Media Diet Q1 2026

A few of the books and films I experienced in the first few months of this year.

Books

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (Kiran Desai)

In addition to the obvious depiction of being a first generation American, the most compelling threads in this book examine the relationships between upper-class parents and their American-bound children: what do we owe our parents for the life they enabled? And what to draw on as material for your art (legacy-building, drawing from the trauma you’ve experienced). A really great book, though I think it tried to do too much.

Pnin (Vladimir Nabokov)

This was my second Nabokov after reading Lolita last year, and this one clicked for me much more.

It’s an encapsulation of what good fiction can do: make you reflect on your life and how you view others, and how we narrate the lives around us and our own. Early in the book you’re made to see Pnin as an unserious character. You catch yourself laughing at his mistakes and awkwardness. How often have we done this in real life? But then, with a slight shift in perspective, the character becomes richer. You not only have more empathy for him and a better understanding of where he’s coming from—you start to question how your initial assessment was formed.

Train Dreams (Denis Johnson)

I read this after watching the film and prefer the novella.

Down Time (Andrew Martin)

I’ve been avoiding pandemic novels, but this one captures those few years with real accuracy.

Audition (Katie Kitamura)

Short, strange, and enjoyable. It examines how a marriage that seems strong can start to form cracks and, under certain circumstances, crumble entirely.

Movies

Memoria

Saw this in 35mm at Metrograph. One of the best movie experiences I’ve had in recent years. It’s a deliberately paced film with many very slow and quiet moments, but myself and everyone else in the theater was enraptured.

Peter Hujar’s Day

A brilliant concept for a film. Two artists in New York in the 1970s talking about their day and who they met. It’s a premise that could easily fail, but the two actors and the filmmaking(16mm, long takes, natural light) made it work. The film appears to be shot in the West Village housing complex where Hujar actually lived, so it feels like you’re transported to the 1970s, a fly on the wall for their conversation.

Wild Strawberries

Only my second Bergman after Summer with Monica. I watched this shortly after seeing Jay Kelly, which is clearly influenced by it.

Bullitt

I watched this based on Quentin Tarantino’s recommendation. I can’t believe this isn’t better known, at least not among my generation. Maybe the second best film shot in San Francisco after Vertigo.

Mirror

My third Tarkovsky after Stalker and Andrei Rublev. Scenes function as fragments of memories. You don’t know why you remember them or what purpose they serve, but they stay with you. Like the spilled milk.