Best of 2020 Roundup: Books, TV, Podcasts & Music
I tried expanding my world through reading this year - focusing on alternative perspectives and starting to pick up non-fiction again after a long hiatus spurred by an aversion due to university readings. These three stood out as winners - both for the ease and enjoyment of the read as well as the chance to learn something new. Split Tooth and Girl, Woman, Other each read with a poetic cadence, focusing on the lives of a young Inuit girl and of a multitude of black, female British protagonists respectively. They allowed me to explore new landscapes, new challenges, new ways of thinking through prose. Quiet on the other hand, spoke to me on a deeply personal level, helping to validate and uncover my tendencies as an introvert. I found it highly interesting to read from a psychology and physiology perspective.
Despite a reduced content release schedule from production houses this year and the overwhelming surplus of reality TV in stead, there were a few gems that brightened the viewing experience. Released just prior to the holidays, Bridgerton was a decadent, steamy tale of courting and carriages, ballgowns and brides, dukes and dicks. Think Downton Abbey meets Gossip Girl.
Love Life was the short series we needed in the midst of what seemed to me like the year to end all relationships, Anna Kendrick made breakups humorous and hopeful. It also reminded me that the loves of our lives can also be our friendships, family, and selves.
Lastly, Normal People was one of my favourite and subjectively, the most gorgeous TV adaptation of a book that I’d ever seen. It was so beautifully and heartbreakingly relatable. How often do we allow unspoken feelings and missed moments change the course of our relationships? How can our unaddressed fears and insecurities reverberate through our lives for years to come?
I will issue a disclaimer here that although I love podcasts, I’m not as fervent a listener as some - although I did enjoy putting one on and going for a walk to get some fresh air this year. The three that have become staples in my rotation are Unfuck Your Brain, Nothing Much Happens, and Small Things Often.
I found Small Things often to be a great one to listen to at the start of the day - only a minute or two, each covers a topic that acts as a great prompt or intention for the day, such as managing judgement or how to listen actively.
Nothing Much Happens often soothed me to sleep this year with gentle stories of walks through crunchy autumn leaves, summer campfires, and gentle winter snowfalls. Each story is simple and soothing - written with the only intent of allowing your mind to just relax, imagine, and drift off into a land of simplicity.
Unfuck Your Brain is a wonderful compliment to the therapy I started this year. They are also short episodes, which I prefer, covering topics from gaining closure, to self-improvement shame, to FOMO. The host Kara Loewentheil is a life coach and I find her to be incredible reassuring and clear in her breakdowns of each topic.
I think music is such a personal opinion matter and truthfully I don’t feel nearly as in the loop as others in my circle on new releases or hot new artists but I wanted to include a few picks that got me through the year. Whether it be an album to cry to post-breakup (i.e. LÉON), something to dance to (i.e. Purple DIsco Machine) or just straight up good listening with any other activity (i.e. Black Pumas) these picks were a few that made up the soundtrack to one of the weirdest, emotionally and physically exhausting, and most beautifully strange years yet.
