Top Books of 2018

It’s time for my top lists of the year. I’ll only be doing Books and Films again this year, it’s where I spend the majority of my entertainment time (games are work). I wasn’t able to invest the time needed to make a Concerts or Albums list, that’s not saying I didn’t listen to new music and see shows, just I didn’t invest the time I feel is needed to make a list.

We will start this year with books, this one is a little different in that the books didn’t have to come out this year, BUT they had to be a new read to me (or a reread of something I may not have grasped when younger). I read/listened to 92 books this year, a new record for me! So here are my top (recommended) books of 2018,  in no particular order but split it into fiction and nonfiction. There are a lot because, I read a lot!

Non- Fiction

• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
• The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King
• Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
• Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II
  by Liza Mundy
  Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life by James Kerr
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson,  Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
• Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime by Ron Stallworth
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Fiction

• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
• Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Honorable Mention

• First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power by Kate Andersen Brower
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
• Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright
• Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive & Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi
• Find Your Why: A Practical Guide to Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by Simon Sinek,  David Mead, Peter Docker

Older List: 2015, 2016, 2017

Advertisement

Top Films of 2017

2017 was a good year for films, some really great movies came out. I saw around 50 films this year, and only had a few left on my want to see list. So here they are, my top films of 2017 (No order, but #1 is Bold)

Get Out

Baby Driver  

Dunkirk

The Big Sick

Phantom Thread

Blade Runner 2049

Logan Lucky

The Post

Wind River

Lady Bird  

Thor: Ragnarok

Darkest Hour  

Star Wars:The Last Jedi

 

Honorable Mentions

The Disaster Artist, Three Billboards, Call Me By Your Name, The Meyerowitz Stories, Stronger, Okja, Score, The Florida Project, Molly’s Game, Columbus, Goodtime

Previous lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Top Books of 2017

It’s time for my top lists of the year, I’m breaking from tradition this year sadly. I’ll only be doing Books and Film. I wasn’t able to invest the time and money needed to make a Concerts or Albums list, that’s not saying I didn’t listen to new music and see shows, just I didn’t invest the time I feel is needed to make a list.

We will start this year with books, this one is a little different in that the books didn’t have to come out this year, BUT they had to be a new read to me (or a reread of something I may not have grasped when younger). I read/listened to 63 books this year! So here are my top (recommended) books of 2016,  in no particular order but split it into fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction

• City of Thieves – David Benioff
• The Martian – Andy Weir
• Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
• The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Emma
• Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman
• The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead

Non-Fiction

• Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly
• Thanks for the Feedback – Sheila Heen, Douglas Stone
• Grit – Angela Duckworth
• Hillbilly Elegy – JD Vance
• Eating the Dinosaur – Chuck Klosterman
• Mindset – Carol Dweck
• The Four Tendencies – Gretchen Rubin

Braving the Wilderness – Brené Brown

Older List: 2015, 2016

Top Albums of the last 10 years (2006-2016)

I’ve been keeping lists of my favorite new albums every year since 2006 (the 2006 list was lost on myspace blogs), so this being the 10th year that I’ve done this I wanted to make a top albums of the last 10 years. There are rules: 1) The album had to be on a previous list, so even if I heard a better album after if it wasn’t on the list I can’t use it 2) List them in a non specific order 3) 40 albums total

• The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
• Twenty One Pilots – Vessels
• The Tallest Man On Earth – There’s No Leaving Now
• Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
• Damien Rice – My Favorite Faded Fantasy
• Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
• Cloud Cult – Light Chasers
• Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
• Bon Iver – Bon Iver
• Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
• Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
• Die Antwoord – Donker Mag
• Pharrell Williams – G I R L
• alt-J – This Is All Yours
• Senses Fail – Still Searching
• CHVRCHES – Every Open Eye
• Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
• Nero – Welcome Reality
• MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
• Monsters of Folk – Monsters Of Folk
• The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love
• M. Ward – Hold Time
• Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
• Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
• The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
• Mutemath – Mutemath
• The Killers – Sam’s Town
• The Lumineers – The Lumineers
• The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
• Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
• Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
• Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
• Damien Rice – 9
• Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts
• Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy (OST)
• Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
• Muse – The Resistance
• Arctic Monkeys – AM
• Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz

Lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Top Films of the last 10 years (2006-2016)

I’ve been keeping lists of my favorite new films every year since 2006 (the 2006 list was lost on myspace blogs), so this being the 10th year I’ve done this I wanted to make a top films of the last 10 years. There are rules: 1) The film had to be on a previous list, so even if I saw a better film after if it wasn’t on the list I can’t use it 2) List them in a non specific order 3) 35 films total

• Boyhood
• The Social Network
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Act of Killing
• Drive
• Room
• Short Term 12
• Ex Machina
• The Look of Silence
• What We Do In the Shadows
• Nightcrawler
• Birdman
• Whiplash
• LEGO Movie
• Fruitvale Station
• The Master
• Beast of the Southern Wild
• The Muppets
• Inception
• Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
• Restrepo
• Blue Valentine
• The Hurt Locker
• District 9
• UP
• (500) Days of Summer
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Up in the Air
• The Dark Knight
• In Bruges
• No Country for old men
• Hot Fuzz
• There Will Be Blood
• The Departed
• Sing Street

Lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Top Films of 2016

2016 was a good year for films, not great but really good. I saw around 70 films this year, and only had a few left on my want to see list. So here they are, my top films of 2016 (No order, but #1 is Bold)

 

Sing Street

Zootopia

The Nice Guys

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

La La Land

The Dark Horse

Hidden Figures

Manchester by the Sea

Arrival

Moonlight

Star Wars: Rogue One 

Imperium

American Honey

 

Honorable Mentions

The Handmaiden, Captain Fantastic, The Witch, Eye in the Sky, Everybody Wants Some, Hell or High Water, Love & Friendship, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Lobster, Keanu, Deadpool

Previous lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Top Albums of 2016

What an interesting year in music, some really good albums came out this year, below is my list. (Remember there is no ranking other than the #1 which is bolded)

Bon Iver – 22, A Million

Sing Street – Sing Street

Cloud Cult – The Seeker

Conor Oberst – Ruminations

The Lumineers – Cleopatra

Justice – Woman

Die Antwoord – Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid

Broke for Free – XXVII

Lindsey Stirling – Brave Enough

The Avett Brothers – True Sadness

Two Door Cinema Club – Gameshow

Tycho – Epoch

M. Ward – More Rain

 

Honorary

Jake Bugg – On My One, Animal Collective – Painting With, The Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You’ve Come to Expect, Deadmau5 – W:/2016ALBUM/, Regina Spektor – Remember Us To Life, Jack White – Jack White Acoustic Recordings, Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool, Bastille – Wild World

Previous lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Top Books of 2016

This one is a little different in that the books didn’t have to come out this year, BUT they had to be a new read to me (or a reread of something I may not have grasped when younger). I read/listened to 87 books this year! I was well on my way to 100 but then I started traveling and surprisingly had no time to read. I read mostly nonfiction this year so there are a lot more non fiction recommendations than fiction. So here are my top (recommended) books of 2016,  in no particular order but split it into fiction and nonfiction.

NON FICTION 

Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion – Jonathan Haidt

The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

Think LIke a Freak – Steven Levitt

The Wright Brothers – David McCullough

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit – Mark Seal

War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning – Chris Hedges

Pitch Perfect – Bill McGowan

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William L. Shirer

Dark Money – Jane Mayer

Born to Run – Christopher McDougal

The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World – The Dalai Lama

The Right Kind of Crazy – Adam Steltzner

FICTION

American Gods – Neil Gaiman

It Can’t Happen Here – Sinclair Lewis

Will in Scarlet – Matthew Cody

Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson

Dune – Frank Herbert

Everyone Brave is Forgiven – Chris Cleave

 

Older List: 2015

Top Concerts of 2016

Welcome dear friends to another year of top lists, back by demand from like one person! To start though let’s take a look at my top 13 concerts of 2016! (Remember there is no ranking other than the #1 which is bolded)

Mutemath

Josh Ritter

Twenty One Pilots

Dropkick Murphy’s

Beyonce

M. Ward

Born Ruffians

The Front Bottoms

Edward Sharpe

Flight of the Conchords

Barnstar

Brick and Mortar

LFA

Previous lists: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Top Films of 2015

2015 was a really solid year for films, I saw probably the most new films ever this year (80+), most were really solid, some were great, some were awful. While there wasn’t a single film that got a perfect score from me this year, there were some great ones as well as some really interesting ones that (some interesting ones that didn’t quite make the list Victoria, Tangerine). It really was hard to pick a top film as there were 4 films tied for the top, but I picked the one I just kept coming back to. So here they are, my top films of 2015 (No order, but #1 is Bold)

Mad Max: Fury Road

Inside Out

‘71

Room

Ex Machina

The Revenant

The Look of Silence

Spotlight

What We Do In the Shadows

The Big Short

Beasts of No Nation

Creed

Dope

Honorable Mentions

Sicario, The Martian, Star Wars 7, The Gift, Steve Jobs, Bridge of Spies, Kilo Two Bravo, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Mr Holmes, Clouds of Sils Maria

Previous lists: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014