We made it everyone! I had a much better 2022 than I did 2021. I finished a Master’s degree! I left a job that I found deeply unfulfilling and started one that is. I went to Denver and London and Amsterdam and San Diego and back to San Diego again and back to Denver again. I cooked and I baked a lot of good food. I wrote a lot. And, as you all know, I read and watched and bought a lot of stuff. Here’s a list of some of my favorite things from the year.
Before we start: things are eligible for this list if I read/watched them for the first time this year, regardless of release date. These aren’t ranked in order, that’s impossible for me. Just lists of things I loved! Last year’s list is here.
Books
I read 77 books this year! My goal is always 60 and last year I didn’t even meet that, so I’m feeling good about this. Now that I’m out of school I may set my goal at 75 for next year. I’m gonna tell you my top five from these three categories: Rom coms, other fiction, and non-fiction.
I would like to add a caveat here: reading should be FUN. I think a lot of people who think they don’t like to read just aren’t reading the right books. I got back into reading after I finished college when I found contemporary romance novels. It is not embarrassing to read “fluff” or “trash” or anything other than Serious Literature. If I only let myself read books that are recognized to have some sort of literary merit, I’d probably read 10 books a year. Read what you want to!
Rom Coms
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi: If you are feeling tired of the typical romance formula then this one is for you. This is part romance, part family drama about a young woman named Feyi who is still learning how to live life and trying to date again five years after her husband passed away. She starts casually dating a guy named Nasir, who invites her to come visit his family home on a tropical island for a few weeks. When she gets there, she finds out his father is famous celebrity chef, Alim Blake. This book is lush and dramatic, has incredible descriptions of food, and I couldn’t put it down.
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren: Another unique premise! This is about Jess, a single mom who, on a particularly rough day, submits her sample to a new dating company that matches people based on compatibility scores that are calculated by looking at their DNA. Then she is shocked when she gets an incredibly high compatibility score with River Pena, the founder of the company. Christina Lauren is a writing duo with a large back catalog and this is one of my favorites of theirs.
How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder: I knew I would like this from the description alone: it’s about two celebrities who agree to a fake PR relationship in order to boost their careers. It’s full of so many hilarious pop culture references, and it also touches on some more serious themes. Alcoholism is a big part of the plot. I read several celebrity/normal person romances this year and this one was by far my favorite. This would be such a fun movie.
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon: Rachel Lynn Solomon makes the list for the second year in a row! Last year I loved The Ex Talk by her, so I had high expectations for this and was not disappointed. This one is about Russell and Ari who work at a local news station in Seattle (she is the titular weather girl and he is a sports reporter). Their bosses used to be married, but now they are divorced and they hate each other, making the office a toxic work environment. Russell and Ari team up to scheme to get their bosses back together in hopes of making their work lives better. I just loved this one.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams: This one is about Eva Mercy, the author of a fantasy erotica series who wants to prove herself as a serious author, and Shane Hall, a reclusive literary author who resurfaces every few years with a new book that inevitably wins awards. No one knows that when they were teenagers they had a very dramatic, intense, week long love affair and when they are unexpectedly reunited at a book panel in the present day a lot of unresolved issues come up between them. The book flashes back and forth between the present day and that week they spent together when they were teenagers. This was so well written, the tension between Eva and Shane was incredible. I’d say this needs a content warning for self-harm and substance abuse.
Honorable Mentions: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, Birds of California by Katie Cotugno, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Slussman.
Other Fiction
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn: This book is so fun. It’s about a group of women in their 60s who are set to retire from their careers as assassins for an extra-governmental organization called The Museum. They go on a cruise to celebrate, and find themselves roped in to one final mission. This was funny and fun but also really well researched and really well written.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: This is an absolute masterpiece of a novel. On the surface it is about two friends, Sam and Sadie, and we follow them from childhood through their 30s as they bond over a mutual love of video games and eventually start creating them together. I do not care at all about video games, so I never would have picked this up had I not seen so many people saying that it didn’t matter. It is ostensibly about video games, but it is really about creativity and collaboration and love and friendship and connection and joy and pain. This is infuriatingly well written, I don’t think I’ve ever been so invested in two characters so quickly. This book was overwhelming and all-consuming and I simply could not do anything else but read it until it was over. I will say I’m not sure I loved the ending, but the process of getting there was so incredible I do not even care.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson: This is a remarkable novel. It’s about two estranged siblings, Byron and Benny, whose mother has just died. Before she passed away, she made an 8-hour recording for the two of them to listen to that reveals so many secrets about her life. This story jumps around timelines and characters, it is compulsively readable and absolutely enthralling. This story felt expansive and sprawling, but also insular and small at the same time. It is about family and love and friendship and identity, and the writing is just incredible. I was so invested in this story and these characters, dying to see how all of the different plot points would come together, but I also wanted to savor this book for as long as I could. I’ve since recommended this to so many people across several age groups and everyone has loved it, too.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Don’t mind me, just reading one of the most popular books of the last decade five years late. Having now read it, I get it! It’s so good. Evelyn Hugo is a movie star and Hollywood icon who decides to finally tell her true life story to a young journalist. Evelyn tells her the story of her life by chronicling her seven marriages. This was beautiful, so addicting, I could not put it down. It’s emotional and funny and has several good twists and turns. I loved it, everyone loves it, read it if you haven’t yet.
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton: I read this all the way back in February and still think about it often. It’s about a woman named Nina who gets out of a very long term relationship, decides to start dating again, and gets on a dating app. This had such poignant observations about people, relationships, friendships, and love. I found the characters so compelling and really liked the writing style. I think it’s one of the most accurate portrayals of modern dating I’ve ever come across. Just very good, I really liked it!
Honorable Mentions: American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi, Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
Non-Fiction
The Sum of Us by Heather McGee: This is an extraordinary book. It makes the argument that our society’s zero-sum approach to so many of our shared structures (public education, housing, employment, etc.) doesn’t only hurt people of color (as is the intention), but that it hurts everyone. So much of our societal infrastructure operates on the assumption that bettering the lives of racial minorities will mean making things worse for white people. This is really just not the case, and the result is a society that is worse for everyone. I learned SO much from this book, but it is all conveyed so clearly and compellingly that it never felt like a chore to consume. This is one of the best books about race and racism I’ve ever read. I listened to the audiobook, which I recommend.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy: This is as good as everyone says. She writes about her deeply abusive relationship with her mother, and coming to terms with the realities of that relationship after her mother passed away. She writes about being forced into child acting, eating disorders, and sexual and emotional abuse. She is also, somehow, very funny throughout it all. This is so well written, so personal and vulnerable, just one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. I listened on audio, which she reads herself, and really liked it in that format. This needs trigger warnings for basically everything, but if you are up for it I cannot recommend it enough.
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon: This is just such a good book and I wish I could force everyone to read it. Aubrey is one of the hosts of Maintenance Phase, a podcast I love and also highly recommend. In this book she writes about her experiences as a fat person and our societal and cultural stigmas surrounding weight and weight loss. She is such an incredible writer and this book is such an indictment of fatphobia and our society’s behavior towards these issues. A+, five stars, highly recommend.
The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan: I was really blown away by this essay collection all about topics surrounding sex and feminism and power and politics. Srinivasan writes so incisively about these issues but also does not shy away from pointing out some of the more fraught or complicated issues here in order to think through them, while also accepting that we may not have good answers. She is so smart, the kind of smart that made me mad because I will never be this smart. If you, like me, have read a lot of more “entry level” feminist criticism and are looking for something a little deeper, I cannot recommend this enough. I listened to the audiobook and thought it was great.
Cultish by Amanda Montell: I loved this! It’s all about cults and the language that they use (Amanda is a linguist). It covers everything from violent cults that we all know about, like Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate, to multilevel marketing companies and boutique exercise brands like Soul Cycle and CrossFit. It was so interesting to see all the ways the language these different groups use is connected. Definitely recommend if you are interested in cults.
Honorable Mentions: Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis, Mean Baby by Selma Blair, Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe
TV Shows
I really cannot narrow down a list of television into a reasonable number of items. I watch too much tv! So, I decided to talk about shows that I loved this year that are maybe a little more under the radar, that people may have missed.
The Vow: The first season of this got a lot of buzz two years ago, but I didn’t hear much about season two. I thought it was very, very good. This is the documentary series about NXIVM, a self-help MLM turned abusive sex cult. Season two covers the trial of Keith Raniere, the leader of the group, and features interviews with Nancy Salzman, who was second in command to the self-help side of this, but didn’t know about the sex cult part. It also features some of the members of NXIVM who haven’t disavowed Keith and continue to support him and fight for his innocence. I just thought it was really fascinating, it presented so many of these different perspectives so well, and it also ends with some closure as we see the verdicts and sentencing hearings play out in court. This covers a lot of very dark stuff, a lot of explicit descriptions of sexual abuse, but if you’re up for it I think this is absolutely worth a watch. I was riveted every week, and found it very emotionally effective. On HBO.
The Mole (2022): Best reality competition show of the year!! It’s a reboot of an early 2000s show that I’ve seen a few seasons of, and I think this update is really successful. The premise is that a group of people come together to complete missions and earn money for a communal pot that one of them will eventually win. But, one of them is The Mole, working to sabotage the group and prevent them from winning money. After each mission, they all take a quiz about who they think the mole is, and whoever does the worst gets eliminated. This is extremely fun television, the right amount of competition and the right amount of drama. I got fully sucked in and I hope they make more! Absolutely recommend. On Netflix.
Reboot: I thought this show was so funny. Plot: an early 2000s sitcom is getting rebooted and the entire original cast returns. This has such a good cast—Keegan-Michael Key, Rachel Bloom, Johnny Knoxville, Judy Greer! This is such a clever premise and it’s extremely funny. Like any sitcom, I think it takes a few episodes to gain its footing, but by the end of the season I was very into it. It has yet to get renewed and I’m nervous! Worth a watch if you’re looking for a quick and easy comedy. On Hulu.
The Patient: I got so into this. Steve Carell plays a therapist, and Domhnall Gleeson plays his patient, who is a serial killer. This is created by the same men who made The Americans, and I think it’s actually fairly similar to that show in that it is about one thing on the surface, but underneath that it’s really about family and love and connection. I thought this show was riveting and suspenseful and just so, so good. It’s 10 half hour episodes and would make an excellent binge. Big recommend. On Hulu.
The Good Fight: For six years I’ve been calling this the best show on TV. It ended this fall, and I’m so sad. This is a spin off of The Good Wife, which is one of the best television dramas ever. It’s not necessary to have watched Wife to watch Fight, but I really do recommend both. Fight follows Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), an attorney working at a mostly Black law firm in Chicago. This show covered current events better than any show that’s ever tried to do so. It used real news stories to tell its characters stories, and to reflect on US politics and society in a way that was always so prescient and smart. This show is really a time capsule of the last six years, but it managed to be that while also remaining quite funny and deeply entertaining. It never felt preachy or sanctimonious, it always just felt real. A rotating cast of true icons came and went throughout the six seasons this was on, and it reinvented itself several times. It’s campy and funny and absurd and pretty weird at times, I’ve never seen another show swing for the fences and take risks like this one did. I will miss it a lot. On Paramount+.
The Resort: I loved this weird little show. It takes places in two timelines—in the present day a married couple (William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti, two people I love) are on vacation at a resort when they learn that two people disappeared right before a deadly hurricane wiped out most of the island 15 years prior. We also flash back to the days leading up to the hurricane, and follow the people who disappeared in the lead up to the storm. It’s so weird and gets a little wild in the middle, but I really liked the ending and overall I think it’s worth a watch. On Peacock (which you can get for free if you are an Xfinity customer).
Lovesick: Ugh I loved this. This is a British sitcom about a mid-twenties guy named Dylan, who finds out in the first episode that he has chlamydia and he needs to notify all of his previous partners. It follows him navigating all of these conversations and also flashes back to show how all of these different relationships played out. This is such a good television rom com, like a combo of Fleabag (nothing will ever be as good as Fleabag but the vibes are similar) and Love Life. LOVED this. Three seasons, 22 episodes, I watched it so quickly. On Netflix.
Single Drunk Female: Freeform continues to make television for and about women in their 20s, and most of it is good (I am begging you all to watch The Bold Type)! This one is about a woman in her 20s named Sam who has a bit of a meltdown at work, loses her job, moves home to live with her mom, and starts going to Alcoholics Anonymous to try to get her life back on track. The entire season follows her through her first year of trying to stay sober. I really enjoyed this, it has a full cast of side characters who are all great and fully fleshed out and entertaining to watch. It’s funny while still addressing some serious topics. It’s getting a season two, I think you should watch it! On Hulu.
The Afterparty: This was so fun. The basic plot here is that a group of people attend their high school reunion, and by the end of the night one of them is dead. Police come to investigate and figure out who the murderer is. Each episode goes through the night from a different characters’ point of view, and each one is a different genre too. We get a rom com, a psychological thriller, even a musical! This has an excellent cast full of very funny people, it’s so clever and fun to watch, and I didn’t figure out who did it until the last episode. This was a true delight, I highly recommend. It got renewed for season 2 which I’m a little skeptical of…I’m hoping it will just have the same structure with a whole new set of characters. On AppleTV+.
Harlem: I hardly heard anyone talk about this but I loved it. It’s about four Black women in their 30s in New York. It’s cheesy and cliché and over the top, but it’s also fun and funny and the clothes are amazing. It’s a quick 10 episodes and I flew through it. You should give this a try if you liked: Insecure, Younger, Sex and the City, The Bold Type. Season 2 comes out in February, so you can catch up now! On Amazon.
Shows I Loved that Everyone Else Did, Too: Never Have I Ever, Yellowjackets, Severance, The Bear, Only Murders in the Building, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Hacks, Abbott Elementary, Heartstopper, Bridgerton, The Dropout, Euphoria, How I Met Your Father, The Sex Lives of College Girls
Movies
Mass: Oh my god. This is an astonishing movie. I think it is probably most effective go in knowing nothing, but this also needs a content warning for death, the loss of a child, and guns. It’s about two sets of parents who meet to have a conversation in the aftermath of a tragedy. The four actors in it are Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, and Reed Birney. This is basically just the four of them in a room having a conversation. All four of these people give exceptional performances, just truly incredible, all four of them. This felt so real I forgot it wasn’t. It is deeply, deeply sad, incredibly heavy and emotional. But oh my god, it is so good. I was absolutely riveted, sucked in almost immediately. Incredible movie. On Hulu.
The Broken Hearts Gallery: This is so CUTE. It’s about Lucy, an art gallery assistant in New York. She goes through a breakup and then meets Nick, who is opening a new hotel in the city. Lucy decides to start a gallery in the hotel where people can come and leave mementos from their past relationships. This is just a perfect mid-rate rom com. A little cliché, a little cheesy, just a low stakes, cute story, bright, colorful, fun rom com. I really liked this. It’s on Hulu Live, Youtube TV, and you can rent it in all the usual places.
The Worst Person in the World: This was one of my favorite movies from last Oscar’s season. It is a Scandinavian film about a woman named Julie who is about to turn 30, and it follows her as she tries to navigate her romantic and familial relationships and figure out what she wants to do with her life. This movie is visually stunning, the cinematography is just incredible and it made me want to visit Oslo immediately. There is a scene that takes place over several hours at a party that is so beautiful I wish I could live in it, and another that uses a touch a magical realism so perfectly and unexpectedly that I literally gasped at it. Just beautiful, beautiful to watch. It’s such a lovely story, so poignant and relatable and funny. It felt so real and true to life, I really related to so many things that several different characters said. Just so good. On Hulu.
Fresh: I hardly know how to talk about this because I don’t want to spoil anything. I think it’s best to go in blind, so I will tell you what I knew going in: a woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) has a meet cute in a grocery store with a guy (Sebastian Stan), and then somehow this turns into a horror movie. This is much more blood/guts and stress horror than it is jump scare horror, and it is GROSS, but I *loved* it. It had me on the edge of my seat, there are parts that are actually pretty funny, it was so compelling and fun to watch. I was stressed and screaming at my tv for the last third of this, I really never had any idea what was going to happen. Sebastian Stan is SO good in this, as is Daisy. This movie rules. With the caveat that it is really gross, I say watch. On Hulu.
Aftersun: This movie hurt my feelings, but it’s so beautiful. Paul Mescal plays a young dad on a Turkish vacation with his 11 year old daughter, Sophie. We see the whole thing play out through home videos and what are clearly Sophie’s memories of the trip and of her dad. This felt so personal, like I was just watching someone’s real home movies. It is definitely a slow burn and it never really picks up speed, there’s more to learn about the story in the things that aren’t said out loud than the things that are. This is a true indie film, slow and up close and personal, and so I think it’s probably not for everyone. This is not super plot driven. This is the kind of movie that I love, and it will live in my brain for a long time. Paul Mescal is an incredible actor and I think we are seeing the beginning of what I expect to be a prolific career. This isn’t streaming anywhere, but you can buy it on Amazon/AppleTV+/Youtube.
Everything Everywhere All At Once: I have truly never seen anything like this in my life. I don’t have words to explain this film. It has the most bananas, bizarre, absolutely insane plot, and the pay off that is the last 20 minutes made me sob. Michelle Yeoh gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in a movie, and she’s definitely in the running for an Oscar. This has lived in my brain all year. I laughed, I cried, this movie is the best. THE BEST. It’s fun, it’s gross, it’s WEIRD, it’s stupid, it’s profound, it is everything (….everywhere all at once!!!!) You must watch. On Showtime.
Top Gun: Maverick: No one is more surprised than me to see this movie on this list. I did not think I would care about this AT ALL—I do not care about the original, I do not care about action movies, I do not care about the military. I went to see this because I knew it would be one of the biggest movies of the year and I get pop culture FOMO. This is absolutely just military propaganda but wow I ate it UP. Miles Teller, HOT. Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Jon Hamm, hot! Tom Cruise….hot??!!!! The Scientology of it all is gross but the man is an Action Movie STAR, no one is doing it like this anymore. I am a simple girl— put some hot men on a beach without shirts on and I’m in. Peak Cinema. What is the plot, you ask? Planes! Men (and one woman because it is 2022, tysm) fly planes! I could see every plot point coming from a mile away but I do not care, I had a great time watching this film. Sorry, it’s good. On Paramount+.
Cha Cha Real Smooth: Oh man, I loved this movie so much. So much! Written, directed by, and starring Cooper Raiff, this is about a guy who has just graduated college and moved home. He has a terrible job and is miserable, and then he gets a job as a “party starter” at bar mitzvahs in the neighborhood. Through this he meets and strikes up a complicated relationship with a woman named Domino (played by Dakota Johnson, who is excellent in this) and her daughter Lola, who has autism. This was just the best, so heartwarming and sincere and comforting. It made me laugh and it made me cry, just really a lovely film. There is one scene about a miscarriage and you do see blood, but it’s not a huge part of the plot overall. On AppleTV+.
TAR: What a FILM. Cate Blanchett plays Lydia Tar, a woman who is widely recognized as one of the best living musical composers/conductors. She is prepping for a performance that will be a significant career milestone, while also trying to stamp out a burgeoning scandal. Cate Blanchett is an absolute FORCE in this movie, it’s really just astonishing. She’s definitely getting an Oscar nom and she might win it. This movie is stark and tense and quite dense, it builds very slowly and meticulously to a peak that made me gasp. I think a casual movie watcher may find this boring, this is not action heavy by any means. But it is so precise and intricate, I never knew where it was going and it had me enraptured for almost three hours. Not for everyone, but extremely for me. You can rent this on Amazon.
The Woman King: Two action movies on the list! This is actually shocking. I don’t generally like action movies. I never watch them, but occasionally one of them breaks through enough to peak my interest. This has rave reviews and Viola Davis is getting Oscar buzz, so I went for it. It is so good. This movie is SO good. It takes place in West Africa in the 1800s, and it focuses on a group of all female warriors, of which Viola Davis is the leader, as they train their newest group of recruits while their kingdom is under attack. This has everything! Drama! Action! Romance! WOMEN! It made me cry a lot, it’s so moving. Everyone in this movie is acting at their PEAK. Viola Davis is astonishing. This is such an incredible movie, I cannot recommend enough. Even if this isn’t the type of movie you generally like, make an exception and watch this one. You can rent on Amazon.
Honorable Mentions: Glass Onion, See How They Run, Do Revenge, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Fire Island, Ticket to Paradise, The Lost City.