Weekend Picks: Netflix Top 10, NYT Best Sellers & A Column of Fire Review
Weekend Watch & Read
Welcome to Weekend Watch & Read, your Friday guide to what everyone is talking about before the weekend begins.
Every Friday I’ll round up the Top 10 Netflix shows in the United States and the Top 10 in Brazil, giving you a glimpse into what audiences on both sides of the equator are binge-watching. Sometimes the lists will overlap; often they won’t, and that’s part of the fun. It’s a fascinating look at how culture, language, and storytelling shape what captures our attention.
For readers who would rather turn pages than stream episodes, I’ll also feature The New York Times Best Seller lists for both Fiction and Nonfiction. Whether you’re looking for your next thriller, biography, historical account, or thought-provoking read, you’ll find plenty of inspiration for your weekend reading list.
Finally, I’ll share one book from my own bookshelf. It won’t necessarily be a bestseller or the latest release. Sometimes it will be a forgotten classic, a hidden gem, a work of history, or simply a book that made me stop, think, or see the world a little differently. Along with it, you’ll get my honest review and whether I think it’s worth adding to your own reading list.
So pour yourself a cup of coffee, settle into your favorite chair, and see what the rest of the world is watching, what readers are buying, and what one retired American living in Brazil thinks deserves a little more attention. Your weekend entertainment starts here.
What I Watched
I watched the Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and I was very surprised. I didn’t realize it was a psychological drama, and it was great. I have the book and just bought it, so I’ll be reading it. I thought it was more about two families, written in a style similar to The Grapes of Wrath, but it was far darker. That really surprised me, based on what I’ve read from Steinbeck in the past.
Netflix Top 10 TV Shows
Week: October 19–25, 2026
United States
| Rank | TV Show |
|---|---|
| 1 | From: Season 1 |
| 2 | Nobody Wants This: Season 3 |
| 3 | Love Is Blind: Season 11, Boston |
| 4 | The Diplomat: Season 4 |
| 5 | Below: Limited Series |
| 6 | Raw: October 19, 2026 |
| 7 | Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 |
| 8 | The New Stanford Prison Experiment: Season 1 |
| 9 | TYSON: Limited Series |
| 10 | Theo Von: I’m Doing Fine |
Brazil
Week: October 19–25, 2026
| Rank | TV Show |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lupin: Part 4 |
| 2 | Bento e Totó: Season 1 |
| 3 | Below: Limited Series |
| 4 | Where the Mask Ends: Season 1 |
| 5 | Take Charge of My Heart: Limited Series |
| 6 | Doctor X: Mafia in White: Limited Series |
| 7 | Lupin: Part 1 |
| 8 | Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 |
| 9 | My Name Is Farah: Season 2 |
| 10 | Extraordinary Attorney Minami: Season 1 |
New York Times Best Sellers
Hardcover Fiction
| Rank | Book Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Witch | Freida McFadden |
| 2 | Threshing Day | Rebecca Yarros |
| 3 | Other Worlds Than These | Stephen King and Peter Straub |
| 4 | Partita | Barbara Kingsolver |
| 5 | The French Illusion | John Grisham |
| 6 | The Calamity Club | Kathryn Stockett |
| 7 | Hollywood, Ending | John Green |
| 8 | Hollow Bones | Jodi Picoult |
| 9 | Return to the Shack | Wm. Paul Young |
| 10 | American Hagwon | Min Jin Lee |
Hardcover Nonfiction
| Rank | Book Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Helluva Ride | Michael Douglas with Shane Salerno and Michael Fleming Jr. |
| 2 | Blockers | Michael Lewis |
| 3 | The Steps | Sylvester Stallone |
| 4 | Devil on My Shoulder | Alice Cooper with Daniel Richler |
| 5 | Swan Song | Charles Spencer |
| 6 | The American Way of Killing | Malcolm Gladwell |
| 7 | The Rush | Nathaniel Philbrick |
| 8 | So Ordered | Samuel A. Alito Jr. |
| 9 | Not Today, Fascists | Jennifer Welch |
| 10 | Sleeping Beauties | David Byrne |
Book Review
A Column of Fire Review — Ken Follett’s Epic Tale of Religious Conflict and Political Intrigue
By Ken Follett
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
I finally completed A Column of Fire, the fourth major novel in the Kingsbridge series by Ken Follett, and once again, it was another enormous read at more than 900 pages.
This one took me longer than the previous books, and honestly, it was a somewhat unusual reading experience compared to the rest of the series.
I actually started the novel twice. The first time, I stopped around page fifty because I simply could not connect with the story. After taking a break for a couple of weeks, I restarted it from the beginning. Even then, it took me several months to finish because I never found myself reading it for hours at a time, as I did with the earlier Kingsbridge novels.
A large part of that, I think, came down to expectations.
A Different Kind of Kingsbridge Story
The first three Kingsbridge novels shared a familiar structure: Church corruption, political scheming, power struggles, a strong female lead. Those elements created a recognizable rhythm throughout the series.
A Column of Fire moves in a very different direction.
While Kingsbridge still serves as the story’s starting point, the town itself becomes more of a backdrop rather than the central focus. The narrative quickly expands outward into England, France, Spain, and religious conflicts across Spain
This broader scope initially made the novel feel less like a continuation of the Kingsbridge series and more like a standalone historical epic set in the same universe.
That shift threw me off at first because it changed the tone and structure I had come to expect from the earlier books.
Religion, Tolerance, and Political Power
The central theme this time is the violent struggle between Catholics and Protestants during the 16th century. Things like religious intolerance, political conspiracies, monarchy and succession, espionage, faith & power.
The novel takes place during one of Europe’s most volatile periods, where religion and politics were inseparable, and coexistence between faiths was often viewed as impossible.
Rather than focusing primarily on architecture or town-building, as in earlier Kingsbridge novels, this story becomes more about survival in a continent consumed by ideological and political conflict.
The broader historical backdrop includes: The reign of Elizabeth the 1st, tensions with Mary Queen of Scots, the influence of Catholic Spain and protestant resistance, with plot assassinations
In many ways, this novel reads almost like a historical spy thriller layered inside epic historical fiction.
A Slower Beginning — But a Stronger Finish
One issue I had with the novel was the first third of the story.
Some secondary storylines and minor characters felt unnecessary or underdeveloped, almost as though they existed mainly to expand the world rather than advance the main narrative. Much of this occurs in the first roughly 40 percent of the book.
However, once I moved beyond that section — somewhere around pages 350–400 — the story became far more engaging. The political intrigue got better, espionage was stronger, and the conflicts took shape.
From there, the novel became much harder to put down.
Looking back, I think the slower start was partly a consequence of Follett repositioning the series into a much larger international setting rather than the more localized storytelling of the earlier books.
Familiar Elements Still Remain
Despite the broader focus, Follett still includes some familiar Kingsbridge themes: forbidden relationships, social barriers, corruption, power struggles, and betrayal
There is also a romantic thread that echoes earlier novels, though Follett introduces a clever twist that prevents it from feeling entirely predictable.
Without spoiling anything, I thought the ending handled these relationships in a satisfying and somewhat unexpected way.
The Historical Transition Toward a New World
One thing I especially appreciated was how the novel quietly positions itself at the edge of enormous historical transformation.
As the story progresses, you can feel Europe moving toward religious fragmentation, colonial expansion, and global power struggles.
Comparing It to the Earlier Kingsbridge Novels
I did enjoy A Column of Fire, though not quite as much as the earlier books in the series.
Some readers may actually prefer that broader scale, especially if they enjoy political thrillers and Reformation-era history.
For me, it took time to adjust, but once I did, the story became much more rewarding.
Final Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Despite its slower beginning and structural differences from the earlier novels, A Column of Fire remains an ambitious, intelligent, and highly entertaining historical epic.
Follett successfully expands the Kingsbridge world beyond cathedrals and local politics into a much larger story.
The novel may require more patience than the earlier books, but the payoff is worth it once the story fully takes shape.
The Kingsbridge series as a whole remains one of the most immersive and enjoyable historical fiction sagas I’ve read.
Highly recommended.
I did use ChatGPT for the critical reception since I could not know what was said when the book came out.
Critical Reception When Released
Upon release, A Column of Fire became an international bestseller and received generally strong reviews from critics and readers.
Reviewers praised:
- Follett’s handling of Reformation-era politics and religion
- The international scope of the narrative
- the espionage and political intrigue elements
- The accessibility of complex historical events
- The strong pacing in the latter half of the novel
Some readers, as I did, noted that the book differed significantly in tone and structure from earlier Kingsbridge novels. However, many appreciated the shift toward a broader European perspective and the story’s more political nature.
There has also been continued interest in adapting the Kingsbridge novels for television, particularly following reports surrounding development efforts tied to The Evening and the Morning.
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