happy new year, friends!
as you may have seen on the ‘gram, the new year gave me a lovely pre-birthday gift in the form of…you guessed it: covid! i woke up on wednesday feeling a little bit off, and decided to go for a (slow) run anyway. i figured i was just run down, having traveled hither and yon for the last 2 weeks of december. joke’s on me, because as it turns out, my body was trying to tell me something: that it really and truly needed a break. come afternoon, i was beginning to feel like actual crap, and when i awoke at 3am, feverish and headachey, i knew it was covid.
so! here we are. i haven’t left my house today beyond street sweeping, i’ve gotten under 3,000 steps to my usual 10-14k, and i am doing my best (which, to be honest, is not really all that great) to rest. i was meant to have a big happy hour tomorrow ahead of my birthday on the 8th, and i’ll admit i was perhaps inordinately excited about it. i’d reserved a table and hand-selected bottles of wine at my favorite neighborhood spot, and booked us an after-party place for those who wanted to keep the party going. all of it has been moved to next friday, the 12th—which i know in the scheme of things isn’t all that far away. but man, do i feel disappointed. already a handful of friends have told me they’ll be out of town next weekend, and i have a feeling more ‘regrets’ are to come.
but, such is life, right? things don’t turn out the way we’d imagined them in our minds—sometimes, they turn out even better. so while i’ll spend tomorrow eating takeout on my couch, plowing through more episodes of the crown (i’m officially hooked!), all hope is not lost. there is always tomorrow, always next week, always another opportunity for a fresh start (or a big party!).
now, i know you probably expected a fresh batch of friday recs.
but i figured before we dive into the new, we should give a proper sendoff to the old. so i’ve compiled a list of my top 2023 of 2023. podcasts, books, tv shows, and albums—aka, all the best content i consumed last year (and there was a lot of it!). we’ll dig into fresh 2024 stuff next week, but for now, let’s take a look back, yes?
my top 23 of 2023 | podcasts
somewhere mid-pandemic, i became a heavy podcast girl. i’d never really considered myself a listener, had always preferred kindle and paper books to audiobooks. but i spent a lot of time alone during the first few years of covid, and podcasts? podcasts kept me company. once we were cleared to return to real life, i kept up the habit. now, i subscribe to a good 5-10 shows, and keep my eyes peeled for new series at all times.
ONE | scamanda. if you, like me, enjoy a good scammer story (anna delvey, anyone?), you’ll love this 14-part series about a christian mommy blogger who scammed people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. amanda is about to give birth to her first child. and she’s dying (or so she says). she starts a blog to document her inspiring cancer journey, and begins to solicit donations to fund her treatment. but when an investigative producer gets an anonymous tip to look into amanda’s blog, nothing is as it seems. is she really sick? has she ever been? i couldn’t believe this story was real.
TWO | ghost story. before you see this and think, ooh, too scary, know this: ghost story isn’t what it seems—for both the host, tristan redman, and us, the listeners. weird things happened in tristan’s childhood bedroom. things he couldn’t explain as a kid, and can’t explain now. weird things still happen in that bedroom today. when tristan learns that his wife’s great grandmother was murdered in the house next door, he begins to wonder: is there a connection? thoughtful and funny, surprising and featuring a special celebrity guest—hugh dancy!—this one had me hooked from episode one.
THREE | wiser than me. if i’m not listening to some sort of thriller series, my favorite genre of podcast is the type that feels like two friends having a conversation. bonus points are awarded when those two friends are julia louis-dreyfus and someone wiser than her—like fran lebowitz or legendary gourmet editor in chief ruth reichl. julia started the podcast with the question, “why the hell don’t we hear more from older women?” and after soaking up their wisdom, i’m inclined to ask the same thing myself.
FOUR | the retrievals. dozens of women came to a yale clinic seeking fertility treatment. dozens of them complained of horrifically painful procedures—procedures that felt like they were being done without any form of anesthesia. and no one listened. this 5-part series from the nytimes investigates how and why the women’s pain was ignored, delving deep into the structures and systems that keep institutions safe—sometimes at the risk of the patients themselves.
FIVE | bone valley. this was a recent listen for me, and another one i could not get enough of. it’s the story of a husband who was convicted of his wife’s murder in 1987, and who still sits behind bars today—even though someone else’s fingerprints were found (and identified) years ago. it’ll shock you and frustrate you, and perhaps most importantly, make you feel for everyone involved—even the guy who did it. a really smart story about how our justice system fails us.
SIX | solicited advice. i am a forever alison roman stan, and was positively THRILLED when she launched a podcast earlier this year. it’s called solicited advice, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: each week, people call into the hotline, and solicit advice from alison and her special guest. some questions are cooking-related, but many are just about life—friendship, relationships, office politics. it’s smart and funny and makes me want to be alison’s best friend (said everyone ever).
books
SEVEN | beware the woman. i don’t think anyone writes thrillers the way megan abbott writes thrillers—slow and steady, her prose never fails to surprise and delight. she is so, so good at the slow burn, at carefully ratcheting up the story. one moment, you think you’re perfectly fine; the next, you’re turning on all the lights and questioning whether the world will ever be safe again. eerie as can be, beware the woman is the story about a family gathering that takes a terrifying turn. and it is excellent.
EIGHT | foster dade explores the cosmos. you know those books you savor, because you never want them to end? foster dade was that for me. it’s a bildungsroman (one of my most favorite english major-y words) that takes place at an elite east coast boarding school in the early aughts, and is a story of power and privilege and what masculinity means to those who are expected to uphold it. foster dade arrives at kennedy in the fall of 2008. 18 months later, he’s expelled for dealing drugs. i loved this book, and i don’t even dare try to summarize it beyond that. just…read it. and savor the playlists within, because they are elder millennial magic.
NINE | everything’s fine. i think this might be my top read of the year. i FLEW through it over the summer, around the time i—like the narrator—was dating a conservative man, and attempting to square his beliefs about greater society with the way he treated me individually. this is a story of young, f*cked up love, and how much we can compromise our values for the people we date. it’s hilarious, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s plotty as hell. 11/10.
TEN | girl, woman, other. when i first started this on audiobook after my book club selected it as our monthly read, i found myself feeling a bit out of sorts. the way the characters spoke was unfamiliar to me. i couldn’t tell who was who, or where we were. and yet, i liked it. and so i kept going, and let myself be carried away by the story. it’s a true feat to do what bernadine evaristo has done—to write a book featuring a slew of interconnected characters and have each one feel really, truly unique—and yet, she’s done it, and done it incredibly well. it’s no wonder she won the booker prize for this back in 2019. a story of black women, womenhood, motherhood, and friendship, girl, woman, other stuck with me for a long time after i finished it.
ELEVEN | hello beautiful. did you know this book is a modern day retelling of little women? i didn’t, even after reading the whole damn thing, until i mentioned it to my friend jo, and she said, “oh yes, the little women one!” of course, once i thought about it, it all made sense: 4 sisters, two of whom love the same man. i know i said everything’s fine may have been my favorite read of the year, but this was pretty high up there, too. it’s a beautifully moving tale of what happens when we choose to love people not in spite of who they are, but because of who they are, and is perhaps the most excellent characterization of depression i’ve read in a very long time.
TWELVE | the force of such beauty. i talked allll about this in my final newsletter of 2023, so i’ll redirect you there for the full deets - but suffice it to say: this is a modern day fairytale, the whole prince and princess bit. but it’s not what you think, and it’s goddamn excellent, with prose so startlingly good that it made me downright jealous.
pps: do you follow me on goodreads? i managed to read 69 (ha!) books this year, and just set my 2024 goal of 65. i try and make note of every book i read, whether via kindle, paper or hardback, or audio.
tv shows
THIRTEEN | the morning show. i don’t know why on earth it took me so long to start watching the morning show, but once i did, i could not stop. i started with with my parents over thanksgiving and was caught up within just a few weeks. i am still holding out for reese and billy crudup to have a moment—a real moment—but would settle for a makeout scene in season 4. seasons one and two made me feel a lot of things about my life in corporate america, and season three made me feel a lot about life in america, period. i can’t wait to see where the show goes next.
FOURTEEN | a small light. i feel like this show didn’t get enough buzz, especially given how excellent it was, both from a storytelling and an acting perspective. bel powley shines as miep gies, the real life secretary of otto frank, whose entire family—including his daughter anne, whose diary you likely read in high school—perished in the holocaust. miep and her husband helped hide the franks, among others, in amsterdam for years before they were ultimately reported and taken away by the nazis, and her bravery (especially when seen through powley’s retelling) is astounding. a true example of doing the right thing, especially under duress.
FIFTEEN | silo. i couldn’t get enough of this dystopian drama, which is based on writer hugh howley’s wool series. it is somewhere in the not too distant future, and earth has been ruined, determined uninhabitable for humans. those who are left live in a giant underground silo that plunges hundreds of stories into the ground, governed by a highly specific set of rules. the outside world is a wasteland, the inside of the silo is safe—or so they are told. rumor has it apple started shooting season 2 of silo in december, so go ahead and get caught up now, while you can!
SIXTEEN | the diplomat. little has filed the scandal-sized hole in my heart over the past few years, but my goodness, the diplomat sure did get close. kerri russell shines as a diplomat who—having spent her career in war zones—finds herself in a new, high-profile gig as an ambassador to the UK that requires standing still and looking pretty (both things she hates). add to that her turbulent marriage to a political star who’s unwilling to cede the spotlight, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for must-see tv. if you somehow missed this one, get thee to netflix, stat.
SEVENTEEN | daisy jones and the six. my god, did i wait forever for this one to hit the small screen. i adored this book, which came out years and charts the rise and fall of a fleetwood mac-esque band fronted by two talented but screwed up leads. i knew the show would be good, especially once covid gave the onscreen band an extra year to rehearse and gel before shooting—but the adaptation exceeded my wildest dreams. riley keogh is positively electric as daisy, and sam claflin stuns as billy dunne. it’s perfectly cast, the music is incredible (the aurora record made my top albums of the year!), and seventies fashion is just BEYOND.
EIGHTEEN | the night agent. look, i know there’s an argument to be made that this isn’t exactly good tv. that it’s jason bourne with an absurd amount of plotholes. but when i tell you i tore through this political thriller, i TORE threw it. like, i binged like i had never binged before. if you’re a fan of fast-paced thrillers that may or may not be grounded in reality but always keep you glued to the screen, this one is for you. i can’t wait for season 2.
albums
NINETEEN | stick season, noah kahan. i, like a million other people, fell in love with noah kahan this year, and in particular, with this album, which i sang whilst dancing around my apartment and dancing down the street and cruising down the old curvy roads of my youth. noah is new england personified, he is a storyteller of the ages, he is a mental health warrior and advocate, and god damn i just love him so much. the amount of times i said, “alexa, play noah kahan” this year was staggering.
TWENTY | surrender, maggie rogers. maggie’s surrender album was the soundtrack of my summer, especially considering i got to see her perform it live at newport folk festival in july. whenever i’m not sure what to listen to, maggie is the answer—she never fails to impress me with her combination of silliness and heart. i’m eagerly awaiting her next album, which she’s shared snippets of online and which sounds even more incredible than the last.
TWENTY ONE | being funny in a foreign language, the 1975. i know, i know. this was technically released in 2022. but 2023 was the year i got really into the 1975—and then promptly realized that matty healy was a kind of a racist, antisemitic asshole who gets off on telling “jokes” about minorities. what a freaking bummer, because god is this album good (though maybe that’s in part due to jack antonoff, who sprinkles gold on everything he touches). what’s the musical version of never meet your heroes? because i felt it hard with the 1975.
TWENTY TWO | aurora, daisy jones and the six. it’s insane to say that one of the albums i loved most this year was an album that came from a tv show. but it’s true! i loved this album. i listened to look at us now approximately a million times, and pounded my hands against the steering wheel whilst listening to the river a million times and then some. pitchfork claimed this album was a broadway approximation of the real fleetwood mac, and that might be true - but i loved it all the same.
TWENTY THREE | 1989 (taylor’s version), taylor swift. i mean, did you think i could have a list of favorite things without taylor in there?! come on. 1989 is one of my favorite albums (don’t make me pick a single one, i cannot and will not do it, it is a fool’s errand!), and the release of this one served to a) remind me just how much a freaking BANGER out of the woods is, and b) how great taylor’s unreleased ‘from the vault’ catalog is. is it over now and now that we don’t talk are top notch, and suburban legends really does it for me. also: i stand by my feeling that new romantics never should have been a bonus track and deserved the type of summer bop single recognition that cruel summer got. SOMEDAY, swifties. SOMEDAY.
and that, friends, is where i leave you.
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