READ WATCH PLAY EAT: MY FAVORITES OF 2023, Part 1 of 2

Books, Screens, Music, Podcasts, Restaurants

Bird and Cage by Parviz Tanavoli, from an exhibit I loved

A partial list of what entertained, nourished, and inspired me in 2023. A few of these are not from 2023, but either I only just discovered them or they are old favorites that came to my rescue during this difficult year.

READ

FIRST GEN by Alejandra Campoverdi

A daughter of Mexican immigrants, Campoverdi grew up welfare-poor, attended Harvard, served in the Obama White House, survived cancer and wrote a luminous memoir about the price of being “first.” Learn more here

Clowes is one of my favorite comic book artists and this is him at the top of his game. Learn more here. (In case you’re interested I wrote a review in the New York Times.)

Denise is not only the DJ of your dreams, her debut book, a queer black “biography in essays” on blues titan Willie Mae Thornton, “one of the most prominent Black women musicians/songwriters in music history,” is a profound must-read. Denise brings Thornton to radiant life—this book is mix-tape, cultural analysis, reclamation, and an act of justice all in one. Learn more here.

Novelist, playwright, essayist, human rights activist, cultural advisor to Allende, survivor of the Pinochet coup, Dorfman is an essential writer and this is him at his best, returning to one of deepest open wounds of our Americas. Learn more here.

You only get debuts like this once or twice in a decade. Lee’s ferocious tale channels decades of agonized history and impossible survival through the trickster life of a single unforgettable Korean woman. Learn more here.

Mohamed is not only a revelation, she’s one of my favorite writers, and The Fortune Men was shortlisted for the Booker Prize (and should have won). A Somali sailor, Mahmood Mattan, is accused of a murder he did not commit and soon discovers how in 1950s Britain not even the truth can save a person like him. As I wrote in my blurb: If a novel can be an avenger then The Fortune Men is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Learn more here.

WATCH

I never thought I’d agree with Forbes on anything but GODZILLA MINUS ONE really is one of 2023’s greatest films. If only Hollywood still made blockbusters like this. All the atomic suffering that Oppenheimer elided, GODZILLA MINUS ONE dramatizes indelibly. A film with a heart and conscience bigger than its kaiju, with critiques that strike deep. Gojira’s attack on Ginza is beyond chilling and you’ll never be able to look at Wako’s Clock Tower the same again. There’s a moment at the end when the team organized to defeat Gojira salutes their adversary, but one wonders if they are not saluting all their comrades and family and friends who died in the name of a terrible senseless war, foisted on them by the true monsters, their militaristic elites.

Imagine The Count of Monte Cristo retold from the point of a view of a Korean woman who survived high school bullying of the most infernal kind. Best TV I’ve seen in years—unflinching and moving beyond words. US shows wish they had half the brains and half the critical courage that The Glory has. Also: Song Hye-kyo is an astonishment. Learn more here

First-time filmmaker and New Orleans native Edward Buckles, Jr. tracks the longitudinal devastation that Hurrican Katrina inflicted on an entire generation of young people. I could not shake this one for months. Learn more here.

PLAY

THE PLOT THICKENS Season Four: Here Comes Pam

This podcast on the incredible life of actress Pam Grier, who in a better world would have Oscars and dozens of academic courses dedicated to her films, will blow your mind and break your heart. The promos ain’t lying when they say: “Her story takes us to Wyoming, Los Angeles, ancient Rome, the Deep South, the Bronx, and the typhoon-soaked Philippines.” Plus Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Won’t say any more. Learn more here.

TOBE NWIGWE - LIL FISH, BIG POND ft. STEPHEN CURRY

Tobe Nwigwe and Stephen Curry—what else do you need to know?

EAT

Yafa Bakery and Cafe: A Taste of Palestine Inspired by Generations of Family Tradition

If you’re in the Boston area, you should not miss Yafa. A tiny beautiful spot in Somerville that crafts show-stoppers on the daily. Don’t just grab the stupendous sweets, do yourself a favor and order the hummus as well. Learn more here.