Reading Time: 6 minutes

Weekend Watch & Read

Welcome to Weekend Watch & Read, my Friday look at what people are watching, reading, and talking about as the weekend begins.

Each week, I’ll bring you the Top 10 Netflix shows in the United States and Brazil, followed by the New York Times Best Seller lists for fiction and nonfiction.

I’ll also pull one book from my own bookshelf for a personal review. It might be a bestseller, an old favorite, a hidden gem, or simply a book that made me stop and think. I’ll tell you what I thought and whether I think it’s worth your time.

So grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and see what the world is watching, what readers are buying, and what one retired American living in Brazil thinks is worth your weekend.

Let’s get started.

Netflix Top 10 TV Shows

United States

Week: September 21–27, 2026

Rank	TV Show
1	Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story: Season 1
2	A Different World: Season 1
3	Wonka’s The Golden Ticket: Season 1
4	The Great British Baking Show: Collection 14
5	Raw: 2026 – September 21, 2026
6	Not a Stranger: Season 1
7	Jo Koy: Blue in the Face
8	Crew Girl: Season 1
9	Ms. Rachel: Season 1
10	Danny Go!: Season 2

Brazil

Week: September 21–27, 2026

Rank	TV Show
1	Not a Stranger: Season 1
2	Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story: Season 1
3	My Name Is Farah: Season 2
4	Habeas Corpus: Season 1
5	My Name Is Farah: Season 1
6	Minerva Academy: Season 1
7	Gabby’s Dollhouse: Season 14
8	Crew Girl: Season 1
9	Bir Küçük Gün Işığı: Season 1
10	Wonka’s The Golden Ticket: Season 1

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New York Times Best Sellers

Latest official weekly list available as of September 21, 2026

The latest NYT weekly list available on September 21 was the September 20, 2026 list. The NYT says these rankings represent sales for the week ending September 5, 2026. The September 27 list was therefore not yet the appropriate list for a September 21 snapshot.

1. Hardcover Fiction

Rank	Book	Author
1	The Knave and the Moon	Rachel Gillig
2	The Calamity Club	Kathryn Stockett
3	The Most Dangerous Games	MrBeast and James Patterson
4	Yesteryear	Caro Claire Burke
5	The Disappearers	Marlon James
6	Whistler	Ann Patchett
7	Big Little Truths	Liane Moriarty
8	The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook	Matt Dinniman
9	Scion	James Islington
10	Dungeon Crawler Carl	Matt Dinniman

2. Hardcover Nonfiction

Rank	Book	Author
1	This Is Me	Hayden Panettiere
2	American Scoundrel	Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark
3	Regime Change	Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
4	Going Further	Ted Cruz
5	Let Us Do Good	Frank Siller
6	The Final Solution to the Jewish Question	Dara Horn
7	Star of the Show	Dolly Parton with Tom Roland
8	Strangers	Belle Burden
9	London Falling	Patrick Radden Keefe
10	The Nerd Reich	Gil Durán

3. Paperback Trade Fiction

Rank	Book	Author
1	Theo of Golden	Allen Levi
2	Brain Damage	Freida McFadden
3	Dungeon Crawler Carl	Matt Dinniman
4	Project Hail Mary	Andy Weir
5	Wild Dark Shore	Charlotte McConaghy
6	Verity	Colleen Hoover
7	My Dreadful Darling	H.D. Carlton
8	Carl’s Doomsday Scenario	Matt Dinniman
9	The Wedding People	Alison Espach
10	Red Rising	Pierce Brown

4. Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction

This is the appropriate additional NYT nonfiction list to use alongside Hardcover Nonfiction for your four-category format.

Rank	Book	Author
1	This Is Me	Hayden Panettiere
2	American Scoundrel	Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark
3	Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea	Emily Wilson
4	Regime Change	Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
5	Going Further	Ted Cruz
6	Strangers	Belle Burden
7	The Final Solution to the Jewish Question	Dara Horn
8	The Body Keeps the Score	Bessel van der Kolk
9	London Falling	Patrick Radden Keefe
10	Let Us Do Good	Frank Siller

A Tale of Two Cities Book Review: Charles Dickens Classic

Opening Hook

A Tale of Two Cities, the Charles Dickens classic, was a book I wasn’t sure what to expect from when I started this book review. The title might seem confusing or even a bit misleading. The two cities really only play a part in the story as some of the characters leave Paris for London to escape their past.

The book is also presented against the backdrop of the French Revolution, but that isn’t really what the story is about. The Revolution provides the setting and circumstances that shape the characters and their lives.

I did not expect what this book would reveal.

Book Overview

The story begins by showing how the lives of several characters are already connected, even though they don’t fully understand how. As the story unfolds, events from the distant past come back to play a crucial role in the lives of several characters.

The backdrop is the French Revolution, beginning with a population suffering under an oppressive system and eventually rising against the aristocracy. The storming of the Bastille becomes one of the early and powerful symbols of that uprising.

But Dickens takes the story beyond the revolution itself. As the revolution grows, the desire for justice and equality becomes mixed with anger and revenge. Some of those who were once victims become consumed by the same cruelty they had suffered, seeking revenge against the aristocracy and, at times, against anyone connected to them, regardless of their individual guilt.

This is where the personal stories and the revolution begin to collide. The characters are caught in a world where the sins and injustices of the past have consequences in the present, and where revenge can become just as destructive as the oppression that created it.

What Worked

I thought it was a great story, especially the way Dickens tied a character from the past to people in the present who were connected to that person’s suffering.

I also saw this as something of a mystery drama, and I wasn’t expecting that. I enjoyed watching the pieces slowly come together and discovering how the characters and their histories were connected. As the story progressed, more of those connections were revealed, and it kept me wondering how everything would eventually come together.

Strong Ideas

Dickens is known for exploring class inequality, with wealth positioned against poverty and suffering. We saw this clearly in A Christmas Carol, and it is also a major theme in A Tale of Two Cities.

What I thought was particularly well done was the way Dickens built the story from the beginning. He introduced a character who had suffered imprisonment and repression, then years later connected his past to another character, his daughter, and ultimately tied their family to the very aristocratic family connected to his suffering. The way all of these pieces came together was, to me, genius.

It is also a powerful story about growth and redemption. Dickens builds those themes throughout the book and ultimately brings them together through one particular character at the end. That connection gave the entire story a much deeper meaning for me.

Strong Characters

The story revolves around a number of characters, and I thought Dickens did a very good job of balancing them. Some play larger roles than others, but no single character completely takes over the story. For a story with this many connections and moving pieces, that balance was important.

Characters such as Sydney Carton, Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, Dr. Manette, Madame Defarge, and Mr. Lorry all play important roles, but their importance changes as the story develops. Even the supporting characters become important at different points.

I liked that the story didn’t feel like it was simply about one main character. Each character had a purpose, and their individual stories gradually became connected. As the story evolved, different characters moved to the center of the action, which kept the story interesting and helped bring all the pieces together.

Strong Writing

This almost doesn’t need to be mentioned. The book is a classic for a reason.

It is a fantastic story, with well-developed characters and a remarkable way of weaving their stories together. There were several surprises I simply didn’t see coming. Dickens often sets something up early in the story, only to reveal its real purpose much later. When those pieces finally come together, you realize how carefully the story was constructed from the beginning.

That kind of planning and storytelling is what makes a classic like A Tale of Two Cities still work so well today.

What Didn’t Work

I wouldn’t really say there was anything that didn’t work, especially considering the context. It is 2026, and this book was written about 167 years ago.

Dickens uses a lot of analogies and metaphors, along with longer sentence structures. Some of the language, words, and phrases were common in his time but aren’t used much today, which occasionally made the meaning a little confusing.

What helped me was reading each chapter and then telling ChatGPT what I understood from it, along with anything that seemed odd or unclear. I was always able to understand what was happening, but ChatGPT helped put some of Dickens’ analogies, metaphors, language, and writing style into a modern perspective.

For me, this was a great example of how modern technology can help us better understand and appreciate a classic written nearly two centuries ago.

Modern Relevance

One reason A Tale of Two Cities still feels relevant is its exploration of class division, wealth inequality, and the tension that can build when people feel that the system is no longer working for them.

There are certainly parallels to some of the social and political tensions we see around the world today. The storming of the Bastille was a very different event from the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol or the January 8, 2023 attacks in Brazil, but all are examples of political unrest involving people challenging established institutions.

The bigger connection for me is not that these events are the same, but that the book shows what can happen when inequality, anger, resentment, and political division continue to build. That part of Dickens’ story still feels remarkably relevant today.

Final Verdict

I think this is a great book and a must-read. Given the time period in which it was written, you may need to give it a fair chance. The writing style can take some getting used to, so I would recommend giving it at least 50 to 75 pages before deciding whether it’s for you.

For me, it was worth sticking with. Once I got into the story and started seeing how the characters and their histories were connected, I found it difficult to put down.

Rating: ★★★★★

Reading Time: 6 minutes