Hahahahaha I started putting this together in late December 2021, and now in mid-May 2022 I’ve finally decided to hit publish.
Here is an overdue account of all the books, movies, TV shows, and theater I saw last year. For recaps of my media and literary diet in years past, here are the links for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
BOOKS
I read 43 books last year, which is 11 more than 2020. I am still devoted to the Libby app, which connects to your local library so you can rent e-books and audiobooks for free. In 2021, I listened to more audiobooks than ever before, which surely accounted for the higher overall count.
Below is a list of all the books I read this year, in the order I read them. These were my favorites:
- Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
And these get honorable mention:
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
- The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
- Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- The Guncle by Steven Rowley
- Hooked by Sutton Foster
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Now for the full list!
 | The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead) (audiobook) - 4 stars Devastating story of a reform school for boys in 1960s Florida at which students were severely abused, some to the point of death. Narrator Elwood Curtis lives in present day New York City; an investigation into the reform school forces him to confront the painful memories of his youth, and grapple with larger questions about his identity.
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 | Caste (Isabel Wilkerson) (audiobook) - 5 stars I anticipated a variation on the theme of antiracism, but it’s so much more than that. Wilkerson dives into the history of the caste system in India, and makes the clear argument that we are living with a similar (though largely unacknowledged) system in the U.S. By identifying specifics of our systemic racism, we can be more clear-eyed in addressing it. Really captivating book; among the best I read in 2021.
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 | Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (Lori Gottlieb) - 4.5 stars What happens with a therapist goes through their own crisis? Lori Gottlieb transparently demonstrates just that, alternating stories from her own therapy sessions with those of her clients as she struggles to get a foothold on her life. Lori’s story stands out in several ways – she lives in Los Angeles, she worked in TV production for many years, then she went to medical school, and finally she pivoted to become a therapist. She intertwines this personal history with stories of her sessions as both therapist and client. An entertaining and enlightening read.
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 | The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) - 4.5 stars A gem of a book. The protagonist, Nora, is on the brink of suicide when she finds herself at the Midnight Library – an amorphous place where she can read books of all the ways her life would’ve gone had she made different choices. What if she’d pursued music and become famous? Or become a single mom, or ran a winery? Of course each of these twists in her life path bring about unintended consequences – when you change one thing, you change everything. By reflecting on these unlived lives, Nora identifies what really matters and discovers a fresh will to live. (It prompts a similar reflection in the reader.)
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 | The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo) (audiobook) - 4 stars This is a quick YA read, written gorgeously as an extended poem (or novel-in-verse, as some reviews call it). Xiomara is a young teen living in Harlem who uses poetry to make sense of her world – her mother is strictly religious, she is often measured against her twin brother, and she struggles how to proceed with feelings for her lab partner. I recommend the audiobook, which is narrated by the author.
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 | A Good Neighborhood (Therese Anne Fowler) - 4 stars Valerie and her biracial teenage son live in an idyllic North Carolina neighborhood. A wealthy white family moves in next door and begins a major overhaul on their home and land; a tree on Valerie’s side of the property line suffers as a result, causing tension and setting off a tragic chain of events. You sense where this story is going and it’s painful to watch it unfold, yet the author has a firm grip on her readers and makes it impossible to put down this book.
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 | Wow No Thank You (Samantha Irby) (audiobook) - 3.5 stars Always hilarious (and occasionally poignant) self-depreciating essays from the writer of “We Are Never Meeting In Real Life.” I was more of a fan of that essay book, but still very much enjoyed this one, especially in audio format as read by the author.
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 | The Power of Ritual (Casper ter Kuile) - 4.5 stars A fascinating look at how we create meaning through ritual in today’s society. As people have trended away from religious establishments in large numbers, there is still a need to fill that void, and Casper ter Kuile identifies the areas where we seek out meaning and connection. He investigates sacred readings (Harry Potter counts!), tech sabbaths, eating and exercising to connect with others, and taking a pilgrimage to connect with the natural world. Really interesting ideas that I’ve mulled over the past several months.
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 | The Sun Down Motel (Simone St. James) - 2.5 stars I had high hopes for this book but could not get into it. It’s set at a creepy, rundown motel in upstate New York; there are ghosts trying to connect with a newcomer to help solve a crime from decades earlier.
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 | Homeland Elegies (Ayad Akhtar) (audiobook) - 5 stars A gorgeous combination of fiction mixed with autobiography. I was familiar with the author as a Pulitzer-prize winning playwright, and he writes this novel from the first person perspective of someone with his same name, occupation, and background… so it’s hard to guess where the line is between fact and fiction. When he reveals his dad was Trump’s cardiologist decades before his presidency, I thought, “There’s no way this is true!” which prompted me to read more about this intriguing blend of fact and fiction. (I really enjoyed his stories behind-the-scenes of his play in NYC.) I found this book wholly engaging, artful, and illuminating.
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 | The Quality of Life Report (Meghan Daum) - 3 stars This was a re-read from my early 20s – I remember loving this book back then, and was curious if it holds up. (Answer: a little.) It’s about a morning news show producer living in New York City. She grows tired of her overworked, underpaid life in an expensive city, and pitches a story where she’ll move to the middle of the country and report on the quality of life differences she experiences there. What ensues is a fish-out-of-water story. She makes strides to fit into a community where she is the oddball (while not fully able to give up her big city ideals), and contemplates how to make sense of it all. It’s good food for thought, and less relevant to my life now than in my early 20s, when my perspective was less attuned to the grey areas of life.
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 | Leave the World Behind (Rumaan Alam) (audiobook) - 4 stars This book falls into the horror genre despite nothing specifically horrific actually happening – it’s more the absence of information that makes the hair on your neck stand up. A family of four settles into their secluded Airbnb rental for vacation. Then the couple who owns the house shows up – they’ve just come from New York City, where the power grid seemed to be shutting down so they escaped while they could. Eerie things happen: they realize it’s been days since planes have flown overhead … the power cuts out and the generator turns on… I won’t say more, but it takes a savvy author to make you feel like the world is about to end at any moment.
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 | Detransition Baby (Torrey Peters) - 4 stars This novel is about three women (transgenered and cisgenered) whose lives come together around an unexpected pregnancy. The title refers to the character of Amy/Ames, who is detransitioning from his life as a trans woman. (This was a new perspective to me and I was glad to encounter it.) Ames has gotten his girlfriend Katrina pregnant – Katrina had no idea that Ames was previously a woman named Amy (who before that was born and raised as male). Katrina isn’t sure Ames is up to the task of being a parent to their baby, but Ames knows that his former girlfriend Reese (a trans woman) wants nothing more than to be a parent, and together the three of them would make a great team to raise this baby. Much of the story is told from Reese’s point of view, and she is both whip smart and heavily protective of the life she’s built for herself. It’s a tricky situation with smart perspectives all around. Really great read.
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 | The Idea of You (Robinne Lee) - 4.5 stars Sexy story of a mom who brings her teenage daughter to a famous boy band concert and then finds herself in a secret love affair with a Harry Styles-esque singer, which the world (especially her daughter!) can never know about. SUCH A FUN READ.
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 | What Kind of Woman (Kate Baer) - 3.5 stars Kate Baer has written “white out” poems on Instagram, which are top notch and worth seeking out. This book of her poetry is a quick read and packs a good punch.
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 | Transcendent Kingdom (Yaa Gyasi) - 3.5 stars The story is centered on Gifty, a 28-year-old PhD candidate in neuroscience at Stanford; she has returned home to care for her mother, who is suffering from depression. Their Ghanian family immigrated to Alabama decades earlier, and has navigated the ups and downs of family, religion, drug abuse, and attempted suicide.
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 | Red White & Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston) - 4.5 stars A delicious love story between the President’s son and the Prince of England. It’s hot and fun. Currently being adapted into a feature film by Tony-winning playwright Matthew Lopez. (I have had on-going text chains with friends about who should be cast in this movie.)
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 | Originals (Adam Grant) (audiobook) - 4 stars This book is a few years old, and was a great audiobook listen – very similar to taking in a long podcast. He writes about the habits of original thinkers: how to recognize perceived weakness as strengths, how procrastinating can lead to good ideas, and how to embrace failure.
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 | Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) - 3.5 stars Fantasy about a bold young woman named Noemí who visits a secluded castle to investigate her cousin’s claims that her husband is trying to control her. Then mysterious things happen to undermine Noemí’s control, despite her vigilance to guard against such supernatural threats.
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 | Northern Spy (Flynn Berry) (audiobook) - 3 stars Overrated spy drama that takes place in Northern Ireland in present day, but with a fictitious slant – in this novel, the IRA didn’t disappear after The Troubles ended in the late 1990s, but instead continues to operate underground terrorizing Irish citizens, including the woman at the center of this novel.
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 | The Push (Ashley Audrain) (audiobook) - 3.5 stars A dark look at motherhood through the perspective of a woman whose young daughter grows to hate her, and actively tries to ruin her life (or does she?). There’s a question of unreliable narration as we can’t entirely tell how much to trust the woman at the center of this story (and she’s not sure how much to trust herself). Ultimately I did not enjoy this book, but I appreciate what the author is trying to accomplish here.
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 | The Last Thing He Told Me (Laura Dave) (audiobook) - 3 stars Overrated mystery about a woman whose husband takes off when the police come after him for a business-related crime. She must join forces with his teenage daughter to uncover the truth about where he went.
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 | The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune) - 4.5 stars Utterly charming fantasy book about a school for misfits who have too much magic to live in the normal world, so they’ve been sent to reside in this house on an island far away from everyone. An auditor-type person is sent to check on the house, and despite his by-the-book personality, he gets drawn into the colorful web of characters on this island, and ultimately comes to some deep realizations about himself. Highly recommend.
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 | Meet Me In Another Life (Catroina Silvey) (audiobook) - 4 stars Love this high concept book – a man and woman keep meeting each other in life after life after life. Each reincarnation brings them to the same clock tower in a central European city. At some point in their new lives, they each recognize the other, and it takes dozens of lifetimes for them to construct some idea of what is happening and why they seem to be in a different timeline than everyone else.
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 | The Wreckage of My Presence (Casey Wilson) (audiobook) - 2.5 stars Not my favorite celeb memoir, and I’ll leave it at that. Had much higher hopes for enjoyment.
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 | The Anthropocene Reviewed (John Green) (audiobook) - 5 stars My favorite book of the year. Young adult author John Green reviews all sorts of things – from scratch-and-sniff stickers to loneliness to Cadanian geese to mental health during a pandemic, among dozens more topics. He is such a good writer, and I especially love hearing his voice on the audiobook. Note that there is a podcast of the same name if you want to sample some of his reviews before committing to the whole thing.
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 | How to Do the Work (Dr. Nicole LePera) - 4.5 stars Excellent book by a psychologist who has examined her past carefully, and offers new perspectives to people who might be struggling with family and addiction and other aspects of their lives.
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 | The Guncle (Steven Rowley) - 4 stars Delightful novel of a washed up gay actor in Palm Springs who suddenly becomes guardian of his young niece and nephew visiting from Connecticut. He uses their summer together to teach them about the world through his eyes. So much fun!
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 | Inherit the Wind (Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee) (play) - 4 stars Excellent play about the Scopes Trial, originally written in 1955 with incredibly disturbing relevance to today – the trial was about the right of public schools to teach students about evolution instead of creationism.
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 | Skylight (David Hare) (play) – 3.5 stars This play was written in 1995, and a Broadway revival several years ago starred Carey Mulligan and Billy Nighy as estranged lovers reunited for one night.
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 | The Lost Apothecary (Sarah Penner) (audiobook) - 2 stars Ooof, I did not enjoy this novel and am surprised I finished the audiobook. It’s about two parallel stories set in the same London neighborhood: one in 1791, and one in 2021. The 1791 story is about a female apothecary who makes potions for women who want to get back at men who’ve made them suffer. The 2021 story is about a woman who’s just discovered her husband has been unfaithful.
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 | Breath (James Nestor) (audiobook) - 3.5 stars Very interesting listen. My takeaways: our breath is an under-studied science. Ideally, we should be breathing in and out for approximately 5 seconds each (probably longer than we naturally do). The ways we breathe / quality of our breath can have tremendous impact on our health.
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 | Burn It All Down (Nicolas DiDomizio) (audiobook) - 3.5 stars A very fun read about a suburban gay teen and his loving yet self-destructive mom – they both find out their boyfriends have been cheating on them, and exact revenge in very under-baked ways that result in them going on the lam. I highly recommend the audiobook for epic New Jersey Italian accents.
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 | The Happiest Man on Earth (Eddie Jaku) (audiobook) - 3.5 stars This was a hard one to get through, yet very moving at the same time. Eddie Jaku writes about living through the Holocaust during his youth, with detailed recollection of the horrors and trauma sustained while watching his family and the world around him brutally destroyed.
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 | Malibu Rising (Taylor Jenkins Reid) - 4 stars Terrific read if you are a fan of Taylor’s other books (*raises hand*) and enjoy reading specifics about Los Angeles culture, history, and geography. Very entertaining while also relevant to the city I call home!
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 | Thick (Tressie McMillan Cottom) - 4 stars Extremely well-written essays about topics connected to race – like politics, beauty, feminism, and competence. It’s worth your time to read this.
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 | Hooked (Sutton Foster) (audiobook) – 4.5 stars I’ve loved watching Broadway (and now TV) star Sutton Foster for nearly 20 years, and yet there’s so much under the surface of her life that was largely private before she published this memoir. She writes openly about her tough relationship with her parents, struggling to conceive a child, and making the jump from theater to TV. Plus a whole chapter dedicated to Patti LuPone! I loved hearing Sutton’s voice on the audiobook.
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 | Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir) - 5 stars Easily one of the best books of 2021. I could not put it down. Don’t even want to spoil it for you, except I will say the book opens with a man in deep space waking up from a years-long induced coma with no idea how he got there or what he’s supposed to do next. (And his fellow shipmates are all dead.) How’s that for a tease?!
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 | Falling (T.J. Newman) - 4 stars Could not put down this thriller, about a flight from JFK to LAX that is taken hostage mid-flight. (Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Trust no one!) This was written by a real-life flight attendant on her cross-country trips over the years. I happened to read it in the air while flying back to LA from NYC… what an eerie coincidence!
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 | Whereabouts (Jhumpa Lahiri) - 4 stars Quick read by one of my favorite authors. It’s a series of short stories about a woman abroad who slowly awakens to the fact that she has outgrown her life in a small town and must move on to somewhere – anywhere – different.
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 | Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Sarah Ruhl) (play) - 4 stars What a terrific concept for a play – a man keels over while eating soup in a restaurant. The woman next to him pulls out his phone and then contacts his family, becoming entrenched in his life to a degree no one ever expected.
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 | In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Sarah Ruhl) (play) - 4 stars Another play by the same playright – this one is about the invention of the vibrator, as a way to “cure” women of any unidentifiable malaise via orgasm. The play centers on the doctor who created the vibrator, and his increasingly distant relationship with his wife as he “cures” other female (and one male) patients.
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 | Smile: The Story of a Face (Sarah Ruhl) (audiobook) - 4 stars Playwright Sarah Ruhl was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy shortly after the birth of her twins. This is a condition where one cannot move half of their face. At the time she was afflicted with this muscle paralysis, Sarah was about to open a play on Broadway (in fact, it was the vibrator play mentioned above). She writes about much of her life story through the lens of Bell’s Palsy, flashing back to when she met her husband and studied playwrighting in college, and then documenting the treatment she embarked on while trying to find peace with this diagnosis and her new face.
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TV SHOWS
Schitt’s Creek (S6)
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (S1)
Death to 2020
Yearly Departed
Go Big Show (S1)
Mr. Mayor (S1)
Killing Eve (S3)
Great British Bake Off (Collection 5)
Ted Lasso (S1-S2)
Mythic Quest (S1-S2)
In & Of Itself
Search Party (S4)
UnREAL (S1-S2)
The Crown (S1-S2)
The Leftovers (S1-S3)
Girls5eva (S1)
Hitmen (S1)
Mare of Easttown
Hacks (S1)
Schmigadoon
Inside: Bo Burnham (Netflix comedy special)
Nate Bargatze (two Netflix comedy specials)
Taylor Tomlinson (Netflix comedy special)
Nicole Byer: BBW (Netflix Comedy Special)
Nate: A One Man Show (Netflix)
MOVIES
Promising Young Woman
The Midnight Sky
After So Many Days
Moxie
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Fake Famous
My Octopus Teacher
All About My Mother
Trial of the Chicago 7
One Night in Miami
Minari
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Mole Agent
In the Heights
Victor/Victoria
OT: Our Town
Revolution Rent
All That Jazz
Dear Evan Hansen
When Harry Met Sally
Meet Me In St. Louis
Tick Tick Boom
West Side Story
Single All the Way
The Family Stone
Being the Ricardos
THEATER
After 16 months of Zoom performances, my return to in-person theater happened last July when I attended the Fountain Theatre’s performance of ‘An Octoroon’ at the outdoor stage in their parking lot. It felt like an experiment: people would shout from cars driving by, and actors on stage might improvise a response. That was followed in September by seeing Hamilton at the Pantages, in a tragically undersold performance (if Hamilton can’t bounce back, how will other shows stand a chance?). I closed out the year with three more shows in Los Angeles just before omicron shut down theater once again, albeit for a much shorter stretch (*knocks on wood*).
I was very fortunate to spend nearly two months in New York City during the fall, which coincided with the re-opening of Broadway. I attended a performance at every available opportunity.
Here are all of the shows I saw in 2021. I cannot understate how good it felt to sit in a dark theater and watch live performances while surrounded by strangers.
THEATER (in NYC) = 27 shows (18 on Broadway, 9 off-Broadway)
BROADWAY:
Chicken & Biscuits
Thoughts of a Colored Man
Dana H
This is a Room
Mrs. Doubtfire
Tina
Girl From North Country
American Utopia
Caroline or Change
Moulin Rouge
Six
Waitress
Lackawana Blues
Freestyle Love Supreme
Trouble in Mind
Clyde’s
Flying Over Sunset
Slave Play
OFF-BROADWAY:
What To Send Up When It Goes Down
Morning Sun
Sanctuary City
Nollywood Dreams
Neil Brennan’s Unacceptable
Assassins
While You Were Partying
Cullud Water
Selling Kabul
THEATER (outside of NYC) = 5 shows
An Octoroon (Fountain Theatre)
Hamilton (Pantages)
Head Over Heels (Pasadena Playhouse)
A Christmas Carol (Ahmanson Theater)
Cruel Intentions the Musical (Bourbon Room)
DIGITAL THEATER (staged productions) = 5 shows
Lungs (Old Vic In Camera)
The Approach (Live from Dublin)
Hi Are You Single? (Woolly Mammoth)
Romeo & Juliet (National Theatre)
Miscast Gala 2021 (MCC)
DIGITAL THEATER (via Zoom or YouTube) = 18 shows
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical
Blue Ridge (PlayPerView)
Circle Jerk (Fake Friends)
What is Left, Burns (Steppenwolf Now)
Red Folder (Steppenwolf NOW)
Beirut (MCC)
On Love (MCC)
Revenge Porn (PlayPerView)
Your Love Our Musical, 25 Years of RENT: Measured in Love (NYTW)
Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! (Steppenwolf Now)
My Joy is Heavy! by the Bengons (Arena Stage)
Bad Jews (PlayPerView)
AYA or Dear Lover (PlayPerView)
This American Wife (Fake Friends)
Four Chords and a Gun (PlayPerView)
Off Broadway (via Broadstream)
AUDIO PLAYS = 1
Wally World by Isaac Gomez (Steppenwolf NOW)
IN-PERSON CONCERTS = 1
Cynthia Erivo at the Hollywood Bowl
DIGITAL CONCERTS = 1
Joey Taranto: Broadway Night
Thanks for following along! What were the best books / movies / TV shows / theater YOU saw last year?
NOTE: I used Amazon Affiliate links for the book titles; should you purchase one, I’d receive a tiny commission.
Caste was also my #1 favorite for 2021 – later this year I am hosting my church book club to discuss this book and I think it will be very interesting (we have a wide range of ages and backgrounds).
Other favorites from 2021 was Crying in H Mart (M Zauner) and Blackout/ All Clear (C Willis), and This is How it Always Is (L Frankel).
I’ve missed your posts, even if it’s an occasional one like this (just added 5 books to be TBR list).
Thank you, Wendy! I appreciate that so much. Glad you added some of those titles to your TBR list, and I’ve added “Crying in H Mart” to mine!