It's that time of year! 2019 has been an eventful one for me. I think I'll try to get another year-end wrap up reflect post before the holidays to talk about this year on a more personal front (I already have a book blog tour post that needs to go up next week). But in the meantime, enjoy my 2019 favorites. (Every time I make these posts, I remember that I should keep better track of what I watch and listen to, the same way I track what I read, because my memory is horrible.)

Without further ado, my favorites of 2019, in no particular order!

Favorite Books of 2019

1. ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong
   
   If you follow me on my bookish accounts, this shouldn't come as a surprise to you. The rest of this list is in no particular order, BUT this book is definitely my top read of the year. Which is not to say it's an easy read. I definitely want to write a full blog post about the book (I have a mini review on Instagram). Anyhow, I've recommended this to everyone while also knowing it isn't a book for everyone. I've never read Vuong's poetry--although now I want to--but you can tell the novel is written by a poet. Each word seems carefully selected, each image and metaphor clearly thought out. It's not a perfect book. It's definitely not an easy book. I sped through it, even while needing to put it down often because of the heaviness of it, but I know that most of my friends have had a hard time picking it up because it's so hard-hitting. It feels strange to see so many white people talk about it and relatively few of the Asian (Americans) I know discuss the book. Which is not to say that I'm the intended audience either, as a relatively privileged East Asian American. But there's something about that white gaze that tickles me a certain way. Either way, this book is surely one of my all time favorites, and I'm eagerly awaiting the paperback's release so I can purchase a copy for a little bit cheaper.
   


COLOR ME IN by Natasha Diaz

I reviewed this one for a blog tour! I loved it! You should read it!




THE FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE by Ruta Sepetys

I have sooo many thoughts on this one, and you can bet I'm planning to write a review on this blog and on bookstagram. It's a good one and does a good job of relatively lightly diving into a really dark history and into an exploration of societal collective memory after dictatorship. But as someone who has studied (and will hopefully continue to study!) memory and legacies of dictatorship, the book is still a little too clean and removed, but I guess it's because of the gaze of the main character...Anyway, more will be said, but this was one of my most anticipated reads and it mostly delivered. I'm glad it exists.

                

I WANNA BE WHERE YOU ARE by Kristina Forest

I also have a very, very short review(ish) post on bookstagram about this one! I should have definitely said more, but life, y'all. The perfect summer read for me, and Kristina is the sweetest. Ballet! Road trips! Black main characters and black love/romance! Need I say more?

THE MAP FROM HERE TO THERE by Emery Lord

Emery is one of my favorite authors, as a person and as a writer. To be honest, The Start of Me and You was probably my least favorite of her books. That doesn't mean much because I love all of them, so "least favorite" is weird to say. [Later Jess here to say that I double checked on Goodreads, and When We Collided actually had my lowest (4 star) rating of Emery's books, but I went back and changed TSoMaY to 4 stars because in hindsight it seems more accurate.] Aaaaanyway! I loved this one, and I definitely read it at the right time--as Paige was worrying about massive life changes that were coming up after high school graduation, I was dealing with transitioning out of college. The book still isn't as high energy fun as Open Road Summer (which remains my favorite Emery book), but it's so real.

HIS HIDEOUS HEART edited by Dahlia Adler

This one took me by surprise! It's been a while since I've read an anthology, and this one isn't my usual reading genre at all. But Dahlia truly delivered. I'm not one of those who read Edgar Allen Poe in high school or connected with his work. I read Tell Tale Heart and The Raven in 7th grade for Halloween. We probably spent a day on it and that's it. I went into this anthology, which retells some of Poe's work for modern, diverse audiences, not knowing or remembering any of the original works. I was surprised (I probably should've known about it lol) that the book includes the actual Poe originals at the second portion of the book, but full disclosure, I loved the retellings so much that I didn't even want to read the originals...oops. Some of them were scarier than others (don't read Caleb Roehrig's at night by yourself!), but each story was a joy to read.

                  

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston

I know this will be on many a favorites compilations. It deserves to be on mine too. Do I really need to say much about this one? And hey, I wrote a mini bookstagram review for this one too! (Katherine's comment honestly made me chuckle, but I'm very glad I have some #brand.)
A BODY OF WORK: Dancing to the Edge and Back by David Hallberg

Dance memoir from one of the biggest names in ballet right now. Also planned to write a full blog post about this one. We'll see if that happens, but in the meantime, I also have a mini bookstagram review of A Body of Work (wow I was on a roll with reviews on Instagram--please give my bookstagram a peruse if you're the bookish type and haven't checked it out yet hehe).

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord (re-read)

I didn't intend to include two re-reads on this list, but I didn't want to have 8 books when I could have 10, so #9 and 10 are re-reads because they remain among my all time favorites and always deserve another shout out. As mentioned, Open Road Summer is my favorite Emery book, and I re-read it almost every year. I still love it. It's one of my most highly recommended, even though most of my friends, if not all of them, are no longer reading YA. This book just always delivers and never fails me. I turn to it when I'm in a slump, which is probably why I picked it up earlier this year.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT by Dahlia Adler (re-read)


I was nervous going into this re-read because I was scared I wouldn't love it as much as I did the first time, but I'm so glad it still delivered. I first read LWaT in high school, and I wanted to see what I would think of it after having gone through college. I still love the book!! I haven't re-read the others in the series because I only have those on my Kindle and I do have a physical copy of LWaT. Anyway, y'all need to stop sleeping on the series. 

Favorite Movies

senior year: best compilation of music that I listened to and particularly loved this school year
post-grad confusion: not super extensive because I haven't updated it; music I've enjoyed since graduating



college graduation/college memories: music that reminds me of certain experiences, places, and memories from college; I made something similar for high school, but I feel like there's a lot that happened in college that I don't necessarily associate with music but with other things instead
playlist to get me through this polsci thesis: don't judge me! this is music that I could write/concentrate to without being classical/instrumental--it probably also changed a few times as I got used to certain music and had to swap it out

This summer, I befriended someone who is really into film and is an aspiring filmmaker. I had the pleasure and honor of watching some of his short films, and we talked a lot about our artistic visions and the intersection of the arts and community organizing and social justice.

I also got a bunch of new film recommendations from him, and we spent a lot of time watching all different kinds of films--some that he loves, some new releases, and some that we just decided to watch together. I thought it might be fun to share those films and my thoughts on them because I definitely discovered some favorites and developed a newfound understanding and interest in film and directing.

Incredibles 2 Directed by Brad Bird

Incredibles 2 came out this summer while I was in Berkeley, so of course all of us were really excited about it and HAD to go see the movie. It was fun! It wasn't the best movie, but the nostalgia was so real and it was a good bonding experience for all of us early in the program. Most of the people in the theater were our age or older. Also, the Pixar short, Bao (which just won an Oscar), was AMAZING to see. Most of the people I was with were really confused though and didn't get it or appreciate it the same way. Sad.

Happy Together Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

I didn't actually know this, but for some reason I had seen the beginning of this film before--I could not tell you why. Wow, you all. Wong Kar-Wai is a staple for any film buff, and as a Taiwanese-Chinese Brazilian, I especially love how this film follows Chinese and Taiwanese characters in Argentina and ends in Taiwan (I actually recognized where one of the passing scenes was shot!). But anyway, this is a tragic, gritty, real story. The use of colors is just something else in the movie, and the film touches on so many important issues. I hope to watch some of Wong Kar-Wai's other films soon!

Frances Ha Directed by Noah Baumbach

We watched this one for fun/for the heck of it. It was funny to laugh at most parts of this film. Also, it's just so...white. It offered a nice touch of home for me, as it's set in New York (City). It's such a cheesy, kind of terribly scripted film, but like I said, it's kind of fun to joke around with someone about it and to not take it so seriously. Nothing memorable but connected to some good memories.

Princess Mononoke Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

I have a love-fear relationship with Spirited Away, another Miyazaki film and the only one I had seen before watching Princess Mononoke, but Miyazaki is such a staple, and I've been meaning to watch more Studio Ghibli films. Princess Mononoke blew me away! The messages in the film!! A group of us from the program watched this together, and it was such a good time. We talked about it a lot afterwards and about the connections that could be made between the film and real life and social justice. I don't even know where to start in talking about the film...in a very broad sense it's about the relationship between humans, animals, nature, and spirituality. But just go watch it.

La Mala Educación (Bad Education) Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Almodóvar is another name you must know if you're into film. I had also been meaning to watch an Almodóvar film for the longest time, and my friend came through! I love some of the shots in this film, and I think you definitely get a sense of Almodóvar's style. You also realize that his storytelling isn't linear, which is/can be confusing but also breaks the hegemonic US/Hollywood form that dictates how a story should unfold on film. Like many of the other non-US directors on this list, you also see the variety in storytelling and filmmaking across the world, the way that films don't have to follow the linear path that we're used to in the United States, the way that stories don't need high action or violence or whatnot in order to be captivating--sometimes it's just as much about small moments.

I've since watched another Almodóvar film, Volver, and am always looking for opportunities to watch another. I can't recommend his films enough!

Sorry to Bother You Directed by Boots Riley

Another film that came out this summer. WHAT THE HECK, Y'ALL!! Sorry, that's all I still have to say about this movie. I have lots of mixed feelings about this one... There's so much to love, especially its unapologetic, unhidden anti-capitalist message. It doesn't hide it and for the most part doesn't dilute it. It also hits at complexity and complications and contradictions in the fight for justice. (Also, can we talk about the fact that WeWork is basically turning into WorryFree? They already have WeLive apartments...)

The first half of the movie is SO good and packs so many punches but in a simultaneously subtle and in-your-face way that is hard to explain unless you've watched the film. And then stuff happens and the plot gets so out of hand. I thought the writing in the second half of the film was pretty poor, and part of the resolution at the end is such a cop-out. Forgiveness and redemption need to come after one really makes a change and shows that they've put in the work.

The thing about Sorry to Bother You is that it makes a very new, very not-talked-about-in-media topic really approachable to people through the use of satire. The underlying message is strong and is obvious for those of us who get it, but it's also not so overt that a general audience would get too upset about it. To be fair, between the three similar movies I saw this summer--Sorry to Bother You, Blindspotting, and Blackkklansman--Sorry to Bother You was my least favorite, but this kind of satire also isn't generally my thing so maybe that's part of it.

Blindspotting Directed by Carlos López Estrada

Blindspotting is definitely one of my favorite movies of last year or even the past few years. I don't even know where to begin. I guess that the first thing that I loved about watching it is that it was created by two people from Oakland, set in Oakland, and I got to watch it in Oakland and drive by some of the places in the film after the film (and on one of my last nights in California). So surreal. I also got to meet Daveed Diggs (he was in Hamilton!) and Rafael Casal in Oakland; I skipped class and went to an event they were having at Peet's Coffee. Those who know me know that I'm not really into rap/hip hop music. But this movie!! You can tell the passion and work Diggs and Casal put into the film. You can see their love for Oakland and also how they see the rapidly changing city. There's so much nuance in the narrative, in the characters, in the plot/storyline. There's so much to unpack throughout the film, from race to class to police brutality and more. Just wow. My friend and I both really enjoyed the movie, and I've been recommending it to everyone I know.


There you have it! There's no pattern to the films I watched this summer or really any way to tie all of these together, but there's something special about sharing a film and watching it for the first time with someone. I have such fond memories attached to these moments this past summer at Berkeley (which is much less fondly remembered, but that's a different story). I can't tell you what my friend thinks of these films as a filmmaker, other than that he spread his love for Wong Kar-Wai and Pedro Almodóvar with me and that I have a much better and deeper understanding of movies now. I'll watch a movie and a particular way something was shot will stand out to me, like when I watched Spike Lee's Blackkklansman.

What are some films you love?