Ok, my friends. It’s time to share my annual list of pop culture wonders. Over the past year, I consumed 60+ books, 70+ TV shows, 40+ movies and 40+ podcasts. These were my favorites.
(Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)
1. “Never Flinch” by Stephen King
2. “Dreams and Shadows” by C. Robert Cargill
3. “Any Lich Way” by Michael La Ronn
4. “On the Run” by Kerry J. Donovan
5. “Blood and Treasure” by Ryan Pote
6. “On the Rocks” by Kerry J. Donovan
7. “The Book of Purrs: Everyday Thoughts from Your Feline Friends” by Luis Coelho
8. “Departure 37” by Scott Carson
9. “The Man of Legends” by Kenneth Johnson
10. “The Night Guest” by Hildur Knútsdóttir
(Honorable mentions: “The Blonde Identity” by Ally Carter, “The Society of Unknowable Objects” by Gareth Brown, “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett, “When the Moon Hits Your Eye” by John Scalzi, “Too Old For This” by Samantha Downing and “Killers of a Certain Age” by Deanna Raybourn)
1. “Memorial Days” by Geraldine Brooks
2. “Standoff: Race, Policing, and a Deadly Assault That Gripped a Nation by Jamie Thompson
3. “New Hampshire Trivia” by Rebecca Rule
4. “Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection” by John Green
5. “Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way into Our Hearts” by Jeremy Egner
6. “The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies and One Mysterious Cold Case” by Chuck Hogan
7. “18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics” by Bruce Goldfarb
8. “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich
9. “Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Every Day by Sophie Blackall
10. “The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story” by Pagan Kennedy
(Honorable mentions: “Life on the Line: Young Doctors Come of Age in a Pandemic” by Emma Goldberg, “The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What’s My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen” by Mark Shaw, “My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me” by Caleb Carr, “Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless” by Laurah Norton, “A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune” by Noliwe Rooks, “Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing” by Abigail Thomas, “Homer’s Odyssey” by Gwen Cooper, “Bringing Up Beaver: Two Orphaned Beaver Kits, Their Humans, and Our Journey Back to the Wild” by John Aberth and “Joyride: A Memoir” by Susan Orlean)
Overall reading ratio: I read 19,000+ pages. Books were split 53% fiction to 47% nonfiction and 39% female authors to 61% male authors.
1. The Great British Baking Show
2. The Great British Baking Show: Holidays
3. Ambulance UK
4. The Diplomat
5. Escape to the Country
6. The Repair Shop
7. Stranger Things
8. The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy
9. Celebrity Escape to the Country
10. Critical: Between Life and Death
(Honorable mentions: Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office, Mid-Century Modern, Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers, Homicide Hunter: Joe Kenda, Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, See No Evil, Murder in the 21st, Somebody Feed Phil, Last Week With John Oliver, Man on the Inside, The Daily Show, Gardener’s World, Reacher, Ghosts, Elsbeth, Karin Pirie, Lynley, Murderbot and Paradise)
1. Sinners
2. The Last Observers
3. Nonnas
4. Flow
5. The Wild Robot
6. Katrina: Come Hell and High Water
7. Grenfell: Uncovered
8. Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror
9. The Twister: Caught in the Storm
10. John Candy: I Like Me
(Honorable mentions: The Lie: The Murder of Grace Millane, Heads of State, The Gorge, The Thursday Murder Club, Deep Cover, The Accountant 2, Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life, The Accountant, Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life and Roy Wood Jr.: Lonely Flowers and Conclave)
1. Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe
2. Small Town Dicks
3. Break in the Case
4. Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
5. Cold Case Files
6. Bear Brook
7. Dear Hank & John
8. Eating Out With Eric & Steve
9. Sea of Lies from Uncover
10. Casefile
(Honorable mentions: Law & Order: Criminal Justice System, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Naked Lunch, Criminal, Smartless, Paul Giamatti’s Chinwag with Stephen Asma, Something Wild, Homegrown NH, New England Legends, American Homicide, The West Wing Weekly, Fresh Air, Radiolab, 99% Invisible, Sidedoor and BBC Woman’s Hour)
One Comment
Steven
I’ve really been enjoying Elsbeth lately. It’s a little bit of a Whydunit, and it’s light enough that I really enjoy it in these stressful times.