Happy Friday! If you're new to Now I Know, you'll notice that today's format differs from the rest of the week. On Fridays, I pause to write the "Weekender," my  "week in review" type of thing, or to share something else I think you may find interesting. Thanks for reading! — Dan

Hi!

Over the holidays, I finally got around to reading Project Hail Mary — and I loved it. I read a lot, but I rarely read books; if the story doesn’t catch my interest in the first few pages, I try to plow through it, get frustrated, drop the book entirely, and then get annoyed at myself for wasting the time having tried to get through the book in the first place. So I’ve created this bad habit where I don’t bother reading a book unless I’m certain I’d like it, which means I rarely read books.

But I do like to read books. I just need to get over that hump. When I get into a book or series, I fly though it. I’ve had months where I’ve read 10+ books and 6-month+ phases where I haven’t read a single one. So, help me out: recommend some books for me to read.

To help, some preferences and books I’ve liked:

I generally read for enjoyment and prefer fiction and have a bias toward scifi/fantasy — and at a younger reading level than I’m capable of. (I read a lot of non-fiction already, and I don’t need to go in depth on those topics in book-form — I can find the info anywhere.) I’ve read the Harry Potter series a few times, really liked The Martian and Project Hail Mary (but not so much Artemis, the middle novel by the same author), and somehow flew through The Alchemyst series but didn’t really love it. (I hated The Magicians — I found the characters reprehensible — but oddly, I love the TV adaptation.) I did like The Hunger Games but haven’t been interested in the prequel for some reason, and surprisingly liked Holes. I haven’t been able to get into the Percy Jackson novels and while I liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I ultimately got through it, really needed to fight my way into it. I really liked The Plot Against America by Philip Roth but couldn’t get into any of his other novels. On the still-fiction but not scifi/fantasy side, I rarely give them a try, but This is Where I Leave You was a quick read and one of my favorites. I’m not sure how that helps.

I also, when the moment strikes, enjoy true-but-outlandish stories like The Big Short, Bringing Down the House, and Liar’s Poker. (Yes, two are by Michael Lewis, and I’m sure I’ve read another handful of his books, too, but other than Moneyball, they all blur together.) Similarly, I occasionally like the business/leadership introspective books like Start with Why and Never Split the Difference, but I find that I’ll put down those books two-thirds of the way through and never pick them up again. So maybe don’t recommend those. 😀

To make a suggestion, just hit reply — and thanks in advance!

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And thanks! — Dan

Monday: The Teen Who Biked Home for Fried Chicken: It was a longer trip than you’d think!

Tuesday: Not The Frisco Kids: It’s “San Francisco.”

Wednesday: The Sun in the Home: A historically great prank.

Thursday: The Meal That Makes You See Tiny People?: Do not try this at home. Or anywhere, really.

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “How Not to Get Away With Murder” (Toronto Life, 25 minutes, November 2025). The subhead: “Lucy Li wanted to be a TikTok star. Oliver Karafa wanted to be rich. When a friend got in the way of their plans, they combined forces and pulled off a murder plot so preposterous that one of their lawyers used stupidity as a defense. The stranger-than-fiction story of the Stoney Creek killing.”

2) “My Secret Addiction” (Macleans, 20 minutes, November 2025). Non-spoiler spoiler: she was addicted to psychics.

3) “The Ping-Pong Hustler Who Inspired ‘Marty Supreme’” (New York Times/gift link, 8 minutes, December 2025). I want to see the movies so this was a fun read.

Have a great weekend!

Dan