My top 10 favs of 2022: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

My top 10 favs of 2022: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 16, 2022 / 1 Comment

Over the past year, I consumed 61 books, 73 TV shows, 64 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites.

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION

1. “The Hidden Palace” by Helene Wecker

2. “Child Zero” by Chris Holm

3. “The Kaiju Preservation Society” by John Scalzi

4. “Upgrade” by Blake Crouch

5. “Shadow Deal” by M.L. McKnight

6. “Death Moon” by Michael La Ronn

7. “Mortal Terms” by Michael La Ronn

8. “Snake Eyes” by Hillary Monahan

9. “Three Parts Dead” by Max Gladstone

10. “Oddball” by Sarah Andersen

(Honorable mentions: “Running Blind” by Lee Child, “Fairy Tale” by Stephen King, “Cold Hard Magic” by M.L. McKnight, “Spirit Chaser” by M.L. McKnight and “Suicide Kings” by Stephen Blackmoore)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION

1. “In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss” by Amy Bloom

2. “On Animals” by Susan Orlean

3. “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story” by Michael Lewis

4. “A Walk Around the Block: Stoplight Secrets, Mischievous Squirrels, Manhole Mysteries & Other Stuff You See Every Day (And Know Nothing About)” by Spike Carlsen

5. “Lily and the Octopus” by Steven Rowley

6. “If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t)” by Betty White

7. “Finding My Voice” by Nadiya Hussain

8. “The Beauty of Dusk” by Frank Bruni

9. “The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness” by Sy Montgomery

10. “My Life From Scratch” by Gesine Bullock-Prado

(Honorable mentions: “100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet” by Pamela Paul, “Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals” by Laurie Zaleski, “Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World” by William Alexander, “The Nineties” by Chuck Klosterman and “About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks” by David Rooney)

Overall reading ratio: I read 17,927 pages. Books were split 65% fiction to 35% nonfiction and 55% female authors to 45% male authors.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS1. The Great British Baking Show

2. Sandman

3. Stranger Things

4. Escape to the Country

5. Gardeners’ World

6. Love Your Garden

7. Julia

8. Ted Lasso

9. The Repair Shop

10. Men In Kilts

(Honorable mentions: Evil, The Great British Baking Show: Celebrity Edition, Nadiya Bakes, The Great American Baking Show, For All Mankind, America’s Test Kitchen — At Home, The Morning Show, The Gilded Age, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Penelope Keith’s Hidden Villages, The Confession, Mike and Molly, Ghosts, Ghosts (UK), Kim’s Convenience, Jack Reacher, Junior Baking Show and Welcome to Wrexham.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. The Last Bus

2. Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris

3. The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52

4. Becoming Cousteau

5. George Carlin’s American Dream

6. Luck

7. Sea Beast

8. Hello, Bookstore

9. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

10. The Dig

(Honorable mentions: Jerry & Marge Go Large, The Last Movie Stars, Introducing Selma Blair, Free Guy, CODA, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Adam Project, How to Survive a Pandemic, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, No Time to Die and Being the Ricardos)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. The Vinyl Cafe

2. GrimmCast

3. Small Town Dicks

4. Naked Lunch

5. Against the Rules

6. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

7. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

8. Christmas Past

9. Sue Perkins: An Hour Or So With….

10. David Tennant Does a Podcast With…

(Honorable mentions: Clear + Vivid With Alan Alda, The Christmas Stocking, Nocturne, The Book Case, Criminal, Death, Sex & Money, Backstory, Awards Chatter, Sidedoor and The Anthropocene Reviewed)
Thanks for letting me in on the open secret

January 16, 2022 / 1 Comment

My dad didn’t read books or possess a library card and the only magazine he ever subscribed to was Playboy. I remember when it would arrive in the mail; each issue was wrapped in black plastic. I’m sure the Family Research Council demanded the opaque covering to preserve their own twisted version of “family values,” but in the end, it was that mysterious wrapping that inspired me to don my Nancy Drew hat and search for the publication in my dad’s nightstand. I just had to know what it was hiding. Alas, I was sorely disappointed to find images of naked women within the publication’s pages. I had expected the secret to be far more exciting.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned the magazine’s open secret. My boyfriend’s father had died and he’d inherited his dad’s porn collection. While sifting through the boxes together, I picked up a couple of “classic” issues of Playboy and perused the pages. Still didn’t see the huge allure. Then my boyfriend explained that the Playboy bunny logo was hidden on the front cover of each issue. From that moment on, every time I came across a Playboy, I’d search the cover until I found the bunny. Doing so reminded me of my youth, when I used to spend time in doctors’ waiting rooms doing the Hidden Pictures game in Highlights magazine.

My interest in cooking lead to another open secret discovery. Turns out that each issue of Cook’s Country magazine includes a hidden rooster. Find that tiny image amongst the recipes, taste tests and equipment reviews and you’ll be entered into a random drawing. Top prize is a year-long membership to the magazine’s website. Second and third prize winners receive the company’s latest cookbook. I’ve read this publication for years and to date, I’ve only found that damn cock once. Hat’s off to the page designer.

Writer/director/producer Chuck Lorre is known as the “King of Sitcoms.” It’s highly likely you’ve seen one of his many shows. “Grace Under Fire,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Roseanne,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Kominsky Method” are just a few in his portfolio. What I didn’t know was Chuck’s open secret: He includes a message in the vanity cards during the end credits. Some are funny, some are just odd and a few have apparently been known to cause a bit of controversy. M and I recently started watching the show “Mike and Molly” and we were probably five or six episodes in when we noticed these little gems. Now I’m going to be looking for them in every Chuck Lorre Production.

Perhaps you will too.
My top 10 favs of 2021: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 5, 2021 / No Comments

During 2021, I consumed 61 books, 48 TV programs, 60 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION

1. “Blacktop Wasteland” by S.A. Cosby

2. “Bella Bella” by Harvey Fierstein

3. “The Last Flight” by Julie Clark

4. “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab

5. “Bottle Demon” by Stephen Blackmoore

6. “Fire Season” by Stephen Blackmoore

7. “Later” by Stephen King

8. “Billy Summers” by Stephen King

9. “The Last Bookshop in London” by Madeline Martin

10. “Unclean Spirits” by Chuck Wendig

(Honorable mentions: “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, “Falling” by T.J. Newman, “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig and “Marigolds, Myrtle and Moles: A Gardener’s Bedside Book” by Alan Titchmarsh.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION

1. “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” by Mary Roach

2. “The Detective in the Dooryard: Reflections of a Maine Cop” by Timothy A. Cotton

3. “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President” by Candice Millard

4. “The Hotel: A Week In The Life Of The Plaza” by Sonny Kleinfield

5. “Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt” by Todd Harra and Ken McKenzie

6. “You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom” by Phil Rosenthal

7. “The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm” by Hilarie Burton Morgan

8. “When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today” by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

9. “Books” by Larry McMurtry

10. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

(Honorable mentions: “Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures” by Nick Pyenson, “Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library” by Wayne A. Wiegand, “Haunted Hillsborough County” by Eric Stanway, “What Fresh Hell Is This?: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You” by Heather Corinna, “The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do” by Samantha Ettus, “American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI” by Kate Winkler Dawson and “The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements” by Sam Kean)

Overall reading ratio: I read 18,452 pages — 65% fiction, 35% nonfiction; 53% male authors, 47% female authors.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS

1. The Great British Baking Show

2. Gardeners’ World

3. Love Your Garden

4. Ted Lasso

5. The Repair Shop

6. Escape to the Country

7. America’s Test Kitchen — At Home

8. The Morning Show

9. Evil

10. Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh

(Honorable mentions: I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, Staged, Grand Designs, Active Shooter: America Under Fire, For All Mankind, Lovecraft Country, WandaVision, Travelers, Nadiya Bakes, Bridgerton, The Hot Zone, Punisher, Ghosts, Ghosts (UK version), Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Outsider, The Witcher, Altered Carbon, Chicago Med and Alpha Dogs.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. Nomadland

2. One Night In Miami

3. Love, Gilda

4. Gunpowder Milkshake

5. Four Hours at the Capitol

6. Studs Terkel: Listening to America

7. The Last Cruise

8. The Phone Call

9. The Aeronauts

10. Soul

(Honorable mentions: Dune, A Quiet Place Part II, Red Notice, Black Widow, Jungle Cruise, 76 Days, Shang Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, Fear Street Part 3: 1666, Greenland, Luca, Fear Street: Part 2 – 1978, Fear Street: Part 1 – 1994, Verify Road Trip: Climate Skeptic Examines What Scientists Know And How They Know It.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. The Vinyl Cafe

2. Small Town Dicks

3. Against the Rules

4. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

5. Lost At the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi

6. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

7. Backstory

8. Awards Chatter

9. Sidedoor

10. The Anthropocene Reviewed

(Honorable mentions: 99% Invisible, Radiolab, Christmas Past, Sue Perkins: An Hour Or So With…., David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, The Christmas Stocking, Fresh Air, Clear + Vivid With Alan Alda, The Daily, Beautiful/Anonymous, Dear Hank & John and Mobituaries With Mo Rocca.)
My favorite TV shows and movies of the 2010s

December 31, 2019 / No Comments

Comedies and dramas, thrillers and mysteries, romance and horror, plus a wee bit of gardening and baking — that pretty much describes my viewing tastes of the 2010s. So here they are, in alphabetical order, my favorites from the past decade. In that generally quiet period between Christmas and New Year’s or during the darkest winter night, when you’re looking for something new to watch, you simply can’t go wrong with one of these:

TV

Broadchurch
Chuck
The Closer
Daredevil
Downton Abbey
Elementary
Escape to the Country
Forever
The Good Wife
Grace and Frankie
The Great British Baking Show
Grimm
Jessica Jones
The Kominsky Method
Leverage
Love Your Garden
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
NCIS
One Day at a Time
Penny Dreadful
Person of Interest
Ruth & Erica
Sense8
Sherlock
Stranger Things
Supernatural
This Is Us
True Blood
White Collar

MOVIES

About Time
The Age of Adaline
The Butler
Gravity
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Hidden Figures
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
Last Flag Flying
The Ledge
The Merry Gentleman
Midnight in Paris
Obit
Spotlight
Super 8
That Guy…Who Was In That Thing
Yesterday
My top 10 favs of 2019: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

December 12, 2019 / No Comments

Amidst the madness of the world, I consumed 59 books, 46 movies, dozens of TV programs and many podcasts this year. These were my favorites:

(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

1. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede

2. “The Institute” by Stephen King

3. “The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars” by America’s Test Kitchen

4. “The Complete Slow Cooker: From Appetizers to Desserts – 400 Must-Have Recipes That Cook While You Play (or Work)” by America’s Test Kitchen

5. “Cook It in Cast Iron: Kitchen-Tested Recipes for the One Pan That Does It All” by Cook’s Country

6. “Britain by the Book” by Oliver Tearle

7. “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean

8. “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett

9. “Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier” by Vincent Wyckoff

10. “Something Warm From the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories” by Eileen Goudge

(Honorable mentions: “Christmas Teatime: Celebrating the Holiday with Afternoon Tea” by Lorna Ables Reeves, “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen, “The Story of The Great British Bake Off” by Anita Singh, “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” by Neil Gaiman, “Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir” by Ruth Reichl, “The Hit” by David Baldacci, “Sleeping Beauties” by Stephen and Owen King, “Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast” by Bill Richardson, “Have a Nice Day” by Billy Crystal and Quinton Peeple, “The Innocent” by David Baldacci, “Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig, “The Dreamers” by Karen Thompson Walker, “Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs” by Monty Don, “Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey” by A.J. Jacobs and “Lights on the Sea” by Miquel Reinaand.)

Overall reading ratio: I read 17,501 pages — 53% fiction, 47% nonfiction; 61% male authors, 30% female authors, 9% other.

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS
1. The Great British Baking Show
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. Escape to the Country
4. Gardeners’ World
5. Love Your Garden
6. Downton Abbey
7. The Kominsky Method
8. One Day at a Time
9. Broadchurch
10. Big Dreams Small Spaces

(Honorable mentions: Escape to the Continent, Shetland, A Million Little Things, 9-1-1, Santa Clarita Diet, A Discovery of Witches, Stranger Things, Modern Love, Elementary, Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father, Jack Whitehall: At Large, Jessica Jones, Stephen Fry in America, Good Omens, Grace and Frankie, Supernatural, The Bodyguard, Comedians in Cars Having Coffee and Grimm.)

MY FAVORITE MOVIES

1. Yesterday
2. If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
3. Avengers: Endgame
4. Never Surrender
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
6. Finding Hygge
7. Judy
8. Downton Abbey
9. Doctor Sleep
10. Brene Brown: The Call to Courage

(Honorable mentions: Klaus, Blackkklansman, Green Book, Shazam, Captain Marvel, Jumanji: The Next Level, Knives Out and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.)

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
2. Small Town Dicks
3. Mobituaries
4. Christmas Past
5. 10 Minute Writers Workshop
6. 99% Invisible
7. Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda
8. The Anthropocene Reviewed
9. Radiolab
10. Criminal

(Honorable mentions: David Tennant Does A Podcast With…, Death, Sex & Money, Sidedoor, Fresh Air, Dear Hank & John, Nocturne, Let Me Google That, The Bookshelf, Reply All, Rumble Strip and The Christmas Stocking.)