personal canon

everything i read in january 2026

what Substack can learn from James Joyce ✦ philosophy from Bergson to Zhuangzi ✦ and essays/paintings worthy of sustained attention

Feb 1 • Celine Nguyen

255

27

21

January 2026

we've created a society where artists can't make any money

on artistic innovation, cultural stagnation, and the decline of Silicon Valley intellectualism

Jan 28 • Celine Nguyen

748

92

147

best books, essays, and poems of 2025

an invitation to read more in the new year ✦

Jan 14 • Celine Nguyen

442

45

52

December 2025

writing is an inherently dignified human activity

the case for starting your own newsletter ✦ and reflections on 2 years, 52 posts, and 31,000 subscribers

Dec 29, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

1,295

122

317

everything i read in october & november 2025

do you really need to read all the books you buy? ✦ plus reviews of 2 excellent debut novels ✦ an Italian novella about rogue AI ✦ and an attempt to…

Dec 3, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

284

40

26

November 2025

conversations with friends (on tech, culture, criticism, and bait)

my podcast conversation with the writer and technologist Jasmine Sun ✦

Nov 18, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

115

19

11

the occasional art report

the pros and cons of nostalgia, Wolfgang Tillmans, Korean ceramics, ideal translations, and the best show of Frieze London

Nov 5, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

157

21

10

October 2025

how to speak to a computer

against chat interfaces ✦ a brief history of artificial intelligence ✦ and the (worthwhile) problem of other minds

Oct 20, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

285

39

58

everything i read in september 2025

novels & nonfiction about AI poetry, lost love, corporate anthropologists, and more ✦

Oct 5, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

229

36

10

September 2025

everything i read in july & august 2025

15 books on love, communism, AIDS activism, and sleeping your way to the top

Sep 3, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

284

22

9

August 2025

how to expand the market for literature (and literary criticism)

the personal and social function of criticism ✦ and why the humanities are not dead, thank you very much

Aug 27, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

399

50

69

July 2025

exercises in style: bill beckley's "cake story"

short fiction and photography inspired by 1970s conceptual art ✦ and how to get started with flash fiction!

Jul 25, 2025 • Celine Nguyen

200

26

24