2024, best of
it's themes, not a list (it's also a list)
For the past two years, I’ve done “best of” lists, grouped by themes. This is that, again! If I wrote about something in detail somewhere, or if we talked about it on Reformed Rakes, I’ve linked it. Most of these things were new to me, unless they came in a new format, which is noted.
Medieval Romances
Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!
One Burning Heart by Elizabeth Kingston1
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Keeper of the Dream by Penelope Williamson
Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter
By Possession by Madeline Hunter
The Music Lovers (1971, dir. Ken Russell)
The Decameron (1971, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Birth (2004, dir. Jonathan Glazer)
Two Lovers (2008, dir. James Gray)
Regency Romances
literal and metaphorical
Metropolitan (1990, dir. Whit Stillman)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995, dir. Carl Franklin)
The Admiral’s Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly
A Matter of Class by Mary Balogh
The Saint by Madeline Hunter
Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden
Red Eye (2005, dir. Wes Craven)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954, dir. Stanley Donen), on film at the Ambler 35mm Festival
St. John’s Spitalfields in London, best meal I ate all year
Gothic (1986, dir. Ken Russell)
studied abroad in Italy (derogatory)
flitting about with opaque politics, deriving pleasure from being an outsider
Conclave (2024, dir. Edward Berger)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969, dir. Ronald Neame)
Martin Eden (2019, dir. Pietro Marcello)
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran (the best Duke book that I read all year)2
Calypso, episode 4 of Ulysses
Dante’s Inferno (1967, dir. Ken Russell)
studied abroad in Italy (complimentary)
And why should she not be transfigured?
La Chimera (2023, dir. Alice Rohrwacher)3
Flying to Dublin with my younger sister to see Niall Horan perform live
Canti Orfici by Dino Campana
How to be Both by Ali Smith
John Singer Sargent and Fashion Exhibition at Tate London
Ralph Fiennes’ Conclave FYC Tour, which included a trip to the Criterion Closet with Juliette Binoche, ostensibly for their Odyssey movie, and presenting Isabella Rossellini with a European Achievement in World Cinema Award at the European Film Academy, where you can hear her laugh at the beginning of his speech.
aquaphobia, conquered
better swim before you drown
swimming in Lake Michigan for the first time
Proteus, episode 3 of Ulysses
“The Bolter” by Taylor Swift
The Windflower by Laura London
Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee
I’ve had a rough year, Dad
effortful living and loving
Hard Truths (2024, dir. Mike Leigh)
Bat Kid by Inoue Kazuo (gifted to my dad for Father’s Day)
Morvern Callar (2002, dir. Lynne Ramsay)
Trap (2024, dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot, managers of Liverpool FC
Showing Up (2023, dir. Kelly Reichardt)
The Iron Claw (2023, dir. Sean Durkin)
There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib
The Jam Scene in Gosford Park (2001, dir. Robert Altman) (first rewatch since COVID)4
Instagram boyfriends
#loml
It Should Happen To You (1954, dir. George Cukor)
What a Way To Go! (1964. dir. J. Lee Thompson)
getting a martini at the Lobby Bar5 before I saw Niall Horan at MSG
Challengers (2024, dir. Luca Guadagnino) (Patrick Zweig)
“Angel of My Dreams” by JADE
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin by Suki Waterhouse
Hit Man, but just the scenes where Glen Powell wears a disguise
Twisters, but just the scenes where Glen Powell wears a hat
There are more things in heaven and earth
looking at the sky and getting a headache
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Hamlet (1964, dir. Grigori Kozintsev)
The Motive and the Cue at the Noël Coward Theatre (2024, dir. Sam Mendes, written by Jack Thorne)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965, dir. Martin Ritt)
Telemachus, episode 1, Ulysses
Amadeus, (1984, dir. Miloš Forman), theatrical cut, at Bryn Mawr Film Institute
abolition at the center of everything
it’s a poster for nuclear disarmament!
…And Justice for All (1979, dir. Norman Jewison)
Kneecap (2024, dir. Rich Peppiatt) and seeing them in concert in Philadelphia
High Hopes (1988, dir. Mike Leigh)
Surrender the Night by Christine Monson
Thief (1981) and The Last of the Mohicans (1992, dir. Michael Mann) on film in New York at Roxy Cinema
adult ADHD diagnosis
brain changes for the better
“Spacelab” by Kraftwerk and walking around to people saying, “have you heard of Kraftwerk?”
Taskmaster: Australia Season 3
a Hot Water Bottle
Time Timer
This specific planner
Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
Ginger Lime Poppi + cherry juice replacing evening dirty martinis
Napoleon obsession fallout
history is but the stories of little freaks
War and Peace (1966-67, dir. Sergei Bondarchuk)
Waterloo (1970, dir. Sergei Bondarchuk)
Shattered Rainbows by Mary Jo Putney
A Lady’s Companion by Carla Kelly
Megalopolis (2024, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
some favorite things written by friends
(and by extension our Fabio episodes, which are incredible, thanks to Chels’ indefatigable research)Tessa Dare’s Cardboard Characters and Surface Settings by
work 😤👔📈 by
shipwrecks by
This video about eldest daughters in romance from
Fran Magazine rereads Ella Enchanted by
My 2025 consumption goals include more works in translation, Ulysses and more legumes. My 2025 creation goals include more sweaters, capsule reviews and a homey new apartment.
Happy New Year; I love you all.
Best 2024 historical romance release I read
So good that it didn’t feel like a Duke book, so I didn’t include it in the Duke Project.
I think it is telling I’ve written something long about nearly everything in this category.
Incidentally, my favorite jam I ate this year was the seasonal apricot cardamom jam from Trader Joe’s.
There’s Ketel One in the background, but I swear to God, my martini has Tanqueray
omg just seeing this and the ginger lime poppi + cherry juice combo...... will be trying expeditiously
Re: the Napoleon obsession, I highly recommend reading "The Spy's Reward" by Nita Abrams. I've probably read 100 historical romances where Waterloo takes place during the story, and even a few where his invasion of Russia was part of the plot. But this is the only book that revolves around the Hundred Days, as he marches across France after escaping from Elba. The only problem is, this is the 5th of a series, and it really helps to have read at least #1 and #3. Unrelated: I visited Corsica a few months ago and visited his family home which is now a museum; it's where he was born, and I saw the bed he slept in!