All my normal caveats apply: this isn’t a best of list, it’s merely a list of things I read, watched, and listened to in the last year that made me happy or made me think. And honestly, it was a very solid year for media for me. In particular, I read lots of books that I liked, and it was a bit hard to narrow things down. Thus I did include a few honorable mentions here and there.
With that, let’s dive in!
If you’re curious, check out my previous year in reviews: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.
Music and Podcasts
“Not Strong Enough“/boygenius: An entire album by my favorite super group, all about how much they love each other’s friendship? Yes, please. It’s my album of the year. An honorable mention goes out to the harmonies in “Voyager.”
“What Was I Made For?”/Billie Eilish: While I am certain that “I’m Just Ken” will take home the Oscar for best song, the emotional core of Barbie was those tears trekking down Margot Robie’s face. But that moment wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without this ballad.
“My Love Mine All Mine“/Mitski: Lushly romantic and deeply sad, Mitski once again came through for me with the perfect writing music. I have to throw out an honorable mention for everyone’s favorite sad Irishman: Hozier and “First Time.”
“Ukraine: Under the Counter“/Radiolab: This two-parter about trying to get abortion pills into Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion is almost compulsory listening and all-too relevant to current events in the U.S.
The Big Dig/WGBH: If you’ve only heard about the Big Dig as a joke or a cautionary tale (as I had), this mini-series is worth a spin. We lived in Boston right as the project was wrapping up, and it was fascinating to think about why and how the North End had been cut off from the city in the first place and the costs and difficulties of fixing that. The implications and lessons for U.S. infrastructure policy are real.
“The Fog of War“/On the Media: If you heard that phrase “Israel’s 9/11” and went, “But what does that mean?,” this episode dives straight in. It’s framed all the media I’ve consumed from Israel and Palestine since.
Genre Fiction and Romance
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies/Heather Fawcett: Written as a series of research diary entries, this fantasy romance novel is gorgeously realized and filled with longing. It has a strong Howl/Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle vibes, and I devoured it. I am desperate for book 2.
Solomon’s Crown/Natasha Siegel: As someone who considers The Lion in Winter to be necessary Christmas viewing, this m/m romance between fictional versions of the soon-to-be Richard I and Philipe II was the book I didn’t know I wanted. The writing is stunning, and I believed utterly in the love story.
Bend Toward the Sun/Jen Devon: This 2022 book may be my favorite romance read of 2023. I have yearned for contemporaries with more angst and less fluff, and this one delivered. Rowan and Harrison are a mess (seriously, check the trigger warnings), but they felt absolutely real to me. The writing and nature metaphors throughout are amazing.
The Art of Scandal/Regina Black: I understand that the concept (a political wife falls for a younger artist after she discovers her husband’s infidelity) might be hard for some romance readers, but I loved this book. The degree of difficulty is sky high: at times, this book is a perfect send-up of the American left, at others, it’s hilarious and soapy, and at others, it’s a smoking hot romance. I am zero percent surprise it got optioned for television, and I fully expect it to be produced.
Lit Fic and Non Fic
Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat/Stephen Sondheim: I’ve written before about how much I love Sondheim’s music (see here), and I always meant to get these collections of his lyrics. I’d thought, however, that they would mainly be something for my shelves, volumes to look at rather than to dive into. How wrong I was. If you’ve seen Six by Sondheim, the broad strokes of this will be familiar to you, but as he would say, “God is in the details.” Sondheim is critical of his work in ways I find all too relatable, and I suspect I’ll be rereading these frequently for inspiration and insight.
Burn It Down/Maureen Ryan: A towering work of reporting that embodies MeToo, but also finds its way into print after the movement, and thus it gets to reflect on what has changed (or what hasn’t) and what accountability and repentance might look like. I spent the late spring and the early summer reading every Hollywood memoir I could get my hands on, and this is the book I’ve thought about the most.
The Violin Conspiracy/Brendan Slocumb: If you loved The Red Violin, you need to read this book. I basically couldn’t put it down. Once I had started, I had to unravel the mystery. But what was most compelling was Slocumb’s beautiful prose, and the ways in which he writes about music and identity. A stunning debut.
A Place of Greater Safety/Hilary Mantel: For a book about the Reign of Terror, I didn’t anticipate how funny this would be. It’s a massive book and a hard one to approach (you need to come into it with your own theory about how and why Robespierre turned on the Dantonists), but despite its length, it galloped like a runaway mine car. The last 100 pages are absolutely thrilling.
Movies and Television
Cocaine Bear: Sometimes, a piece of pop culture comes along that knows precisely what it is, and it fills that niche so fully, your heart bursts. When the bear cubs appeared, I knew I was watching a masterpiece. But also, I laughed so hard that my abdominal muscles hurt for days.
The Boy and the Heron: The day after I saw The Boy and the Heron, I woke up with the words, “Disney is high concept, Ghibli character-driven” in my head. But, like, it’s true. This a magical, specific, and at times frightening film. My only regret it isn’t yet on Blu-ray, so I can’t watch it 10 more times in a row. But soon.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse: This is the most visually inventive movie that I have seen in years. Every frame is absolutely stunning, but it’s not merely gorgeous. It has to invent a new visual language to tell the stories of these characters. I am over super heroes–to the extent that I was ever into them–but I am 100% here for Miles Morales.
Schmicago (aka Schmigadoon S2): You either are the audience for this show or you are not, no hard feelings. Season 2, which parodies the cynical musicals of the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s, was if anything more pointed and hilarious than Season 1, and I adored every second of it. I’ve watched it three times, and discovered something new on each viewing.
Honorable Mentions
Iman Vellani and the jump rope sequence from The Marvels
Ryan Gosling and the Kens from Barbie
Chris Messina’s profane phone call from Air
Asking the dead questions in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
The training montage from A Million Miles Away
Emma Barry 
I too am over super heroes but here for Miles Morales! And Shmicago!!
Miles is the best!!! And if we get S3 of Schmigadoon!, it must be called Les Schmis, right??
Definitely! My husband likes musicals but isn’t quite as knowledgeable, so he was like “it needs to be Rent!” because it’s his favorite. I was like “Sir, you are completely skipping the ALW/Boublil & Schonberg era!”
Yeah, if the final song of a hypothetical S3 were a “Season of Love” parody, that would be perfect. But we need a lot of mega musicals/Les Mis/Phantom/Cats/Miss Saigon first.