CONSUMED January 2026

I need some new music.

I’ve come to accept, that like majority of the tennis watching population, we are seasonal tennis watchers in this house. Perhaps that means we are fake fans I’m not sure, but there is zero drive to pay attention to the tennis besides in January. Having said that, I watched a lot of tennis in January. But sometimes I watched tennis and did my crossword.

Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood is a book where big things happen, but I had to reread it and clarify what actually did just happen. It’s categorised as a Southern Gothic and it’s sparse and its subtle. But it’s sharp. The story centres around a returning WWII veteran and his preaching of his new faith, the church of Jesus Christ without Jesus Christ. I’d never read any of O’Connor’s books before, but I’ll be reading more now.

Queer Eye is back for its final season. But what a mess. Firstly, the season is much shorter than usual and whilst the first episode is great, it seems to get weaker from there. Then there is the disharmony within the group which I really can’t get a good read on but let’s just say Bobby, former cast mate, is commenting without commenting. For example, he posted an Instagram picture with the caption ‘how is everyone’s week going?’ soundtracked by the song Kink is my Karma by Chappell Roan knowing full well how people’s weeks are going! I’m stressed just thinking about it. Anyway, I will probably finish the episodes at some point.

Cheeky bobby

The Pitt is also back. This time, the shift (for those who don’t know, each episode of the show is an hour of their shift), is on the Fourth of July, Independence Day so they are prepped to be busy. It is also Dr Robby’s last shift before he goes on his sabbatical, but naturally nothing goes to plan, and he says, ‘I should’ve left last night’. It’s so good.

Hamnet actually made me bawl my eyes out. I really liked it but there were a lot of parts I found frustrating, like Shakespeare. He was absent for a lot of it and it just felt a bit too little boy lost when his family was going through it, although my friend pointed out he was trying to break his own generational trauma. Literally in one scene his wife is trying to sleep with their baby, and he is crying and drinking whilst trying to write in the corner. But when I put that aside, I remember all the beautiful and heartbreaking scenes and remember it’s actually very good.

Okay, The Lincoln Lawyer is back which feels exciting. Inspired by Wise Blood, I’m currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird and I am trying to find some new but good music to listen to, so if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

What have you been consuming?