My top 10 favs of 2023: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

Ok, my friends. It’s time to share my annual list of pop culture wonders. Over the past year, I consumed 58 books, 116 TV shows, 61 movies and many podcasts. These were my favorites:

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

 

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – FICTION 

1. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus

2. “Cult Classic” by Stephen Blackmoore

3. “Holly” by Stephen King

4. “Drowning” by T.J. Newman

5. “Going Zero” by Anthony McCarten

6. “Hate Machine” by Stephen Blackmoore

7. “Double or Nothing” by Craig Schaefer

8. “A Plain-Dealing Villain” by Craig Schaefer

9. “The Killing Floor Blues” by Craig Schaefer

10. “Harmony Black” by Craig Schaefer

(Honorable mentions: “The Castle Doctrine” by Craig Schaefer, “You Are Home” by Catana Chetwynd, “Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting” by Clare Pooley, “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells, “The Maid” by Nita Prose and “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi)

 

MY FAVORITE BOOKS – NONFICTION 

1. “The True Tails of Baker and Taylor: The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town . . . and the World” by Jan Louch and Lisa Rogak

2. “National Trust Book of Scones” by Sarah Merker

3. “What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator” by Barbara Butcher

4. “American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century” by Maureen Callahan

5. “Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story” by James R. Hagerty

6. “A Pocketful of Happiness” by Richard E. Grant

7. “Knave of Spades” by Alan Titchmarsh

8. “My Hygge Home: How to Make Home Your Happy Place” by Meik Wiking

9. “Clean & Green: 101 Hints and Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home” by Nancy Birtwhistle

10. The Art Thief” by Michael Finkel

(Honorable mentions: “Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control of Our House and Made It Their Home” by Bob Tarte, “Disappearing Ink: The Insider, the FBI, and the Looting of the Kenyon College Library” by Travis McDade, “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath” by Ted Koppel and “The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power” by Deirdre Mask)

Overall reading ratio: I read 18,034 pages. Books were split 70% fiction to 30% nonfiction and 55% female authors to 45% male authors.

 

 

MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS1. The Great British Baking Show

2. Julia

3. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

4. Escape to the Country

5. Ted Lasso

6. The Diplomat

7. The Repair Shop

8. Grand Designs

9. Britain’s Hidden Villages

10. Reacher

(Honorable mentions: Homicide Hunter, Cook’s Country, America’s Test Kitchen, Gardener’s World, Last Week With John Oliver, The Reluctant Traveler, Men in Kilts, Poker Face, Staged, For All Mankind, Foundation, Welcome to Wrexham and Lessons in Chemistry.)

 

MY FAVORITE MOVIES 

1. Three Thousand Years of Longing

2. She Said

3. Elvis

4. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

5. John Wick: Chapter 4

6. The Old Guard

7. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

8. No One Will Save You

9. Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale

10. Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool

(Honorable mentions: A Man Called Otto, Being Mary Tyler Moore, The Fablemans, Plane, Ghosted, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Call Me Kate, Mike Birbiglia: The New One, 65, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3, The Leftovers, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Gray Man and Bullet Train)

 

MY FAVORITE PODCASTS 

1. The Vinyl Cafe

2. Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe

3. GrimmCast

4. Small Town Dicks

5. Naked Lunch

6. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

7. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

8. Christmas Past

9. Dear Hank & John

10. Mobituaries

(Honorable mentions: Clear + Vivid With Alan Alda, Sidedoor, Something Wild, David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, The Christmas Stocking, Sue Perkins: An Hour Or So With…., Nocturne, Criminal, Death, Sex & Money, Awards Chatter and The Anthropocene Reviewed)