An incomplete list of the best of 2014
It's very hard to collate a ‘best of’ list unless you’ve either (a) been keeping an eye on it all year or (b) have time to go re-consume everything again. I (a) haven’t and (b) don’t so this is an approximation of some of the best things I consumed in 2014, with a bias toward recent things and things that I was reminded on from other people’s ‘best of 2014’ lists.
Enjoy!
Books:
‘The Love Affairs of Nathanial P’ - Adelle Waldman
‘How Should A Person Be?’ - Sheila Heti
‘Women’ - Chloe Caldwell
For me and for many, it was the year of the essay. Favourite collections include: The Empathy Exams & Goodbye To All That.
Articles:
Best pieces of the year, or at least the ones that stuck with me:
“The worst day of my life is now New York’s hottest tourist attraction”
It was a great year for Roxane Gay, here’s just one of her pieces.
My year as an abortion doula.
I also curated 30-ish Reading Lists this year.
Writers/blogs/websites that I found & loved this year:
Sarah Nicole Prickett
Anne Helen Peterson
Ana Kinsella
Roxane Gay
A Cup of Jo
Vela
Hairpin
Emily Books (& Emily Gould)
The Longform Reading App
People who’ve continued to be great from last year:
Ann Friedman
Rachel Hills
Justine Musk
Sarah Wilson
Jessica Stanley’s Read Look think
TV:
The Good Wife continues to be the smartest thing on TV.
The Affair was the most emotionally dense, though not without flaws.
Connected was the most innovative.
Honourable mentions:
Mandy Patinkin’s performance in Homeland.
The first episode of Season 2 of House of Cards.
How To Get Away With Murder & Viola Davis, in particular
Girls
The Honourable Woman
Movies:
The Third Person which I saw on my last day in New York and it left me in a confused (but happy) daze.
Obvious Child - dancy sex scene
Caveat here is that I haven’t seen many movies, including: Boyhood, The Imitation Game, Birdman, Calvary, Frank, 2 days, 1 night,
Theatre:
All The Way & Of Mice and Men on Broadway aka the only theatre I saw this year. I’m an uncultured sort. But both were great.
Most Used Apps:
Kindle
Feedly
Simplenote
Longform
Podcasts:
Slate’s Culture Gabfest
Serial - ethical ickiness aside, it marks a new era for the genre.
Call Your Girlfriend
Longform
