The Weekly Wrap: May 17, 2026

My brain does not want to be reading non-fiction right now.
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After a slew of romantasy and hockey romances, I was going to pivot to another romance series. I requested what I thought was the next book from my library, but after reading one sentence, it felt familiar. I dove into my reading list and confirmed that I had, indeed, read that book - and the next one - already. Bummer.

I have more books on my hold list, but they're not ready yet. In the meantime, I picked up the non-fiction read I use to fill gaps like this. My brain has other plans.

Instead of the 40-50 pages I've been managing lately, I'm falling asleep after two. Last night I think I managed two paragraphs. My brain is clearly not in the mood for anything educational at night.

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• **Action alert!** There's a congressional bill that could ban books nationwide. [The AI School Librarians]
• What children's books can do. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Preparing for an unknown future. [Sketchplanations]
• A healthy society comes from collective effort. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• FIFA is a cartel. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• I have *thoughts* on this look at how single women buying homes for themselves is making dating harder. (You go, girls!) [The Guardian]
• An important thread if you think OCR should be accurate. [caitlindeangelis]

• Ice librarians work with band saws. [Atlas Obscura]
• I rejoice at stories of women standing up for each other. [Planet Money]
• The con man's encyclopedia. [Hidden Brain]
• Do I want to visit a sewer? I think I do. [Atlas Obscura]
• The problem of education becoming a checklist. [College Matters]

• The 355 should have been good! It has this amazing cast of women who are all phenomenal actors. Instead, there's WAY too much going on and all of it is entirely unbelievable. Apparently all of the money went to the production and the cast - none to the script. [Netflix]
• I don't know if I've ever watched a documentary without voiceover or sit-down interviews. Apollo 11 tells the story of the first moon landing using nothing but archival material. It's a major feet of storytelling and editing. Highly recommend. I gained a new look at an event I thought I knew everything about. [Netflix]

• "Surprise" quesadillas are now one of my go to meals. They've got a great track record of getting my kiddo to eat new foods. This week, the "surprise" was corn and zucchini quesadillas. Sauteing the vegetables is an extra step, but worth it for the browning. We omitted the jalapeño. This one works well with a smoky salsa. Now that I think about it, I could have whipped up a spicy crema using the chipotles in adobo sitting in our freezer... [Serious Eats]
• For my lunch meal prep, I mixed up lemony cucumber couscous salad. There are only a few ingredients in this one. It's a simple prep that lasts well in the fridge. This one would probably also work as a side dish with a grilled protein of some sort. [Budget Bytes]
• One of our kiddo's current after school activities runs until 5:30. This has compressed our regular evening schedule for that day of the week. I've been trying to schedule extra quick dinners on that day. This week, I went with potstickers and salad. It's based on a recipe but we make it simple by using a pre-made bag of Asian-style salad. While the potstickers cook, I just toss in chopped red bell pepper and some defrosted edamame. [Budget Bytes]