2021 Favorites

 

It’s almost December 31st. And, as 2021 winds down, it’s also time to talk about all of my favorite things from the year. 

Movies & TV Shows…

Surprisingly, I didn’t watch too many movies or try as many new shows as I thought I would have. I mainly rewatched old favorites when I happened to catch them. What I have, in terms of first time viewing, isn’t enough for it to get its own posts. So…

Some movies: F9, Poltergeist (1982), Nightbooks, Red Notice, Birds of Prey, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venome: Let There Be Carnage.

Some TV shows: Discovery of Witches season 2, SurrealEstate, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Gone For Good, Lost in Space season 2.

Books And Short Stories…

Generally, I liked most of what I read this year. I focused more on nonfiction as well as backlist titles and sequels that I’ve wanted to read. I didn’t get to all of them this year, but that just means I’m going into the New Year with a good-sized TBR list to keep me preoccupied. So, here are my favorite books from 2021.

Nonfiction...

• To The Greatest Heights by Vanessa O'Brien
• Aristocracy by William Doyle 
• She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson
• The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, translated by Jane Billinghurst
• Fire & Ice by Natalie Starkey 
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Fiction...

• Exit Strategy , Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
• We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
• Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert
• The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King by J. R.R. Tolkien
• The Case Study of Vanitas vol. 6, vol. #7 & vol. 8 by Jun Mochizuki
• Jelly by Clare Rees
• The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory 
• The Return of the Sorceress, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno Garcia 
• Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez-Wallach
• What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie
• Mine by Delilah S. Dawson
• You Can Never Tell by Sarah Warburton 
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
• The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales
• Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore
• Dark Waters by Katherine Arden
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• A Swift and Savage Tide by Chloe Neill
• A Murder Yule Regret by Winnie Archer 
• Hollywood Heroine by Sarah Kuhn 
• It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Murder by Maria DiRico

The short stories...

• The Karyōbinga Sings To Jiro by Riyu Ando (Strange Horizons; Issue: 11 January 2021) Note: there is a podcast version of the story available from Strange Horizons
  
• Your Own Undoing by P H Lee (Apex Magazine, January 19, 2021)
• #Selfcare by Annalee Newitz (Tor.com, January 19, 2021)
• Judge Dee and The Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, February 10, 2021)
  
• A Serpent For Each Year by Tamara Jeree (Strange Horizons, Issue 1 February 2021)
• Las Girlfriends Guide to Subversive Eating by Sabrina Vourvoulias (Apex Magazine; Issue 122, March 2021)
• Mouth by Sasha Lapointe (Strange Horizons; Issue: 1 March 2021)
• Masquerade Season by ‘Pemi Aguda (Tor.com; March 24, 2021)
• Mysteries of Visiocherries/Misteri Visciceri by Rio Johan (Strange Horizons; Issue: April 26 2021)
• Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells (Tor.com, April 19, 2021)
• The Angel of Khan el-Khalili by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com, April 28, 2021)
• The Life & Death of Mia Fremont: An Interview with a Killer by A.K. Hudson (Apex Magazine; May 4, 2021)
• Eilam is Forever by Beth Dawkins (Apex Magazine, July 6, 2021)
• Data Migration by Melanie Harding-Shaw (Strange Horizons; Issue: 12 July 2021)
• Survival, After by Nicole J. LeBoeuf (Apex Magazine, August 3, 2021)
• What Cacti Read by Mary Soon Lee (Strange Horizons; Issue; 26 July 2021) 
• Cocoon by H. Pueyo (Strange Horizons; Issue: 2 August 2021)
• Judge Dee and the Poisoner of Montmartre by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com; September 15, 2021)
• Thread Count by Cynthia Gómez (Strange Horizons; Issue: Fund Drive 2021)
• Bespoke Nightmares by Carolina Valentine (Strange Horizons; Issue: 18 October 2021)

Music…

2021 was a great year for music. It seemed like most of my favorite artists had new music coming out, and I discovered a few new bands and groups I want to follow. Below is a list of all my favorite albums and EPs I listened to in 2021. There is no particular order.

• Alpha by CL
• Planet Her by Doja Cat
• Mini Mix vol. 1 and vol. 2, A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling, and Mercurial World by Magdalena Bay
• Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3 by Tkay Maidza
• 1/f and Pink Noise by Laura Mvula
• If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey
• Scaled and Icey by Twenty One Pilots
• 2000AND4EVA by Bree Runway
• The Bitter Truth by Evanescence
• Montero by Lil Nas X
• Harenchi by Chanmina

And that’s it. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. I will see you all in the New Year!

Spooky Books to Read This October

Welcome! Today, Adri and I are going to share a list of some of our favorite spooky books we’ve read this year. Also, check out our list from last year HERE.

Breana: My first pick is What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie (find the review HERE). I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book, and it was an excellent story with a few genuinely creepy moments. The setting, an old and isolated museum, Woodmoor Manor, was the perfect location for a ghost story. It was a spooky read that also had a heartwarming resolution.

Adri: My first pick is The Shadows by Jacqueline West (find the review HERE). It was a reread, and I was excited to get back into The Books of Elsewhere series with Olive, three wise cats, and paintings in a creepy house.

Breana: My next one is Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez-Wallach (find the review HERE). This book was one of my favorite reads so far this year. It had a lot of references to the conjuring universe (specifically Ed and Lorraine Warren), and Wallach’s use of paranormal aspects amongst an every-day and almost cheerful idyllic kind of setting only heightened the spooky happenings surrounding the story.

Adri: My second and last pick (because I need to step up my spooky reading game) is Spellbound by Jacqueline West. In terms of pacing between both books, the first in the series was like moving into the house, where as the second is like settling into the house—especially for Olive. It was kind of wild, and I can’t wait to get into The Second Spy, The Books of Elsewhere #3.

Breana: I have two more books to add to this list. The first is Mine by Delilah S. Dawson (find the review HERE). Mine was probably one of the eeriest books on my end of the list. From growing up to dealing with a frightening haunting in a house she didn’t want to be in—with parents who she was at odds with—the character, Lily, went through it. And my last pick is Dark Waters by Katherine Arden. My review for Dark Waters will be posted later this month. It was one of my favorite reads of the year so far, and it’s a fitting continuation of the story set up by Small Spaces and Dead Voices.

 

So that’s what we read this year. Thanks for stopping by. Happy reading!

Upcoming Music I'm Waiting For (2021)

It’s already four months into 2021, and I figured it was a good time to sit down and compile a better list of all the music I’m waiting for. I already mentioned two of my top upcoming releases back in January—Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3 by Tkay Maidza and The Bitter Truth by Evanescence—so for today I’m going to focus on ones I haven’t already gone over.

 

Untitled album by Kimbra (release date: TBA): There’s not much about this album yet—no title or release date—just THIS tweet on Kimbra’s twitter account. Primal Heart was one of my favorite 2018 albums, so I’m beyond excited about Kimbra coming back with new music.

Pink Noise by Laura Mvula (release date: July 2, 2021): I’m so excited for Laura Mvula’s third studio album. I’ve been listening to Mvula’s music more often lately, and I was just thinking about whether or not she would release another album anytime soon. I saw the announcement for Pink Noise, and it’s undoubtedly one of my most anticipated releases of 2021. Luckily the wait for it isn't too long.

Alpha by CL (release date: TBA 2021): I used to listen to 2NE1 a long time ago. They were one of my favorite groups, and it was sad when they disbanded. That being said, I’m glad CL is back and releasing more music, because the singles released for Alpha are so good so far. I’m really excited for this one.

Planet Her by Doja Cat (release date: TBA): I like Doja Cat’s music, and Hot Pink was one of my favorite albums the year it came out. So I’m looking forward to this one.

Scaled And Icy by Twenty One Pilots (release date: May 21, 2021): I'm so excited for this album! I've been a fan of this band since the Blurryface days, and I've been waiting for the followup to Trench (2018) since its initial release. Luckily the wait for Scaled And Icy won't be too long. 

 

So that’s it for today. This list will of course change as the year goes on, but for now this is everything I’m waiting for. What music are you excited for? Are there any new releases you’ve listened to and enjoyed? If so, leave your suggestions in the comments.

We're Back + Books and Albums We're Looking Forward To

Well, hello. It’s been a while, but we’re back and ready to get to blogging. To start the year, we wanted to go over some of the books and albums/Eps we’re looking forward to, as well as some of our goals for the year.

Some Books We’re looking forward to…

Breana: I’m pretty excited for a number of books coming out in 2021. This is just my current list, but I will keep an eye out for other books releasing later in the year. For now, there are a lot of sequels I’m looking forward to with everything from Dark Waters by Katherine Arden, Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire, and A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. Plus, one of my most highly anticipated releases this year is the conclusion to the Nightmare-verse series, A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney, which is one of my favorite retelling’s of Alice. Some standalone novels, graphic novels, and nonfiction that caught my eye were: Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley, Long Lost by Jacqueline West, Root Magic by Eden Royce, Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston, The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Tidesong by Wendy Xu. Series I want to continue reading include the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, The Case Study of Vanitas by Jun Mochizuki, and The Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh.

Adri:

I don't have too much to say about the books I'm looking forward to so here's a list.

• Euan Angus Ashley: The Genome Odyssey
• Erin French -Finding Freedom (I have an ARC)
• Monica West -Revival season
• Jean Hanff Korelitz -The plot
• Reese Eschmann -Etta Invinsible
• Shakirah Bourne - Josephine Against the Sea

Music…

Breana: All I’m looking forward to right now is The Bitter Truth by Evanescence. Some unscheduled stuff includes Lorde’s third studio album and Tkay Maidza’s Last Year Was Weird Vol.3.

Adri: Right now I'm mainly waiting for two albums. One is Omega by Epica in February. The other is Unstable by Tetrarch which I'm super excited for. I don’t see a set release date for it though.

Some goals…

Breana: Last year, my plans…well, what plans? 2020 did what it wanted to do. So my plans for 2021 are going to be light. I still want to read Lord of the Rings, and I did buy a ominibus of the trilogy. My only other blog related goal is getting my Instagram account back on track. I kind of fell-off of posting there at least once a week, but that was mainly due to the pandemic, loss of motivation, and switching to mostly ebooks.

Adri: I don't really have too many goals. This year I want to get through some books that are already on our shelves. I also want to focus on art more than I have been. And finally, I want to grow my CD collection; be on social media a little more; and maybe talk about my dream journaling.

What are some of the books or albums you're looking forward to?

Happy New Year! It's 2021!

Happy New Year! 2020 is finally over, and 2021 is here. We’re not back to blogging just yet, but we’ll see you later in the month. Have a great day!