Favorite Books of 2024

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Let’s start with the numbers:

For someone who does not do a lot of unnecessary math in adult life, I really do love statistics. So I’m about to hit you with some good ones! I read 132 books in 2024. I always set my goal as 100–because there have been years when I haven’t made it. For example I only read 88, 97, and 67 (what?) books, respectively, in 2020 (hello, global panini), 2016 (second year at a new school, had changed content areas) and 2013 (early teaching). In the 13 reading years from 2012-2024, I averaged 117 books a year. The last five years I have apparently given up other parts of life because I’ve averaged 140 reads a year for 2020-2024. Nuts.

I am a repeat-author offender. I read eight books by Percival Everett in 2024 (I’m sort of on a mission to be an Everett-completist; however some of his older books are not in the Chicago Public Library collections so we’ll see), five by Veronica Roth (three rereads), and three each by Naomi Novik (one re-read), Nghi Vo, Elle Kennedy (sometimes a girl needs her smut), and Neal Shusterman.

I read 55 fiction books, 29 science fiction or fantasy, 13 non-fiction (WHOA!), 21 poetry collections and 11 graphic novels (three non-fiction and 11 fiction). So across genre and type: out of the 132, 95 were fiction (71%, a little low for me, frankly, ha), 16 were non-fiction, which is a wildly high number for me, and 21 were poetry collections, which honestly tend to contain both fiction and non- within the span of a collection, although I do notice that Storygraph files them as nonfiction.

Highest of Highlights:

My very, very favorite read in any genre, but particularly fiction, for 2024 was “Wounded” by Percival Everett. Yes, I read James. Yes, I see it getting all the glory. Yes, I found it a good read. I did not find it as good a read as Wounded. I’ve read roughly 22 of Everett’s books at this point, and my favorites are: 1) Wounded; 2) The Trees; 3) Erasure; 4) Watershed; and 5) I Am Not Sidney Poitier.

I have really been reading a lot more non-fiction here in the old age of my 50s and I can lay at least part of the blame at the footsteps of Hanif Abdurraqib who put out my favorite nonfiction of 2024, a breathtaking memoir “There’s Always This Year.” Swoontastic. Abudurraqib’s writing is so beautiful that it actually becomes deceiving–when he writes about music, I want to buy every album he recommends. In fact, I did for a while, and it turns out our musical taste overlap is only about 25% of what he listens to, heh. Fortunately this memoir contains a lot of basketball, which I already loved, so I wasn’t fighting my instincts the whole time. It was glorious.

And my favorite poetry of 2024 was Victoria Cheng’s collection “With My Back to the World.” Beautiful, self-deprecating, humorous, and so much play with form. But warning: if you’re already depressed, this might not be a good prescription for you.

My favorite graphic novel reads in 2024 were the three books that comprise the Friday series by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente: 1) Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas; 2) Friday Book Two: On a Cold Winter’s Night; and 3) Friday Book Three: Christmas Time Is Here Again. These are also the books that made me most want to: 1) reread Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden; 2) rewatch Veronica Mars; and 3) be a precocious teen again.

Other Very Favorite Fiction:

  • Menewood, by Nicola Griffith. Finally the sequel to Hild. It was my first fresh read of 2024 and it broke my heart into a million tiny pieces. I will never be done reading these two books.
  • Enter Ghost, by Isabella Hammad. Definitely a book of this time and this moment in history. Also just a beautiful book with gorgeous ideas, interesting relationships, and such a tangibly fleshed out world. I went back and read her first novel after this. She joined my favorite living authors list this year and I’m so glad my dad told me about her, and then the NYRB told me about her, and now I am telling everyone about her.
  • I also really liked Big Swiss by Jen Beagin; James by Percival Everett, mentioned above; Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, which is just wildly gorgeous on a sentence level, and did you know you can’t hashtag that title on Instagram? Politics rule the world; Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino; The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut, another “I want to read everything he publishes author for me, after “When We Cease to Understand the World” in 2022; and, perhaps last summer’s hottest book, God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

Other Favorite Non-Fiction:

  • Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe. OMG this book is so good. It sent me seeking out PRK all over the place. I’m listening to his podcast about the CIA potentially writing a German band’s hit song, I’m listening to every interview he’s ever gone, I’m obsessed. I guess I need to watch the series.
  • The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi, by Wright Thompson. Wowza. This book is amazing. It has a very spiraling structure (like a math curriculum, ha) and there are points at which you wonder why a particular tangent is happening, but it all ties together in the end. Very powerful. Here’s my GoodReads review if you need to hear more.
  • I also really liked How Far the Light Reaches, by Sabrina Imbler, a gorgeous exploration of identity via exploring sea creatures; Here After by Amy Lin, the best book I’ve read on grief since Madeline L’Engles’ book about her husband’s death from cancer in The Crosswick Series (volume 4 I think); and Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, by Chris LaTray, a poet I’m kinda obsessed with.

Other Favorite Poetry:

  • I loved Good Boys by Megan Fernandes, as I dig into her back catalog after adoring her 2023 release “I Do Everything I’m Told.”
  • I am also loving finally digging into Diane Seuss, both Frank: sonnets and American Poetry were excellent; and I also loved Safia Elhilo’s January Children after predviously loving “Girls That Never Die.”

Other Favorite Graphic Novels:

  • I’m still reading the ongoing series Saga (Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples), Monstress (Marjorie M. Liu), and Something Is Killing the Children (James Tynion IV). I also really enjoyed Shadowlife by Hiromi Goto.

A few other thoughts:

The books I found most unexpectedly charming:

  • Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
  • Familia by Lauren E. Rico (a purchase at the San Juan airport)
  • Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka

The books that broke my brain the hardest: everything in the Atlas Complex series by Olivie Blake.

The most fun series I read was the Scholomance books by Naomi Novik (I reread the first one and fresh read the last two with a student and we had such fun conversations about them, so shout out Kamilo!).

The sexist books I read were Wolfsong by T.J. Klune and its sequels (although there are elements that get very repetitive and I haven’t been able to finish the last one, Brothersong).

The book I liked that was certainly the most unexpected to become a movie: Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder.

The author I’m coming around on: Sally Rooney. I really liked Intermezzo (and previously “Beautiful World, Where Are You”) after not loving either “Normal People” (and its overwhelming sadomasochism).

And I loved revisiting Ray Carney and his world in Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (I looooved “Harlem Shuffle”).

What about you? What were your favorite reads last year? What am I missing? Comments are open!

(Also if you want to see the complete list, you can view it on GoodReads or StoryGraph both of which I am doing. StoryGraph is better, ethically, but the community aspect on GoodReads is much stronger.)

Favorite Books of the 2000s (so far)

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A while ago (sometime in mid-2024 I guess based on where I found my list, heh), someone on Instagram was going through and choosing their very favorite book from each year in the 2000s. Here’s mine (nine months after I made the list, heh)!! Books are selected / listed in the year they were published as opposed to the year that I read them. I really tried hard to limit myself to one book per pub year, unless I could split it by genre, but in some years, I just wasn’t able to cut it down to one. I am only human!

2000
Fiction: I absolutely loved Kavalier & Clay (Michael Chabon, FTW) and nothing else comes close. In fact, I didn’t even write anything else down for that year!

2001
Fiction: I would say now, in 2025, the best book published in 2001 was Erasure by Percival Everett, who I knew nothing of in 2001, but am all about in the 2020s.
Fiction runner-up: But at the time, I think I would have said Atonement, by far Ian McEwan‘s best book and the least icky of everything he’s written because some are…just skeevy, creepy, yucky.
Nonfiction: Shutterbabe, the first memoir from photographer Deborah Copaken Kogan.

2002
Fiction: No question, the best book published in 2002 was Audrey Niffennegger‘s The Time Traveler’s Wife. What a beautiful and beautifully crushing story. Ack, that ending. ACCKKKKK. How sad it was that they completely butchered it in the movie.

2003
Nonfiction: No fiction or anything else I read published in 2003 can come close to challenging Jon Krakauer and possibly his best book Under the Banner of Heaven.

2004
Fiction: The Plot Against America is fantastic and Philip Roth will never be reviled on this web site.

2005
Nonfiction: I have come to think very differently of Joan Didion these days, but I do remember really loving The Year of Magical Thinking.

2006
Fiction: I absolutely adore Black Swan Green, the least David Mitchell of all the David Mitchell books.
Poetry: This is also the year Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard collection was published and it is excellent.

2007
Fiction: this was the year the first Tana French book In the Woods came out and that book is truly impressive. (There is a point where that series kinda fell off the rails for me, but the first three are outstanding.)
Nonfiction: Love Is a Mixtape (Rob Sheffield) really speaks my language.
Honorable Mention: The Watchman (Robert Crais) was the first book to feature my one true love Joe Pike. I’m still considering getting his tattoos.

2008
Fiction: Kristen Cashore’s Graceling is such a fabulous book and the beginning of a truly beautiful series.

2009
Fiction: How can one resist the siren call of Wolf Hall? My dad had introduced me to Hilary Mantel long before she latched on to Cromwell, but this book… This is Dorothy Dunnet levels of fabulous (Lymond + Nicolo + Thorfinn 4-ever). (I did not read it in 2009 however, heh.)
Honorable Mention: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is just a lovely middle-grade book that I wish more kids would read and just seeing that title on my list brings it more vividly to mind than most of the adult books I read published that year.

2010
Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. Done.

2011
Fiction: I love Maggie Stiefvater so much, and two of her series reside deep in my heart, but none of those books even hold a candle to The Scorpio Races, a stand-out stand-alone. OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.

2012
Fiction: Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. This might be the best book on this entire list.

2013
Fiction: The glorious, glorious HILD. Magical. Nicola Griffith is another follower in Dorothy Dunnet’s footsteps.

2014
Fiction: There were lots of great novels published in 2014, but none that I have continued to think about as much as A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall, by Will Chancellor.
Non-fiction: H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald.

2015
Fiction: There are two truly fabulous science fiction series that started in 2015 and I just cannot acknowledge only one of them. So I’m declaring a tie between Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, who is the writer to start reading if you never want to run out of material; and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, a complete tour de force.

2016
Fiction: I really fell for The Mothers, by Brit Bennett.
Honorable mention: Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood is truly fantastic.
Poetry: Counting Descent by Clint Smith.

2017
Fiction: One of only a few YA nods on this list: The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas. I really, really wanted to read this with my sixth graders, but there is just ONE s-e-x-u-a-l scene that makes that impossible and I do think I might have edited that out were I the author since there are more YA books on this topic than there are middle grades. Sigh.

2018
Fiction: Holy crap, is There, There by Tommy Orange not the most stunning debut. Swoon.
Poetry: American Sonnets, by Terrance Hayes.

2019
Fiction: I am still in 100% completely, head-over-heels in love with This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
Runner-Up: But I cannot even fathom leaving Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir off this list. A life without Gideon? Not worth living.
Poetry: I didn’t know Hanif Abdurraqib for his poetry at first, but that has become my favorite of his many genres and A Fortune for Your Disaster is just drop-dead beautiful.

2020
Fiction: This is the year of Deacon KingKong by James McBride. Amazeballoons.

2021
Fiction: The Trees by Percival Everett. The most topical of topicals. Sly. Sarcastic. So Very funny. And yet, just a complete and utter chill to the bone.
Runner-Up: Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters. ‘Nuff said.
Non-fiction: How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith.

2022
Fiction: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka becomes such a surprisingly different book as it goes on. Everyone I told about this one raved about it for months.
Nonfiction: Elaine Castillo’s fiction is great, but these essays were chef’s kiss: How to Read Now.

2023
Fiction: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose How is this so good?
Non-Fiction: Hijab Butch Blues, by Lamya H. So very good. But I just don’t see how it would be possible to maintain anonymity…
Poetry: I was completely stunned by The Kingdom of Surfaces by Sally Wen Mao.

2024
Fiction: My very, very favorite read in any genre for 2024 was “Wounded” by Percival Everett. Yes, I read James. Yes, I see it getting all the glory. Yes, I found it a good read. I did not find it as good a read as Wounded.
Non-fiction: Hanif Abdurraqib with a breathtaking memoir “There’s Always This Year.”
Poetry: Victoria Cheng’s collection “With My Back to the World.”

Now tell me yours… Comments are open.

Things I want to tell you, but reasons I don’t.

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Things:

  • All my book reviews but why also add them here when they’re already on GoodReads, and on StoryGraph, and on Instagram.
  • All my movie reviews but why also add them here when they’re (at least for 2024 and 2025) all on Letterboxed.
  • All my crafting but why also add them here when they’re on instagram and Flickr and Ravelry.

Reasons:

  • I have gone to so few concerts and listened so sporadically to music in the past several years, it’s legit pathetic.
  • My damn job + my advanced age = OMG the levels of tiredness are unimaginable.
  • Should I even be maintaining this web site at this point? Considering copying it all into a book for myself and deleting the whole thing. I mean, if it’s going to be online, it might as well be here. Here reside TWENTY-FIVE YEARS of links and jokes and a million other things. So…. either keep it here and begin posting again, even if solely for my own amusement, OR delete it and send out a once-a-month newsletter of some type to friends. I mean, then people would have to claim it never came in the mail to avoid reading it, whereas this is just screaming into the void. I dunno.

What’s something you wanna tell me? My emails are open. As are the comments. Heh.

Things that have been referred to as “The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me!”

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1. My first, and each subsequent, iPod.

2. The Moo cards I just got that are three years of photos of my nephew, with some of me & him thrown in and a few just of me making goofy faces to make him laugh. They are SOOOO AWESOME.

3. Fresh’s Milk Chocolate lotion (now discontinued! waaah!).

4. The chai tea from the machine in the cafeteria at work when we worked in World Financial 3 (pre-9/11 and our office getting destroyed).

5. My “grown up” bedroom furniture (post-move to Chicago).

6. My new (at the time) living room couch (post-move to Chicago). The most comfortable couch ever to walk the earth. So to speak.

7. My Daisy Rock guitar. It’s pink. And comes with butterfly and flower stickers. Girlie! 🙂 [ETA: I gave it away. I play ukulele now, maybe you’ve heard…]

8. My first, and each subsequent pair of, prescription sunglasses. Totally necessary. Don’t want to ever have to live without them again!

[update]9. Toaster Strudel. Takes poptarts to a whole new level. A level called Fucking Awesome.

[update]10. My cleaning lady. ‘Nuff said.

…updated periodically when memory lapses clear…

The Very Few Places I’ve Been Outside the U.S. [Updated]

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1. Canada.
-Winnipeg: too many times to count.
-Toronto: only the airport.

2. England. Three months (all summer) in 1988. 18 days in 2000. Assorted other mini trips in 2003/04/05. A week in January 2007.
-London.
-Cornwall: Falmouth, Truro, Constantine.
-Assorted other towns in the Southern tip.

3. France. 2004
-Paris.
-Montpellier/Montbazin.

4. Australia. 2006.
-Sydney.
-Melbourne.
-Uluru.
-Cairns.
-Darwin.

5. Belgium. 2007.
-Brussels
-Ghent
-Bruges

6. Japan. 2008.
-Kyoto
-Nara
-Himeji
-Tokyo

7. Ireland. 2009.
-Dublin

8. Puerto Rico. 2024.
-San Juan
-Manati
-Arecibo
-Rio Grande (El Yunque)

Favorite Tunes of 2023

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Guess what? I continue to buy music…and barely listen to it! Throwing more money down the drain in 2023. Of course, I listened to *some* of it, but my bark is always bigger than my bite when it comes to consuming pop culture (of all types. obvi.). That said, I only bought albums during six months of the year (January 13, March 4, April 6, July 2, September 4, October 1). So, perhaps I was more controlled than it feels like now reviewing my iTunes. (Yes, I still use iTunes, and an iPod, and shut up, get off my lawn.)

Favorite Singles:

  • “Paper” Kenzie I don’t even know if this was a 2023 release but 2023 is when I got it. I think I heard it on a TV show. I will put this on repeat for my entire bus ride to school. Can’t stop. The ultimate “how TF is it that you don’t love me” song. Story of my damn life.
  • “Flowers” Miley Cyrus Doh, was this not the song of most of the year. Even Diane Keaton (!!) made a video of herself singing along to this.
  • “Be On Your Way” Daughter I never listened to the rest of the album as much as this one song.
  • “Ignore Me” Mothe When am I not feeling ignored? Was this song stolen from my brain?
  • “Ghost in the Machine” SZA featuring Phoebe Bridgers All you had to do to get me to listen to a song this year was put Phoebe Bridgers on it (and yeah I don’t even think this song is from 2023? maybe?). That said, I never figured out what the SZA hype was. I maybe didn’t give it enough of a chance.
  • “Runner” Tennis Total epic movie soundtrack feel. Is that where I heard this first? We’ll never know.
  • “And We’ll Leave It There” Olafur Arnolds & Ella McRibb I don’t remember from where or why I found out about this but I watched a whole video of how this song came together and it’s just gorgeous.
  • “A Good Love, Part 1” Bear’s Den if you got a mix from me this year, this was probably on it, heh. I think I kept trying to add it to every one and then realizing I had already used it, oop.
  • “Run Away to Mars” Talk Every time I played this song, I thought maybe I WILL run away to Mars. How much worse could it fucking possibly be?!? I listen to it on the bus and pretend I’m on a spaceship.
  • “Our Song” P!NK I liked her whole album really but never listened to it *that* much.
  • “Lift Me Up” Rihanna from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. I think that means this song didn’t come out this year, but I listened to the fuck out of it. CHURCH.
  • “Just Like Heaven” Hannah Peel. Cover.
  • “Puzzle Peace” SAILR Aw. So pretty.
  • “If I Could” Charlotte Day Wilson If only
  • “Everywhere, Everything” Noah Kahan Someone (can’t remember) said to them when someone mentions Noah Kahan they just think “yeah, come to Nashville, meet every single long-haired boy.” Ha. I do know that his songs are all the same song to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them.

I made three mixes in 2023. I know I sent a bunch out early in the year. Email me if ya want a copy. 1: Ease on in. 2: Church. 3: Sing Me to Sleep.

Favorite Albums: Basically in the order they came out, with maybe a little slippage on that from The National.

  • Jacob Banks “Lies About the War” I’ve mentioned this before: the way Hanif Aburraquib writes about music convinces me that I will 100% completely adore every album he talks about. And it turns out, we just generally do not have the same taste in music and that’s almost always wrong. Heh. It’s to the point where I am no longer allowed to buy albums he hyped until I’ve listened to the samples at least 20 times and still want it. Yes, that’s how bad my Hanif persuasion goes. Regardless, I bought this in January based on his recommendation and I love it so so so very much. Deep and dark and tangly. What a voice!! Fave songs: “Just When I Thought”, “Our Song” (feat. Anna Leone.
  • Anna Tivel “Outsiders” Another January purchase that I never stopped listening to. You know, January, the month where I buy everything everyone else loved in 2023 that I missed. This one comes from Kiki’s husband Steve’s recommendation. My favorite song was “Heroes”.
  • boygenius “The Record” Anything that needs to be said has already been said by a bajillion people. I’m not all “I repost every picture boygenius ever posts on their instagram” levels of obsession, LIKE SOME PEOPLE I KNOW (not a joke), but there’s no denying how good this album is. At first, I was like obsessively figuring out who wrote which song and did that mean I liked one artist more (since I didn’t love any of their solo stuff as much as I loved this) but now I just think of it like the Beatles: better together. Favorite songs: “Not Strong Enough”, “Emily I’m Sorry”, “True Blue”, and “Cool About It”.
  • The National “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” AND The National “Laugh Track” I mean, what the AF, my favorite band in the world put out two massively fantastic albums in the same year. AND I got to see them in concert again (it was just such a fabulous night). Honestly, I love both albums in their entirety, but if you want just some snippets, here you go: Fave songs FTPF: “New Order T-Shirt”, “Eucalyptus” (that ending), “This Isn’t Helping” (w/ Phoebe Bridgers bien sur). “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” (also w/ PB). Fave Songs LT: “Weird Goodbyes” (w/ Bon Iver), “Hornets”, “Laugh Track” (PB again), “Crumble” (w/ Rosanne Cash).
  • Olivia Rodrigo “Guts” For the twelve-teen in me, that never completely goes away. Silly, goofballs, OMG I’M SO IN LOVE and OMG I’M SO NOT music. Fun times. Favorite songs: the back to back play of “Logical” and “Get Him Back!”
  • Sufjan Stevens “Javelin” I’m sorry whut. Can words. No, they can’t. Fucking stunningly beautiful that’s all you need to know. STUNNING. Amazeballoons. Favorite songs: “Goodbye Evergreen” (THAT BEGINNING), “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”, “My Red Little Fox” (kiss me like the wind), “Shit Talk.”

Albums I really liked when I listened, but just didn’t keep hanging with much beyond their purchase:

  • Natalie Merchant “Keep Your Courage” Dang, Natalie Merchant, I’ve been enjoying your tunes for over 30 years.
  • Tommy Prine “This Far South” Doing his dad proud.
  • Daughter “Stereo Mind Game” I did put one of their singles above. I liked this. It just dropped off my radar too fast.

Albums I’m enjoying on my 2023 review that I don’t even remember from actually during 2023:

  • Future Teens “Sensitive Sessions”
  • Wild Rivers “Sidelines”

Duff at the Movies 2023 / Review style cuz… I forget to keep a list!

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Oh nooooooo I never kept my list! What happened in 2023?!? Here’s what I can remember off the top of my increasingly forgetful head…

On the big screen, in general:

  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1 Loved it. One of the funniest action movies I’ve seen in ages. They definitely try to bring the drama, but so much of it made me laugh. That chase scene!!!
  • Asteroid City This was just a very Wes Anderson-y Wes Anderson movie. There were moments I enjoyed, but I would not put it in my top five Wes Anderson movies.

At home, but came out in 2023:

  • Cocaine Bear Unbelievably good, given its title. I would watch this a billion times.

At the Chicago International Film Festival: Yes, I finally made it back to the CIFF! After maybe a decade? I was soooo happy, but one movie every single day for 11 days was a LOT during the teaching year, heh.

  • All Happy Families Fun, good performances, but not a lot of plot. More a “moment in time” movie.
  • Eric LaRue I thought this movie was a COMPLETE MESS. I see some of the things it wanted to do or criticize, but I didn’t think it did a great job. Also Michael Shannon in the Q&A afterward seemed messy as well.
  • The Love Stories of Liv S. It was an enjoyable watch but not something I’ve thought about a lot since.
  • The Delinquents This was a WILD ride (and maybe I should check how long a movie is before I buy a ticket for 7:15 on a school night!!!) and very long but I definitely enjoyed it, even though the plot takes a lot of goofball leaps.
  • Only the River Flows I sat next to the most lovely people at this show and one is a film professor who really helped me decipher the ending! This movie was like a fever dream.
  • Solo This Solo, not Star Wars. This movie was gorgeous. Sad, frustrating (Don’t make that decision! Don’t do it!), beautiful songs, costumes, makeup, etc.
  • All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt Beautiful. Possibly the slowest paced movie I’ve ever seen. The atmosphere is amazing. But I think you definitely come away with unanswered questions as to what and why. Here’s a hint I would have liked to have known going in (took too long to figure it out!): it’s jumping back and forth in time. Those are meant to be the same girl at different ages! The pacing and contemplativeness (and overall experience of being in the theater) really reminded me of Tree of Life, but this one is much more realistic.
  • The Bride This was a rough movie to sit there. Nothing is explicitly shown, per se, but some really crappy handling of the main character, her agency, and her body. 🙁
  • The Taste of Things Bring a LOT of snacks to this movie, you are going to be sooooo hungry. It was beautiful, wildly intriguing and engaging if you know anything about cooking, and an interesting peek into a different world. Binoche was gorgeous in this flick.
  • Hard Miles Matthew Modine was at the screening and WHOA I had no idea what a total goofball he is. Also hats off to the dude who yelled VISIONQUEST as they started the Q&A. This was an engaging watch, the acting by all the boys was really good.
  • Perfect Days Another one of those movies that has almost no plot, just this weird repetition of this dude’s highly scheduled life and a few occasions where something happens to throw off his balance.

OK, I paged through the first 100 on IMDB’s list of movies that came out in 2024, and didn’t notice any others that I saw. So… maybe? that’s it. Sigh. Not a great year for Duff at the Movies.