2023 Cultural Recap (Julia's Version)
This Barbie should have read less YA novels.
Hello everyone!
I hope you are spending a great holiday season, or at least that you’re surviving through it before the vibes shift from holiday-y to just plain cold and wintery.
You might wonder why I’m reaching out 18 months after “launching” a newsletter about rest that never came to fruition. Well, apart from explaining that The Resting Twenties didn’t happen because I empirically learned how to rest during that time…
I thought it would be fun to write a Cultural Top 5 before the new year. Novels, essays, comics, movies, and shows! My only rule: I must have consumed them all this year (but they can have been released at other times).
Disclaimer: if you are bored or don’t want to read everything, you can scroll to the part that interests you! I won’t know so you won’t offend me.
Image: Rolling into 2024 like. (Already regretting this but I gotta grab your attention so).
Books
I believe this was the year I installed the app StoryGraph, an indie alternative to the Amazon-owned Goodreads. My friend Violaine, a data nerd and a bookseller, recommended it to me. I have gained insight regarding what types of book I read, what genres, how many I’ve read, etc.
Novels
I wouldn’t say 2023 was a Great Novel Year for me. I read too many YA (young adult) novels by Casey McQuiston and Alice Oseman that were nice and entertaining in the moment but not substantial or deeply interesting on the long run. I was probably gravitating towards lighter reads to brighten my morale or my mood, since 2023’s wars, political and climatic news were horrendous. I would like to read more Good novels in 2024, please.
My favorite novel of the year. I read it in Berlin at my bestie Clare’s apartment. She was at work, the rain was drizzling on the balcony. I was cozy in bed, reading voraciously this story. At an art camp, a group of friends come of age together and deal with what it means to grow up: does everyone have a calling? Does jealousy has to poison relationships? It made me nostalgic for camp experiences I’ve never lived.
Do you like sci-fi, but are bummed by the perpetual genocides, eugenics and capitalistic antics (okay, i’ll stop with the -ics) of the genre? Maybe it mirrors reality a little too much? Let me introduce you to hopepunk: where characters and storylines depict an optimistic future and humans capable of change, resilience and good. Records of a Spaceborn Few is the third instalment of Chambers’ Wayfarers saga but it can be read on its own. This one takes place on a ship serving as a planet for generations of “Exodans.” What does it mean to create a human community when you will never see the Earth? Are rituals important or necessary for survival? This novel opens up a world of possibilities for the future of humanity.
This children’s book bought in an indie bookstore of Dublin, Ireland, was a treat. When it comes to tales, I’m used to reading dreadful stories of kidnappings, rapes or body horror (thanks, Charles Perrault, for the Little Red Riding Hood for instance). But Irish myths and legends have positive, encouraging morals. If a witch forces the hero to make a promise, you can be sure he will stick to his word. Most stories in this little book explain the origins of the Irish people with magic and tricks. Fascinating!
While the ending wrecked me… (Yes, you need the warning before deciding to read it) I had so much fun reading this historical novel set in the 1950s in a suburb of London. Jean is a 40-year-old unmarried journalist working for an unimpressive local newspaper. She investigates an unbelievable story: a woman says she conceived her daughter without a man. This story should make her career… But it’s going to upend her life instead.
Runner-ups:
The Weekend, Peter Cameron: A tender and short novel about a weekend in the countryside where the proximity of a few friends is going to blow up the comfortable bubble in which they thought they evolved.
I’m a Fan, Sheena Patel: A fast-paced dive into modern romantic “situationships” and how easy it is to start spiralling over someone who doesn’t even know your last name.
Not including concerts, exhibitions, etc. because I don’t want to bore you to death! Image: amazing Chappell Roan concert at Les Etoiles in Paris on Dec 6, 2023.
Comics
What a beautiful graphic novel about the environment, what we share, willingly or unwillingly with our family, brotherhood, intergenerational trauma, Native wisdom… The drawings were mesmerizing and the story made me sob (which isn’t that hard, but still!!). It hasn’t been translated to English yet, which is so sad as it mostly takes place in Alaska.
I had never heard of the sci-fi classic RUR (“Rossum's Universal Robots”) before reading this adaptation. he swirls of color and the richness in details and textures were an astute way to represent the differences and similarities between humans and robots. In a 1930s alternate universe, men decide to replace the proletariat with un-sentient robots… Until they start to experience feelings and emotions.
The drawings in this sapphic-coded fairytale of power hungry witches and swords with superpowers were some of the most touching and beautiful I have seen in a comic. While the very basic dialogues needed some fluffing up, the cozy world and the badass heroin were Very nice.
Runner-ups:
Crawlspace (Sous la maison), Jesse Jacobs: This psychedelic story of a girl living in typical suburbia who can travel through dimensions and discover a colorful, deep, vivid world when she hides in her washing machine in the basement, was simply so cool!
Revanche, Alex Baladi: I read this in January 2023 and loved the thick black ink, the Western set, the mystery, the adventure and drama. A man is wrongfully locked in a prison somewhere in the American West. How did he end up here? Every page sparked a new tattoo idea in my mind. A quiet and compelling read.
Image: Chen Zhen, Crystal Landscape of Inner Body (2000) - Exhibition “J’ai une famille” (I have a family) at the Museum of Immigration in Paris, November 2023.
Essays
I thought this book would lecture me about veganism or something. But instead, it offered philosophical questions about what a meal is, how we use food to share memories, what we can expect from animals, etc. It also includes plenty of horrific data and facts about the American meat industry. Great if you’re on the verge of becoming a vegetarian!
Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize last year! Les Années tells the story of a woman who grew up after the war in a working-class family and became an educated teacher in the 1960s... But it’s more than that. Told in the third person, this account explores the lives of so many women of that generation and puts historical and political events in context as if you were living them from their living rooms.
When I saw this title, I thought this essay would be another enraging story of how men erased women from history. Well, it was, but I learned so much about women in every period, from Prehistory to the 20th century, that I wasn’t just mad. I felt inspired, invigorated and grateful!
Runner-ups:
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May: A sweet book to ease oneself in the depressing winter months, literally or metaphorically. Spend some time learning about dormice or cold water baths, and accept that you need sadness to experience joy.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman: “Personal development? Be for real, Julia!” Pay attention to the title: would a typical personal development book mention DEATH? This hilarious handbook for how to live in the moment, forget about productivity and stop try to fit ten ideally lives in the only (mediocre) one you have was healing.
Films
This newsletter issue got out of hand. Three days after starting, I’m realizing no one wants to read three pages of my spitballing… I will just write one sentence per bullet point for the video component of this 2023 Recap.
Image: Still from Cry-Baby (yes, I despise Johnny Depp too).
Movies
The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg (2022): A dysfunctional Jewish family! A movie fanatic! A selfish teenager! Beautiful meta shots! Psychologically torturing your bully!
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Laura Poitras (2022): An awe-inspiring documentary about photographer extraordinaire Nan Goldin, who is still a badass activist to this day.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg (1977): After watching the Fabelmans, I got in a Spielberg kick… I loved the eeriness of this film, the alien craze coming from people who have so much hope and so little facts to cling to, the alien MUSIC…
Omar la Fraise (The King of Algiers), Elias Belkeddar (2023): Such a fun and dynamic movie about two friends who are basically retired mobsters… But business is hard to leave, even when you cross the Mediterranean to escape. Incredible performance from Benoît Magimel.
Cry-Baby, John Waters (1990): An unsanitized, white trash, irreverent Grease with better costumes and music, TBH.
Image: Somebody Somewhere, season 2 (HBO)
Shows
Downton Abbey: I’m late to the party… Watched the six seasons (great! I love classy historical telenovelas) and the two movies (cringe! I don’t enjoy boring drama-less comedy for royalists).
Young Sheldon: To every Big Bang Theory hater: I know. But this show has somehow stopped being about Sheldon and focused on the family dynamics of the other funny, relatable, moving characters around him in a small town in East Texas in the 1990s.
Drag Race France season 2: If you don’t know anything about drag, you should start here! This season was better than any US season of Drag Race, and it’s available for free on French public television so… No excuses.
Somebody Somewhere: The plot sounds shitty. The stills look bad. There has been no publicity about this show. However: I need you to watch it! Incredible chemistry between the two main characters: two 40-year-olds who don’t fit in their Kansas town. They’re snarky as hell, love drinking, being gay and doing crime. One just lost her sister, and the other one is afraid of commitment.
Did I forget anything? Please fight in the comments below. Or text me to shame me about Young Sheldon, I don’t care!
On a more serious note: please ignore any typos, and have a sweet and easy transition into 2024!