Favorites of 2024 (books/tv/movies)

And a few thoughts about the upcoming Academy Awards

With the Academy Awards airing later tonight, I think today is the absolute latest I can send out a list of my favorite reads/watches of 2024 in good conscience.

In 2024 I:

• Read 76 books (30,542 pages)

• Read 93 comics/manga (18,063 pages)

• Finished 60 seasons of television

  • 30 of which were 2024 releases

• Watched a total of 187 movies

  • 74 of which were 2024 releases

  • 49 of which I saw in a movie theater (some more than once)

Here are my favorite things that I read or watched this year, and that I think are likely worth your time.

Favorite Reads

This year I got current on the ongoing manga series One Piece by Oda Eiichiro and it is one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever experienced. It took me a year (almost to the day) to read over 109 volumes (1000+ individual chapters) and the entire experience is difficult to put into words. The characters feel like friends I’ve known my whole life, as I’ve seen them grow and progress together, as well as learning about their histories. The world is fantastic and interesting and dangerous, while being full of life and fun. There are endings of arcs within the larger story that have brought me to tears on multiple occasions, and others where I’ve been thrilled and energized beyond belief.

I don’t know if I can recommend it without reservation, due to the intense time commitment to finish, but I can say that I feel my investment in time was paid back handsomely. I now excitedly wait for new chapters to release, and am giddy at the prospect of an anime remake of the series by WIT Studios.

On the Comics front, the announcement about the adaptation of “Criminal” being co-showrun by Ed Brubaker and Jordan Harper, led me to read all of the volumes in that series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

I’m a Brubaker and Phillips super fan, and this was one of their last series that I hadn’t read yet. Because of the connections between all of the various characters throughout the series, reading all of them at once was extremely rewarding.

As far as regular books go, I’ve been on a mission this year to finish series and large books that have been on my TBR for ages. To that end I finished the Dune series (painful to say I do not recommend), The Witcher series (same), the Wayfarer series by Beck Chambers (heartily recommend), and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series (mixed feelings).

A big read that I was gratified to discover was excellent was James Clavell’s Shogun (more on the TV show below). I’ve wanted to read that book since high school, and to finally finish it felt like a huge accomplishment. I have many of the other books in his Asian Saga, but I don’t know if I’ll prioritize finishing them any time soon.

I was also very proud of myself for finishing the entire Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, which was very long, very dense, and I’m pretty sure it was worth it.

Without further ado.

My top 10 favorite fiction reads of 2024

My favorite of those was Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. The experience of reading this book is the kind of high I’m always chasing when I read. It’s a work of raw honesty and emotion that is equal parts funny and heart-breaking. I started it based on the reviews on the cover without reading anything else about the plot, and that led to a journey of wonder and discovery as I never knew what to expect or where things might go.

Beyond that, the list is a mix of literary fiction, historical fiction, some science-fiction, mostly novels, and two short story collections. All of these delighted me in different ways, whether it was the big ideas in I’m Waiting For You by Kim Bo-Young, the epic scope and drama of Shogun by James Clavell, getting to revisit a beloved character in Long Island by Colm Toibin (sequel to Brooklyn, another book I adored), or the sprawling family drama of Long-Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Every book on this list deserves an essay of its own, but if you’ve heard about or seen any of these titles around, I think they are all rewarding in their own right.

My top 10 favorite non-fiction reads of 2024

Don’t read Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky if you would like to keep believing in the concept of free will. Don’t read The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins if you would like to hold onto the idea of the United States as some benevolent and freedom-giving force throughout the world.

It’s hard to choose a favorite from this list, because the books are all so drastically different, but I think Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe stood out as a brilliant combination of moving historical account with current day implications that simultaneously was thought provoking and entertaining. Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World was so engaging that I almost immediately started reading his next book, The MANIAC, which then subsequently got me so interested in the theories and people it covers that I wanted to go deeper, which led to starting Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (I’m still working my way through this one).

There are two Hollywood memoirs on this list, both of which I enjoyed immensely. Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick was a perfect mix for me of behind the scenes/insider stories as well as a deep look into the creative process over a long career. Life’s Work by David Milch I read after watching all three seasons of Deadwood (and the final Deadwood movie), and the memoir was almost as compelling as the show.

Favorite TV

As mentioned above, of the 60 seasons of television that I completed this year, 30 of them were released in 2024.

For new releases, Shogun is my clear favorite. Nothing else released in 2024 came close to it and I was constantly impressed with how well they adapted the original novel (which is not only sprawling in length but also in the amount of characters and plots that it weaves together). I have mixed feelings about them making a second season (the first season ends where the book ends), but this creative team has earned my trust and I will be tuning in no matter what to see where they take the story.

My top ten favorite tv shows of 2024 (in ascending order)

I’m interested in the fact that over half of this list is an adaptation of some sort (whether from a book, video game, or movie). It’s also a fairly even mix of new shows/first seasons and shows in their third or fourth seasons. Something like the third season of The Bear is obviously hurt by the impossibly high standard set by the previous season, while Hacks and Industry continue to set highs for their respective shows as they continue to evolve and develop their characters.

Slow Horses also continues to be an absolute delight, to the point where I had to read all of the books and novellas in this series because I couldn’t wait for the new season.

The best television I’ve watched this year, however, was Mad Men. My wife and I had never seen all of it before, so I bought the blu-ray box set and we decided to finally complete the journey. This is in my top five favorite shows of all time. I’ll also say that watching this on blu-ray instead of streaming it was well worth the extra cost. My friends sometimes tire of my physical media advocacy, but please hear me for this show if for nothing else. The sets, the costumes, the cinematography, all of it rewards the higher quality. The creative team went to great lengths to make this show look fantastic and it comes through when you don’t have to worry about whatever compression the streamers are using.

Some other great shows we finally got to watch this year: Crash Landing On You, The Queen’s Gambit (rewatch), Scavengers Reign, Deadwood, and watching all three season of Avatar: The Last Airbender with my five year old (his first show where he watched all the seasons in order).

Favorite Movies

I maintain ongoing rankings on my Letterboxd profile for all the movies I watch throughout the year (usually one list for the current year’s releases and then one for all the movies I watch that were released outside of that year).

I’m not going to bury the lede here, folks, Dune: Part Two is still my favorite film of 2024. It released over a year ago, and even with all of that time to reflect, while also battling the recency bias of awards season, nothing else thrilled me like that experience. I saw it in IMAX four different times (on four different screens). The two IMAX showings where the screen and presentation were large enough to allow me to see the entire aspect ratio had me levitating out of my seat.

It is simply filmmaking on the largest scale possible, and I cannot believe that it is being neglected in so many awards categories this year.

But let’s take a second here to consider the absolute madness that has been this awards season. While each awards body has had some questionable omissions, I’ll use the following Oscar snubs to give us a taste of the absurdity, such as:

• No Furiosa in Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Visual Effects, or Production Design

• No Challengers in Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (!), or Cinematography (!!)

• No Sing Sing in Best Picture, or Actor in a Supporting Role

• No Kneecap in Original Song, or Editing

• No Nickel Boys in Director or Cinematography (!)

• No Evil Does Not Exist in International Feature

All of that whining aside, it’s been an incredible movie year, and I’ve loved so many of the different films I’ve been able to see.

I still haven’t seen a number of films: I’m Still Here, Queer, La Chimera, The Outrun, Hundreds of Beavers, The Order, The Apprentice, Exhuma, Better Man, Janet Planet, Emilia Perez, and others. But of the 2024 films I did see, here are my…

Top twenty favorite films of 2024

A few brief thoughts about each film:

Dune: Part Two - Apparently some Oscar voters didn’t even watch the film because they didn’t like the first one, but that’s fine (it’s not). The fact that Denis Villeneuve is pulling this off is nothing short of miraculous. If Dune Messiah maintains the same quality, I expect everyone will come around and he will finally get the recognition he deserves here.

Challengers - this is a perfect movie to me. I love this soundtrack. I love the way it’s edited and shot. I love the performances and thematic resonance. When the credits rolled on this one I could have run through a brick wall.

Sing Sing - Colman Domingo gives probably my favorite performance of the year in this movie. While there is sadness and despair due to the setting, the movie is somehow still filled with love and hope. I was overwhelmed with emotion by the end.

Rebel Ridge - Jeremy Saulnier is a master in tension, and he brings all of his skills to bear in this film. I hope that the Netflix of it all doesn’t lead to this one being forgotten, because it is incredibly rewatchable. Aaron Pierre is a star.

Kneecap - a new personal favorite. I watched this movie four times. I will likely watch it again since Krystle hasn’t seen it yet. I love the energy, the music, the irreverence, all while paired with loftier themes of anti-colonialism and the power of language. I loved it.

Furiosa - Mad Max Fury Road is one of my favorite movies of all time, and Miller comes back to the world and characters while not just repeating himself, but making new and interesting choices in the structure and approach. Good lord, the action set pieces in this are incredible.

Nickel Boys - this is a great book, but when I heard they were making it into a film, I was confused because I wasn’t sure how it would be possible to carry over some of the final reveals in that medium. But they pull it off! Again, how this is not nominated for Best Cinematography is insane to me.

The Wild Robot - gorgeous animation style, and an absolute emotional nuke watching as a parent. I loved it.

Anora - our likely Best Picture winner, which I would be fine with, all things considered. I’ve seen a lot of discourse about this film, but I think what gets lost in some of the lofty back and forth is just how entertaining it is. It’s incredibly funny. It’s impossible to predict where it’s going to go scene to scene, even if you have a sense for where it’s ultimately all headed. I was blown away by it.

Civil War - the Alex Garland backlash has been swift but I could never hate the man who made Ex Machina, Annihilation, or (sort of) directed Dredd. I saw this in the largest IMAX in the U.S. and I think that colored my experience of the film. I bought the 4K but I’m almost scared to rewatch it at home, since I can’t imagine that it will hit the same. Ultimately, I found this to be a visceral experience moment to moment, and I’ve thought about it a lot since that initial viewing.

For 11-20, I’ll just say that there are a few of these that I think are underrated and under-discussed this awards season. Look Back is one of my favorite pieces about the creative process and creative collaboration (currently streaming on Amazon Prime). I found His Three Daughters to be very emotionally affecting, I love the central three performances, and I’m sure there is an alternate universe where Carrie Coon and Elizabeth Olsen are both duking it out for Best Supporting Actress. If you haven’t already seen Problemista then I can only assume that you stand with Bank of America. And finally, all of my Drive My Car heads will be glad to hear that Evil Does Not Exist is another banger.

Finally, I also ranked all of my 2024 watches of NON-2024 movies, which was really a fool’s errand. This obviously reflects my personal enjoyment and preferences, because I don’t think any other context would allow a list to have Michael Clayton above Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia (seeing this on the big screen was life changing), and The Godfather Part II, but here we are. That’s just how I felt.

Michael Clayton does happen to be one of my favorite movies of all time, though.

So that was my year! What were your favorite watches and reads of the year? What are you most looking forward to reading and watching in 2025?