media & culture i consumed lately #4

a bumper edition to finish up 2024

I finished a job contract up in December, and let me tell you: the flare-up/burnout combo has hit me hard. It feels exactly like I used to feel when the summer holidays hit when I was at school, but I never had the language for any of it back then.

All this to say, it’s been a strange couple of weeks in this body-brain combo: I am ridiculously tired and overwhelmed but equally chronically understimulated. Trying to balance those needs is hard - do I spend the time reading or watching a film not knowing if that’s going to set everything off harder? It’s a fine balance and one I am not particularly winning, so here’s what I’ve consumed lately.

Let’s call this a bumper edition to wrap up the year and start fresh next time.

Books

I’ve been pretty lucky recently and enjoyed most things I’ve read! I’ve been back in a phase of needing some easy and predictable reading, but also working my way through some hard hitting non-fiction (more next time!).

some of the best books I read recently

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The (Fake) Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky (audiobook) - 4🌟

A queer fake dating romance book based on what is essentially Supermarket Sweep is everything I didn’t know I needed. And this was fun! The chemistry was good, the plot had more to it than I anticipated, and I really appreciated the discussion of grief.

The Enemy by Sarah Adams (ebook) - 3.5🌟

Back in my consuming endless romance books era and Sarah Adams can always be counted on to write something where you get invested in the characters - even if this one wasn’t my favourite of hers.

Hits Different by Tasha Ghouri & Lizzie Huxley-Jones (audiobook) - 3.5🌟

I was super intrigued by this author pairing when it was announced - Hux is someone I look up to so much as a disabled writer and I was interested to see how a book panned out co-authored with a figure like Tasha. Although I think aspects of this book were underdeveloped, it was fun and the disability and LGBTQ+ representation was done really well across the characters, and I wish I’d read it during the summer.

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (ebook) - 5🌟

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author whose books I never know how I will feel about, and that excites me. I loved Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, then DNFed Malibu Rising not long after. I adored this one - I weirdly love tennis and loved the back and forth of this, the way we’re not really supposed to like Carrie and how that melts away as the book continues. Fast paced, intriguing, with deeply developed characters.

Intervals by Marianne Brooker (paperback) - 5🌟

Intervals doesn’t feel like a book I can only write a couple of sentences about. This is a piece of creative non-fiction that combines memoir, history, academia on assisted dying and particularly Voluntarily Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED), following Brooker’s experiences with her mother. This is an important, nuanced book I haven’t stopped thinking about, especially in current contexts.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (ebook) - 4🌟

Another TJK! This is a really interesting one exploring grief, how we develop as people over time, and leaving behind people and embracing change even if we don’t want to.

Degrees of Engagement by Jennifer Hennessy (ebook) - 3.25🌟

What I liked about this one is the discussion of women’s achievements not being celebrated beyond marriage and children, but that felt a little bit underdeveloped even when it was what the fake dating aspect centered on.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (ebook) - 3.75🌟

Christina Lauren are another who you can count on when you want something easy with good chemistry. I liked this one - enemies to lovers done genuinely well, close proximity and terrible brothers make for a good ride.

Take Me Home by Melanie Sweeney (ebook) - 4🌟

There had to be a couple of Christmassy books in here, and this was a good one for having the theming without it throwing up at you. I really liked both of the characters and I loved them together and it genuinely felt like I was rooting for them, and I think the discussions around family were really well developed. I recommend!

Under The Mistletoe With You by Lizzie Huxley-Jones (ebook) - 4.5🌟

Second mention for Hux here and I really liked this! I should have read their previous Christmas romance first that links to this one as it heavily references back to the one before, and I did find some aspects of the characters a little rushed, but overall this was a nice Christmas read. The representation across disability and LGBTQ+, particularly trans, identities was as well done as always.

Happily Never After by Lynn Painter (ebook) - 3.5🌟

This was a novel concept for a romance, where the pair become objectors at different weddings - a super fun and easy one to round up the year with.

Films

I’m honestly not sure I should include the absolute raft of Hallmark films I’ve watched since the last edition amongst films like Queer and Conclave, but here we are anyway.

You can follow me on Letterboxd: @charlibeth

Hot Frosty (2024) - 2🌟

I feel like everyone has been talking about this film, and I can see why - it was a much more unique concept than most Hallmark films and it was good fun, but it was just a bit meh in terms of the actual couple. Worth watching for Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio, though - they stole the show.

Meet Me Next Christmas (2024) - 2🌟

This truly felt like it should have come out in 2015 - what do you mean, a Christmas film purely based on a Pentatonix concert?! I was obsessed with them when I was a younger teenager, and I probably would’ve eaten this up back then but it was just… not it.

The Merry Gentlemen (2024) - 1/2🌟

No. This became such background noise I’m not sure I can even say I consumed it.

Moana 2 (2024) - 3.5🌟

I think we all knew this sequel wasn’t going to stand up to the first film even if it was excellent, but Lin Manuel Miranda’s lack of involvement was felt so clearly. It was decent, but it lacked the magic of the first. I am one of life’s people who believes a lot of sequels just don’t need to be made, and this is unfortunately possibly one of them.

Single All The Way (2021) - rewatch 3.5🌟

Unironically my favourite Hallmark film - and not just because it’s queer (though that helps). It’s fun, a bit quirky, they have genuine chemistry, and includes the legend that is Jennifer Coolidge. If I ever recommend a single Hallmark-style film, this is the one. It’s always nice to genuinely root for a couple, right?

Our Little Secret (2024) - 2🌟

This one was… fine. I really didn’t particularly care for the main couple at all, but the concept was a little more interesting, so I give it credit for that.

Conclave (2024) - 4🌟

Conclave was intriguing, well-shot, and well-acted, but it sort of feels like that’s all I can really say, and I was a little let down by the final “twist”. Without spoiling it, I recommend reading some perspectives from the involved community afterwards. I liked it, and I think it’s worth a watch, but I feel like the first half was much stronger and a much more interesting exploration and imagination of this scenario.

Mingle All The Way (2018) - 1/2🌟

Genuinely the worst Christmas film I’ve ever watched. I watched this with my friend Jaimee and neither of us could tell the other why aspects of storylines were occurring, where the chemistry was, or literally why this was made.

Queer (2024) - 4🌟

This one had me for so much of it and then when it went towards surrealism it kind of lost me, but that’s just me - I haven’t liked much of the surrealism I’ve seen this year and it seems to just not draw me in. But as a film about loneliness, ageing, grieving - this is really gorgeous.

Carry-On (2024) - 3🌟

This is not an excellent film but it did keep me engaged, so there’s that. Lots of plot holes and things that seem ridiculous, but if you can ignore that, it’s fun and Taron Egerton was pretty good.

Love Hard (2024) - 2🌟

Very average Hallmark vibes. I was with them until it acted like she had committed worse sins than him.

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) - 5🌟

10/10 no notes. Perfect. As a 2000s child I grew up with new Wallace and Gromit films at Christmas so it was lovely to have a new one to watch on Christmas Day and it was excellent. Full of references, humour, and I didn’t realise it would be the most nuanced take on AI I’ve seen??

The Holdovers (2023) - 5🌟

I was gutted when I didn’t get to see this in the cinema last year and I might be even sadder now I’ve watched it! The perfect seasonal film about grief, love, and life - Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa together is a little bit magic and I can’t believe it was Sessa’s debut. Definitely a classic in the making.

Television

A Man on the Inside season 1 (2024)

I binged this in a day - Ted Danson is as engaging is ever, the plot is amusing, and it goes down easily. If you liked The Good Place (and if you haven’t watched it, what are you doing?) you’ll love this. It’s full of hijinks and characters to love, and I never knew I could love a show about a retirement home so much.

Articles

Everyone’s a sellout now by Rebecca Jennings (Vox)

This is a topic I’ve had lots of discussions about with my friends - I’m tired of needing a following and a presence in order to be valued for my creativity. This is a great write up on the topic and something that areas like publishing need to desperately reconsider.

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