Consumption Diaries No. 15: Best of 2023

Thank god this year is over

As someone who can’t help but reminisce, for this month’s Consumption Diaries I thought it would be fun to switch things up and do what everyone else does this time of year: a round up of my 2023 favorites. 

from Poor Things (2023), but also the sole item on my 2024 mood board.

Plus, a December newsletter on consumption on its own would be more aptly titled “What to Consume While You’re Being Consumed by Your Cat’s Emergency Surgery,” and no one asked for that. (she is fine now, but it has indeed consumed the last two weeks of my life and erased much of the rest of December from my already-limited brain space.)

I’d argue that this year was the most terrible yet for me in terms of capitalistic overconsumption, fueled by both the influence of illusion and my inclination toward self-soothing through spending, but, not coincidentally, it was also lackluster in book consumption. I read fewer books in 2023 than I have since I kicked my reading into overdrive in 2020 lockdown, which is to be expected, and even though that in itself isn’t a good indicator of quality, I didn’t love many books either. 

Where this year did shine for me consumption-wise was movies. I watched nearly 100. I have never been a film girly, and I’m sad I wasted so much time not watching them because, who would have thought, movies are great! I am notorious for never finishing TV shows (at least, white people TV shows because I run through K-dramas like I’m trying to qualify for the Boston marathon of screen time and eye strain) but I love that you can knock an entire movie out in one sitting. Plus, they are such an incredibly moving medium.

So without further ado, I present to you my 2023 bests in all of the normal Consumption Diaries categories: what I read, what I watched, and what I bought. Miscellaneous favorites are at the end, though they are perhaps most important because I had a hard mental health year and experienced a lot of growing pains, including grieving the loss of relationships with three (three!) people still alive, which is very real and painful in its own weird guilt-ridden ways, and a concerted but pretty unsuccessful effort to figure my shit out. The small joys are what made this year bearable otherwise.

I’ll keep trying in 2024; I’m here, and hopefully for the sake of my loved ones I’m not going anywhere, so I might as well try to do something (anything!) with this one stupid life, right? I want this year to include more reading, more watching, less spending, more joy.

Also, the links to my various social pages are included at the very bottom of this newsletter! I love to track things, if that wasn’t obvious by now, and it’s more fun with friends.

what I read

StoryGraph has unparalled data AND fun graphics to go along with it.

As mentioned, this wasn’t my best reading year. I don’t think that my 3.69 average rating on StoryGraph is the best indicator of how my reading year went, though the large percentage of contemporary romances might give something away. A 3-star read is generally solid for me, and 1. I don’t prescribe to this BookTok-ified idea that anyone reading books they consistently rate lower than 4 stars doesn’t know their own taste because I think it’s important to live a little and read a wide variety, 2. it’s OK to read books critically, no matter the genre, and 3. star ratings are such bullshit anyway. But that’s a rant for another newsletter!

As I try to move away from relying on star ratings as the best way to convey my feelings on any particular book, this list isn’t necessarily all 5-star reads for me, and it doesn’t even include all of my highest-rated books; they’re just the ones I’m still thinking about and that I’m predicting will have staying power beyond a year.

These are in no particular order, and also just a note that Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was a favorite this year but I have since read that the author, Gabrielle Zevin, is a Zionist and maybe has plagiarized, so I won’t be talking about it further here.

Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis — I’ve been recommending this to people lately when they ask for book recommendations because I don’t see it making its way around the internet as much and I think it’s worthy of more attention. This book follows “five wildly different women who, in the midst of the Uruguayan dictatorship, find one another as lovers, friends, and ultimately, family.” It’s quietly beautiful. Women are the best!

The Guest by Emma Cline — The it girl novel of the summer for good reason. I read several novels with unreliable or unlikable women as narrators this year, and Emma Cline does it best in a perfectly unsettling, frustrating way that neither condones nor condemns, which is refreshing in a landscape of cool girl novels that bare their teeth at surface level. I have never been to The Hamptons and cannot foresee a time in which I will find myself there, but any and all lit fic, movies, etc. set there are ones I will immediately pick up, especially if they specifically feature class dynamics and insufferable people.

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs + The Rise and Reign of Mammals by Steve Brusatte — I haven’t shut up about these two pop science books for months now. Their lessons on evolution and extinction are much more accessible than you’d think, and I love that there are obvious takeaways to apply to our way of thinking about the planet now, not just as a history lesson. And who doesn’t like dinosaurs? If you aren’t at least amazed at their existence, well, I hope you find your childlike joy and wonder someday!

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty — I hardly write instagram reviews anymore, and I still couldn’t manage even for a book I liked as much as this one, but I did write this little ode to the sensory lushness I felt on every page. The titular Rabbit Hutch in this novel is an apartment complex in the fictional Vacca Vale, Indiana, inspired by South Bend. In this community are characters whose humanity is exposed, questioned, and celebrated through something similar to vignettes. There are main characters to get invested in, but the side characters and their stories are important too, making the structure alone unique and refreshing.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking — This gets included simply because I’m so impressed by Hawking’s ability to make one of the most inaccessible sciences digestible even to people like me. I think it’s impossible to think about the world around us and our place in it without looking at what theoretical physics has taught us about the universe and its origins, and also how much we still don’t know. It sounds so silly and earnest, but astrophysics is so much more about humanity than we assume; how could it not be?

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward — Both stark and poetic, this novel is set in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, one of the first natural disasters I actually remember. This book is a tragedy because a tragedy unfolds, yes, but also because it’s about a family held together by fierce love and loyalty, which in literature is always bound to break your heart a little.

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom — There have been a lot of novels lately about what the internet has done to our perception of beauty aesthetics and the lengths we go to to maintain them, but this one stands out because it asks readers to confront themselves and their reality through the lens of a washed-up former influencer who is about to undergo a risky, experimental surgery that promises to undo all of her previous plastic surgeries.. One review I saw on goodreads called this “Valley of the Dolls but for people who know who Caroline Calloway is,” which is very funny to me!

what I watched

film

I watched a lot of movies this year! Of those, the ones that have stayed with me were Aftersun (2022), The Worst Person in the World (2021), Arrival (2016), The Favourite (2018), Interstellar (2014), Shiva Baby (2020), and Past Lives (2023). 

And, sneaking right in under the wire is Poor Things (2023), which despite my initial quibbles I can’t stop thinking about or talking about so it belongs on this list. Two Yorgos Lanthimos movies on my favorites list? Interesting!

I should also probably include Barbie, just because I did have a lot of fun with it even though the more we keep it in the discourse the more tired of it I grow.

TV

2023 was the year of the K-drama for me. My favorites this year were Destined With You and Alchemy of Souls; the former was fantasy adjacent with elements of magical realism and the latter was historical fantasy, which is a genre I didn’t think I really liked. Look at me expanding my horizons.

Rewatches of Veep and Buffy the Vampire also stood out. Veep is so painfully accurate and so very D.C. Some cities get charming portrayals, and we get this. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a star! I already want to start Buffy again, and I’m somewhat surprised that it doesn’t seem to have been given the Gen Z revival treatment given that there is some great cyclical fashion, but this remains my most beloved of the late 90s/early aughts television.

I also loved seasons 1 + 2 of Ted Lasso, though I lost momentum before season 3 and have heard enough mixed reviews to think I’m okay to miss it, and everyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to me will not be surprised to see Prehistoric Planet get a mention. Even if you don’t like dinosaurs, it’s so fun and the graphics are so impressive. Netflix now has a show of the same premise, but I haven’t watched it yet.

what I bought

$$$ products

The first category here is expensive luxury goods I didn’t need and am fully aware of the implications, but despite telling myself I shouldn’t have bought them, I don’t actually regret them either other than the creeping guilt.

First, the Beis mini weekender, which isn’t necessarily that expensive in the world of luggage but I recognize is an unnecessary item. I’ve talked about it multiple times on The Lit List alone so I’ll spare you further bloviating, but it’s exceeded my expectations and accompanied me on more flights than I feel like counting, plus some train and car rides too. I’m so glad I got the bright green color and my only regret is that I didn’t just buy the matching carry-on roller bag while it was available.

Next are the AirPods Max, which are most definitely just a status symbol at this point because there are so many good noise canceling headphones out there for cheaper, but the ease and functionality of Apple’s accessories pairing is hard to resist.

And also, the Dyson hair dryer, which is so incredibly overpriced I feel silly admitting I bought it, but I got it for $200 off! It really does work wonders.

The price I put on vanity

I spend an embarrassing amount of money on skincare and makeup every year, and even more so in 2023 because I started getting Botox. I’m going to make a conscious effort in 2024 to do like 75% less on this front. Nothing has been more of a slap in the face than realizing how few of the products I bought or repurchased this year are ones that stand out enough to mention at all.

I discovered detox shampoos this year, and they’ve made such a big difference in how clean my hair feels. I’m devoted to Ouai’s detox shampoo, but if anyone has a cheaper/better one, I’m all ears.

I’ve been buying the Hourglass ambient lighting powder for years, and it always surprises me that I don’t ever see it making the rounds on TikTok etc. It’s technically a finishing powder, and it has the perfect amount of almost-shimmer that gives you the glow-from-within thing we all want to mask our depression, but it’s very subtle in a nice way.

Korean sunscreen brands always come out on top. And of those, the Round Lab birch juice moisturizing sun cream is my favorite. I also like Isntree’s hyaluronic acid watery sun gel, but the Round Lab one gives a slightly less greasy finish and feels more like a regular moisturizer. It makes it so much easier to use SPF regularly.

I need a lip product on at all times, and for the last couple of years that’s often been the Laneige lip glowy balm. Not to be confused with the viral Laneige sleeping mask, which I was a devotee to through three containers before I realized my beloved Aquaphor would do literally the same thing. And I still love the lip glowy balm, but I also really like the Summer Fridays lip butter balm because it’s got a great applicator and the tube itself is pretty large.

I also spent too much money on fragrance this year after realizing that my sensitive nose actually can handle some perfume without sneezing. Turns out I should have been paying attention to the notes. Many floral perfumes do me in, but I am a forever devotee to Viktor&Rolf’s Flowerbomb, I don’t care how basic it is! However, last year I discovered Byredo’s G Water (that is not its actual name but I will not be typing it here and am also begging them to change it) in the Montreal Four Seasons and had been thinking about it since because what screams quiet luxury more than smelling like a five-star hotel! A good dupe for G Water is Tocca’s Colette, which I have purchased in desperation, but the Byredo bottle I have was actually a gift so it doesn’t technically count here.

Honorable fragrance mentions go to DedCool’s Taunt and Milk and …Snif’s Crumb Couture perfume, also known as the croissant perfume. It’s definitely a gourmand perfume and I bought it on sale just for fun, but it is surprisingly complex.

misc.

I am so rarely proud of myself, and that is less due to my poor self-esteem itself and more so because said low self-esteem often prevents me from trying or doing anything. But this summer I did a panel discussion hosted by DC independent bookstore mainstay Politics & Prose with two fellow bookstagrammers, and while I certainly wasn’t the most eloquent or insightful speaker, I didn’t pass out or embarrass myself too much, and my friends made up such a large portion of the audience that it felt genuinely special. It was such a nice reminder that while I may not be the smartest person in the room, or the most well-read or interesting, I am still allowed to participate in life.

I traveled some this year as well, the highlights of which included the most luxurious trip I’ve probably ever taken, to Turks & Caicos, and a visit to my father’s hometown of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, of Groundhog Day fame, to see the unveiling of a new Phantastic Phil statue dedicated to my late grandparents.

God, that was long. If you can survive over 2,500 words of me just listing things, you can survive anything, so I feel confident that your 2024 will be great. Happy New Year, everyone, and thank you for subscribing and reading and sharing this silly little newsletter all year. It really does mean a lot.

Before you go: Find me on Instagram, Goodreads, StoryGraph, or Letterboxd to keep up with my obsessive tracking habits in real-time.

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Consumption Diaries is a monthly series on what I’ve consumed and been consumed by. 

If you missed last month’s newsletter you can find it here, and the full archive of these posts lives here.