2015 was a tough year but, as is often the case, much good was sprinkled throughout. In the realm of entertainment, there was lots of good.

I feel like I’ve covered TV pretty thoroughly in my summer and fall posts.

Books

As I said before, I’m not going to waste your time with books I think are fine. Here are my recommendations from what I read in 2015, I hope you find something you like, too. I’ve covered some of these already. (They are listed in the order of my reading.)

The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty

Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell

The Martian – Andy Weir

The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd

Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

The Light of the World – Elizabeth Alexander – A poet’s beautifully written memoir of joy and loss.

Attachments – Rainbow Rowell

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins – People seem to love or hate this book. I expected to dislike it because I often find I don’t like “the” book everyone is talking about it. I thought it was great in that creepy way. I’m very excited that Emily Blunt is starring in the movie.

City of Thieves – David Benioff – Yes, the guy behind “The Game of Thrones.” No, it’s nothing like that. Fun fact, he’s married to Amanda Peet. It is actually a sweet, gory, gripping WWII novel.

 

Songs

Nothing better than driving along when a song I love is playing on the radio. I crank up the volume and sing my heart out. (Yes, sometimes my kids are in the car.)

Here are my favorites of last year, in no particular order:

Hozier – “Take Me to Church”

Adele – “Hello”

The Weeknd – “I Can’t Feel My Face”

Alessia Cara – “Here”

Robert DeLong – “Long Way Down”

Alt-J – “Every Other Freckle”

Beck – “Dreams”

Cold War Kids – “First”

 

Movies

I loved these movies. If I was giving out awards, these are the movies I would give them to.

The Martian – Everything I could’ve hoped for. Matt Damon is the bomb! It did the book proud.

Room – The acting by both leads is spectacular. These may not be the easiest 2 hours you’ll spend, but they will be worth it. I understand people’s reticence in seeing this; I would not read the book. It really is so good though; you will keep thinking about it long after you leave the theater.

Spotlight – Such a well-told story. You more understand how the entire situation got swept under the rug for as long as it did.

Star Wars: Episode VII – After re-watching the original Star Wars (episode IV), I’ve come to realize that this new one is pretty much a copy of the old one but…whatever.   It’s SO much better than the most recent three and my kids loved it too.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – see my summer blog

The Big Short – Like an entertaining tutorial on explaining how the housing market fiasco occurred.

Spy – see my summer blog

 

Song of the blog:

In honor of the many talented people who have recently passed, here’s one of my all-time favorite covers:  Nirvana singing David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World.”