Look, we know that hitting Jan. 1 means you’re resolving and detoxing and superfooding, and good for you. Eat those blueberries. But if you feel like you need a breather after a month of families, holiday get-togethers and exhausting your best cocktail party banter, we’ve got you.
What about setting aside some time for a little self care? Kick your feet up, wear something comfy and enjoy staying in this first weekend of 2026.
Get reading
Lots of people are announcing goals on Goodreads, from a book a month to intimidating plans that seem like they’ll require sleep deprivation. We like to take it slower, but here are two we’re pretty sure almost everyone will love and that can start off the year on a cozy, upbeat note:
“The Correspondent” was the surprise hit of 2025, and it deserved to be. Virginia Evan’s debut novel is an absolute charmer with a high degree of difficulty: Every word of it is a letter either written by or to a retired woman named Sybil von Antwerp, who may be falling in love with a neighbor and is definitely bullying a local college into letting her take classes (she may remind Elizabeth Strout fans of Olive Kitteridge in that she’s opinionated, sometimes wrong and often crabby). That letter format could be confining or awkward, but it sings in “Correspondent,” a funny, big-hearted crowd-pleaser.
While we’re on the subject of letters (and feel free to interpret this as a subliminal push to write more of them this year — your correspondents will love it), how about going back a few years to another charming novel about a letter writer? “Dear Mrs. Bird,” from 2019, is about Emmeline Lake, a young woman whose volunteer efforts keep her neighbors safe during the Blitz of London in World War II. Eventually, she backdoors her way into a job as an advice columnist at a British magazine for women. Good news if you like “Dear Mrs. Bird,” by A.J. Pearce: It’s the first of four books in a series that eventually finds Emmeline playing an even bigger role in the war effort.
Clicking play
If you like the Sharon Horgan/Rob Delaney series “Catastrophe,” I bet you’ll also go for Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in “Platonic,” which is also a romantic comedy but not exactly. Oddly under-discussed (possibly because Rogen’s “The Studio,” also for Apple TV, gets all the attention?), “Platonic” features Rogen and Byrne — who had great chemistry as a married couple in the “Neighbors” movies — as a pair for whom romance is not on the table. She’s married and he’s recently out of a marriage. Instead of love, the screwball series finds them working their way toward rekindling a friendship that fell apart because she hated his wife. Which he now does, too. Something in common!
There are 20 episodes of “Platonic” and if that feels like too much of a commitment, may we suggest “Materialists,” which is free on HBO Max but streaming almost everywhere? Last year’s movie from writer/director Celine Song, who also made “Past Lives,” didn’t catch on at the box office, possibly because it was misleadingly sold as a romantic comedy. It is romantic and often funny but “Materialists” has more on its mind as it explores what folks want out of relationships at this exact moment in time. Dakota Johnson, who’s quickly turning into one of our nimblest, funniest actors, is outstanding as a matchmaker who knows what everyone but herself needs (fans of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” you’ll recognize this territory). Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans also star.
Ordering in
Now, let’s talk about food. Specifically, let’s talk about pasta aglio e olio, which I made twice last week because I wasn’t feeling good. It’s ridiculously simple and, unlike most “pantry pasta” recipes, I actually have these things in my pantry. You just saute six chopped garlic cloves in 5 tablespoons of olive oil, then toss that with a pound of cooked spaghetti and a handful of chopped parsley, then top with Parm. Done.
