I did a lot of rereading this year, so this is full of more new music than books.
Fiction books
M.A. Carrick’s The Mask of Mirrors and The Liar’s Knot (Rose and Rook #1 & 2)
Akwaeke Emezi’s You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty
Jackie Lau’s The Stand-Up Groomsman (Donut Fall in Love #2)
Ed. Andrea Purcell’s Sordid Past
Honorable mention: Robert Jackson Bennett’s Locklands (The Founders Trilogy #3) and Ilona Andrews’ Ruby Fever (Hidden Legacy #6)
For sticking the landing as a trilogy closers.
Nonfiction books
Melissa Febos’ Body Work
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s The Future Is Disabled
Patreon here
Music
Artist: ADG7
Their NPR Tiny Desk and KEXP set made me a fan. I think their lives are better than their albums.
Artist: Allison Russell
I watched pretty much every live of her that got uploaded to YouTube this year, and I want to see her live so badly. Her set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is excellent.
Artist: Kaho Nakamura
Got into her via her work (Lindy) on Mamoru Hosoda’s film Belle (Gales of Song and A Million Miles Away), but really love her lives (Sono Inochi (Live at Tokyo Line Cube Shibuya).
Artist: Pharoah Sanders
Got into him via his album Promises with Floating Points, and have been making my way through his extensive back catalog ever since (Love is Here 2 (Live in Paris 1975), Selflessness, Love is Everywhere)
Album: Utada Hikaru’s Live Sessions from Air Studios
You know I love a live arrangement, and this is no exception.
Album: Sophia Subayya Vastek’s In Our Softening
but especially this version of The Seas That Made Us that she submitted for NPR’s Tiny Desk contest.
Songs: Beyoncé’s BREAK MY SOUL, VIRGO’S GROOVE, COZY, CUFF IT, and CHURCH GIRL
Songs: Lizzo’s The Sign and Coldplay
I’ve also been listening to her Live in Concert on HBOMax on repeat.
Songs: Seinabo Sey’s Blessed & Breathe (Live at Spotify Studios Stockholm)
Song: Vienna Teng’s Lost Words Blessing (Spell Songs cover)
Currently on her Patreon, but will link if it becomes public.
TV
Bridgerton S2
Gimme all the pining and eyefucking.
Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls S1
Love a good dance show. I also appreciate it’s a positive reality show.
Nadiya Hussain’s Fast Flavours
I watch Nadiya, and I can literally feel my stress melting away.
Films
Black Panther Wakanda Forever, dir. Ryan Coogler
Everything Everywhere All At Once, dir. The Daniels
Love and Leashes, dir. Heyon-jin Lee
Nashville Ballet’s Black Lucy and the Bard
You’ll need to be a PBS member to watch it in full.
Lives
Hadestown
Stars on Ice
Jazmine Sullivan
Vienna Teng
Fiction podcasts
The Amelia Project
The series is still in progress but I binged what’s available. Patreon here.
Wooden Overcoats S4
This is the final season, so the series is now complete. The character payoff is really good in this season too.
Esther O. Lee 