weekly digest #19
may 4-10, 2026: the brothers karamazov, empire of ai, trickster's choice/queen, downton abbey (the movie), ds9
On Thursday I had the pleasure of going all the way to Augusta for a physical exam as part of the disability determination process. It’s incredible how many times I’ve had to give the same information to different people. I have a smidgen of hope from the fact that the doctor told me she’s seen many long covid cases by now and seemed familiar with the symptoms and experiences I described. It’s been around a year since I sent in the first piece of paperwork, so hopefully the process will finally be over soon.
reading
I finished The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (published 1880, translation 1990) – an incredible novel. The fate of all three brothers is ambiguous at the end of the book: Dmitri has been found guilty of his father’s murder (a crime he did not commit) and his brothers plan to break him out of prison, a plan that seems as likely to fail as to succeed. Ivan is sick with brain fever, the doctor unable to say whether he’ll die or recover. Alexei says he’s leaving town, but doesn’t say where he’ll go or what he’ll do. This uncertainty, after hundreds of pages of what feels like inevitable doom and suffering, is almost hopeful. It seems most likely that they’ll continue to suffer – to be unlucky and make poor choices, but we don’t know. Anything is possible.
I also finished listening to Empire of AI by Karen Hao (published 2025) on audiobook. I don’t think this is a great format for me – I didn’t process the information nearly as well as I would have reading it on the page, which makes me reluctant to talk about the book’s contents in any depth. Still, there’s definitely interesting information about OpenAI in there and it’s deepened my curiosity about the human and environmental costs of the AI industry.
After my trip to Augusta, I crashed pretty hard and decided to reread something easy: Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen by Tamora Pierce (published 2003 & 2004), a YA fantasy duology about a girl who becomes the spymaster of a revolution. Rereading childhood favorites was how I was able to get back into reading when I first got sick. Now that I’ve regained most of my cognitive functioning, I generally want my reading life to be challenging, but every now and then I need an easy comfort read again. This particular series hasn’t aged especially well – Pierce is frequently out of her depth writing about racial politics, colonization, and slavery, and Aly, her heroine, is kind of a white savior figure. But I still find the fantasy spy craft fascinating, and enjoy Aly’s strange romance with Nawat, a crow who turns into a man. Unfortunately, though, it did make me think of this meme:
watching
My mom and I finished Downton Abbey and watched the first movie, creatively titled Downton Abbey. It had a shallow plot and appalling politics but was entertaining enough to sit through for two hours. The king and queen come to visit the Abbey on their tour of Yorkshire and everyone runs around the house going “we have so much to do!” Tom foils an assassination attempt, which is somehow a significantly less dramatic scene than one where Mary and Anna set up a bunch of chairs in the rain. Everyone is soooo glad that Tom has abandoned his politics and they scheme to make him a landowner. It would have been more interesting if he helped that guy kill the king. Whatever.
I also watched a lot of Deep Space 9 with my dad. I particularly enjoyed the episode Civil Defense, where the crew inadvertently triggers a security protocol left by the Cardassians who used to run the station. Trapped in different parts of the station and unable to communicate with each other, they have to disable the increasingly dangerous automated system while locked out of their own technology. Very fun.
listening
I’m back to playing Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul on repeat. It’s so good.
eating & drinking
This week I’ve loved BBQ baked potatoes, lomo saltado, napa chicken salad, tart flambé, dill pickle chips, and a bacon egg and cheese sandwich from the gas station (my reward for having to get up early for the trip to Augusta). I’ve always been skeptical of dill pickle chips but my dad bought some and they are in fact delicious.
making
I didn’t have energy for much crafting this week, though I did a little bit of sewing. I overcast the raw edge of the neckline/armhole facing on the dress I’ve been making, which took significantly longer than I expected. Not my favorite technique.
shopping
I didn’t buy or look at anything this week. I really need to focus and finally find a rug for my bedroom.
kitsch corner
I’ve already written about my love for kitschy salt and pepper shakers – these guys are especially cute. They were made by Fujika in the 70’s (if we are to trust this random flickr user, the best sourcing info I could find with a quick reverse image search.)
See you next week.
xoxo,
Franny 💋🍞