divorced.
  61. Bridge of Spies.
  62. Sheep Detectives
  63. Dark Winds.

Podcasts

It occurs to me that I should be keeping track of podcasts I listen to — even though I don’t listen to all the episodes religiously. Actually this is more of a list of podcasts I follow (without actually listening to every episodes. I put asterisks besides shows I make it a point to listen to.

  1. (From Previous Years): NYT The Daily*, Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick*, Climate Pod*, Book Public, 60 Songs that Explain the 90s/2000s, Rialto Report, The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, Commonwealth Club Podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Drilled, Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade, Fareed Zakaria GPS.
  2. Washington Week in Review*. This has been my #1 podcast for years. Friday night top journalists discuss news stories and what they are working on.
  3. Why is this Good? Podcast by Naples Writers Workshop — they analyze one story per show.
  4. Autocracy in America. Due to some accident, I didn’t know that Season 2 was already taken place, this time hosted by Gary Kasparov. Not as intellectually rigorous as Season 1 with Anne Applebaum, but still provocative and insightful.
  5. NotebookLM –> Token Wisdom*. Podcast to discuss the articles on Token Wisdom newsletter written by tech guru Khayyam Wakil. Hard to explain, but it just works. AI summaries of technology stories, as told by two different “characters” to provide commentary and explanation (with voices provided by 11labs). Amazing and insightful and episodes are less than 30 minutes. Update: Turns out that anyone making a NotebookLM can generate the same kind of audio, although I suspect Wakil customized the speech.
  6. Business of Content with Simon Owens. Owens is a great business and technology journalist who talks about content producers.
  7. I’d Rather be Writing Podcast with Tom Johnson. Tech writing guru who is now into AI.
  8. Cspan podcasts: After Words and Lectures in History.
  9. Future Knowledge. Archive.org podcast about copyright, creative commons, open publishing, etc.
  10. Skiffy and Fanty Show. Sci/Fi podcast
  11. Middling with Eden and Brock Podcast on YouTube. Stars of the Middle rewatch reminisce about the iconic Middle sitcom.
  12. Charlie Rose podcast. Unrelenting focus on the Iran conflict.