First off, thank you for reading this!
In 2021, I started an Instagram for the things that I do or watch, like playing board games, or watching shows, or finished books. You can follow me on there at @AdrienneMagna. Magna means “the great” in Latin. I got inspiration from Pompeius Magnus, that guy from history.
Bewks
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I had a goal of reading 20 books, which I then upped to 24. I finished with 25.
My favorite book of the year was Chesapeake by James Michener, which was 1,024 pages and about 52 hours of audiobook. It took me months to read it because I would check it out from the library and then three weeks would go by, and I couldn't renew it. So there were long times between reading it where I had to read other things. It really inspired me to read more of his works though because I learn so much from his books and I get to do some mental traveling. Well, I actually live in Maryland so learning about the Eastern Shore wasn't really traveling too far but you get what I mean.
The shortest book I read was Find Your Artistic Voice. It was pretty interesting but it didn't really help me all that much. Actually, Andy J. Pizza's advice has been the best for me. Check out his podcast!
The book that I rated highest was Adyashanti’s The End of Your World, which was about letting go of the ego. I think I have to read that one again.
The Book of Accidents was the dumbest book I read all year, followed closely by Bones and All. What starts out as an interesting premise just devolved into a predictable plot or something that made no sense at all.
The worst book was I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness. I think I liked the cover a million times better than the book itself, which I found completely full of itself.
I enjoyed the twists in Who is Maud Dixon. I predicted the last twist but it was still a fun ride and it's set in Morocco so it's a bit of armchair travel.
Remarkable Creatures was a surprise hit, I loved reading that one and learning about the real life fossil hunter, Mary Anning. She led an interesting life and really broke down some barriers for women by just doing her thing.
If you're looking for a book about paintings, I really loved Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which tells the story of a painting, but backwards. So you find it in our current times, but then we go back one degree, and hear the stories of the people who have owned it before. It so transported me. Lovely book.
Films / Movies
Follow me on Letterboxd! That's where I post what I've been watching, including miniseries that I come across.
Some stats!
I watched an average of 11.2 movies a month and as of this writing, 135 films or miniseries watched. That's ALL movies, not just new-to-me movies. I think next year I'm just going to keep it to 100 films total, not specifically new to me. I don't really like rewatching movies anyway, so normally they are new to me. But some favorites slip in occasionally.
My first miniseries was Landscapers and my last movie was Glass Onion. Most watched was The Northman and Top Gun Maverick.
Most watched actor is Colin Farrell ❤️
Some other really good movies that I really liked were
- TAR
- Barbarian
- The Northman
- Scarface
The worst movies I watched were:
- Bodies Bodies Bodies
- The Wind
- The Deep House
The longest movie I watched was The Batman.
Some of the movies I found the funniest were Deadstream and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Movies that I didn’t get, in terms of why it was so popular or why the reviews were so good: Both Sides of the Blade, Bones and All, Petite Maman, Crimes of the Future, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, The Lost City (it started out fine!), Resurrection, Mad God, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Movies that they didn’t get:
- The Card Counter
- House of Gucci (hilarious)
- The Last Duel (lots of mixed reviews on this one)
Honorable mentions because I liked parts of the movie but something didn’t work for me:
- Three Thousand Years of Longing (ending)
- All My Friends Hate Me (ending)
- The Menu (ending)
- Red Rocket (ending)
- Triangle of Sadness (the middle part, ugh)
Most horrifying:
- Funny Games (watched both of them at the same time, slight differences, same scary ideas)
- Housebound
- Men
- Cape Fear
- Fresh
- Speak No Evil
- Terrifier
Saddest:
- Leaving Las Vegas
- Mass
- Speak No Evil
Had high hopes but was disappointed:
- The Cursed
- Bones and All
- Both Sides of the Blade (Juliette Binoche, what was that?)
Surprised me by how good it was:
- The Lost Daughter (and I read the book afterwards!)
- Death to Smoochy
- Station Eleven (miniseries)
- Cape Fear
- The Aviator
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Dual
- Vengeance
- Catherine Called Birdy
- Emily the Criminal
- Capote (read the book)
If you're interested in hearing from me, like, with your ears, check out my Youtube channel.
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