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My Favorites of 2020

Hello everyone! Well, 2020 sucked to say the least. I hope all of you are doing well, all things considering. If you are like me, you are maintaining cautious optimism for 2021. If you are also like me, you developed certain fixations during quarantine. My list is going to look a little different this year because there weren’t many new movies or tv shows this year. I’ll be including new things I discovered this year that may have come out previously. I will also be including books I read in class that I did not review here. I hope you enjoy my list and I wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe 2021.

Books

  • The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
  • Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker
  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
  • Trumpet by Jackie Kay
  • Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
  • Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
  • Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
  • The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
  • Blood of Elves (Book 1 of The Witcher series) by Andrzej Sapkowski
  • Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
  • The Tower of Nero (Book 5 of The Trials of Apollo series) by Rick Riordan
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Movies

  • Onward (dir. Dan Scanlon, 2020)
  • Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn (dir. Cathy Yan, 2020)
  • Hamilton: An American Musical (dir. Thomas Kail, 2020)
  • The Lighthouse (dir. Robert Eggers, 2019)
  • Jennifer’s Body (dir. Karyn Kusama, 2009).
  • Jane Eyre (dir. Cary Joji, Fukunaga, 2011)
  • Wonder Woman 1984 (dir. Patty Jenkins, 2020)
  • The Devil All the Time (dir. Antonio Campos, 2020)

TV Shows

  • The Mandalorian: Season 2
  • Supernatural: Season 15
  • Doom Patrol: Season 2
  • The Boys: Season 2
  • Batwoman: Season 1
  • The Flash: Season 7
  • The Good Place: Seasons 1 – 4
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Seasons 1 – 7
  • The Umbrella Academy: Season 2
  • Stargirl: Season 1
  • Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5
  • Black Lightning: Season 4
  • Blood of Zeus: Season 1
  • Supergirl: Season 5
  • Lucifer: Season 4

Music

  • Manic by Halsey (album)
  • After Hours by The Weekend (album)
  • folklore by Taylor Swift (album)
  • evermore by Taylor Swift (album)
  • No Time to Die by Billie Eilish (single)
  • Cape God by Allie X (album)
  • Positions by Ariana Grande (album)
  • Level of Concern by Twenty One Pilots (single)
  • Light of Love by Florence and the Machine (single)
  • Petals for Armor by Hayley Williams (album)
  • WHAT YOU GONNA DO??? by Bastille (single)
  • my future by Billie Eilish (single)
  • Dreamland by Glass Animals (album)
  • Use Me by PVRIS (album)
  • color theory by Soccer Mommy (album)
  • Ferris Wheel by Sylvan Esso (single)
  • Let Me Love You Like A Woman by Lana Del Rey (single)
  • Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers (album)
  • Death of an Optimist by grandson (album)
  • Maps by Wednesday’s Wolves (EP)
  • Afterglow by Ed Sheeran (single)

Podcasts

  • The Magnus Archives
  • The Penumbra Podcast
  • Wolf 359
  • King Falls AM
  • Motherhacker
  • My Brother, My Brother, and Me
  • Passenger List
  • SCP Archives

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Poor strangers, they have so much to be afraid of: Reviewing We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Hello everyone! I’m back at it again with another book review. I have been enjoying my break and needed to ease back into reading. I wanted to read this one for October since it is a horror/mystery novella, but stuff happens. Hopefully, I can get in one more novel before the New Years. Anyways, here’s my review of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

Mary Katherine Blackwood, who is affectionately known as Merricat, lives happily on the edge of town with her sister Constance and Uncle Julian. Merricat’s quaint little world is shattered when their estranged cousin Charles Blackwood comes into town in hopes of gaining his inheritance. Now, Merricat and Constance must come to terms with their gruesome past in order to deal with their uncertain future.

Shirley Jackson uses some great techniques in her writing, as she lures you in with something seemingly ordinary but leaves you questioning who or what the real threat is. There is an interesting element of not knowing who to be afraid of by the time you finish one of Jackson’s stories. We Have Always Live in the Castle left me questioning who I should sympathize with and I loved that aspect of the story. It’s short but complicated in the most interesting way possible. There is a lot of reading in between the lines for this novel. You really have to pay attention, particularly since the story is told through Mary Katherine’s point of view. Jackson’s novellas and short stories are endlessly re-readable and We Have Always Live in the Castle absolutely fits the bill.

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The Anti-TBR Book Tag

Hey everyone! I’m officially done with my fall semester and I am enjoying every minute of my holiday break. I am also catching up on my TBR list but I wanted to do a tag while I was at it. I found this one on @Embuhleeliest blog so feel free to check her out. Also, I now tag you tag so join in on the tag. (By the way, if someone could create a book tag for evermore now that the album has dropped then that would be great).

A Popular Book That You Have No Interest in Reading: Everyone seems to really love Sarah J. Maas right now and I really don’t think I could ever get into her novels. I am also not terribly interested in any sort of “white woman leading a perfect life has a deep secret” type of novel.

A Classic Book (or Author) You Have No Interest In Reading: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, or any Dickens novel at that. I have heard that they are just really dry novels.

An Author Whose Books You Have No Interest In Reading: I was forced to read an Ayn Rand novel in high school and I never want to read another novel by her. From what I understand, she is mostly just rude to poor people. No thanks.

A Problematic Author Whose Books You Have No Interest In Reading: I have heard too many things about Chuck Palahnuik being pretty racist and misogynistic in his novels, so I am not terribly interested in reading his stuff any time in the future.

An Author You Have Read a Couple of Books From and Decided They Weren’t For You: I really tried to get into Dean Koontz. I just couldn’t get super interested in any of his novels. There was one I liked, but I didn’t care for the others I tried to read.

A Genre You Have No Interest In or A Genre That You Tried to Get Into but Just Couldn’t: I really just can’t do contemporary romance. I think the books are so freaking boring and way too similar to each other.

A Book You Have Bought but Will Never Read: I do have a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale but I really don’t know if or when I am going to read it. I would rather read other novels by Margaret Atwood.

A Series You Have No Interest in Reading or DNF’d: I didn’t care for The Maze Runner series, the Cormoran Strike novels, or the Artemis Fowl series.

A New Release You Have No Interest in Reading: I have no interest in reading Ernest Cline’s Ready Player Two or anything released by Cassandra Clare within the last five years.