“Ask yourselves as you go about your daily lives: How am I using my talents to help society? Because the most powerful lesson here is if more people lived their lives trying to be famous in death, the world would be a much better place.” —Lux Narayan
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My favorite TV shows and movies of the 2010s
Comedies and dramas, thrillers and mysteries, romance and horror, plus a wee bit of gardening and baking — that pretty much describes my viewing tastes of the 2010s. So here they are, in alphabetical order, my favorites from the past decade. In that generally quiet period between Christmas and New Year’s or during the darkest winter night, when you’re looking for something new to watch, you simply can’t go wrong with one of these:
TV Broadchurch
Chuck
The Closer
Daredevil
Downton Abbey
Elementary
Escape to the Country
Forever
The Good Wife
Grace and Frankie
The Great British Baking Show
Grimm
Jessica Jones
The Kominsky Method
Leverage
Love Your Garden
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
NCIS
One Day at a Time
Penny Dreadful
Person of Interest
Ruth & Erica
Sense8
Sherlock
Stranger Things
Supernatural
This Is Us
True Blood
White CollarMOVIES
About Time
The Age of Adaline
The Butler
Gravity
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Hidden Figures
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
Last Flag Flying
The Ledge
The Merry Gentleman
Midnight in Paris
Obit
Spotlight
Super 8
That Guy…Who Was In That Thing
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My favorite books of the 2010s
I’ve read about 500 books during the past decade. Way back in 2010, my reading ratio was 80% fiction and 20% nonfiction, but 10 years later, it’s closer to 50/50. Which made putting this list together a lot easier than I thought.
So without further ado, here are the novels and nonfiction tomes that I enjoyed the most during the 2010s. If you’re looking for something interesting to read, you can’t go wrong with one of these books.
(Note: Not all were released during the past decade.)
Fiction 1. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2. “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
3. “11/22/63” by Stephen King
4. “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker
5. “Dead Harvest” by Chris F. Holm
6. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson
7. “Secrets From The Vinyl Cafe” by Stuart McLean
8. “Stories from the Vinyl Cafe 10th Anniversary Edition” by Stuart McLean
9. “Mr. Mercedes” trilogy by Stephen King
10. “N0S4A2” by Joe Hill(Honorable mentions: “The Institute” by Stephen King, “The Outsider” by Stephen King, “The Red Notebook” by Antoine Laurain, “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss, “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett, “Invasive” by Chuck Wendig, “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, “The Year of Pleasures” by Elizabeth Berg and “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins)
Nonfiction 1. “Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History” by Erik Larson
2. “Life’s That Way” by Jim Beaver
3. “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual” by Michael Pollan
3. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede
4. “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America” by Erik Larson
5. “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk W. Johnson
6. “The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well” by Meik Wiking
7. “Tell Me Where It Hurts” by Dr. Nick Trout
8. “Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins” by Susan Casey
9. “My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business” by Dick Van Dyke
10. “The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment” by A.J. Jacobs(Honorable mentions: “Drama” by John Lithgow, “Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service” by Devin Leonard, “Truth Be Told: Off the Record about Favorite Guests, Memorable Moments, Funniest Jokes, and a Half Century of Asking Questions” by Larry King, “One Summer: America, 1927” by Bill Bryson, “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania” by Erik Larson, “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean, “Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier” by Vincent Wyckoff and “Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses” by Bess Lovejoy)
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Reading challenge completed!
Last year, I decided to challenge myself to read more in 2019. My aim was to dedicate additional time in my life to something I love and so I aimed high: 60 books.
With just three days left in the year, I attained that goal:
According to GoodReads, I read 18,094 pages this year. My shortest book was the poetry collection “Beating the Bounds” by Liz Ahl, which came in at 100 pages. My longest book was “Sleeping Beauties” by Stephen and Owen King, which was a whopping 915 pages.
Next year’s goal? Read 60 more!
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2019: The Year In Review
At the end of each year, I always take a moment to examine the ups and downs I experienced. What follows is my personal and professional review of 2019. I:
* Produced/edited hundreds of breaking news stories about the presidency — and impeachment — of Donald Trump, the investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election, another government shutdown, numerous mass shootings (including 3 in one week), Brexit, the wildfires in California, Australia and Brazil, Hurricane Dorian, the protests in Hong Kong, immigration and the continued forced separation/detention of children at the border, the college admissions scam, the run-up to the 2020 election, dozens of celebrity deaths and the birth of a royal baby.
* Penned 21 journal entries.
* Passed the 58,000th tweet mark on my personal Twitter account (@jadewalker).
* Updated The Written Word and The 10th Muse mailing lists.
* Maintained two Instagram accounts: @thejadewalker and @catsofjade. Finally became verified.
* Wrote 3 short stories.
* Submitted a photograph into the Manchester Art Contest and saw it framed and displayed at a local hotel.
* Entered a contest to win a writer’s retreat in the UK.
* Read 60 books and numerous magazines.
* Watched 46 films and dozens of TV programs.
* Went leafing in the White Mountains.
* Traveled to Quebec City for the first time.
* Spent a weekend in New York City.
* Participated in The Society of Professional Obituary Writers, the New Hampshire Writers Guild, the New York City Writers Group, the South Florida Freelancers Group, the Authors Guild, PEN America and the Silent Book Club, Manchester, NH chapter.
* Helped coordinate ObitCon 2019 and the Grimmys contest.
* Created my second sourdough starter.
* Hosted three friends, six cats and a puppy dog in our home.
* Bought new glasses.
* Suffered through A LOT of dental work.
* Tried to get more sleep. Failed miserably, due to stress.
* Finally had a gas line installed in the kitchen and purchased a beautiful new stove. Also replaced our furnace.
* Planted a container garden and continued to decorate the back yard/deck with a dining table and chairs, a badminton net and a hammock.
* Started composting.
* Donated my hair to Locks of Love.
* Decorated the front and inside of our house for Christmas and mailed 40 Christmas cards.
* Suffered from at least 45 migraines and lost 67 days of my life to pain. Average headache duration: 34 hours, 56 minutes.
* Raised a litter of kittens into adulthood and cared for our two older feline beauties.
* Mourned the deaths of our 9-year-old dog Duncan and our 17-year-old cat Dany.
* Celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.
* Turned 46.
Goals for 2020* Change careers.
* Avoid library fines.
* Organize the pantry.
* Plant more flowers and veg in the garden.
* Sleep at least 7 hours a night.
* Work on my fiction.
* Read at least 60 books.
* Practice hygge.
* Win the lottery.
