Lillian Gwenyth Jensen

I was inspired to do this by my brother Phin’s post on his website a little while ago, and I thought it would be fun to do my own little version.

I like to pretend anyone cares about my opinion haha 🙂

Books

I read 51 books this year, but these are a couple that stood out. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover many five-star books this year, but these ones certainly deserved the high ratings. You can see all the books I read this year on my Goodreads.

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – My sister Mira finally convinced me to read this book, and I’m so glad she did. I’m not usually one for fantasy anymore, but this book and the sequel, Crooked Kingdom, were everything I could have wanted from a book and more. Six of Crows follows a group of criminals who set off to do a heist, and chaos and insanity ensue. I love the magic system, atmosphere, worldbuilding, and characters in these books. Leigh Bardugo’s writing is gorgeous, and I fell in love with the Crows and Ketterdam.
• From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy by Scott Meslow – This was literally the first book I read this year, but it has really stuck with me. I love romantic comedies, and I think they’re an under-appreciated genre. This book was great because it treats rom-coms the way that I see them: as a legitimate genre that deserves the same respect as any other movie genre. In this great non-fiction book, the author explores a variety of famous and influential rom-coms and how they influenced the genre, the movie industry, and occasionally the world. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and I would definitely encourage any rom-com appreciator to read it.

Podcasts

I don’t listen to a ton of podcasts, but they’re great for running, and these were a couple of my favorites this year.

• Maintenance Phase – I think I first heard about this podcast in my intuitive eating class at BYU last year, but I finally started listening to it in August, and binged the entire thing in a couple of months. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking/reading/learning about diet culture and health/wellness culture over the last couple of years, and this podcast is a fun and entertaining way to learn about these health and wellness topics in more nuanced ways. I love the way that Aubrey and Mike address things, and it’s always nice to hear anti-diet and fat liberation content from an actual fat person instead of a skinny girl talking about her non-existent fat rolls.
• Every Single Album – I’m definitely in my Taylor Swift era this year (and the last couple of years, to be fair), and this podcast has been a wonderful way to feed my obsession. I love the way that Nathan and Nora talk about the insanity that it is to be a swiftie, and I can always count on them to have takes on all the important (read: not really important) Taylor Swift drama.

Music

These are some standouts from this year. You can see all my music listening activity at last.fm (creep!)

• First Two Pages of Frankenstein by The National – This album came out in April and truly reignited my love for this band. I love all of The National’s music, but this album came out at a time when I really needed it, and because of that it will always hold a special place in my heart. I love the melancholy vibes in this album, and I really appreciate how well the whole thing works together as a unit. Among National fans (and the general music community) this album is regarded as one of their worst, but it has been one of my favorites as of late, and I think it will stay up there, even when it’s not new.
• Space Invader by The National – This song – from The National’s second album released in 2023 – deserves its own spot on my favorites list. I truly believe that this is one of The National’s best songs they’ve ever released. It’s got that sad and melancholy vibe that I love from The National, but in the last half of the seven-minute song, it dissolves into frantic guitar and mumbly vocals that just scratch the right part of my brain.
• Accept Cookies by Get Well Soon – My parents showed me this song, and ever since I heard it, I have been so in love with it. As much as I love the music, the real star in this song are the lyrics. It gives me the same vibes as Everbody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann, and I love it. This song has that perfect balance of hope and cynicism that I need in my darker moments.
• Wonder Eye by Little Moon – My mom showed me this song because it won the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Contest this year, and I 100% see why. It’s such a unique sound and the live version that won the contest is fabulous. I also got to see them live when they performed at Fork Fest in American Fork, UT. It was a fantastic show and this song has been on my regular rotation ever since.

Games

• F-Zero X – I’ve loved this game ever since I was a kid, but this year I rediscovered my appreciation for it. I had about two months between graduating from college and starting my first adult job, and during that break, I had a lot of free time. I used that free time for many things, but one of them was finally beating F-Zero X for the first time. If you have never had the pleasure of playing this fantastic game before, it’s a futuristic racing game for the Nintendo 64. I had never actually tried to win the game before, but it turned out that spending multiple hours every day practicing made quick work out of it. I still love the game, and I especially love making my roommates play it, even though they usually fall off the edge of the course.

Movies

I watch a lot of movies. These ones deserve a special shoutout. You can see all the movies I watched this year on Letterboxd.

• Barbie – I don’t think anyone will be surprised by this. After all, I am a white woman in my 20s. No matter how “basic” this movie might be, I did really like it. But even more than the movie itself, the experience around the release was fabulous. I loved seeing girls and women dress up in pink to see it, and it was fascinating to see the reactions to it, especially from men. I think it’s a delightful film that addresses some very important topics in a nuanced and funny way. I love that the message of this film is that it actually is better to be imperfectly human, in the end. I love a fun, entertaining, and funny movie with a good moral!
• Theater Camp – I decided to see this movie instead of Oppenheimer, and I honestly have no regrets (I still plan on watching Oppenheimer someday, don’t worry). If you were ever a theater kid, or you ever interacted with theater kids, you will understand this movie. It’s delightfully self-aware, funny, weird, and altogether a grand time. Even if you hate Ben Platt, you’ll probably like this movie.

TV Shows

I love TV, but I do rewatch a lot. These were some shows (or seasons of shows at least) that I watched for the first time this year and loved. Disclaimer: these are all rated TV-MA, so if you watch them, just be prepared for adult content (mostly swearing, but also some violence.)

• The Bear season 2 – This is the most stressful show I’ve ever watched and yet I love it so much. I love watching Jeremy Allen White scream at people and look good doing it! This show follows Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) as he deals with inheriting his late brother’s sandwich shop in Chicago. I just love the characters and writing in this show. The acting is incredible too, and even though it is the most stressful show I’ve ever watched, I love it.
• Barry season 4 – This show follows Barry (played by Bill Hader), who is a hitman in LA who has decided he wants to become an actor. The writing and acting in this show are phenomenal, and I think the final season was genius.
• Severance – I watched this entire show one morning while making friendship bracelets to trade at the Taylor Swift concert I went to. Severance is a science-fiction show starring Adam Scott that is truly one of the best pieces of media I’ve ever consumed. I don’t want to describe the plot too much because this is one of those things that’s so much better if you go in completely blind. Fantastic acting, fantastic writing, and a fantastic cliffhanger at the end of the season. I cannot wait to watch season 2 when it eventually comes out.

Experiences

• Running a half marathon (basically) – In September, I got back into running after years of on-and-off running, a few miles here and there. I was telling my mom about it at family dinner one Sunday, when my sister-in-law, Alayna, suggested that we should run a half marathon. I have wanted to run a half marathon ever since I did cross country in high school, and I finally felt like I had the time and dedication to do it. We didn’t want to pay the $80-$100 registration fee for any of the official races near us, so we ended up doing a rogue, unofficial half marathon the first weekend of December. Unfortunately, about 9 miles in, both of our phones died at the same time, and we could no longer track our run. We did our best to estimate the distance, but when we got back and had my brother trace it to see how far we went, it was only 12 miles. Alayna went back out and finished the last mile, but I called it at 12. Even though it wasn’t technically a half marathon, it was super rewarding, and I’m really glad we did it. I’m also really excited to run my first official half-marathon in March 2024!
• The Eras Tour – My sister and I were lucky enough to get to go to the Eras Tour in Las Vegas on March 25. It was my first big stadium show and we were way up in the nosebleeds, but it was an awesome experience and I’m so grateful we were able to go. I’m especially grateful to my mom for driving us down there and my aunt for letting us stay at her house in St. George so that we didn’t have to fight for a hotel room that would have cost an arm and a leg and my firstborn child.
• Graduating college – I finally did it! After 5 years of crying over school, I finally earned the ultimate reward: Walking across a stage in a silly gown and cap! But seriously, I’m so grateful that I was able to graduate. Thank you to my parents, professors, friends, roommates, and everyone else who helped me through the insanity that was my college experience.