Year in Review: 2019

Following, I’ve rounded up my favorite (mainly) cultural items of the last 12 months. Looking at the book list, I read a few more titles than past years but had fewer revelatory experiences. (No new Knausgaard, no new Ferrante.) I was clearly pulled more to memoirs and biographies, which I can get through more quickly after our two young kids fall asleep. Will try to focus a bit more on fiction (including from abroad) in 2020. Relatedly I’m sure, I watched fewer movies than TV shows, though the quality of the latter was excellent.

Books

  1. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
  2. The Gathering, Anne Enright
  3. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, David W. Blight
  4. Becoming, Michelle Obama
  5. Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, Jia Tolentino
  6. The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis
  7. Small Fry, Lisa Brennan-Jobs
  8. Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back), Jeff Tweedy
  9. Grand Union: Stories, Zadie Smith
  10. Beastie Boys Book, Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz & Others
  11. Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney
  12. The Mueller Report, Robert S. Mueller III et. al
  13. The World of Charles and Ray Eames, Catherine Ince (Ed.)
  14. Sontag: Her Life and Work, Benjamin Moser
  15. The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justin John Roberts, Joan Biskupic
  16. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing, Robert A. Caro
  17. The Indispensable Composers, Anthony Tommasini
  18. Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner
  19. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
  20. Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me, Deirdre Bair
  21. Poetics of the Everyday: Amateur Photography, 1890-1970: From the Collection of John Foster (Sant Louis Art Museum; congrats, John!)
  22. The Education of an Idealist, Samantha Power
  23. Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt, Edward Bleiberg and Stephanie Weissberg (Pulitzer Arts Foundation)
  24. It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  25. What We Lose, Zanzibar Clemmons
  26. Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now, Alan Rusbridger
  27. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, Mike Isaac
  28. Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Benjamin Dreyer
  29. Dear Data, Georgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
  30. Tough Love, Susan Rice
  31. Finding My Voice, Valerie Jarrett
  32. Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises, Rebecca Solnit
  33. Shortest Way Home, Pete Buttigieg
  34. Avid Reader: A Life, Robert Gottlieb

**Additional Book Notes
**I didn’t end up fully reading either of these long and promising books (yet), but the introduction to Robert Caro’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and the prologue to George Packer’s Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century were tour-de-force set-ups with expert narrative control, vivid storytelling and laser-sharp observations. Can’t wait to find the hours at some point to read both.

Another bookish volume I was able to find and read this year was Knowing Wink, highlights from the past 20 years of work from the agency Winkreative, led by Monocle’s Tyler Brule. I could read these chronicles of brand projects — often print-led — all day.

TV

  1. Fleabag, Seasons 1 and 2
  2. Barry, Seasons 1 and 2
  3. Succession, Seasons 1 and 2
  4. Russian Doll
  5. Veep, Season 7
  6. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Season 3
  7. Killing Eve, Season 2
  8. Howards End (TV Miniseries)
  9. Great British Bake-Off, Season 10

Movies

  1. The Favourite
  2. Call Me By Your Name
  3. BlacKkKlansman
  4. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
  5. The Souvenir
  6. Widows
  7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
  8. Ad Astra
  9. Spirited Away
  10. Juliet, Naked
  11. Brexit: Behind Closed Doors
  12. Mission: Impossible – Fallout

**Music
**Hours and hours of daily Spotify listening again this year. A few new-to-me artists I enjoyed: Lomelda, Florist, Big Thief, Father John Misty, Better Oblivion Community Center, Julia Holter, Clifford Brown, Red Garland.

**Podcasts
**I continue to listen to many on prior years’ lists. Here, I’ll highlight some I believe I came to for the first time in 2019:

dds & Ends**