In December, my email & social media have been flooded with various Top 10 Lists: Top 10 Books; Top 10 Movies; Top 10 TV Shows…
I don’t know about you, but I don’t care whether a story comes to me through words written on a page or performed on a stage — a great story is a great story.
So here’s my list of the top 10 stories that transported me most,
regardless of form.
I didn’t constrain myself to stories that were “released” this year, by the way (my brain also doesn’t organize by release date, apparently), but instead, these are the stories that I FOUND in 2019 (some came out this year, some before).
This show opened on Broadway in December of 2019, and my husband and I were lucky enough to catch it quickly, before prices no doubt skyrocket. When I walked into the Broadhurst Theater, I thought this would be yet another “Jukebox Musical,” this one featuring Alanis Morissette’s music… how wrong I was. It’s so much more than that. This is a brilliant musical that left me laughing and weeping and jumping up out of my chair—with everyone else in that theater—for a standing ovation in the middle of the show. If you forced me to pick ONE favorite story of 2019, this would hands-down be it. Tony! Tony! Tony!
I honestly don’t understand how this stand-up special was NOT the biggest thing 2019, a la Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette in 2018. “X” is sharp and brilliant. For ME, it was life-changing, and I’m not exaggerating. The first hour to hour-and-fifteen is really bawdy comedy (if you’re easily offended, stay away from this one) and maybe this offensive part made everyone tune out before getting to the end, so no one KNEW what they were missing during the FINAL 20-30 minutes. Maybe that’s why I haven’t heard the world raving about this special. But that final bit is, well… I won’t say more because you simply must see it.
Okay, Okay, I realize that I am ABSURDLY late to the Nick Hornby train, but this is the year when I boarded it and took amazing journeys alongside characters that, well, reminded me of me… Maybe it’s a Gen X thing? But let me tell you, if you haven’t tried Hornby yet and you care about what makes people tick, just read him. You might understand us all a little bit better. (Seeing the movie version of Juliet, Naked late last year is what kicked off this binge, but I’ve loved everything by him I’ve read this year: High Fidelity, About a Boy, A Long Way Down, and especially his 2019 release, State of the Union.)
This one is a bit of a cheat because I discovered the Annenberg YEARS ago, but this was the year of their exhibit, Walls: Defend, Divide, and the Divine. The stories in this exhibit truly changed my perspective on the barriers we create between each other. Also, since I’ve spent the last several years consumed by one of the greatest wall frescoists of history for my upcoming novel, Raphael, Painter in Rome, I was particularly moved by the the part of the exhibit dedicated to the ways artists use walls not to divide, but to bring us all together through art. This particular exhibit is now over, but the Annenberg is always a place to turn when you need a perspective-changing story.
When this movie started, I thought silently to myself, “WHAT is this movie? This kid’s imaginary BEST friend is Hitler? And now he’s off to Nazi camp??!!! The protagonist is a Nazi?!?! And I’m supposed to LIKE this?” But very quickly that kid and this entire story won over my whole heart. Yes, it’s quirky and takes a certain sense of humor, I suppose, but this is another one of those stories that made me laugh and cry and jump up and cheer. This is a beautiful film that left me with this buoyant feeling that all will be right with the world!
Yes, this one came out in 2018, but I didn’t get around to reading it until early this year… And yes, perhaps I particularly resonated with this one because I’ve spent nearly 20 years working in Hollywood (the subtitle of this novel is “…And a few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood Boy’s Club”) but I’m convinced that any woman—any HUMAN—will find Nell’s story relatable, compelling, and utterly engrossing. Plus, you may laugh out loud a few times, and I can almost guarantee that you will GASP out loud, too!
I’ve been raving about this quirky collection of tales based on The New York Times column, Modern Love to everyone I see. These stories made me fall in love with love again. If you watch the series, you may be inclined to cut out early on Episode 3 and jump ahead to the next one (the stories are only loosely related and can easily be consumed as stand-alones), but I highly recommend that you keep watching Episode 3, starring Anne Hathaway. It started out as our least favorite, but by the end, my husband and I were both weeping and high-fiving across the couch! This series is great for date night or when you just need to restore a little faith in the world.
If you regularly read this blog, you know how enamored I am with this book. But for a story to actually CHANGE my perspective on Michelangelo at this point in my life (with two novels about him already under my belt and more planned), it truly has to be something special. Not to mention, this book also changed the way I think about aging creatively and has made me think more carefully about how age affects artists of any level. Even me.
Okay, okay, this isn’t exactly an original choice — or maybe it is since some didn’t seem to like the movie so much… but I loved it. For me, this story satisfied everything I needed from a franchise that has been part of my life since I was 2 years old. Plus, one of my very first jobs in Hollywood was as a researcher for Carrie Fisher for her talk show Conversations from the Edge on Oxygen, so saying goodbye to Princess Leia was not only a cultural moment for me, but a personal one as well. Goodbye General Leia; this movie was supposed to be YOURS, and in a way, it still is.
I end with the story that has given me the most PURE JOY of any this year — a musical in which the 6 wives of Henry VIII argue about which wife had it worse through a series of pop songs. I mean, COME ON. We saw the pre-Broadway run in Chicago, but you better believe we’ll be back to see it again in New York come this spring (with the same cast as Chicago!) when it finally lands on Broadway. Okay, it’s time for me to go now, turn on my iPod (yes, I still use an iPod) and dance along to my favorite SIX!
There were SO MANY great stories in 2019 that it was impossible to fit them all into one Top 10 list, so I had no choice but to lean into my own biases here.
But please share with me (in the comments below or on social) YOUR favorite stories of 2019.
Here’s to a whole new year of great stories ahead!