At the end of 2018 I had a grand – and grandly anal – plan to document all of the media I absorbed over the coming year: every snatch of radio listened to in the car or in the kitchen; every newspaper edition skimmed or dissected; every scholarly or dastardly article accessed through social media; every movie, book, TV show and TED Talk.
OCD was a major catalyst, as was undoubtedly an almost volcanic geekiness, but I was also deeply interested in discovering whether the information and entertainment I absorbed had any influence over my beliefs and biases, or whether my tastes simply reflected long-ingrained patterns of thought and feeling. It was all set to be a fascinating experiment. There was just one flaw – a pretty significant one, as it turns out.
I simply couldn’t be arsed.
So what follows is a reduced list of only the main modes of media I absorbed, which will be of little to no academic use to anyone, and scarcely much use to me, the author. I suppose it’s useful as a yardstick to measure your own media use, and to work out if my tastes endear me to you, or make you want to smash me in the face with a dead shark. Books, then, and movies, and TV shows and stand-up performances. There will be no extended mention of the magazines and newspapers I read on a regularly basis – Private Eye, Empire, The National – or the websites I frequent – Rolling Stone, Den of Geek, The AV Club – or the radio stations I listen to – BBC Radio 4, The American Family Network (for a laugh). I’ve also left out the books I read to my kids every day, and the episodes of Classic Doctor Who we watch every morning over breakfast, plus the innumerable cartoons and dubious YouTube videos we watch together.
Without any further waffle, then, let’s dive in to 2019’s media round-up (with some best-of lists to follow in due course).
Books
| The Sopranos Sessions – Matt Zoller Seitz & Alan Sepinwall | The Long Earth – Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter |
| The Long War – Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter | The Long Mars – Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter |
| The Shining – Stephen King | Doctor Sleep – Stephen King |
| The Flood – Maggie Gee | Lust Killer – Ann Rule |
| The Big Bounce – Elmore Leonard | Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard |
| Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng | Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole – Allan Ropper & BD Burrell |
| Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders – Terry Sullivan with Peter T Maiken | Great Apes – Will Self |
| Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann | Running with Scissors – Augusten Burroughs |
| Black Dogs – Ian McEwan | Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach |
| Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic – David Frum | Where Men Win Glory – Jon Krakauer |
| The I-5 Killer – Ann Rule | I Saw a Man – Owen Sheers |
| The Word for World is Forest – Ursula Le Guin | The Incredible Adam Spark – Alan Bissett |
| Munich – Robert Harris | The Secret Life of Movies – Simon Brew |
| TV (The Book) – Matt Zoller Seitz & Alan Sepinwall |
Books in progress (I never read one at a time)
| The Strange Death of Europe – Douglas Murray | Beloved – Toni Morrison |
| The Art of the Deal – Donald Trump | Storm of Steel – Ernst Junger |
| Captive State – George Monbiot | On Palestine – Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappe |
Graphic Novels
| Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Vol 1 | Trees, Volume 1: In Shadow |
| Trees, Volume 2: Two Forests | Zenith: Phase One |
| Zenith: Phase Two | Zenith: Phase Three |
| Starve Vol 1 – Brian Wood | Starve Vol 2 – Brian Wood |
| MARVEL: What If – With Great Power… | Old Man Logan – Millar, Bendis & Lemire |
| Back to the Future: Untold Tales & Alternate Timelines | Palestine – Joe Sacco |
| Watchmen – Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons |
TV shows
New in 2019
| The Walking Dead S9 Part 2 | American Gods S2 |
| True Detective S3 | The Orville S2 |
| Star Trek Discovery S2 | The Good Place S3 |
| Russian Doll S1 | After Life S1 |
| You’re the Worst S5 | This Time With Alan Partridge S1 |
| Santa Clarita Diet S3 | The Tick S2 |
| Gotham S5 | Future Man S2 |
| Modern Family S10 | Bertie and Tuca S1 |
| The Simpsons S30 | Brooklyn Nine Nine S6 |
| Game of Thrones S8 | Barry S2 |
| Fleabag S2 | Designated Survivor S3 |
| Stranger Things S3 | Archer S10 |
| Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD S6 | Orange is the New Black S7 |
| Mindhunter S2 | Krypton S2 |
| GLOW S3 | Undone S1 |
| Legion S3 | Fear the Walking Dead S5 |
| Preacher S4 | Bob’s Burgers S9 |
| Surviving R Kelly S1 | The Deuce S3 |
| The Affair S5 | Big Mouth S3 |
| American Horror Story S9 | Last Week Tonight S6 |
| It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S14 | The Walking Dead S10 Part 1 |
| Real Time with Bill Maher S17 | The End of the Fucking World S2 |
| South Park S23 | Mr Robot S4 |
| The Mandalorian S1 | Watchmen S1 |
Older shows
| Outlander S3 | The Haunting of Hill House S1 |
| Vikings S5 | American Gods S1 |
| American Horror Story S8 | Fleabag S1 |
| The Deuce S2 | The Expanse S3 |
| American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace S2 | The End of the Fucking World S1 |
| GLOW S2 | The Affair S4 |
| I Am a Killer S1 | Doctor Who S11 |
| The Dreamstone S1 | Derry Girls S1 |
| The Marvellous Mrs Maisel S1 |
TV Shows in progress (season incomplete)
| Outlander S4E11 | Documentary Now S3E5 |
| Modern Family S11E8 | The Conners S2E9 |
| The Simpsons S31E10 | Bojack Horseman S6E8 |
| Bob’s Burgers S10E10 | Rick and Morty S4E5 |
| Vikings S6E4 | Final Space S1E3 |
| The Good Place S4E9 | Schitt’s Creek S1E4 |
| The Man in the High Castle S4E4 |
Stand-up
| Dave Chapelle – Sticks & Stones (2019) | Norm MacDonald – Hitler’s Dog, Gossip & Trickery (2017) |
| Bill Burr – Paper Tiger (2019) | Hannah Gadsby – Nanette (2018) |
| Chris Rock – Tamborine (2018) |
Movies
First time
| Bird Box (2018) | What We Do in the Shadows (2014) |
| Get Out (2017) | The Public Enemy (1931) |
| A Dog’s Way Home (2019) | Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992) |
| A Quiet Place (2018) | Blockers (2018) |
| Captain Marvel (2019) | How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) |
| Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (2018) | Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) |
| Avengers: Endgame (2019) | Tangerine (2015) |
| Where the Wild Things Are (2009) | The Strangers (2008) |
| Behind the Curve (2018) | Toy Story 4 (2019) |
| North by Northwest (1959) | Murder Mystery (2019) |
| Bumblebee (2018) | The Queen’s Corgi (2019) |
| Shazam (2019) | Trainspotting T2 (2017) |
| Creep (2014) | Fighting With My Family (2019) |
| John Wick (2014) | Child’s Play (2019) |
| Pacific Rim (2013) | Spiderman: Far From Home (2019) |
| Philophobia (or the Fear of Falling in Love) (2019) | Wild Rose (2019) |
| Joker (2019) | Us (2019) |
| John Wick 2 (2017) | Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) |
| The Irishman (2019) | You Were Never Really Here (2017) |
| The Drop (2014) | Justice League (2017) |
| Paddington 2 (2017) | John Wick 3 Parabellum (2019) |
Already Watched, Watched Again
| Hellboy (2004) | Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008) |
| Toy Story 3 (2010) | Trainspotting (1996) |
| Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) |
| Austin Powers: Goldmember (2002) | Mrs Doubtfire (1993) |
| Kindergarten Cop (1992) | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) |
| Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) |
See you back here next year, douchebags.
