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THE BEST of The Best Of Lists
Overwhelmed by how many Best of Lists there are? Here are some standouts!
End of year Best of Lists have become so popular that it feels like everyone is putting one out and the release date is getting earlier and earlier, as if there is a silent competition to be first. Barnes & Noble didn’t even wait until November this year!
As a person who writes Best of Lists (2024's Best Mysteries, Thrillers, and True Crime and My Favorite Reads of 2024), anticipates my favorite ones every year, and seeks out under-the-radar lists to find new-to-me things, I thought I’d round up my favorite Best of Lists that I’ve seen this year.
Any list that talks about Somebody, Somewhere is a list to give time to and I absolutely love a lot on this list and found new-to-me things to read and watch. Plus, extra points that it certainly doesn’t feel like the formula that many lists have adopted.
This list is catnip for book lovers and everyone should get the day off on its yearly release in order to spend the necessary time playing with it. There are almost 400 books so you will find tons of things to read and I just absolutely love the format where you can choose so many categories to search around with. And all the previous years are still up!
As a whole this podcast won me over with the opening tag line “...for folks who would rather curl up in the fetal position than lean in”. Specific for this episode it won me over because as much as it’s a fun yes-see-I-am-correct nod to see my favorite things on someone else’s list, I much prefer a fave list of things that are new to me. Right from the jump I had to pause three times to go download an audiobook: I deeply hate anything cold and yet Patricia and Nicole sold me on a book promoting thriving in the winter (Who even am I?!); I have never heard the term “directional living” and I need to know more!; as much as I don’t want to, I'm gonna have to dive into “Psychological Warfare and the American Mind”.
I’ll let you discover the rest of the books on this great list.
Because 2024 has felt like the length of a decade many things I saw on this year’s Best of Lists made me do a “Wait, that happened this year?!” double take. The PCHH podcast not only reminded me of some of the things that in fact were this year but also I love that this podcast has a bunch of different critics so I always find things that weren’t on my radar that I am now excited to go watch/hear.
A few years ago I started reading a picture book a week and it’s been a wonderful addition to my life. Laura’s list has so many picture books that weren’t on my radar that I am now excited to start 2025 reading them. (I have a feeling 2025 is gonna require a lot of graphic novels and picture book reading for soul recharging.)
Inkoo Kang actually talks about two of my absolute favorite shows that everyone should be watching and, more importantly, kindly reminded me that I had long ago started watching Evil and never continued (it started getting moved around from where to watch it). I’m happy to go back to watching it now since it was a fun procedural.
Is there a Best of List you look forward to ever year?
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