In lieu of an RPL at Residence publish for December, I needed to shut out the 12 months by sharing the perfect issues I learn and watched this 12 months.
I hope you discover one thing that piques your curiosity right here!
The very best books I learn this 12 months
Studying is my favourite passion (each time I’m prepared for a brand new profession, will probably be skilled reader), so I’m sharing the 12 greatest books I learn this 12 months.
Mom Mary Involves Me, Arundhati Roy (2025)
This is without doubt one of the most compelling memoirs I’ve ever learn. This one is from Indian creator Arundhati Roy—whose first novel The God of Small Issues gained the Booker Prize in 1997—and it facilities on her difficult relationship together with her larger-than-life mom. Uncooked, gripping, and brilliantly written.
Learn this in case you: Admire memoirs that really feel each fiercely private and quietly political. It helps to be accustomed to Roy’s work but it surely’s not needed.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sonny, Kiran Desai (2025)
I’m a sucker for sprawling household sagas in addition to novels that unpack the unrootedness and loneliness of being an immigrant, so I knew I used to be going to get pleasure from this one, however I wasn’t ready for simply how a lot I’d get pleasure from it.
I re-read and highlighted passages and whole chapters just because I felt them so deeply, as a result of I may envision the characters as individuals I’ve met earlier than, as a result of it stirred up emotions and experiences I used to be by no means capable of articulate so eloquently.
Learn this in case you: Can’t resist a sweeping household novel or immigrant tales that seize the quiet ache of displacement and belonging.
Nice Circle, Maggie Shipstead (2021)
My buddy lent me this novel, telling me it was “transformative.” I assumed she was exaggerating as a result of the topic—a feminine pilot within the Thirties and Forties—sounded solely mildly attention-grabbing to me. I’m proud to report she was proper. That is such a artistic novel that brings to life a personality who I’ll keep in mind endlessly.
Learn this in case you: Love formidable, character-driven storytelling with a fearless girl on the middle. Additionally, in case you assume you’re not into “historic fiction,” this may change your thoughts.
Random Household, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
On this narrative nonfiction, we get to know an prolonged Puerto Rican-American household within the Bronx between the ‘80s and ‘90s as they navigate love, household, medication, and incarceration. I discovered myself completely absorbed with even probably the most minute particulars of those characters’ lives, usually questioning what I’d have achieved if I had been of their sneakers.
Learn this in case you: Are drawn to immersive narrative nonfiction that blurs the road between journalism and novel. Or need to perceive how structural forces like poverty form on a regular basis decisions.
Half of a Yellow Solar, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)
Earlier than studying this, I had by no means heard in regards to the Nigerian Civil battle, regardless of its heavy toll (tens of millions of civilians died from hunger). The novel is informed by a number of interconnected characters as they battle to outlive the battle. It begins a bit sluggish however rapidly turns into a page-turner (regardless that I discovered myself routinely pausing to study extra historic context).
Learn this in case you: You like to study historical past by storytelling, and are keen to sit down with a slower starting in alternate for one thing deeply transferring.
The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen (2015)
One other historic fiction novel, this one follows a North Vietnamese mole within the South Vietnamese Military on the finish of the Vietnam Conflict. Typically it appears like a spy novel, different occasions darkish comedy, and but different occasions, political intrigue. At all times thrilling. Just like the novel above, you’ll additionally get the form of historical past lesson they not often train you at school.
Learn this in case you: Take pleasure in spy novels or political satire. Or have an interest within the Vietnam Conflict and its aftermath.
Martyr, Kaveh Akbar (2024)
I lent this novel to a buddy and merely mentioned “I’ve by no means learn something like this.” Per week later, she returned it, and mentioned “I do know precisely what you imply.” The narrator is a younger Iranian-American man who’s acutely self-aware of his flaws, however he’s not possible to not root for. He offers with common emotions—grief, habit, loneliness, the seek for which means—however Akbar writes about them in a really character-specific manner that’s by no means trite.
Learn this in case you: Recognize messy, deeply human protagonists. Or End up grappling with the query, “How do I make sense of a world that usually feels mindless?”
A Guide for Cleansing Ladies, Lucia Berlin (2015)
That is positively probably the most distinctive books I’ve ever learn. It’s a set of quick tales, every of which delves into the intimate lives of working class girls with uncooked candor and darkish humor. You’ll be able to by no means inform what’s fiction and what’s primarily based on Berlin’s personal life as a single mom who labored varied odd jobs and battled habit.
Learn this in case you: Love quick tales with a particular voice and emotional honesty. Or are fascinated about uncooked, unsentimental portraits of working-class girls informed with darkish humor.
Evicted, Matthew Desmond (2016)
Round 2008, Desmond adopted eight poor households in Milwaukee as they every struggled to remain housed and documented their tales. Whereas that is technically nonfiction primarily based on analysis and fieldwork, it reads like a novel you may’t put down. I feel it must be required studying for each American.
Learn this in case you: Are drawn to immersive narrative nonfiction that reads with the urgency of a page-turning novel.
LaRose, Louise Erdrich (2016)
I’ve been a fan of Erdrich’s since I learn her acclaimed novel, The Spherical Home, a decade in the past, so when I discovered LaRose in one among my free public libraries, I knew it was time to revisit her work. Erdrich takes a seemingly easy premise—a tragic accident that kills a toddler—and turns it right into a nuanced, richly layered story of atonement and justice.
Learn this in case you: Take pleasure in quiet novels that depart an emotional echo. Or are fascinated about nuanced explorations of grief, justice, and forgiveness.
Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward (2011)
This novel takes place within the days main as much as Hurricane Katrina in a poor city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our essential character is a pregnant 15-year previous woman, dwelling in a rotting junkyard alongside her three protecting brothers and alcoholic father. Ward herself grew up in rural Mississippi and survived Katrina by sheltering in a automotive, which makes the novel really feel all of the extra pressing, particularly the final 80 pages or so, when the household hunkers all the way down to survive the storm.
Learn this in case you: Wish to learn a novel that feels visceral and pressing.
Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver (2009)
I discovered myself completely absorbed with the life trajectory of the protagonist, a younger man who floats between Mexico and the U.S. as his life is formed by interactions with artists (Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera), revolutionaries (Leon Trotsky), and political actions (the Pink Scare). The way in which Kingsolver blends his intimate private narrative with these massive historic moments made me assume he was, actually, an actual individual in historical past.
Learn this in case you: Adore historic fiction, particularly in case you love when actual figures and fictional lives intertwine.
The very best TV exhibits I watched this 12 months
There may be SO a lot to look at on TV nowadays. The staggering quantity of selection may be overwhelming, so in case you’d moderately somebody decide your subsequent present for you, listed below are six exhibits I totally loved this 12 months.
Sluggish Horses (Apple TV)
Spy thrillers / dramas are my favourite TV style, and the British present Sluggish Horses is near my favourite spy collection (second solely to The Individuals and the French-language collection, Le Bureau).
Season 5, just like the earlier seasons, strikes an awesome stability of humor, thrilling intrigue, and realism.
Watch this in case you: Love spy exhibits however need realism and hilariously dysfunctional characters as a substitute of James Bond leaping out of exploding helicopters.
The Lowdown (FX)
Occasionally, we’re fortunate to witness a present or a film the place it genuinely feels just like the position was written for that exact actor. I really feel that manner about the primary character in The Lowdown, who Ethan Hawke performs so brilliantly.
He’s self-centered however beneficiant, he makes horrible selections however he’s sensible, he’s reckless however assured. Hawke isn’t the one draw although. The storyline—the seek for the reality about corruption in Tulsa, Oklahoma—is intriguing and the creative course is completely distinctive, with every episode that includes one thing quirky to savor.
Watch this in case you: Recognize actors fully disappearing into a task. And revel in exhibits that really feel artistically alive.
Pluribus (Apple TV)
On this post-apocalyptic sci-fi collection, we observe creator Carol, who’s one among solely 13 individuals on the planet who survives an alien virus that transforms everybody else right into a peaceable hive thoughts.
The 2 issues I really like in regards to the present probably the most: (1) Carol is commonly cranky and impolite however you continue to root for her; (2) each episode, I pause not less than just a few occasions to debate philosophical questions like, “if I had been Carol, would I attempt to save the world, or would I simply give in and benefit from the happy-yet-creepy vibes?”
Watch this in case you: Favor your sci-fi to be extra “philosophical thought experiment” moderately than lasers and house battles. Additionally, you don’t thoughts a sluggish burn.
Jap Gate (HBO Max)
One other spy thriller, this one Polish and set in 2021, getting ready to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We observe Ewa, a Polish spy who’s powerful and fascinating, as she stealthily tracks down details about a nuclear bomb program and tries to uncover a leak in Polish intelligence.
Watch this in case you: Need a spy drama that feels present, get pleasure from being on the sting of your seat, and love a robust feminine lead.
Mo (Netflix)
Loosely primarily based on comic Mo Amer’s life as a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Houston, Mo is without doubt one of the most original exhibits on TV. It’s not possible to not fall in love with the quick-talking, joke-spitting, code-switching, entrepreneurial Mo, in addition to his household.
The present touches on deep subjects and is commonly heartwrenching, however the humor is at all times current.
Watch this in case you: Recognize heartfelt tales about immigrant households that aren’t cliche. And need to fall in love with a essential character you want had been your buddy IRL.
The Beast in Me (Netflix)
On this thriller, Claire Danes performs a once-successful author who’s been unable to jot down since her son died and has alienated everybody round her. Mathew Rhys performs her mega-millionaire actual property tycoon neighbor, and their lives start to intersect in additional methods than one.
What I like most in regards to the present is Danes’ skill to convey stress, angst, and emotional misery in such a practical, visceral manner (followers of Homeland will admire this).
Watch this in case you: Favor psychological thrillers which might be extra about emotional pressure moderately than soar scares (although there are just a few of these too).
What had been the perfect stuff you learn and watched in 2025?
I’d be delighted in case you left a remark with the perfect ebook you learn (or greatest TV present you watched) this 12 months. And tell us why you really liked it!
Wishing you all a soothing and love-filled vacation season!
