I just came back from one of the most memorable vacations of my life — a week in Kathmandu, Nepal to celebrate the wedding of two friends. With folks coming in from all over the world, it was truly an epic, moving celebration of love. 

But while the experience is already a highlight of my 2020 thus far, getting there was a slog. Fortunately, for at least one leg of the trip — the 12 hour plane ride from New York to Doha — I had Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age to read. It’s a delightful, occasionally cringe-inducing novel about a young black twentysomething babysitter caught in a tug of war between two well-meaning, but blithely unaware white liberals. And it’s just one of the 83 (!) books we’re excited about that are coming out this year. 

We’ve also got Anne Helen Petersen on the unexpected pleasure that is Knives Out, Shannon Keating on how Greta Gerwig’s adpatation of Little Women is super gay, and Karolina Waclawiak on how we should be patient with ourselves this new year in her astrology column this month. 

Happy reading!

Personal Essays

Chloe Cushman for BuzzFeed News

Watching My Cousin’s Death Go Viral

My cousin Salahuddin was a victim of unforgivable police brutality. But before that, he was a young man let down by a society that still treats mental illness as a kind of crime in itself.

The Crisis In Kashmir Has Started A Conversation I Don’t Know How To Have

This year I picked up a pastime I thought was reserved for white people: fighting with my family about their terrible politics.

Justin Bettman for BuzzFeed News

These Male Sex Workers Are Providing More Than Just Orgasms

A small but growing number of men doing sex work are catering to women clients by taking consent and gender equality seriously — and offering emotional labor as part of the deal.

Newsletter exclusive: an astrology column from executive editor Karolina Waclawiak

I don’t know about you, but I woke up on New Year’s Day full of hope. While moving into a new year (and in this case a new decade) doesn’t solve all our problems — the world turmoil three days in showed us that — it is an opportunity for an emotional reset. Every Jan. 1 I have a ritual I stick to: I look at a list of ten things I wanted to do the previous year, reflect on them, and then make a new one for the coming year. 

The things on my list for 2019 were both ambitious (pay off some significant debts) and fun (spend my birthday in a foreign country). Although I achieved only about half of the ten things I wanted, I was really proud of myself. This list isn’t a way to further chastise yourself for not doing enough or being productive enough. It’s just a way to put your wishes out there so you can have some intent behind your actions throughout the year. Chances are, even if you weren’t quite where you wanted to be by the end of 2019 you still did a hell of a lot of growing and changing over the last decade. And I’m sure if you really sat down and looked at it there is so much to be grateful for, even if things were hard and you still aren’t exactly where you want to be in your life, career, or whatever.

Astrologically, January sees a potent full moon on January 10th, and not only is it the first full moon of the year, but it’s also a lunar eclipse — a Wolf Moon Lunar Eclipse to be exact. The lunar eclipse is in Cancer and it’s full of mothering energy. The perfect opportunity for you to set some intentions for the next six months. And rather than taking a punitive approach to those intentions (Lose weight! Get your life in order! Fix all your finances at once!) this mothering energy will ask you to shift your thinking in order to take a gentler path forward. 

Last year may have been hard  — hell, maybe the whole decade wasn’t your best! — so pat yourself on the back for surviving and think about how you can quiet the nagging, negative voices in your head saying you haven’t done enough or achieved enough and replace them with a kinder voice that will support you in taking some new risks and filling your life with new energy. 

Not exactly where you want to be yet? That’s ok. Where you are is exactly where you should be right now. And where you are right now is not where you will be forever. So think about where you want to be in six months, a year, and set some intentions on how you want to get there.

Books

These Are Our Most Highly Anticipated Books Of 2020

 New books from Emily St. John Mandel, Elena Ferrante, Yaa Gyasi, Julia Alvarez, David Mitchell, Samantha Irby, and Hilary Mantel — just to name a few!

The 24 Best Books Of The Decade

There were a lot of books published this past decade. These are the ones we’ll never forget.

Literally Every Book We Recommended In 2019

New or old titles, from our editors and from BuzzFeed Book Club members — here's everything.

The 44 Most Stunning Book Covers Of 2019

The kind of covers you want to frame.

Cultural Criticism 

It Was A Tough Year For Heterosexuality

In 2019, mainstream American culture has wrestled with (white, middle-class) straightness — and the question of whether it might be an ultimately doomed project.

Elizabeth Wurtzel Wasn’t Sorry About Anything

The memoirist helped set the stage for an entire era of confessional writing.

Knives Out And The Revenge Of The Pretty Good Movie

Rian Johnson’s star-studded whodunnit has succeeded by exceeding people’s expectations for what they’ll find at the movie theater.

It’s Time To Cancel Vanderpump Rules

After seven magical seasons, the cast of Bravo's hit reality show have outgrown their roles.

Greta Gerwig’s adaptation leaves room for the idea that Jo might be different in a way Louisa May Alcott never put into words. Spoilers ahead.

Sorry, SNL, Astronomy Club Is Coming For Your Wig

The new Netflix sketch comedy show Astronomy Club is a hilarious delight.

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