Every year around this time I try to make sense of my year that was. The series kicked off with a collection of the Best* posts, followed by a set of numbers that described my year. Today is a set of seven lists that look backward and one that looks forward.
Five favorite novels I read this year:
- The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
- The Day of the Oprichnik, Vladimir Sorokin
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
- The Brothers Ashkenazi, I.J. Singer
- Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
Seven favorite non-fiction books I read this year:
- Range, David Epstein
- The Missing Course, David Gooblar
- Say Nothing, Patrick Raden Keefe
- Answers in the Form of Questions, Claire McNear
- Hippie Food, Jonathan Kauffman
- Dreyer’s English, Benjamin Dreyer
Five novels I’m looking forward to (maybe) reading in 2020 (no repeats from last year!):
- American Pastoral, Philip Roth
- An Unnecessary Woman, Rabih Alameddine
- Last Train to Istanbul, Ayse Kulin
- The Makioka Sisters, Junichiro Tanizaki
- Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
Eight TV shows I was watching this year:
- The Mandalorian
- The Sopranos
- The Vow
- Schitt’s Creek
- The Last Dance
- Briarpatch
- Narcos
- High Fidelity
Four movies I saw for the first time that were totally worth the price of admission a streaming platform
- Fargo (1996)
- The Breadwinner (2017)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
- Porco Rosso (1992)
Three video games I enjoyed getting lost in:
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Final Fantasy VII: Remastered
- Path of Exile
Three podcasts that I filled the hours I spent walking this year:
- Bagman
- Make Me Smart
- Gastropod
While I mostly listen to singles, I found myself particularly listening to these albums in 2020:
- “Harlem River Blues,” Justin Townes Earle (2010, RIP)
- “Alone Together Sessions,” Hayes Carll (2020)
- “New Miserable Experience,” Gin Blossoms (1992)
- Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies
Noodlings 