Early & Alone #60: 2021 Bright Spots

My favorite books, music, TV, and movies from this wild year

Much like 2020, 2021 was the kind of year that felt being out in the ocean, tossed around by the waves. You head back to the shore, thinking that despite all the chaos, you’re in roughly the same place you started. But when you trudge up to the shore, you find you’re disoriented. Your things have moved—but no, it’s you who have moved.

The days dragged. Covid ebbed and flowed, much like the ocean. Vaccines brought hope and comfort and then confusion and division. Thanks to vaccines and a new president, 2021 has been vastly better than 2020. And yet. There is still so much uncertainty and fear and grief and dread.

Still, we all moved, made progress, however glacial it felt. I started working full-time again, moved apartments, bought a new car, got on an airplane, made new friends, got vaccinated and boosted, and started dating someone. I also consumed a lot of content, as they say, and thought it would be fun to round up my favorites of the year. Here are my favorite books, movies, music, and TV that I discovered in 2021, in no particular order.

Books

1. The Particulars of Peter by Kelly Conaboy: This was such a sweet and funny book about pet ownership. I related to a lot of it, thanks to my love of my pup Gizmo, and it’s genuinely funny and interesting. Highly recommend for anyone who loves their pet almost a little too much.

2. Festival Days by Jo Ann Beard: Jo Ann Beard is the kind of writer I want to be. Her essays are pure magic. Her new collection was a total marvel.

3. Prairie Fires by Carolyn Fraser: This long-reaching biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder is more than a story of the famous author but a deep dive into the American West.

4. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado: These stories are all wildly inventive and haunting.

5. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden: One of the best coming-of-age memoirs I’ve ever read.

6. Plainsong by Kent Haruf: I wasn’t prepared for how much I loved this novel about a tiny Midwestern town and the lonely people who live there.

7. Know My Name by Chanel Miller: This memoir is required reading for a look into our flawed justice system and the way it damages sexual assault survivors, but it’s also a beautiful book about a woman learning who she is.

8. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb: This book, written by a therapist about both her patients and being a patient herself, was incredibly insightful and interesting, especially if you’re in therapy yourself.

9. Sula by Toni Morrison: A devastating book about friendship and loss. Loved every bit of it.

10. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith: This is the novel the movie Carol is based on. It’s a quiet and understated book but I found it to be very insightful about the process of falling in love with someone and struggling to understand whether that person is good for you or not.

Movies

1. Barb and Star Go To Vista del Mar: This movie is a goddamn delight. It’s streaming on Hulu. You have no excuse. Go watch it.

2. Promising Young Woman: Obsessed with this movie.

3. Judas and the Black Messiah: I learned a lot about the Black Panthers watching this movie.

4. Another Round: I found this movie about a group of middle-aged men testing out a theory about maintaining a low blood alcohol level throughout the day strangely beautiful and compelling.

5. The 40-Year-Old Version: Adored this movie about a woman turning 40 who is reckoning with her creative life and what she really wants to do, who she wants to be.

6. Bo Burnham, Inside: I just rewatched this over the weekend and it holds up. Hilarious, creative, and deeply resonant. I think this is a definite artifact of our time.

7. Class Action Park: This documentary about a water park in New Jersey in its heyday of the 1980s is quite a ride. Pun intended.

8. Hunt for the Wilderpeople: This Taika Waititi movie is so offbeat and charming, it’s difficult not to love.

9. Minari: Just as good as everyone says.

10. The French Dispatch: The most Wes Anderson of Wes Anderson movies. For me, this is a good thing.

Music

1. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour: Who knew I’d love an album by a teenager so much?

2. Durand Jones & the Indications: Heard this band hanging out after a friend’s wedding and haven’t stopped listening since.

3. Lucy Dacus, Home Video: Continue to be obsessed with this woman.

4. Japanese Breakfast: Thanks to reading Michelle Zauner’s excellent memoir (very nearly on my top 10 list) Crying in H Mart, I finally committed to listening to more Japanese Breakfast.

5. Deer Tick: Went to see these guys live and realized I really like them a lot.

6. Red (Taylor’s Version): Yep, basic, but good.

7. Yola: A Newport Folkfest discovery—fun and dancy.

8. Caamp: Another Folkfest discovery

Honestly, I don’t listen to as much new music as I would like to. I’m pretty firmly entrenched in the past, music-wise, but I’m okay with that.

TV

1. The Great (Hulu): So weird and irreverent and amazing.

2. I May Destroy You (HBO): Devastating and smart and beautiful and totally original.

3. Shrill, season 3 (Hulu): One of my absolute favorites.

4. Below Deck, season 3 (Peacock): I’d never watched this before and I devoured the third season, which I was told was the best to start on. I haven’t watched more yet but I can’t wait. Platonic ideal of reality television.

5. Hacks (HBO): Smart, funny, and a fascinating look at intergenerational female friendship.

6. I Think You Should Leave (Netflix): Absolutely unhinged humor.

7. Reservation Dogs (Hulu): A sweet and poignant show about teenagers on a reservation.

8. Mare of Eastown (HBO): Wow. This one really took my breath away.

9. The White Lotus (HBO): Thoroughly fucked up people but a fun watch.

10. Insecure, season 4 (HBO): I’m a season behind, but I love this show so much.

What were your favorites in 2021?

I hope you all discovered joy and new things to love in 2021 and your 2022 is off to a promising start. Thank you for reading and sharing and responding. It means a lot to me!