I liked Rumors of My Demise, by Evan Dando, but I don’t know if I’m biased because so much of it was nostalgia for the Boston music scene of my youth! Also, a lot of the book involves places and people from Boston/Cambridge/Martha’s Vineyard and I’m a born-and-raised Masshole! The first time I met Dando was at a Godstar show at Man Ray in Cambridge, MA. He walked up to me and said, “Hi! I’m Evan!” and was clearly high. In Rumors, he’s frank about all of his drug use, anxieties, and sleep disorder. The book was well-written and fast-paced. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
This past year, I watched 174 films. That’s down from the 216 I watched in 2024. Since I started using Letterboxd, my number of movies logged has gone down each year. Unfortunately, with a degenerative illness, I’m leaving the house less and less to go to the movies. At home, I’m more apt to choose watching a television show over a feature-length film.
My most watched actor, Nicolas Cage, is no shock. He’s in my pantheon of actors that I’ll watch in pretty much anything. Others of that caliber include the entire Skarsgård family, Jason Statham, Parker Posey, Joel Edgerton, Laura Dern (and her parents), and Tom Hardy.
My most watched director, Makoto Shinkai, was a surprise. I had to look him up! Turns out that he directed the 2002 anime film, Voices of a Distant Star, which I watched at home with my husband. We watched two of Shinkai’s short films that were on the Blu-ray that we borrowed from the library. And ta-da: Three films made him the most popular director in our household!
The nanogenre is the vibe I’m bringing into the new year
As for my favorite films of 2025, that’ll be a work in progress for a few months. Like I said, I’ve been going out to the movies less because of my health, so there are loads of 2025 movies that I haven’t gotten to see yet. Visit my Favorite Films of 2025 list on Letterboxd for updates.
Here are my Favorite Films of 2025 as of January 2, 2026.
Sinners
Train Dreams
Dust Bunny
Weapons
Bring Her Back
Frankenstein
Presence
Wake Up Dead Man
The Fantastic 4: First Steps
The Life of Chuck
Companion
Mickey 17
Every Time You Lose Your Mind: A Film About Failure
Since I was a kid, I’ve loved learning about different cultures and places via postcards and pen pals. My first pen pal was Cédrine from Tarbes, France. Now, thanks to The Internet, I get to talk to folks all over the world!
For several years now, I’ve spoken with my Brazilian “pen pal” Luciano almost every day. We joke that we’re “music twins” because we love so much of the same music. We first bonded over our love of Ash and since have found that we both adore Jessica Lea Mayfield and many others.
Jessica Lea Mayfield by Luciano Oliveira (AKA neondemon.jpg)
This past September, I saw Jessica Lea Mayfield open for Lucero. After Mayfield’s set, I got to speak with her and told her all about Luciano (he’s one of her top ten listeners on Spotify!). Neither of us had a Sharpie, so instead of signing the CD booklet I brought or the vinyl I bought, she wrote to Luciano with a pink pen on a random postcard for The Friendly Toast that I had with me!
Luciano’s postcard from Jessica Lea Mayfield
Long story short: Luciano was inspired by me to write about his Top 25 Albums of 2025! There’s some overlap, which is no surprise given that we’re music twins, but I’ve also discovered some new tunes. You can find it on Tumblr and his blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
Entry six in Luciano’s Top 25: Soak by Black Honey
Needless to say, I think Luciano is very talented. Check out his art portfolio or follow him on Instagram! And cross your fingers that Ash, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and more artists make their way to Brazil!
This past year was rough for me. For the first time in my life, I had Reader’s Block. I won’t name names (or titles!), but two books in a row rubbed me the wrong way. They were just not good. Or maybe all the other books I read were just that much better? However you look at it, I just had a really hard time getting back into reading after those two no-good books. And ages ago, I adopted the practice of not finishing books that I didn’t like because life’s too short! But sometimes, one has to read a bad book (or two!) because of … obligations.
Anyhow! The good news is I’m outta that funk! The book that saved me was The Taylors by Jen Calonita. A middle grade book about a group of girls named after Taylor Swift broke the curse! It even gave me goosebumps.
Right after The Taylors, I found myself reading my book of the year, Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Who would’ve thought that this graduate of Space Camp would fall hard for a sapphic, historical fiction novel about the first female astronauts at NASA?
Space Camp! I’m on the right.
Rounding out my favorite reads of the year:
Love Stories (The Taylors Version #1) by Elizabeth Eulberg– this is the young adult companion to Jen Calonita’s book.
My cat with Elizabeth Eulberg’s book
It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei (graphic novel/non-fiction)
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (horror)
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly (non-fiction)
This past year, I wrote book reviews on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, and this blog. I logged my book reading on both Goodreads and StoryGraph. I think it’s important to continue to write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads because those are still so vital for authors.
In no particular order, my favorite television shows of 2025:
Dept. Q (Netflix)
Alien Earth (Hulu)
Task (HBO Max)
Andor (Disney+)
Adolescence (Netflix)
The White Lotus (HBO Max)
Silo (Apple TV)
Severance (Apple TV)
The Last of Us (HBO Max)
My Melody and Kuromi (Netflix)
I also really enjoyed watching the Boston Red Sox on NESN. It was great when they made it to the playoffs, but I wasn’t impressed by the national network broadcasters. I ended up putting WEEI on for my audio. Overall, the Major League Baseball postseason was exciting, especially the World Series.
Watching the Major League Baseball World Series with my cat
Pop Culture Omnivore 